In the late 1930s, painters Margaret Hoening French, Paul Cadmus, and Jared French began experimenting with photography as a means of documenting their summers spent in Fire Island and Provincetown with friends. Named for their acronym (Paul-Jared-Margaret), the trio established the photographic collects ive PaJaMa, and collaborated on dynamic, often sexually-charged photographs. All three artists shared an interest in capturing the beauty of the human form, which is expressed in their photos as well as their respective painting practices. In Untitled (Juggler), this relationship between painting and photography is on full display, with Margaret Hoening French emphasizing the athletic forms of these acrobats in a manner that is quite reminiscent of the poses adopted in PaJaMa imagery.

Margaret Hoening French and Jared French both embraced the magical realist painting style. In the present work, Hoening French’s subject matter speaks to this fascination with a fantastical version of reality. With the female tightrope walker juggling fire and the remaining acrobats sporting painted faces and eye-catching cost.mes s, there is a dreamlike quality to this composition that is deeply aligned with magical realism. Although Hoening French produced few known paintings in her lifet.mes , there are stylistic similarities between her practice and that of her artist husband. For one thing, both painters exhibit the influence of the Italian Renaissance tradition in their work. Their choice of tempera, an ancient.mes dium that was widely preferred by early Renaissance masters, demonstrates an appreciation for classical techniques. Additionally, the attention paid to muscularity and physical proportions in Untitled (Juggler) is deeply indebted to the Renaissance standard of perfecting the human form. Not only is Untitled (Juggler) executed in tempera, but there is something strikingly classical about the figure in white’s posture with his arm flexed behind his head and his legs carefully crossed. Combining such a traditional medium of tempera with such a vivid and unconventional subject matter results in a unique and dynamic composition.