Images from the World Between: The Circus in 20th Century American Art - Softcover

Donna Gustafson is Chief Curator of Exhibitions at the American Federation of Arts in New York City.

The ethereal chink between reality and fantasy, prosaic and performed, and mundane and metaphorical once again reveals itself in this perceptive work, another entry in the swelling list of circus titles. This visually splashy tome accompanies an eponymous traveling art exhibition curated by Gustafson, director of exhibitions at the Hunterdon Museum of Art and former chief curator of exhibitions at the American Federation of Arts. Gustafson's trenchant text illuminates the history of the American circus using over 90 paintings, prints, photographs, and other more contemporary media such as video and installations. The rest of the volume is given to four essays by noted curators and academics that examine specific aspects (e.g., Karal Ann Marling's "Clowns with Bad Attitudes") of the intersection between art and the circus. More than 100 other images are used in conjunction with these subsequent essays. Though this visual high-wire act tilts more to academic institutions, the copious and beautifully presented illustrations make it appropriate for more advanced art, theater, circus, pop culture, and performance art collections in public libraries. Barry X. Miller, Austin P.L., TX
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.