The exhibit is the first major show in 100 years of works by Merton Clivette. (photo courtesy of the Denenberg Gallery)

The Denenberg Gallery in West Hollywood presents “The Art of the Great Clivette” running through March 1.

Merton Clivette (1868-1931) was highly regarded in his lifetime as a man of many talents with varied careers. He was an acrobat, juggler, astrologer, reporter, magician and author until 1910, when he devoted himself to painting. Settling in Greenwich Village in the first decade of the 20th century, a few blocks from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’s first studio and museum, Clivette was known as “The Man in Black,” a sobriquet from his vaudeville days. He left home at age 12 to join a traveling circus, performing as an acrobat and magician, and eventually moving to San Francisco and briefly Seattle.

Clivette worked as a quick sketch artist for newspapers including the San Francisco Call. In 1891, he changed his act for the vaudeville stage, and with his wife, Catherine Parker Chamberlin (Clivette), toured the United States and Europe on the Orpheum Circuit and with Buffalo Bill’s “Wild West Circus!”

An active participant in the New York art world, he was a member of the Society of Independent Artists and held many exhibitions in the 1920s in New York and Europe. In 1930, the year before his death at age 63, he was included in the New York’s Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition “Painting and Sculpture by Living Americans.”

The Denenberg Gallery’s exhibition from the Clivette estate is the first major show of the extraordinary artist’s work in nearly 100 years. It coincides with the release of author Michael MacBride’s fictional autobiography “The Great Clivette,” which is available for purchase.

The Denenberg Gallery is located at 417 N. San Vicente Blvd. Viewing is available by appointment. Call (415)828-8600, email gallery@denenbergfinearts.com or visit denenbergfinearts.com.