Bruce Davidson - Circus - 2007

Circus brings together photographs Davidson made of three American circuses between 1958 and 1967.
The three bodies of work cover:

- 1958: a three-ring circus, including photographs of lion tamer Clyde Beatty and human cannonball Hugo Zacchini;
- 1965: a large multi-ring circus in a steel-and-concrete arena;
- 1967: an intimate Irish one-ring circus.

Rather than concentrating only on the spectacle, Davidson became increasingly interested in the people who lived and worked behind the performance. One of the recurring figures is a dwarf clown, whom Davidson photographed intimately. He also photographed performers such as a trapeze artist, often from unusually close or physically precarious positions. At the 1958 three-ring circus, for example, he actually climbed to the top of the tent to photograph the performances.

The book's central interest is therefore less “the circus as spectacle” and more the human world that exists behind the spectacle.

1st edition
As new

104 pages
29.9 x 29.2 cm