Giddy-up! This rare, hand-carved prancing horse dates to the dawn of the carousel industry.
Giddy-up! This rare, hand-carved prancing horse dates to the dawn of the carousel industry.
1st floor, Robert H. and Clarice Smith New York Gallery of American History
Giddy-up! This rare, hand-carved prancing horse dates to the dawn of the carousel industry. It was likely made in the Brooklyn factory of Charles I.D. Looff, an immigrant from Denmark who began carving carousel animals from wood scraps left over from his work at a furniture factory. The self-taught Looff would become one of the great early carousel carvers and builders. He created the first carousel at Coney Island, installed at Lucy Vanderveer’s bathing house at West Sixth Street and Surf Avenue in 1876, and defined what would become an increasingly flamboyant Coney Island carousel style, characterized by horses dynamically posed and bedecked with elaborate trappings like jewels and gold and silver leaf.
Exhibitions at The New York Historical are made possible by Dr. Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar Tang, the Saunders Trust for American History, the Evelyn & Seymour Neuman Fund, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. WNET is the media sponsor.
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