The Victorian Fairground and Menageries

A menagerie is a form of keeping common and exotic animals in captivity that preceded the modern zoo. The term was first used in seventeenth century France in reference to the management of household or domestic stock. Later, it came to be used primarily in reference to aristocratic or royal animal collections. The French-language "Methodical Encyclopaedia" of 1782 defines a menagerie as an "establishment of luxury and curiosity." Later on, the term referred also to travelling animal collections that exhibited wild animals at fairs across Europe and the Americas.

In the Victorian period there was a boom in fairground attractions and menageries. Boxing shows, 'Freak shows', ghost trains and carousels were all part of the magic of the olden day fairground. This occurred at the same time as an increasing interest in the visual arts. The rides, art work and displays of the fair grounds became very ornate as photographed below. 

Dentzel and Carousel History

During the early 1800's the Dentzel Carousel Company, not yet so named, began as a winter occupation at Michael Dentzel's southern German wagonmaking shop. He sent his son Gustav with a full sized carousel on a sailing steamer to America in the 1850's. In Philedelphia PA Gustav established a cabinetmaking and carouselmaking business, the carousel business flourished. Many immigrating European fine woodworkers were hired by the Dentzel company. Gustav's two sons, William and Edward, continued the business building large elegant galloping carousels for many locations in the USA. Edward relocated to southern California in the 1920's to set-up and operate carousels. In 1927, with William's death, the company folded, much of it was sold to the Philedalphia Tobaggan Company.


Edward's son William 2nd, born in Santa Monica, became a lawyer and raised a family in the San Fernando Valley. Later in life he too answered the carouselmaker's call to carve animals and make several small carousels. His son William 3rd worked on wooden sailboats and during travels in his  20's and built his first carousel in Chiapas, Mexico at 30. After some more boat work and a wood carving visit to Quebec he moved to Port Townsend WA where he and his wife Penny raised three children. Upon William 2nd's death in 1991, William 3rd took on the joyful challenge and task of fitting the Dentzel Carousel Company into the age of computers. Simple 10 rider wooden carousels with hand-crank, foot-pedal and electric powered mechanisms have become the style chosen to carry the craft into the 21st century.

The name CAROUSEL comes from the Italian CAROSELLO or "little war", a game brought back from the crusades involving clay balls of scented water thrown between galloping horsemen in a ring.

In the sixteenth century the French called the game carrousel and turned it into a magnificent spectacle of fancy dress and horsemanship.
Keep in mind that the best carousels were found in America, not Europe. The immigrant craftsmen wanted to make sure that their work reflected their dreams of what coming to America meant. The true American spirit was seen in the unique and free-flowing styles of the horses created in America. The brass rings that were on the horses on the older carousels were present so that people could try to grab in order to get a free ride. Today the brass rings are mostly gone. Riders are treated to this fun in a few places. Usually the most decorative are the horses that face the public. This is referred to as the "˜romance side'. The horse that is on the outside directly behind the chariot is referred to as the "˜lead (King) horse'. These are considered the fanciest on the ride. The benches for people who do not want to hold the reins are called lover's seats. These are also referred to as "˜chariots (gondolas)'.


The menagerie carousels by Dentzel contained animals both mythical and unexpected such as camels, zebra and the less exotic pig!






Horses on the carousel were excessively decorative with carved wooden flowers, golden detailing and bright painted patterns.

Sampling

I felt it would be interesting to develop my sampling in a non-digital way to see which I preferred, so I began by creating a collar shape out of plain cotton and painting a horse character with inks. I then quilted the horse using special machine quilting needles and black cotton thread.

I need to work on this further with embellishments and non-flat colour. I do like the use of stitched words to echo the narrative of the piece. In this case 'round and round we go'.

I think to explore the non-digital ways of creating a character/ accessory piece I could sublimation print various textures such as laces etc onto fabrics as well as actually quilting and embroidering to create layers.  Within my drawings I use small dots to build shape and texture but I could replace this in a non digital sample with small circles of machine stitch, beading and sequins or French knots.

Drawing Workshop

Today we did a group drawing session which involved trying to work differently to how you normally would or developing your individual style(which I think I have finally found!)

I started by drawing a fairground horse on canvas trying to work in a larger scale than I would normally. I found that the boundaries of the canvas are to rigid so I am going to try and develop extensions of my drawings off of the 'paper'. 

Today Grainne said that I can afford for my work to be gestural and a bit crazy with colour and movement. I can see that my work is almost an extension of my personality, my loves and my personal style.  This is interesting to consider within the context of my research report where I am looking at makers who use their work as an extension of themselves. I definitely fit into this sort of making category. I find it hard to hold back with colour and detail and I don't think this is something I should try and do anymore, I just need to go with what my hands do!

I really enjoy using bleach within my work because it's a good cure to soften my colours when I sometimes get carried away. It is a wonderful way of illuminating areas of an illustration and therefore creating an ethereal, magical quality. 

The bleach sometimes burns through papers and rather than panicking I found that it was best to go with what the material was doing, so if it wanted to rip and curl I incorporated this into the imagery. This texture adds to the collage/layered feel of my work. I find that this then directly relates to the freehand machine stitch and almost sculptural sort of embellishment within my sampling.

Initial Drawings

From my photographs I have been exploring drawing methods and subject matter.

I like the idea of the story of the fairground/ vintage fairground so I did some research on my Pinterest into the old fashioned carousel animals. I am drawn to drawing animals and it seems I need to explore this further.

www.pinterest.com/bethy666

The drawing method I find most productive for me is a layered approach of mixed media such as pen, ink, stitch and bleach. I then like to take this further with stand out, fun elements such as glitter and sequins.

The freehand machine stitch works well as a fluid continuous line within a drawing. It lends itself well to my drawings of the swing because it portrays movement.

The pen continuous line drawing doesn't work as well for me. It looks toot rigid and colouring book like. It lacks the softness of the stitch.

The inks are easily blend-able and I like that they are a bit stronger than watercolour yet can still be softened.

My favourite material to work on is canvas roll as it has the foldable and fragile elements of paper combined with the weave of a fabric, making it strong to both sew and draw on.

Over the holidays I have collected more materials such as WOW glitters which are made of fine dust. This gives the glitter fun appeal without looking as childish!

Now for initial development ...

Fairground

This Summer I went to Great Yarmouth. In general I'm not a massive can of the place but the thing I absolutely loved was the vintage carousel.

The faded pastel colours, the mirror tiles, the ornate paint work, the beautiful swans all combined to make this elegant piece of musical artwork.

These photos are the initial inspiration for my projects this year.