Item Details:

ARMLESS & LEGLESS ARTIST SIDESHOW BANNER

FRED G. JOHNSON (1851-1912)

FIRST HALF OF THE 20th CENTURY

Original Period Paintedf Canvas Banner

Edition: a one-of-a-kind work

Publisher: O. Henry Tent & Awning Company, Chicago, IL. (1934-1974)

Paint on Canvas

Size:  112 x 90 in; 284.5 x 228.6 cm

Signed: Lower right

Sideshow and circus banners first appeared in Europe during the early 1800s. Hung outside shows or booths, they served the same function as that of decorative shop signs, advertising the contents within. At the height of their popularity from the 1870s to the late 1960s, sideshow banners were strung up at carnivals and traveling shows throughout the world. Early circuses routinely used brightly painted ones to lure paying customers to their quirky sideshows of freaks and curiosities – snake charmers, sword swallowers, two-headed babies and five-legged cows were some of the exaggerated attractions offered for 'your shock and amazement for just five cents!'. Circus banners were usually about 8 feet (2.4 m) high, but commissions could be any size. Fred G. Johnson (January 1892, Chicago, Illinois – 11 May 1990, Sun City, Arizona) was a prolific sideshow banner artist whose career spanned 65 years. His banner paintings were displayed at the Chicago World's Fair of 1933, called A Century of Progress, and by circuses such as Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey, and Clyde Beatty. He has been called the "Picasso" of circus art. Working for United States Tent & Awning Co. of Chicago was hired by banner painter Harry Carlton Cummins to clean equipment and tack up banners. Cummins also taught him to paint banners, though he never received any formal art training. Johnson resumed working for the United States Tent & Awning Co. after World War I, producing banners for owners Walter and Charles Driver between 1921 and 1930. On average, he turned out four a day. He also painted the side-panels on circus trailers and merry-go-rounds.

Private collection