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The travelling lantern: the Courtois and Grandsart-Courtois family theatres as transcultural mediators at the nineteenth-century fair

par Wynants, Nele
Référence Early popular visual culture, 17, 3-4, page (233-260), 1
Publication Publié, 2020-01-10

Article révisé par les pairs

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Résumé :

This article discusses the lantern at the nineteenth-century fairground as a mobile but hidden technology and elucidates the role of this optical medium in the transnational circulation of visual culture by focussing on one particular but exemplary case: the Théâtre Courtois and the Théâtre Grandsart-Courtois. This Belgian fairground family travelled during five generations around European fairgrounds from the early nineteenth until the beginning of the twentieth century. Their programmes were very diverse, combining magic with science and technology, music, dance and acrobatics. On their travels they picked up new technological developments and ideas that were particularly suited for show business and introduced them in their shows: from projection with lanterns, through the use of electric light to the introduction of the cinematograph at Belgian, Dutch and French fairs. Relying on international fairground networks, they thus contributed to the circulation of visual culture between European cities and at annual fairs in smaller towns and villages. By considering these family theatres as actors of cultural transfer, and the lantern as a transcultural mediator, this article illustrates the variety and complexity of their mediating roles.