The animated circus and new arts of motion

In the interwar years, animation drew upon the aesthetics and imagery of the circus to present a kaleidoscopic world of motion. A range of animated films used the circus as a site to showcase spectacular motion and liveliness. In some respects, this integration of the circus and animation culminated in the most well-known animated film to depict a circus, Dumbo (Sharpsteen, 1941), with its climactic images of flight and free movement. An earlier engagement with the animated potentials of the circus, created by the artist Alexander Calder, also offered a distinctive and striking vision of mobility: Calder’s Circus (1926–1931), a playful sculptural work of motion contraptions and mechanical toys. Exploring this work alongside animated circus films from the first decades of animated film, this chapter examines how the distinctive animated potentials of the circus were transposed and extended into new technological and artistic forms of spectacular, expressive and artistic motion.