{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1818111"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1818111/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PV6503/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PV6503/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2026PV6503","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1818111/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1818111","accessionNumber":"S.1478-2026","objectType":"Painting","titles":[{"title":"Low gallery, and high gallery circus seating","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Annotated artwork illustrating temporary seating used in circus. The image describes low-gallery and high-gallery seating, including the constructions used at the Lord George Sangers Circus, James Bros Circus, ca.1979, and Reco Bros Circus, ca.1947.\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":"Annotated artwork showing the construction of temporary circus seating through close-up and cut-away illustrations.","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":["2026PV6503"],"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":"1989","earliest":"1989-01-01","latest":"1989-12-31"},"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":"Low gallery, and high gallery seating at Lord George Sangers Circus, James Bros Circus and Rec Bros Circus illustration, Stewart Waghorn, 1989","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.1478-2026"],"accessionNumberNum":"1478","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2026,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-11-06","recordCreationDate":"2026-03-11","availableToBook":false}}