1000 Clowns : More or Less 
asked by wellness on November 14, 2006 7:28 PM
The clown imagery gathered here ranges from beautiful to touching to funny to just plain disturbing. Find all kinds of clowns, from the most famous to the most obscure, in photographs, film and television, paintings, and graphics. The insightful text will enlighten you about the history of clowns throughout the world and is complemented by a list of America's clowns, a clown filmography, and the "Eight Clown Commandments."
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Jim Heimann and H. Thomas Steele's definitive 1000 Clowns: More or Less: A Visual History of the American Clown (2004) offers abundant evidence that professional clowning may represent the ultimate in alternative lifestyles.
Though playful behavior is, of course, found in some higher animals, the human activity of professional clowning is always a highly artificial process enacted within a specifically structured framework, thus making the clown a legitimate, knowing, and complexly-organized insider who nonetheless often essays the role of eternal outsider.
Clowns are 'betwixt and between' liminal creations whose behavior simultaneously reflects experience and innocence, callousness and sensitivity, seductiveness and repulsion, sincerity and deception. Whether performing in the center spotlight or merely acting as a diversion for another act, the clown is always on stage and constantly negotiating the space between the objective world of his audience and his own very private channels of perception, spontaneity, insight, and response. The truly successful clown becomes an autonomous personage, a "demigod of the sawdust" who subtly persuades his audience to forget the unknown human factor beneath the facade.
The gorgeous visuals in 1000 Clowns--which are categorized under "Photography," "Film & Television," "Paintings," "Graphics," "America's Clowns," and "Clowns In Movies"--underscore the fact that those clowns that appear bizarre, repulsive, and grotesque, such as those that appear on pages 114-116, are typically those with badly designed or haphazardly applied makeup. The stronger the design, artifice, and illusion, the more attractive and desirable the clown; some historical examples presented here include Lou Jacobs, Harry Dann, Felix Adler, Emmett Kelley, "Chucko the Birthday Clown," and baby boomer favorite Bozo.
1000 Clowns wisely focuses on the classic high period of the American circus, which, uncoincidentally, also coincided with the high point of Twentieth Century American culture.
Though playful behavior is, of course, found in some higher animals, the human activity of professional clowning is always a highly artificial process enacted within a specifically structured framework, thus making the clown a legitimate, knowing, and complexly-organized insider who nonetheless often essays the role of eternal outsider.
Clowns are 'betwixt and between' liminal creations whose behavior simultaneously reflects experience and innocence, callousness and sensitivity, seductiveness and repulsion, sincerity and deception. Whether performing in the center spotlight or merely acting as a diversion for another act, the clown is always on stage and constantly negotiating the space between the objective world of his audience and his own very private channels of perception, spontaneity, insight, and response. The truly successful clown becomes an autonomous personage, a "demigod of the sawdust" who subtly persuades his audience to forget the unknown human factor beneath the facade.
The gorgeous visuals in 1000 Clowns--which are categorized under "Photography," "Film & Television," "Paintings," "Graphics," "America's Clowns," and "Clowns In Movies"--underscore the fact that those clowns that appear bizarre, repulsive, and grotesque, such as those that appear on pages 114-116, are typically those with badly designed or haphazardly applied makeup. The stronger the design, artifice, and illusion, the more attractive and desirable the clown; some historical examples presented here include Lou Jacobs, Harry Dann, Felix Adler, Emmett Kelley, "Chucko the Birthday Clown," and baby boomer favorite Bozo.
1000 Clowns wisely focuses on the classic high period of the American circus, which, uncoincidentally, also coincided with the high point of Twentieth Century American culture.
reviewed by borat on November 27, 2006 2:53 PM
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Brilliant. Easy and fast transaction. hope we can do business again.
reviewed by scoobie on November 29, 2006 3:48 AM
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This book came out of left field for me, usually I keep abreast with current clown and/or circus offerings. But the pictures, photo's and images relating to clowns in America is well worth the price.
The author has done a wonderful job gathering a vast number of clown images from circus, film,TV and advertising to create a collection ranging from well-know circus legends like lou Jacobs and Emmett Kelly to TV clowns like Milton Berle and Red Skelton to obscure and unknown clown performers. The sections on clowns in media contain great retro grafics and a diverse number of related clown imagery.
The only downside would be the lack of ID on some of the circus clowns, and the inclusion of the clown creed, which seems unrelated to the images or the art form.
I'm looking foward to a second volume.
The author has done a wonderful job gathering a vast number of clown images from circus, film,TV and advertising to create a collection ranging from well-know circus legends like lou Jacobs and Emmett Kelly to TV clowns like Milton Berle and Red Skelton to obscure and unknown clown performers. The sections on clowns in media contain great retro grafics and a diverse number of related clown imagery.
The only downside would be the lack of ID on some of the circus clowns, and the inclusion of the clown creed, which seems unrelated to the images or the art form.
I'm looking foward to a second volume.
reviewed by guitarplayer on November 29, 2006 3:13 PM