Circus Elephant, Crystal Palace
- Artist: Chris Steele-Perkins
- Date: 1980–9
- Medium: Photograph, dye destruction on paper
- Dimensions: image: 255 x 382 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
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About this artwork
This is “Circus Elephant, Crystal Palace” by Chris Steele‑Perkins. The image was shot in 1980–9 and printed with the vivid Cibachrome process – a colour photograph finished by dye‑destruction on paper – giving it a crisp, almost painterly quality.
It belongs to a set called *The Pleasure Principle*, a collection of forty‑four photographs that capture the variety of leisure activities in Britain during the 1980s. You’ll see scenes ranging from youth culture and sport to countryside hobbies; even a portrait of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is included. Steele‑Perkins was looking for those everyday public rituals – the signals people use when they try to project an identity and show their sense of happiness.
The artist said he returned to England after working abroad, feeling a kind of cultural shock. In this photograph you can feel that moment where ordinary scenes are reframed as symbols of identity and aspiration. It’s a document of how 1980s Britain tried to find a better world through leisure, wrapped in bright colour and the unmistakable touch of Cibachrome.
See it in person
Circus Elephant, Crystal Palace is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
