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The Adam Forepaugh & Sells Brothers. America's shows consolidated. Representative riders of every class and country ...

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The Adam Forepaugh & Sells Brothers. America's shows consolidated. Representative riders of every class and country ...

description

Summary

Circus posters showing thirteen performers in various costumes on horseback.
Copyright by the Courier Litho. Co., Buffalo.
No. 2916.

Circus performers, shows, posters and lithographs. Modern travelling circus started in the early 1800s. Circus advertising used to draw crowds - there were only one or two performances per circus stop. Many ads were simple woodblock prints mentioning the name of the circus, the price of admission. Later, in the early 20th century, colorful, fanciful custom designs of leaping animals, clowns, and ringmasters became standard for circus posters.

Alois Senefelder, the inventor of lithography, introduced the subject of colored lithography in 1818. Printers in other countries, such as France and England, were also started producing color prints. The first American chromolithograph—a portrait of Reverend F. W. P. Greenwood—was created by William Sharp in 1840. Chromolithographs became so popular in American culture that the era has been labeled as "chromo civilization". During the Victorian times, chromolithographs populated children's and fine arts publications, as well as advertising art, in trade cards, labels, and posters. They were also used for advertisements, popular prints, and medical or scientific books.

date_range

Date

01/01/1900
place

Location

create

Source

Library of Congress
copyright

Copyright info

Public Domain

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circuses and shows
circuses and shows