Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Elephant Art #3


Scan11416, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

This drawing looks incredibly accurate.
"The Light Of Asia" was supposed to be Adam Forepaugh's answer to P.T. Barnum's white elephant "Toug Tou-log" during the 1884 White Elephant Wars.
Legend has it that Barnum's authentic elephant was a disappointment since the public expected something as white as the driven snow.
Forepaugh's elephant was better received since it was painted white. If that's the case, the elephant above would be "John" who later toured for many years with Forepaugh, 4-Paw-Sells, Ringling Bros. and finally with RBBB until his death in Sarasota 1/16/32.

Posted by Buckles at 3/04/2009 06:44:00 AM

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

John also served as the "boxing elephant," John L. Sullivan, thus the name.

04 March, 2009 08:26
Anonymous said...

The accuracy resulted from the engraving being taken from an actual photographic print. A companion photograph, taken at the same time and place, shows the left foot ahead of the right, with a leather collar around the neck. There were no people in the background, so they were added during the engraving process, explaining the difference in realism. The image was labeled a "Phototype," made by F. Gutekunst of Philadelphia. Newspapers started to utilize halftone images in 1880 and actual photographs in 1900.

04 March, 2009 08:45
Harry Kingston said...

If this is a drawing it is the best I have ever seen. I have done photography for over 50 years and this is as close as you can to a photograph.
It really fooled me of teh elephant.
The people look like a drawing but the elephant looks like a photograph.
Who did this is a great artist.
Harry

04 March, 2009 09:25
Anonymous said...

A half-tone IS a reproduction of a photograph. Unless the writer is confusing offset lithography and relief printing, it makes no real sense to say "actual photographs in 1900" but that date is a couple of years too early anyway. Half-tomes were first done in 1873 for the New York Daily Graphic but good tonal range was not effectively achieved until 1880. The use of half-tones to reproduce photographic images was common by the early 1890s.

Wood engraving was beginning to reach a highpoint at this time. The quality of this image is common for what was appearing in the better class of periodicals at this time.

For more information on earlier wood engraving of circus posters specifically, see my just published 26-page article in "Printing History," the Journal of the American Printing History Association.

Dick Flint
Baltimore

04 March, 2009 16:57
Anonymous said...

Could we have more information on where to obtain copies of your article Mr. Flint?

05 March, 2009 11:23

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