John McClelland

American artist John McClelland studied art in Sarasota, Florida, home of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He would sketch the circus performers and the animals under the tutelage of the great portraitist Jerry Farnsworth. McClelland's work is seen in magazines, collectors plates, and in these dolls, which belong to the legacy of specifically circus dolls dating back to the turn of the 20th century, when A. Schoenhut & Company designed a wooden Humpty Dumpty Circus collection. Two of the featured female dolls in this collection were the Lady Acrobat and the Lady Circus Rider. So McClelland did not stop with the design of Tommy. He also gave us Katie, a charming little Circus Tightrope Walker, and also the delightful Maggie, the Animal Trainer, both of whom perhaps aspire to be one of these two iconic female circus performers!