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Art of the Day: Sideshow Banner Guitar Art By Johnny Meah

Posted in art, Auction, tagged folk art, guitar, Johnny Meah, Martin guitar, sideshow, sideshow banner on December 12, 2012 | 1 Comment »

You’ve heard of player pianos but have probably never come across a player guitar till now. This one-of-a-kind piece of sideshow banner guitar art painted by Johnny Meah aka The Czar of Bizarre is up for auction on eBay under the category Art, Direct from the Artist.

As the auction description explains, this is a Martin guitar that was discarded by the manufacturer and given to Johnny Meah to decorate for a fundraising event in 2010. The guitar can’t be played but it looks great displayed so that both sides and the edges are visible. And it takes up a lot less space than a vintage sideshow banner which was typically eight feet tall by ten feet wide. The artist says the guitar took about the same amount of time to make as a full-size banner which would sell for upwards of $3000. A trompe l’oeil coin slot wryly invites the viewer to drop a penny in the Martin Player Guitar:”Press Red Buttons for Selections — Watch It Work!”

Now living in Safety Harbor, Florida, Johnny Meah spent many years on the road with carnivals and circuses, working as a showpainter as well as a sideshow sword swallower and fire eater. As a young man, he worked for a brief season with my concessionaire parents, and his father Hal Meah, a sketch artist who set up his easel at the Connecticut fairs on our route, taught me how to draw. By the time I caught up with Johnny again in the late 1990s, his sideshow banners were being exhibited in art galleries and museums.

In a Q & A that we did for Icon Magazine, Johnny said only about 200 of the 2000 or so banners he’d painted for midway shows had survived: “Since the actually collectibility of banners is a relatively recent phenomenon, I can’t get too upset about it. In the ’40s and ’50s they used to stick old banners under trucks to catch oil drippings. I literally remember doing it myself.” Visit Johnny Meah’s website for news from the Czar of Bizarre.

Art of the Day: Fire Eater by Marie Roberts

Posted in art, tagged Blue Mountain Gallery, Deborah Stern, Fire Eater, Marie Roberts, sideshow banner on October 17, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Fire Eater Sideshow Banner © Marie Roberts. Photo by AmusingtheZillion.com

If you happen to be in Chelsea, stop by Blue Mountain Gallery to see this lovely fire eater sideshow banner by Marie Roberts, though you have to know where to look. Along with two smaller banners, the former advertisement for the Coney Island Circus Sideshow hangs on the back wall adjacent to the desk. It’s an extra added attraction to the main exhibition “Occupied and Unwelcome,” a collaboration by Deborah Stern (Tucson, Arizona) and Marie Roberts (Brooklyn, NY) that merges the landscapes of Zuccotti Park with the Sonoran Desert. The show is on view through October 27th.

Blue Mountain Gallery, 530 West 25th Street, 4th floor, New York, NY 10001. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 11am-6pm. Phone 718-486-4730.

Related posts on ATZ...

October 10, 2012: Up for Auction: Sideshow & Magic Banners by Fred Johnson

October 4, 2012: Art of the Day: Coney Island Hysterical Society

August 21, 2012: Art of the Day: Out of Disorder (Coney Island) by Takahiro Iwasaki

August 6, 2012: Art of the Day: Madame Twisto by Marie Roberts

Read Full Post »

Up for Auction: Sideshow & Magic Banners by Fred Johnson

Posted in art, Artifacts, Auction, tagged banner painter, Fred Johnson, Harold J Potter, magician, Michigan, sideshow banner, tent show on October 10, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Harold J Potter Comedy Magic Circus Banner by Fred Johnson. Mosby & Co Auction. November 10, 2012

Decades before JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books and the fictional Ministry of Magic, the original Harry Potter– a Michigan minister named Harold J Potter– performed magic for his congregation and with a sideshow. His repertoire included hypnotism, the bladebox and a premature burial illusion inspired by the tale by Edgar Allan Poe. These six banners painted for “Harold J Potter’s Comedy Magic Circus” in the late 1960s by master banner painter Fred Johnson will be up for bid in Mosby & Company’s November 10th Americana auction at their gallery in Frederick, Maryland. Bidding will also be available online beginning in late October.

Monster Museum Banner by Fred Johnson. Mosby & Co Auction. November 10, 2012

Harold J Potter’s son says that his father was fascinated by Harry Houdini and Harry Blackstone as a boy and took up magic at an early age. The family consigned the Johnson banners, which are fresh to the market. In the banner shown below, a contortionist act is billed as Plasteena. The Bladebox is cleverly called “Six Section Sal” and there’s also a “Guillotine Gal.”

Plasteena Sideshow Banner by Fred Johnson. Mosby & Co Auction. November 10, 2012

After getting out of the Army in World War II, Potter started practicing magic again on the side in Detroit, according to his son. A minister by profession, he would perform some magic tricks during services. We’re hoping that some of his sermons will turn up! On weekends, Potter did the sideshow performances for which he commissioned the banners. In the summertime, he and his family toured Michigan doing tent shows.

Monster Sideshow Banner by Fred Johnson. Mosby & Co Auction. November 10, 2012

Banner artist Fred Johnson (1892-1990) was only 17 when he learned the secret of creating an eye-catching banner: color, not exaggeration. “We call it ‘flash.’” Johnson once said. During an illustrious 65-year career, the Chicagoan painted banners for all the big circuses, carnivals, and amusement parks, including the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair.

Master Magician Banner by Fred Johnson. Mosby & Co Auction. November 10, 2012

Fred Johnson worked for Driver Bros Tent Co. from 1921 until 1930, and in 1934 he came to the O. Henry Tent & Awning Co, where he remained for 40 years. He imbued his Houdini-esque escape artists, Amazon snake charmers and master magicians with a quirky and mysterious quality that drew customers into the sideshows and continues to make his work prized by collectors.