{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1818107"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1818107/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PV6499/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PV6499/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2026PV6499","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1818107/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1818107","accessionNumber":"S.1474-2026","objectType":"Painting","titles":[{"title":"Circus picket and boundary fences","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Annotated artwork showing fencing and barriers used at different circuses and at specific sites. Companies represented are Circus Knie, Billy Smarts Circus, Sanger Circus, Cirque du Soleil, Bertram Mills Circus, Sir Robert Fossetts Circus, Circus Roncolli, Summer Circus at Moscow's Gorky Park, Hoffman's American Circus, Robert Bros. Circus and David Smart's Circus.\n\nStewart Waghorn (1929-2016) was an Associate of the Royal College of Art and member of the Circus Friends Association who spent more than 50 years documenting circus in the UK through his artworks.\r\n\nWaghorn was creatively inspired by circus from an early age, creating a model transport for ‘Long John Silver’s Circus’, after an inspirational visit to Lord John Sanger’s Circus as a child. During his studies at the Royal College of Art, Waghorn would attend the Bertram Mills Circus at Olympia on a press pass, watching and sketching the acts and environments from 8:30am until the last show. His work ‘Circus Scene’ (1954) is held in the collection of the Royal College of Art and in the 1950s and 1960s he had six circus painting exhibited in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.\r\n\nIn the late 1970s Waghorn moved to an illustrative aesthetic. This work is from a large group of technical illustration artworks that explores the environments, architecture, engineering and logistics of circus in exceptional detail.","physicalDescription":"Artwork showing different styles of circus fences and barriers, with annotations.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Waghorn, Stewart ARCA","id":"A19513"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25136"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Paper","id":"x30308"},{"text":"Watercolour","id":"AAT15045"}],"techniques":[{"text":"Painting","id":"x30598"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour painting on paper","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment and leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Circus","id":"THES261738"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2026PV6499"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"007","id":"THES360838"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Painting","id":"x30598"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1992","earliest":"1992-01-01","latest":"1992-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Margaret Waghorn","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"610","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"870","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Circus picket and boundary fences illustration, Stewart Waghorn, 1992","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.1474-2026"],"accessionNumberNum":"1474","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2026,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-11-06","recordCreationDate":"2026-03-11","availableToBook":false}}