Fairground Art

Description

The imaginative, often bizarre decorations that enliven fairgrounds, amusement parks and carnivals have a never-ending appeal to the popular imagination. Stunning carved and painted carousel horses, sinister mechanical targets, terrifying rides and alluring freak show banners are among the many wildly ornamented devices that use sex, horror and humour to entice fairground visitors to sample their wares. Fairground Art is the first book ever to thoroughly reveal the fascinating history of this unique art form. Featuring over 1,100 illustrations more than 700 in extravagant colour it has been described by the Los Angeles Herald Examiner as a magical delight and by the Financial Times as a dazzling tour-de-force of riotous colourwhich must now be considered the definitive workAn indispensable guide for dealers and collectors. Based on years of research, travel and photography by authors Geoff Weedon and Richard Ward, Fairground Art traces the development of amusement park imagery from the primitive fairs of the nineteenth century through the Art Deco neon wonders of the 1930s to the slick high-tech attractions that prevail today. Also chronicled are the little-known histories of the myriad craftsmen and artists who created these dynamic works. The result is an irresistible journey through a strange and appealing netherworld of midways and merry-go-rounds, waxworks and horror shows.

Geoff Weedon and Richard Ward devoted many years of research to photographing and cataloguing the work of fairground artists as well as investigating the histories of both the craftsmen and their creations alike.