Carnival Art - The Art of Norma Brophy

Purchasing Information

Limited Edition Prints of all paintings listed below are available on art canvas. Prints will be delivered complete with with Certificate of Authenticity and the story behind the artwork.

All prices quoted are in Australian Dollars and include postage inside Australia.

To purchase the Limited Edition Prints of any of the paintings, please contact us via email or phone and we can arrange for purchase via paypal.

"The Boxing Tent"

Will we ever forget the "Good Old Days" when the showgrounds were wall to wall people, the fairy floss and toffee apples, the giant chair-o-plane ride, the ferris wheel and the merry-go-round, the side shows and games and the banging of the drums and the ringing of the bells as the boxing tent swings into action? Yes they were the good old days.

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 1040mm x Height 860mm

200 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 700mm x Height 500mm

St. Leon's Circus, "On the Bandwagon"

The bandwagons were an integral part of the circus parades through-out the 1920s-1940s, long before radio and TV advertising.

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 900mm x Height 14,200mm

200 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 395mm x Height 365mm

Circus in the Dreamtime

No Australian Circus would be complete without a little Dreamtime. This painting depicts a Native Circus Artist performing her dream.

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 770mm x Height 860mm

350 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 520mm x Height 590mm

Stafford Bullen & the Wonder Horse

For 47 years, Bullen Bros. Circus reigned supreme in the annals of Australian Circuses. The founders, Percy and Albert Bullen, began their careers on country shows with a performing sheep and pony sideshow. In 1922 they opened their circus and became one of Australia's most memorable and largest Circuses. On the 25th May, 1969 they gave their last performance at Parramatta, NSW.

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 650mm x Height 780mm

450 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 511mm x Height 613mm

Royale's Tania

Tania, the Star of Circus Royale, during the 1970s with Frank Gasser, Proprietor and Trainer. The Gasser family arrived in Australia in 1960 from Switzerland. Establishing Circus Royale and now nearly 50 years later - Circus Olympia, bringing with them the culture of Europe to enrich the Australian Circus industry.

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 800mm x Height 920mm

450 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 511mm x Height 583mm

Ashton's "A One Night Stand"

The Ashton's Marquee being erected in Maintland NSW, Circa 1954. Ashton's Royal Olympic Circus opened in May 1854 and continued on throughout the Family until 2002, when Doug Ashton closed the doors of the main show.Joseph Ashton, "Pepe", is continuing the tradition with his show, as is also Lorraine Ashton Grant.

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 1,050m x Height 1,170mm

200 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 550mm x Height 502mm

Perrys "The Last Elephant Man"

Perry Bros Circus registered its business name in Launceston, Tasmania in 1847 and is still licensed to show and perform wild animals, showing consistently since that time, even through two World Wars. Perrys have fully circumnavigated the continent, showing in all cities right through to even the smallest outback towns. Perry Maynard, 6th generation of Perry Bros., is the owner, handler and trainer of the traveling circus elephant. He is the last Elephant Man.

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 1,060mm x Height 840mm

350 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 587mm x Height 471mm

Mr. McGazza and His Princess

Mr. McGazza & his Princess. Need more be said, clowns are mostly family people and have a special rapport with their children as this painting shows.

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 730mm x Height 1190mm

200 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 398mm x Height 658mm

Rajah the Lion

Ferocious of tooth and claw, this is Rajah the Lion, who will leave his audience gasping with amazement and awe.

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 570mm x Height 840mm

500 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 448mm x Height 664mm

Taking a Peek

A Typical sight in the 1950s, Wirths Circus was a household name, mainly in the eastern states of Australia, traveling by train to all major towns and cities. Wirths also showed in other countries, England, USA and Europe, but was essentially an Australian Circus, showing from the late 1800s through to 1963 when it closed its doors permanently in Melbourne.

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 790mm x Height 780mm

250 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 549mm x Height 510mm

Unicycle Clown

A clown is a wondrous comedian bringing laughter to the entire family with his hi-jinks and his tumbles and stumbles. What would a circus be without the clowns?

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 580mm x Height 990mm

500 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 374mm x Height 656mm

Yesterday's Sideshow Alley

All agricultural shows in Australia were closed during the period of the 2nd World War. This painting is of the first show held in Melbourne after the War Years in September 1947.

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 1880mm x Height 960mm

250 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 990mm x Height 500mm

Show Train No. 1

To be on the Show Train No. 1 was termed a very prestigious thing. You were the first to leave and to arrive ahead of all of the rest. You left the other showmen still packing and loading up. All through the long, long night, while you snuggled up completely at rest on the Show Train No. 1.

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 1000mm x Height 700mm

200 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 730mm x Height 510mm

Wet day at the show

After years of the worst drought Australia has ever known, the rain came at Showtime. It rained for the entire duration of the Show in Mackay in Nth Qld., 2007, but the crowds were not to miss their annual show.

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 1220mm x Height 850mm

300 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 736mm x Height 493mm

The campfire sing-a-long

The embers that Glow - The Camaraderie that grew
So tall the Stories - So Pure the Songs
Those were The Days - So Long Ago.

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 780mm x Height 880mm

300 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 520mm x Height 590mm

Slim Dusty

A man who needs no introduction, he was a true icon in Australian Showbusiness. Slim Dusty became a legend in his own time, performing for many years as a sideshow operator, traveling the length and breadth of this vast country, giving wonderful entertainment to untold thousands of families. Slim has gone now. He has joined all those other great showmen, Tex Morton, Buddy Williams, Tim McNamara, Reg Lindsay and Smoky Dawson.

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 1500mm x Height 1370mm

250 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 660mm x Height 620mm

It's Showtime

I stand in awe of seeing the flashing lights and hear the thundering sounds of the crack and boom of fireworks. The push and jostle of the human tide as it flows around the magical machinery that thrusts up high into the sky. The Smorgasbord of food that tantalizes my taste buds. The colour, the wonderful, thrilling excitement of the Annual Show that has come to town. Here today, gone tomorrow, it's Showtime!!!

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 900mm x Height 700mm

300 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 666mm x Height 519mm

The Axeman

Woodchopping has always been a great attraction at the Agricultural Sows throughtout Australia. "There is not Room for Error".

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 700mm x Height 1150mm

350 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 402mm x Height 656mm

The Female Form

A study of a beautiful woman in repose.

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 690mm x Height 360mm

500 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 690mm x Height 360mm

True Love

What greater love can a mother have than that for her child., even in the wild a lioness and her cub clearly demonstrate this.

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 890mm x Height 820mm

350 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 541mm x Height 509mm

Reg Livermore - Man at work

Dancer, Actor and Gentleman - A man of many parts. This is Reg Livermore in the Flesh.

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 490mm x Height 600mm

400 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 412mm x Height 509mm

Simply the Best

We are the Greatest, it shows in our faces, our team has just won four in a row. We are the "Mighty Maroons".

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 870mm x Height 630mm

200 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 750mm x Height 520mm

King of the Ring

The Bramah Bull is a new breed to Australia and is perfectly suited to our dry land. He is tougher, stronger and wilder than any other breed. In 1948, Jack Gill put him into the Rodeo Ring, where he proved to be without a doubt the King of the Ring.

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 870mm x Height 850mm

300 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 549mm x Height 514mm

"Wow It's Fun"

The ground is hard - The seconds long
The cheers are loud - and wow its fun
But gee I felt like a "bloody" idiot when I landed on my bum.

Original Painting - Acrilic on circus tent canvas
Width: 900mm x Height 670mm

300 Numbered Limited Edition Canvas Print Available
With Certificate of Authenticity and story.
Width: 560mm x Height 410mm

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