Step right up! The show's about to begin with this mesmerizing, full color collection of outrageous banners from the heyday of traveling circus sideshows. See the giant ?Alaskan king crab! Marvel at the Bearded Lady! Look, if you dare, at the Dog-Faced Boy! Watch the Woman Changing to Stone! Circus sideshows from the turn of the century through the 1950s boasted unbelievable "freaks of nature," incredible transformations, and death defying acts -- and the brazen banners that drew in the crowds were as colorful and intriguing as the lurid attractions themselves. For ?collectors and nostalgia buffs, as well as the merely curious, Freak Show celebrates this unique American commercial folk art phenomenon with vivid photographs of authentic banners highlighting the genre's most memorable ?examples, the artists who created them, and the unusual people and bizarre creatures they immortalized.
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Gideon Bosker is an Oregon based author, photographer, and connoisseur of popular culture whose many books include Freak Show, and Fabulous Fabrics of the 50s.
Carl Hammer owns a gallery specializing in "outsider art" in Chicago. This is his first book.
Carl Hammer owns a gallery specializing in "outsider art" in Chicago. This is his first book.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Definitive and Fun Guide to Circus Sideshow Banner Art!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Freak Show: Sideshow Banner Art (Paperback)
This terrific book celebrates the (now) lost world of Circus Sideshow banner art. This book includes illustrations for such classic Circus Sideshow acts as the Alligator-Skin Girl, the Amazing Eeka, the Sword Swallower, the Rubber-Skin Man, and, of course, everybody's favorite cover girl, Sweet Marie, the world-renowned Fat Lady. This book also includes biographical information about the artists who created these amazing works of folk art such as Snap Wyatt, Johnny Meah, Fred Johnson, and Jack Cripe. This book is a surprisingly serious treatment of this little-known corner of the folk art world. (The authors convincingly link various visual elements in the sideshow banners to 17th Century Flemish portrait painting and Japanese wood-block prints!) This is a really fun book that every folk art fan will really love. The book contains 70 color illustrations and a total of 35 pages of essays. Incidentally, although I bought this book because of my interest in folk art, this book will also certainly appeal to circus enthusiasts and collectors of circus memorabilia.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Side-show Banner Art Expert,
By lynne bailey (chgo, il United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Freak Show: Sideshow Banner Art (Paperback)
This dealer wrote the definitive book on banner art and artists. If you plan on collecting banners, you must read this book.
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