The Musée des Arts Forains Explores the History of Carnivals and Fairground Art

The Musée des Arts Forains—in English, the Fairground Art Museum—is a tribute to the fairs and carnivals of the 1800s and early 1900s. Found within the Pavillons de Bercy in the 12th arrondissement, the reservation-only museum collects dozens of rides, amusements, midway stalls, and pieces of artwork from these precursors to today’s theme parks, preserving and presenting them for both their historic and artistic value, and, in the case of certain exhibits, like our friend and would-be murderer the velocipede carousel, letting today’s guests experience them as they would have on a turn of the century fairground. It’s a niche museum, but one of my favorites in Paris.

What seems charmingly archaic to us today must have been magical, otherworldly even, to fairgoers 130 years ago, at a time when electricity was still new and the household technology boom of the 20th century was decades away. The museum’s ornately carved woodwork, detailed sculptures, and costumed mannequins don’t seem primitive today, but spotlight a level of artistry and handmade uniqueness that’s largely been lost since the rise of mechanization and assembly line precision. There’s a sense of mystery to the figures you can see in the Museum today, as if these wooden mermaids and elephant hot air balloons carry not just the history of their years of service at the fair, but have seen something else too, some private life unknowable to us who view them solely as carnival novelties.

That slightly unsettling feeling abounds in the museum’s Original Marvelous Mechanicals exhibits. This collection of clockwork figures and calliopes highlights the earliest days of automation, years before Walt Disney’s audio animatronics started to astound guests with their lifelike accuracy.

Given its focus and the trajectory of pop culture, the museum can’t help but track the rise of what would eventually be classified with the stultifying corporate buzzword “IP.” As you walk past the 19th century carousels and midway games and come across pieces from the 1930s and ‘40s, you’ll notice mutant bootleg representations of characters like Popeye, Donald Duck, and Pluto. (This Pluto looks as much like E.T. as he does Mickey Mouse’s dog.) You can see the distinctiveness and originality start to be replaced by corporate mass media, a cultural hegemony that wasn’t possible before the technological developments of the 20th century. You can still see this influence at the traveling carnivals and state fairs of today, where twisted, funhouse mirror versions of superheroes and cartoon characters often decorate the exteriors of rides and booths. It’s fascinating to see this process develop over time as you walk through the Musée des Arts Forains, and see the obscure past of the 19th century exhibits start to assume a form we can recognize today.

If you’re a fan of fairs, carnivals, or amusement parks, the Musée des Arts Forains is a fascinating exploration of how they grew and developed over the course of a century. That period goes up to about 1950, or only a few years before Disneyland opened in California and ushered in a new era of the theme park. It’s not framed as such, but it’s easy to see the museum as a response to the cultural dominance of Disney and American pop culture—a vivid reminder that this type of entertainment, this artform, existed long before Mickey Mouse, and will no doubt continue beyond whatever the future might bring for the theme parks and thrill rides we know today.

Senior editor Garrett Martin writes about videogames, comedy, travel, theme parks, wrestling, and anything else that gets in his way. He’s also on Twitter @grmartin.