I promised more from Carters Steam Fair, and these wooden horses do the trick. One of the now rare places where genuine popular art can still be seen, the traditional fairground gives up many treasures in handcrafted decoration. Noel Carrington and Clarke Hutton's King Penguin English Popular Art gives many superb examples from canal boats to gypsy caravans, and I expect the often itinerant artists would be just at ease painting a merry-go-round horse as the odd inn sign. Carrington thinks that fairground horses 'have something too of the medieval knight's charger or lady's palfrey as seen in paintings of the sixteenth century' and mentions that King's Lynn in Norfolk was once a principle centre for circus and fair outfitting. And how often do we say "That horse has got my name on it?". A closer look at this picture revealed that in my case one of them certainly has.
12 comments:
Wot - is your name Seth? That name always conjures up the star-struck son in Cold Comfort Farm. Off now to do some scrattling down at Nettle Flitch....
Oh, WTHW, can you not see Ashley snorting around in the background, exercising his inquisitive eye and quivering nostril?
Re popluar art, two other good books, both by the intrepid Margaret Lambert and Enid Marx, are English Popular Art (Batsford) and English Popular and Traditional Art (Collins Britain in PIctures series). Both touch on carousel horses.
Does anyone know why English carousels go round in a different direction to those on the continent?
WTHW also try Carousel Horses, A Photographic Celebration by Sherrell S. Anderson, ISBN 1-902616-73-1 published in 2000.
We were lucky at the Nottingham Goose Fair a couple of weeks ago to have a steam powered carousel AND a cakewalk.
Oh Crikey, I should have known to peer into the shadows where Peter was concerned! Scrattling denied!
Many thanks Peter for the reference to the King Penguin book which is now firmly on my Christmas list.
I was always under the impression that the early inspiration for canal art,was the work of Lithuanian Romanies who were camped on Whixall Moss when the Llangollen Canal was being dug nearby.
Up until the end of commercial traffic on the canals it was possible to identify the boatyard where an individual example of such decoration came from : Nurser of Banbury,Frank Jones of Leighton Buzzard, and and the Polesworth variants which I think were up around your way.
Fascinating stuff.
Oh yes! Carter's Steam Fair is a sight to see and a pleasure to hear. You've captured those gallopers beautifully Mr.A. I always wanted one for home - just to look at, sadly they're now beyond my reach. I never knew the canal art theory Bucks - fascinating.
And another thing.......(oh,Gawd! [Ed]).I`ve just remembered another romany/canal link: Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones allegedly came from a canal family and harbours a passion for Romany waggons.Ref:www.GypsyWaggons.co.uk
Also...see Dave, of Chas and Dave...retired to spend more time with his Gypsy wagons. Also see Roger Daltrey, another lover of Fairground art. I like these connections.
You and me both, JD.
If I may just quote His Satanic Majesty :
"It`s only Rock 'n Roll,but I like it".
Seems to sum it all up quite nicely!
No one seems absolutely sure how canal art started. Originally just on the 'Number Ones' (the independent boat owners), one theory is that it's likely some designs were adapted from the decorations on china picked up from The Potteries in Staffordshire.
There is the collection of British Folk Art at Compton Verney in Warwickshire, it is a while since I have been so I cannot remember if it has much on canal art/fairgrounds/gypsy wagons and decoration on other carts and wagons.
Some of the smaller road haulage firms still favour lettering which goes back to this tradition of decorated vehicles.
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