Exhibition sponsored by the Beech-Nut Nutrition Company
June 12 - October 16, 2016

Featuring colorful paintings of the American circus by artists from the 1920s and 1930s alongside circus-themed marketing materials used by the Beech-Nut Packaging Company.

The Circus coming to town was a highly anticipated event in small towns across America during the early decades of the 20th century. Leading American artists painted the spectacle of the parade as the circus arrived and the excitement under the big top. Images of circus cars, animals and acrobats were also used to market food products during the 1930s. The Beech-Nut Packaging Company was one of the companies to use the excitement and nostalgia of the circus to sell its products. This culminated in the creation of Beech-Nut miniature circuses that traveled across the country by bus, and a circus themed pavilion at the New York World’s Fair in 1939.

Artists in the exhibition include Norman Rockwell, Jon Corbino, Everett Shinn, Ogden Pleissner and more.