Around the joint of the 19th and 20th centuries, stage tricks were a mainstay of theater entertainment. To seduce the crowd there were posters, each fashioned with feverish, hallucinatory images of death, evil, the Beast, phantasmagoria and the darkest magic.
The occult was a big lure. The subconscious was pricked. Here, below is a collection of 27 attractive posters advertising the circus and magic performances in the Victorian era.
The occult was a big lure. The subconscious was pricked. Here, below is a collection of 27 attractive posters advertising the circus and magic performances in the Victorian era.
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Female trapeze acrobats at circus, ca. 1890 |
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Funny scenes on bicycles and skates, poster for Barnum & Bailey, 1900 |
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Kellar and his servants, magician poster, 1894 |
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Kellar in the woods with demons, magician poster, 1900 |
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Kellar the magician, performing arts poster, 1894 |
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Kellar toasts the Devil, performing arts poster, ca. 1899 |
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Levitation 2, magician poster Kellar, ca. 1894 |
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Levitation 3, magician poster for Kellar, 1900 |
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Levitation, magician poster Kellar, 1894 |
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Louis Cyr, strongest man on earth, 1898 |
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Marvelously trained sea lions & seals, poster for Forepaugh & Sells Brothers, 1899 |
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Scenes in the grand water circus, poster for Barnum & Bailey, 1895 |
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Self decapitation, magician poster for Kellar, 1897 |
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Terrific flights over ponderous elephants, poster for Forepaugh & Sells Brothers, 1899 |
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The great Coney Island water carnival, poster for Barnum & Bailey, 1898. |
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The great Coney Island water carnival, poster for Barnum & Bailey, 1898 |
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The marvelous foot-ball dogs, poster for Barnum & Bailey, 1900 |
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The Orfords, poster for Forepaugh & Sells Brothers, ca. 1897 |
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The Sandow Trocadero Vaudevilles - Sandow lifting the human dumbell, 1894 |
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Troupe of very remarkable trained pigs, poster for Barnum & Bailey, 1898 |
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Twenty funny felt-crowned fools, poster for Forepaugh & Sells Brothers, 1899 |
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Wm. H. West's Big Minstrel Jubilee - The De Elmar Trio, vaudeville poster, 1900 |
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Wondrous Wild Beasts, poster for Forepaugh & Sells Brothers, 1897 |
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Zan Zig performing with rabbit and roses, magician poster, 1899 |
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A congress of the great birds of the world, poster for Forepaugh & Sells Brothers, ca. 1898 |
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Champion great danes from the Imperial kennels, poster for Forepaugh & Sells Brothers, ca. 1898 |
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Descente d'Absalon par Miss Stena, circus poster, ca. 1890 |
woa man that be some crazy ass shit yo
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