Freak Show Art

Step right up! The show's about to begin with this mesmerizing, full color collection of outrageous banners from the heyday of traveling circus sideshows. See the giant Alaskan king crab! Marvel at the Bearded Lady! Look, if you dare, at the Dog-Faced Boy! Watch the Woman Changing to Stone! Circus sideshows from the turn of the century through the 1950s boasted unbelievable "freaks of nature," incredible transformations, and death defying acts—and the brazen banners that drew in the...
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Step right up! The show's about to begin with this mesmerizing, full color collection of outrageous banners from the heyday of traveling circus sideshows. See the giant Alaskan king crab! Marvel at the Bearded Lady! Look, if you dare, at the Dog-Faced Boy! Watch the Woman Changing to Stone! Circus sideshows from the turn of the century through the 1950s boasted unbelievable "freaks of nature," incredible transformations, and death defying acts—and the brazen banners that drew in the crowds were as colorful and intriguing as the lurid attractions themselves. For collectors and nostalgia buffs, as well as the merely curious, Freak Show celebrates this unique American commercial folk art phenomenon with vivid photographs of authentic banners highlighting the genre's most memorable examples, the artists who created them, and the unusual people and bizarre creatures they immortalized.