Circus Sale
Collection of Pierre Robert Lévy
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2025 at 2:00 pm
PARIS - HÔTEL DROUOT - ROOM 16
Public exhibitions:
Saturday September 20 from 11am to 6pm
Sunday September 21 from 11am to 6pm
and Monday September 22 from 11am to 12pm
Telephone during the exhibition and sale: 01 48 00 20 16
EXPERTS
Éric SCHOELLER
+33 (0)6 11 86 39 64 - schoellereric@yahoo.fr
Laurence DANTEC (C.E.F.A.)
+33 (0)6 22 61 67 53 - dantec.laurence@gmail.com
Pierre Robert Lévy: A life dedicated to the art of the circus
Discreet but deeply committed, Pierre Robert Lévy (1920-2010) was one of France's great circus collectors and historians. His passion for this world was not simply a hobby, but a true vocation, which he pursued with rigor, erudition and wonder.
A professional manager at Monoprix, he devoted most of his free time to documenting and preserving the memory of the circus, particularly that of clowns, whom he considered to be true artists. He was co-founder of the Club du Cirque, editor of specialized magazines (Combat, Paris-Comœdia, Le Cirque dans l'Univers) and author of several reference works, including Les Clowns et la tradition clownesque and Les Fratellini, trois clowns légendaires.
But it is above all as a collector that Pierre Robert Lévy has left a major mark. His collection, now on offer at auction, is the fruit of a patient and passionate quest begun in the 1950s. It includes posters and paintings. Each piece reflects a facet of circus history - that of the great families, mythical big tops, forgotten or legendary artists.
The objects told stories, and sometimes even brought back memories. Like the time when Rolph Zavatta, Achille's brother, a tall, white-faced clown, was invited to dinner at the house. Mr. Levy, who owned a soprano saxophone, sometimes played it, much to the despair of their dog, who howled to death at the slightest murmur from the instrument. That evening, Rolph spotted the saxophone and asked if he could play it. His son recalls: "My father, delighted to be playing a practical joke on his friend, immediately agreed. But in an unexpected miracle, as soon as Rolph started to play, the dog listened in silence, almost religiously. My father was offended! "
A simple instrument, a clown, a dog: and all the poetry of the circus emerges, between tenderness and burlesque.
Beyond the object, Pierre Robert Lévy looked for the human trace, the gesture, the emotion. Behind a poster, he saw the thrill of an acrobatic act. In a costume, he guessed the energy of a clown in the ring. He didn't collect to accumulate, but to pass on, to make people see and understand. His archives, now partly preserved at the Centre National des Arts du Cirque (CNAC), still serve as a reference for researchers and enthusiasts. His collection is a work in itself - sensitive, coherent and alive. This catalog is therefore more than a list of lots: it's an open door to a world of laughter, emotion and memory. It is an invitation to all, whether amateurs or the curious, to become in their turn passeur de Rêve.
