Alexis Grüss: A Tribute to a Circus Maestro and Artistic Visionary
On September 28, 2019, a strange performance upset the daily lives of regulars of the Square Louvois… A charming garden decorated with a fountain, in the heart of Paris, a few meters from the entrance of the venerable Bibliothèque nationale de France. Accompanied by two beating drums, the riding master Alexis Grüss, dressed in blue and gold, celebrated the launch of the Encyclopédie des arts du cirque, which was developed and produced jointly by the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Centre national des arts du cirque de Châlons-en-Champagne, where his brother, Patrick, had been the first professor of equestrian art. By making his horse, Clogged Hooves, cross the porch of rue de Richelieu under the amazed eyes of a small crowd gathered in the courtyard and on the stairs, Alexis Grüss intuitively placed this living memory under the auspices of an institution that paid tribute both to an exceptional French circus dynasty and to this mixture of strength and fragility that makes the circus an art form in its own right.
Alexis Grüss was a circus man, but above all, he was a huge artist. As a Son of the Circus in the noblest sense of the term, he knew how to mix classicism and modernity, relying both on his extreme disciplinary versatility and that of all those who surrounded him, starting with his family. A visionary creator committed in body and soul to a devouring profession, his meeting with Silvia Monfort was decisive. Together, they helped shape another circus, symbolized by the great purity of its forms. From the courtyard of the Hotel Salé to the forecourt of the Centre Pompidou, from Venice to Stockholm, from the Jardin d’Acclimatation to the Château de Piolenc, Alexis was able to shine the colors of the Grüss’ flag and amaze millions of spectators, carried away by the roar of the clogs, the grace of the acrobats, and the impulses of a music still alive. Over his fifty years of creating in Paris, Alexis Grüss always surrounded himself with artists from other universes. Among many others, Jean Eden, Yannis Kokkos, Claude Santelli, and Frédéric Manoukian—respectively a stylist, costume designer, filmmaker, and musician—accompanied the Grüss throughout a half-century that will remain for the initiates as for the general public a second golden age of equestrian circus.
How to forget the firstposte with nine horses, mastered with flawless elegance by Martine Grüss, the triple jockey, and taken over by one generation from another; theécuyère à panneau, miraculously reincarnated first by Martine, then by Marie-MariePierre and Maud; and finally, outstanding rider and prodigiousfildefériste Stephan’s juggling on horseback, dressed as a Mongolian warrior and throwing his flaming torches while standing on the back of his galloping horse, the fighting bulls emerging from a cloud of smoke for a magnificent tribute to Picasso— the gigantic nave rising from behind the scenes with a mischievous Monkey King for Paris-Beijing—and so many other fabulous circus moments that marked fifty winters of happiness…
Alexis Grüss was a riding master, but he was also a man of heart. Careful to transmit the mysteries of his art, he created one of the first circus schools in the West. There, sharing his creed “erase work by work,” he trained a generation of artists, some of whom knew how to spread their hard-won knowledge to continue and enrich the development of a new circus. Both an actor and a witness of an unprecedented creative vivacity, Alexis Grüss also played an essential role for a whole world of which he was the axis and the compass: rider, clown, and musician, he revealed himself above all as a formidable passeur.
The circus has long been a passion and his interest for this singular form of live performance has led him to create costumes most notably Rainforest and Living Carousel for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, Salto Natale for Rolf Knie, Au pays des clowns for Cirque Phénix. He also created the costumes and the set designs of Barnum’s Kaleidoscape for Feld Entertainment as well as those of India for Prime Time Entertainment. Of late, working as an artistic scout and creative director, he contributed to the development of several projects for Dragone Entertainment Group. As such, he was artistic director and production designer for Odyseo, the Chemistry of Dreams celebrating the 150 years of the Solvay group, and for the Dai Show for Dragone Entertainment Group in Xishuangbanna in China. Last year, he was involved as production designer and artistic director for the creation of Era The Spirit of Shanghai in the Shanghai Circus World permanent building.
Alongside his work in design, Pascal acts as art consultant for the Européenne de Spectacles, artistic director for Cirque Phénix as well as for the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain. He is also lecturer in the history of the circus for the Montreal National Circus School and the Fratellini Academy in Saint-Denis.
By tirelessly collecting all things pertaining to the circus arts through the ages, he has worked as exhibition curator for many museums in Europe and in America, collaborating with many institutions such as the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and the Tohu in Montréal. He has published more than forty books as well as numerous articles dedicated to the circus, the zoo, and the opera, he also lectures on these topics.
He was born, lives and works notably in Paris.
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