Painted Work
Banners, Showfronts and Early Painted Work
Art first entered the fairground on large banners which would be raised atop of various shows in order to advertise their wares. Banners were used because of their ability to be rolled up and thus easily transported and stored, which was vital due to their often large stature. These early banners were to set the tone for over a century of fairground art to follow; they routinely depicted the fantastic and the wondrous, all carefully calculated to entice the passer-by into taking a closer look.
Painted showfronts at Oxford St Giles
Attempts to offer a named history of this tradition inevitably fall short due to the lack of documentation regarding these early artists who worked on the fair. One name does present itself; a Mr Jack Kelly was described by Lord George Sanger in his autobiography as, 'artist in chief to all the showmen on the road,' though no more information on this figure is forthcoming. An alternate, more concrete lineage regarding the history of the painted banner can be found in its deployment by trade unions in the early decades of the Nineteenth-century, specifically in the work of one George Tutill.
Tutill set up a prolific banner making business in 1837 and was specifically noted for the banners he supplied for trade unionist movements. The purpose behind these banners echoed the purpose of those created for the fairground; that is as a, "form of public and popular art which could immediately communicate in visual terms at once familiar and elevated [ideals]." (Gorman, Banner Bright; An Illustrated History of Trade Union Banners) The work of figures such as Tutill exerted a great deal of influence over the early painted banners seen on the fair with regard to their choice and style of imagery.
As the Nineteenth-century entered its second half, improving road conditions and ease of travel led to the use of banners being outmoded by more permanent substantially framed show fronts, though the content and function of the paintings remained constant.
Extended banner front on an early Menagerie show.
Whether adorning a banner or a fixed and framed showfront, the content of early painted scenes seen on the fairground were often of historical or mythological descent. The tradition of the history painting, with its emphasis on heroic, monumental, passionate and often violent subject matter was not only esteemed in the Academies and Salons throughout Europe, but was also perfectly suited to the job of stirring the interest and excitement of the potential customer..
Origins of Classic 20th Century Fairground Art
Throughout the 20th Century painted work on the fairground took on a new dynamic and positioned itself at the forefront of fairground design and aesthetics. Its replacement of carving as a primary form of adornment arose partly through a mixture of the changing shape and technology of the fairground (this is fully covered in a separate article looking at drivers for change), partly through the changing function of art in society (also covered in a separate article) and finally through the development of allegorical aspects of the fair moving from agricultural to urban.
Writer Starsmore suggests that the fair "must contain the dreams and true mythological character of the age to which it belongs" and notes this shift over the last part of the 19th Century from agricultural roots to more urban forms. This would encompass manufacturers such as Savages of King's Lynn who were based in the agricultural sector alongside the general allegorical reference points of the fair in terms of aspirations and simulations moving from hunting and countryside travelling to more raucous pursuits rooted in an emergent new mix of urban-centred popular culture. By the middle of the 20th Century rock'n'roll had enveloped popular culture and the fairground, and imagery came thick and fast from the iconography of films, comics and music.
Rock'n'roll defines the style...
The function of escaping reality is thus constant, but its expression shifts. Again, Starsmore suggests a constant system of reference by using toymaking as analogy in the following way: "A ride is like a giant toy, made to create a kind of waking dream, in which everything is out of scale... developed in unique and distinctive styles free from any aesthetic code, with unusual and sensational parodies of movements and forces." Starsmore's earlier recourse to dreams also allows the newer forms of expression (painted art) to sit alongside the 'classical' aspects of design (carving) and inter-mix in close proximity - for the best dreams are renowned for having no logic of temporality.
Development of specific forms of painted work (figurative themes, lettering and pattern) are covered in dedicated articles with attached galleries and case studies. The consideration of fairground artists within the fluctuating relationship between art and society in the 20th Century is discussed in a further article, which includes reference to the important role of advertising in the 1950s. The remainder of this article looks at key events and artists that contributed towards making some of the most incredible and under-acclaimed art ever seen in Great Britain.
Chronology of Famous Artists
The prominent fairground artists of the 20th Century were incredible to behold, yet operated below the radar of critical acclaim and recognition. Their art is described as a merging point of popular art and commercial art, with an overriding aim to encapsulate the movement and feeling of the fairground machines. These artists would see this need to represent movement and thrill as a kind of 'advertising brief' in the way that product design and advertisement worked with an essential 'hook'. It is from this juncture that the fairground greats such as Fred Fowle, Edwin Hall and the Howell family emerge.
The Scenics and Switchbacks that occupied central positions on the fairs at the turn of the Century were a mix of ornate carved work on both the exterior and interior, with lavish painting to complement the carved excesses. The faster round rides initiated by the 'Ark' at the start of the 1930s is seen as pivotal in the development of fairground art. Key artists at Orton and Spooner (the Howell family) and Lakin (Billy and son Edwin Hall) began to step up the quality and diversity of figurative work and the associated embedding of lettering and pattern. Within Orton and Spooner, what had essentially been a trompe l'oeil tradition utilised on the Scenics was replaced by Howell's take on modernity and brightness with the first Arks emerging from the company. Sunburst and deco patterns flourished partly due to the tightening financial climate, whereby it was cheaper to pay lesser qualified and experienced artists to fill in panels with pattern rather than scenery. Similarly, when the post-war depression lifted the industry once again saw a return to more figurative work around the perimeters of the rides. 'Sid' Howell had been painting since the age of 13 and was quickly installed as an influential figure at Orton and Spooner, primarily through his talent to not only paint but to manipulate and design.
Howell's modernity in a tidy, functional manner.
A survivng example showing the rich and imaginative colour scheme.
Edwin Hall and the artists at Lakins were responding to trends in graphic and commercial design, which in themselves were reflecting interests in the rectilinear designs of art-deco. The commercial designers, and in pursuit the fairground artists, quickly utilised the art-deco style to signify speed and modernity. Interestingly it is said that Edwin Hall later regretted pioneering the use of such imagery as it contributed to the rapid decline of the scenic tradition. However, reappropriation and alteration of commercial material produced some incredible results that chimed with the public and showmen. Within this practice strange imagery cropped up - the return to using classical images of gods such as Mercury was brought about by such images being adopted by the advertising and branding campaigns of 1940s motor car companies. This was followed by Waltzer machines influenced by Harry Weedon's designs for the Odeon cinemas, and lettered as 'Ultra Modern Thrillers'. In 1948 Hall teamed up with Fred Fowle, a Lakin painter whose routine had been interupted by being drafted in to the war effort. A devastating partnership was about to commence...
The futurism of Odeon and Art deco styles makes an alluring fairground impression.
Fred Fowle is often seen as the most innovative and skilled artist within the fairground tradition and was soon nicknamed 'Futuristic Fred' amongst the staff at Lakins, his first employer. From the onset Fowle was engrossed with the popular culture of the time, active in a dance band formed with fellow workers in the factory, and an avid cinema goer. The early days of the partnership between Hall and Fowle is said to be such that Fowle often sought out Hall for the confidence to take chances and execute ideas onto painted form, however Fowle learnt to have the confidence to follow his visions in his quiet and methodical way. It is interesting how often in his interviews he comes across as incredibly understated. Fowle makes constant reference to the importance of the all-pervasive advertising media and how he can observe, collate and recycle a montage of the everyday - taking elements that are purely 'natural' such as the colour of a soothing sunset sky or the marbling within the Natural History Museum alongside elements from popular and advertising culture that are designed to sink into the subconscious.
Fowle's work merges his distinct distinct interests and themes under the guise of further replicating the thrill and movement of the fairground machine to create something wholly original - this is where he was so successful, at the top of his game, creating something that, upon seeing, made the viewer almost brace their body in anticipation of riding. In an interview for what was a rare ocassion - the exhibition of fairground art in a public gallery at Whitechapel in 1977 - Fowle describes his working methods as "An accumulation of what you see outside, nothing escapes me that is effective, its like pinching something really although you put it in another guise. I'll see something outside in the commercial world "bang" that's it... lots of things hit me that probably wouldn't hit a normal person.". This reference to a 'normal person' is one of the only times that Fowle alludes to his qualities and skills in a possibly exceptional stance - his overarching self description is forever understated and muted. Likewise analysis of difference between generic 'art' and fairground art tend to hinge on the notion of craftsmanship that infuses the fairground artist - a tradition taken from the early days of carving, but a tradition that seemingly departed the generic art world in place of the pursuit of genius and (in later cases) the self-analysis of genius through post-modern practices. However, it is evident that certain fairground artists have a streak of genius, even if they struggle to accept this themsleves. Fowle's choice of words - that he is different to a normal person - is typical of his modest approach to describing himself and his talents. He thrives on coming across as a archetypical craftsman and regular working class sort. In his list of influences and interests he never talks about an interest in art movements of the time, or in visits to galleries, the closest thing being a mention of a visit (or visits) to the Natural History Museum to be drawn in by the lavish marbling on display. Fowle's love of architecural mouldings and cornices bordered on obsession - intrigued and in admiration for the illusory extension of space.
Re-used imagery and function combine to devastating effect.
Evidence of 'Futuristic Fred'.
Fowle is most comfortable talking about the commercial world and his uncanny relationship with it, being able to sift, sort and observe the fine details of a product promoting device, and to repurpose it in what he describes as 'experimentation'. His infatuation with 3-d forms, pioneered by experimental films and comic books, infused much of his work as he developed his own signature style. Fowle's work had an incredible 3-d quality that befitted the tradition of mimicing the motion and thrill of the machine, in simple terms, adding another dimension to it. He saw a parallel with the pop-art movement, since Fowle was unashamed to re-work and celebrate the images of packaging that would greet you from the top of the breakfast table or grocer's window.
Fowle's interest in 3-d lettering forms transferred to the fair.
The 'Rocketdrome' combines influence from popular culture themes and styles.
From Fowle and his new tradition stemmed a new flow of artists, buoyed by Fowle's gregarious attitude and willingness to convey the fairground art tradition and his advancement of it. Meanwhile north of the border the manufacturing company Maxwells was using figurative specialist Sid Farmer who had a penchant for painting incredible scenes of party and festivity. It is said that a visit to the 1959 Olympia Fair saw a change in direction for the artists at Maxwells, as a more 'Fowle-styled' approach was followed using his newly produced 'atomic' patterns. Sid Farmer was replaced by Andrew Eastern, and this slightly younger painter was keyed into the cultural and sub-cultural trends of the time - his work integrating the trends from psychedelia and then disco. Derbyshire artist Pete Tate developed Fowle's work further, using airbrushed bubble patterns, silvered and gold lettering 'custom decor', and the famous 'Tate' worm which evolves from the tradition of patterned scrolling monopolising any shape or space.
Tate's 'Custom Decor' explored metallic lettering in the fairground art tradition.
The final years of the Maxwell aesthetic developed by Andrew Eastern.
This tradition of painted work served the era of the fast and futuristic round ride particularly well. These type of rides dominated the fair from the mid 1930s up until the 1980s. The advancement of more skeletal and mechanical thrill rides began around the 1950s and only really blossomed through the 1980s. The scope for and use of painted artwork became more difficult and elusive, though stalwarts like Fowle and his followers created innovating designs in the smallest and most obscure of spaces, taking a further leaf out of the longstanding relationship with advertising and commercial design culture. Though any fair can be seen as a dream-like distemporal mix of styles, incorporating carved and early painted styles alongside a living selection of the tangent of classic painted styles, a new aesthetic based on the futuristic material finish of the thrill machines began to emerge. From this brief interlude of the painted tradition a new era and a new style of airbrushed art followed, though its voracious engagement with popular culture (now shifting at an incredible rate) remained constant to the tradition of classic fairground art exemplified by Fred Fowle.
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