Bryan Haynes
“Arrival of the Circus”
Acrylic on Canvas
60″ x 60″
In the nineteenth century the circus was a popular form of entertainment. Traveling from town to town across America the circus arrived via steamboat and railroad. Simultaneously unloading the exotic animals and entertainers proved to be a task stopping sight as many people had never seen something of this magnitude.
Bryan, who nurtures the history of Missouri and its peoples, read the accounts of Mark Twain (Samuel Clemons) who as a young boy witnessed this along the rivers of Missouri. From Twain’s writings, Haynes was able to imagine what the scene might have looked like as well as incorporating symbols that typically represent the strength of Missouri; such as the Missouri Mule, The Mississippi River, and the Steamboat. Haynes magnificently captures the romance of a bygone era.
