The American circus, which had its golden age in the late nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century, was known for all things bold and daring. From acrobats to clowns, tightrope walkers to jugglers to musicians, the circus had something in it for everyone. A notable identifier of the American circus’ golden age lies in its promotional materials, with the sensational illustrations and bold typeface of their classic poster designs. Thrills and Chills, features a dynamic grouping of these one-of-a-kind maquettes, made by anonymous illustrators between 1925 and 1940, which put on full view the unique blending of advertisement and the deep artistic potential within the world of classic circus posters.
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All works:
ca. 1925 - 40
Gouache on artist board
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Those who can remember back to the circus often do so with intense nostalgia — at its peak, the American Circus was an event equal to a high holiday, with jobs taking a day off and schools letting out early so that the people of the town could gather and watch as the big top was constructed for afternoon entertainment on the circus grounds. To think of such a spectacle now feels almost outlandish, distant. Where the maquettes of the Golden Age were made to highlight the surrealism of circus attractions, they now have an air of historic futurism, outlandish imaginings of the past. Upon viewing the illustrations, the audience is somehow at once too early and too late.
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Edited down from an extensive collection of posters and lithograph prints to the collection of original maquette paintings featured in Thrills and Chills, these unique artworks have arrived at Ricco/Maresca after a lifetime of obscurity. The practical, large-scale poster copies of the artworks have been lost with time, unpreserved due to their being wheat-pasted onto signage, utilized as advertising which then expired after the date of the circus, and which was therefore considered disposable. The only remainders of the true circus posters are the much smaller, original maquettes, which cannot convey the sheer proportions of the posters, but can speak to the artistry and grandeur of the circus advertising process.
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A defining aspect of the circus was its exhibition of human pride, and naturally accompanying this ambition, human shortcomings. The maquettes feature a variety of ambitious stunts and acts — from fast-paced horse racing to freefall acrobatics, lion taming to kangaroo boxing competitions, the circus was the ultimate venue to witness humankind accomplish the unimaginable. By witnessing a show that was manufactured to transcend the mundane and provide an alternative to everyday life, the audience member could feel a type of vicarious pride themself. However, the circus is no stranger to the pillars of dramatic performance, and where there is great drama there is great contrast. Alongside the brave and the mighty were the comical and the pathetic, the clowns with humiliated smiles and the cast-aside freakshows. To fully revel in our triumphs we must experience our shame, and this balance lended the circus, even in its golden age, a sinister edge.
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Wildlife is portrayed in these artworks as an outlandish spectacle, an object to incite both awe and fear in the viewer. In the maquettes, pearly white horses canter en masse, paradoxically tamed by their riders but wild in their dramatic racing and movement. Many paintings depict the horses in a circular carousel-esque formation, running wildly in a circle, an emblem of the exotic energy that exists within the circus’ confined walls. In other maquettes, tigers and lions roar with vibrant red mouths, lording over the top of the compositions in a threatening manner, suspended above delicately dressed acrobats and cowering mimes. Animals are used as an emblem of the circus’ exoticism and manufactured fantasy, painted in enticing, vibrant colors, visually characterized by their exoticism to make the performers’ taming of them even more surreal.
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The maquettes evoke a distinct period of American culture’s past, a markedly simpler time when entertainment depended on congregation and community, was less accessible and therefore more precious. Looking at the exhibition, it is not difficult to feel an intense loss over something one may have not even experienced; a longing for a time when amusement did not depend so heavily on screens or streaming devices. The paintings’ skies are often dark or beige or yellow, already reminiscent of vintage scenery, or a sun which has already set. Packed with bright primary colors and bold block letters, the maquettes are twentieth century americana distilled, and in their encapsulation of an era long gone, remind their audience of the deep-set histories that we leave behind.
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Carnival Clown (GW Beckett Maker, Lowestoft)
