Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Wordless Wednesday: Carousel Cat with Fish 1903

(Click on photo to enlarge.)

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7 comments:

  1. Is this from a museum? Very cool. I haven't been on a carousel since I was little.

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  2. I was just at a carousel in Philadelphia that had the same exact cat and fish. I wonder what the story is...

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  3. Oh how fun.....thanks for sharing.

    Have a beautiful day.

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  4. Some words on the Cat:

    This shot was taken several years ago, in the National Museum of American History in Washington DC. Since they've remodeled recently, I'm not sure the carousel animals are still on display.

    The exhibit was accompanied by the following explanatory sign:

    "This cat and its catch were among the wooden animals created for a Dentzel carousel built in 1903 for Philadelphia's Woodside Amusement Park. Gustav A. Dentzel, a German emigrant, came to the United States in 1860 and founded this nation's first carousel shop, G.A. Dentzel, Steam and Horsepower Caroussell Builder, in 1867.

    Other Dentzel cats were carved with birds, frogs, crabs, even squid in their mouths. Salvatore Cernigliaro, a Sicilian who came to this country in 1903, hand-carved this cat and fish. They are part of a Dentzel carousel the Smithsonian purchased in 1966 from noted collector and folk art authority Frederick Fried."

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  5. I grew up not to far from a working wooden carousel, it had lots of animals like this on it.

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  6. So magical! Great snap -- you always go to the most interesting places and see the most interesting things.

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