{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1464381"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1464381/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021NB5735/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021NB5735/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2021NB5735","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NB5736","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NB5737","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NB5738","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MC8481","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1464381","accessionNumber":"S.583-2018","objectType":"Circus costume","titles":[{"title":"Whiteface clown costume worn by Jackie Sloan","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Although white make-up was used by clowns as early as Grimaldi in the early 1800s, the duo of elegant white-face clown and hobo-style Auguste was a late 19th century development in circus, introduced after Tom Belling Senior (1843-1900) played the lower-class clown at the Circus Renz in Vienna in the 1870s. This specifically dressed duo is obsolete today but was an essential element of 20th century circus. The more outrageous and stupid the red-nosed Auguste could look in his baggy clothes and oversized shoes the better, in contrast to his sparring partner, the elegantly-dressed white-face clown.\n\nJackie Sloan (1914-1984) worked with Chipperfields Circus and Bertram Mills Circus from the early 1950s to the 1960s when he retired due to ill health. Like all white-face clowns he played the elegant and intelligent part of the duo in contract to the rumbunctious and baggily dressed clown, as typified in the 1950s by Coco the clown (Nicolai Poliakoff, 1900-1974), with whom he worked.\n\n","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Vicaire, Gérard","id":"AUTH353432"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x40048"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Atelier Vicaire","id":"AUTH350832"},"association":{"text":"designed and made","id":"x28674"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"linen (material)","id":"AAT14069"},{"text":"sequins","id":"x30374"},{"text":"cotton thread","id":"x34841"},{"text":"beads","id":"x32809"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Linen, cotton, sequins, metal poppers and beads","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Circus","id":"THES261738"},{"text":"Costumes","id":"THES269529"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2021NB5735","2021NB5736","2021NB5737","2021NB5738","2019MC8481"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"105","id":"THES49926"},"free":"","case":"CA010","shelf":"FIG","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Theatre costume","id":"x47007"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca.1950","earliest":"1945-01-01","latest":"1954-12-31"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Whiteface clown costume (sac) worn by Jackie Sloan (1914-1984). Designed by Gérard Vicaire (1927-2018); made by Atelier Vicaire, Paris, ca. 1950","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"<b>Gallery, 2019</b>\n\nWhiteface Clown costume worn by Jackie Sloan (1914-1984)\r\n\r\nJackie Sloan wore this spectacular ‘sac’ at Bertram Mills Circus, but it was made in Paris by Gérard Vicaire (1927-2018) ‘costumier to the stars’. The duo of an immaculately dressed white-face clown and a red-nose Auguste in baggy trousers and oversized shoes was an essential part of 20th century circus.\r\n\r\nLinen, cotton, sequins, metal poppers and beads\r\nDesigned by Gérard Vicaire, ca.1950\r\nMuseum number: S.583-2018\n\nand\n\n<b>Gallery rotation, 2022</b>\n\nCOSTUME WORN BY JACKIE SLOAN AS A WHITEFACE CLOWN, CHIPPERFIELD’S AND BERTRAM MILLS’ CIRCUS\r\n1950s–early 1960s\n\r\nJackie Sloan commissioned this whiteface clown costume, or ‘sac’, from Gérard Vicaire, the Parisian ‘costumier to the stars’ who specialised in these elegant outfits. The contrast of an immaculately dressed, intelligent and sure-footed whiteface clown with his clumsy companion clown, a red-nosed ‘Auguste’ in baggy trousers and oversized shoes, was a popular comic element of 20th-century circus.\r\n\nDesigned by Gérard Vicaire\r\nLinen, cotton, sequins, metal poppers and beads\r\nMuseum no. S.583-2018\r\n","date":{"text":"07/11/2019","earliest":"2019-11-07","latest":"2019-11-07"}}],"partNumbers":["S.583-2018"],"accessionNumberNum":"583","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2018,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-13","recordCreationDate":"2018-11-12","availableToBook":false}}