https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4807-4458
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ABSTRACT
In this paper I consider two nearly-forgotten artistic practices: that of British painter Thérèse Lessore (1884–1945) and the annual World’s Fair Circus held in Islington, London which she painted on several occasions in the 1920s and 30s. Despite Lessore’s significant output and the positive critical attention her artwork received during her lifetime, her career has been overshadowed by that of her second husband, the prominent British impressionist Walter Sickert. Both artists shared an interest in watching, drawing and painting popular entertainments, and even before they were married they frequently attended music halls, theatres and circuses together to gain inspiration for their work. From 1927 to 1934, the couple became regular attendees at the annual World’s Fair circus, which Lessore went on to depict in several paintings. Dating back to 1883, the World’s Fair, with its circus, animal menagerie, rides, and other novelties, brought the splendour of the summer fair into the Christmas period where it was sheltered from the winter elements by the glass and iron ceiling of the Royal Agricultural Hall. Despite its longevity and popularity, little has been written about the fair and the circuses it hosted. This paper begins the work of contextualising Lessore’s paintings and, in the process, recuperating a circus tradition that held significance for thousands of Londoners across the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. Both artists knew Islington well, having lived, worked and/or socialised in the London borough previously.
2. Verified by the World’s Fair circus programmes held in the Sickert Family Collection.
3. See London Group (Citation1920) and (Citation1924). Unfortunately, the location of these paintings is not known.
4. Lessore’s father Jules was the son of French porcelain artist Emilé-Aubert Lessore. Jules moved permanently to England in 1871 where he continued to work as an artist.
5. Lessore’s siblings were also creative: her brother was an assistant to Rodin, while her sister illustrated manuscripts.
6. For instance, her friend and fellow artist Margaret Lilly would later recall that Lessore ‘[…] spoke seldom and when she did it was to talk about painting’ (Lilly Citation1971, 113).
7. The London Group is a modern art society formed in 1913 by the merger of two other arts groups: the Camden Town Group and the Fitzroy Street Group. Although strongly associated with modernism in Britain, the organisation remains a genre and style-free organisation dedicated to providing opportunities for professional artists to showcase their art. For further information, see: Baron, The Camden Town Group, Citation1979 and Dickson & McDougall, Citation2013.
8. Lessore had five paintings displayed in the first exhibition, including: Chartes, The Cat and Washer Women (London Group Citation1914).
9. He would later write, in 1918, that he first became aware of Lessore’s work at a 1913 Allied Artists Exhibition. In particular, he was struck by her painting Market Day at Amiens, a painting which has now been lost (Sickert Citation2000a, 429).
10. The appropriation of popular sources in modernism is well documented. See also: Juan A. Suarez, Pop Modernism (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, Citation2007), p. 3; Jeffrey Weiss, The Popular Culture of Modern Art: Picasso, Duchamp and Avant-Gardism (New Haven: Yale University Press, Citation1994), pp. xvi-xvii.
11. As an example, see Elise on Hassan (1929).
12. See Comedy Riders (1953).
13. Knight acknowledges that Swallow’s Circus at the Royal Agricultural Hall was one of the first she drew in 1920. See Knight (Citation1936, 239).
14. She travelled with Great Carmo’s and Bertram Mill’s combined tour in the 1929–1930 season. See Knight (Citation1936, 321–368).
15. See Willats, 1974 for a detailed account of the building’s history.
16. The Deadwood coach scene consisted of a stagecoach attacked by a fictional Native American tribe.
17. In another account of Swallow’s history written in the Circus Friend’s Association’s periodical, King Pole, Hal Thomson suggests the name of the circus was inspired by Broncho Bill Anderson, one of the first cinematic representations of the Bronco Bill figure (Thomas Citation1980, 5). This is certainly suggested by the chosen spelling of ‘Broncho’, which is the same as Anderson’s cinematic character, as opposed to the real-life outlaw, William ‘Bronco Bill’ Walters (1869–1921).
18. Interestingly, Lessore painted Salt and Saucy and exhibited the artwork in a London Group exhibition held from 5–26 June 1926 (London Group Citation1926). A partial programme held in the Sickert Family Collection also comes from a Broncho Bill show and includes Salt and Saucy, the Mizumo Troupe and the spectacular stage coach finale described here by Thomas (Broncho Bill Citationn.d.). The existence of this painting and the partial programme confirms that Lessore was familiar with Swallow’s work even before her regular attendance at the New World’s Fair circuses between 1927 and 1934.
19. All of the listed paintings, and others by Lessore, can be found here: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/view_as/grid/search/keyword:therese-lessore/page/3
20. See New World’s Fair Official Programmes for 1930–1930 and 1933–34, respectively.
21. A photograph of Wassilona appearing in the programmes however suggests that her act did not involve a ballerina costume, but something altogether more exotic (silk trousers, top and feathers). Visually, then, she is not a match.
22. It could also be Clown’s Vaulting, the painting shown at the 1926 London Group exhibition; but as there are no details about the size or detail of that painting, this is difficult to verify.
23. Another note in the programme, pinned to one of the inside pages, indicates that the price of The Daredevils was to be £170. It is unclear whether it sold for this much or that was the suggested price. The painting is now in the collection at the Hastings Museum and Art Gallery.
24. Lambert performed with the trio until 1946, after which the Forgeurs’ son, Fernand, who would have been five years old when the couple performed with Swallow’s circus, assumed the third place in the act.
25. This is a balletic dance duet. In a circus context, it is usually an equestrian act involving humans dancing with or on the backs of horses.
26. A cropped but clearer version of this image was re-printed in The Sphere on 7 January 1933 when Lulu and Harry were performing with Bertram Mill’s circus at London Olympia. See Amphitheatrical, 1932, p. 19.
27. George and Florence Stephenson tightrope walkers and appeared in Bertram Mill’s circus between 1947 and 1951. The siblings also appear in the 1947 film Circus Boy.
28. Although it is possible to trace through newspapers a Transfield-Stephenson circus lineage dating back to the nineteenth century. The union of the two families seems to have occurred around 1904 or 1905. A joint advertisement taken out by Harry Stephenson and Florrie Transfield in The Era on 28 October 1905 advertising their skills as a classical bareback rider (Harry), Florrie’s ‘wonderful animal act’, and a clown act (Transfield Citation1905, 26).
29. Both the 1931–32 and 1932–33 programmes are missing from the Sickert Family Collection.
30. As this suggests, while the performers changed out each season, the character and curation of Swallow’s circus was similar from year to year. Because of this, and the limited material available on many of the circus acts that appeared in Swallow’s Circus during this period, pinpointing the specific performers depicted in Lessore’s often generically titled paintings will continue to be a challenge.
31. Rosaire’s Circus, which was managed by ‘Count’ Fred Rosaire, toured Britain from the early 1930s until the late 1950s. For a good account of Rosaire’s, see Croft-Cooke (Citation1950).
32. The full title of this painting is Circus at Bath, Mr Barratt and Patch. It is held in the collection at Dundee Art Galleries and Museums.
33. As the two programmes for Rosaire’s Circus held in the Sickert Family Collection confirm.
34. Madame Clara is one of only a few women in Britain to ever own and manage their own circus. According to her daughter’s obituary in The Telegraph in 2001, her family circus prospered during the Second World War, finally ending in 1949. Her daughter, also named Clara, was a well-known ballerina rider and revived the Paulo Circus in 1983; it ran for a decade (Clara Paulo Citation2001).
35. He was outlived by his famous performing elephants, Salt and Saucy, by several years. An article in King Pole by Swallow’s son in 1952, indicates that Salt passed away on 5 October of that year at the age of 67. Saucy, at that point, still lived, although Swallow speculated that ‘After being together for over 60 years and never parted for a day, it is doubtful if Saucy will long survive its friend and partner’ (Swallow Citation1952, 24).
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Jason Price
Jason Price is a Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Theatre and Performance and the Head of Drama at the University of Sussex in Brighton, United Kingdom. His research is concerned with the relationships and intersections between visual art, performance, politics and popular culture. In his book, Modern Popular Theatre (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), he traces the evolution of the concept of the popular since the Industrial Revolution, drawing on a range of international theatre and performance makers. As well as popular performance history, he has also published articles on live art, site-specific performance and painting in many periodicals, including Contemporary Theatre Review, Early Popular Visual Culture and Comedy Studies.