Circus: Prints, Drawings, and Photographs illustrates the charms and thrills of this traveling entertainment during its heyday in Europe and America. The first modern circus appeared in London in 1768; another would debut in Newport, Rhode Island. Each offered equestrian feats. As the phenomenon grew, especially between 1850 and 1950, other animals, acrobats, clowns, and “freaks” were added. At RISD, James Tissot’s Ladies of the Chariots (circa 1883-85, above), renders circus mythology, while The Nightmare of the White Elephant (1947), by Henri Matisse, captures the dynamism of the center ring.
Circus Art
You might also like
Centralizing University Discipline
Harvard establishes new disciplinary procedures for campus protest violations.
Five Questions with JoAnn Manson
A veteran women’s health advocate on federal funding cuts
Doctors for Change
Countway Library exhibit explores historic anti-nuclear activism
Most popular
Explore More From Current Issue
The Trump Administration's Impact on Higher Education
Unprecedented federal actions against research funding, diversity, speech, and more
89664
Paper Peepshows at Harvard's Baker Library
How “paper peepshows” brought distant realms to life
89684