Check out these wonderful, early color photos of circus performers from the 1940s and 50s

We've shared some amazing, early color photography here before but these shots of circus performers from the 1940s and 50s might be the most vivid and gripping images yet. The photos are from "The Circus Book: 1870-1950" by Dominique Jando, which includes approximately 180 of the earliest color images ever captured of the circus.

According to a description of Jando's book, it also includes "iconic circus photographs by Mathew Brady, Cornell Capa, Walker Evans, Weegee, Lisette Model, and little-known circus images by Stanley Kubrick and Charles and Ray Eames; also included are rare color and black-and-white lithographs and engravings from the 16th-19th centuries illustrating the worldwide roots of the circus, as well as original sideshow banners by legendary sideshow banner artists Nieman Eisman, Fred G. Johnson, and David 'Snap' Wyatt."

Some other early color photos we've featured on Imaging Resource include these early 20th-century shots of Paris; color photos of Ireland from 1913; color shots of life in Russia in the 1900s; and this wonderful color film footage of London in the 1920s, and New York City in 1939.

(Via Dangerous Minds)