This important work was painted when Dallaire was only 7 months into his job at the National Film Board in Ottawa. He considered the day job as a necessity to earn a livelihood in order to support his young family but was anxiously looking for the freedom to paint full time. Guy Robert in Dallaire ou l’oeil panique aptly describes Dallaire's circumstances and his efforts, seemingly in desperation, to find financial support to allow him to dedicate more time to his own art. [1] Unable to secure any grants, in March of ‘53 Dallaire did have a painting accepted for the Spring show at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, later the same year followed by representation at the Biennale in Sao Paulo along with Borduas and others. In the spring of 1954 Dr. Stern’s Dominion Gallery had a large exhibition of 54 Dallaires. In recognition that Dallaire considered Picasso “the phenom of the century” [2] it should not be a surprise that the subject matter of the Saltimbanque should find a palace in his oeuvre. There is a large gouache, La Folle of 1952 [3] and Clown, an oil of 1953 [4] which are examples of Dallaire’s explorations in Picasso's imagery of the circus and the realm of emotions it can express.


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Footnotes:
1. Guy Robert, Dallaire ou l’œil panique (Montreal: France-Amérique, 1980), p.111
2. Ibid., p.107
3.Ibid., p.244
4. Ibid., p.111