Canvas Documentaries: Panoramic Entertainments in Nineteenth-Century Australia and New Zealand

by Mimi Colligan

Long before cinema was invented, people went to picture shows. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Britain, Europe and America they were treated to dramatic pictorial spectacles.
Audiences might be encircled by vast 360-degree canvases, or seated before continuous images drawn across a proscenium, or gathered in amusement parks to watch painted 3-D structures come 'alive' with the explosion of fireworks overhead. The sense of realism was enhanced by back-lighting, running commentaries and props such as real sand and trees.
Canvas Documentaries captures the artistic, civic and social preoccupations of the times. Generously illustrated with paintings, etchings, engravings, mechanical drawings, architectural plans, photographs and advertising material, this beautiful book is a window on the vibrant popular culture of the Victorian era.

268 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Rozanna Lilley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because I have an interest in panoramas displayed during the Gold Rush years in Victoria. The book is informative - it is no easy task to explain the differences between cycloramas, moving panoramas and dioramas - and provides many fascinating insights into a little known aspect of Australian cultural life. The appeal of massive battle paintings, the effort to provide instructional entertainment, the frequent oddities of imperial colonialist ideology and the influence of American popular culture and entertainment on Australian audiences are all on display. The text is complemented by illustrations from magazines, historical photographs and engravings, all combined in a wide format that does justice to the immensity of the subject. Eventually cinema eclipsed panoramas as popular entertainment. Luckily, we have this meticulously researched book to remind us of the wonders that once drew crowds.