Marcel Marceau at the Cirque d'Hiver. Paris. 1962.

Vintage gelatin silver print, loose. Measurements: 13 x 18.3 cm / 5.11 x 7.2 in. On the back of the photograph, the identification of the protagonist, handwritten. Work in good condition.

Expressive photo of the great -perhaps the best, undoubtedly the best known- mime Marcel Marceau. In the middle of jumping with one hand he hangs himself, while with the other he tries to prevent it, playing, of course, two characters simultaneously, and on the fly. His face expresses the distress of the moment, with a grimace of sadness. All his gestures, as usual, were accentuated with makeup, white skin and black lips, eyebrows and eyes, with tears. Together with his white suit -which in this image contrasts with the black background- it configures the appearance of Pierrot, a character born in the 16th century Commedia dell’arte. The photograph was taken in 1962 at the Cirque d'Hiver in Paris, and was made by Boris Lipnitzky for the important Roger-Viollet photographic agency.

Marcel Marceau (Strasbourg, 1923 - Cahors, 2007) was a French mime and actor. Of Jewish origin, at the age of 16 he and his family had to take refuge in Limoges and change his surname, originally Mangel, to Marceau. His father was arrested by the Gestapo and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. He began his career as a mime in Germany, performing for the French occupation troops, after World War II. After that foray into dramatic art he decided to study this discipline at the Sarah Bernhardt theater in Paris. Due to the international repercussion of his performances and the prestige he achieved, he was appointed a member of the French Academy of Arts and decorated with the Legion of Honor.

Boris Lipnitzky or Lipnitzki (1887, Oster, Ukraine - Paris, 1971) was a French art photographer born in Ukraine, dedicated to ballet, fashion, cinema, visual arts, writing and music. His portraits include Maurice Ravel, René Hubert, Albert Camus, Blaise Cendrars, Jean Cocteau, Otto Preminger, Igor Strawinsky, Arthur Honegger, Leonid Massine, Serge Lifar, Paul Poiret, Coco Chanel, Olga Spessivtseva, Nyota Inyoka, Tamara Karsavina, Serge Gainsbourg, Les Six, Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Joséphine Baker and of course Marcel Marceau, whom he photographed while working for the famous photography agency founded by Hélène Roger-Viollet in 1938, in Paris.