The History of Chalk Art

The History of Chalk Art

Chalk Art has a long and interesting history.

In Paganism, chalk circles were known as magic circles that would form a sacred space, providing a form of protection, and chalk pentagrams and symbols were drawn to ward off evil spirits.

In Wiltshire and Dorset you will find examples of prehistoric public art, where giant drawings were created by cutting deep trenches into Hillsides. Some classic example of this would be the Cerne Abbas Giant and the Uffington White Horse.

Madonnari

The term 'Madonnari' originated from the Italian street painters who produce art based on Catholicism such as Madonna and the child on the pavement. 

These early Street Artists made their money by travelling from town to town, painting renditions of master pieces after world war two. This was artwork that the poor could not afford to see in museums, so the street artists became a poor man's art gallery.

'Screevers'

London is built on chalk, and if you dig deep enough you will come to a layer of chalk 655 feet thick. This is the same chalk that forms the white cliffs of Dover, the Chilterns and almost all of Southern Britain.

The culture of pavement art was unique to Britain and most particularly London and it started appearing on the streets of London as early as the 1400's when London's first paving stones were laid.  Chalk artists of this time were called 'screevers'. 

At first, they produced little more than 'begging letters', however, over time, pavement art evolved and by the end of the 1850's, 

it was typical to see the words 'All My Own Work' 

chalked below a piece of pavement art.

Artists would use their medium to depict anything from landscape art, to religious drawings, to the great fire of London, to comical portraits of politicians, and so on.

In the late 1800's, London became the centre of street art culture. However the rich and poor divide was at it's most extreme and ordinary people did whatever they could to made ends meet.

In 1894 there were said to be at least 300 pavement artists on the streets of London.

Alice Coleman was the first ever female street artist.  She was born in a time where it was unheard of for a woman to take up such a profession. She got to be known as 'Lady Screever' and was reported on far and wide.   

                                                                                      

  In one article from The Daily Mirror's 'Wonderful London',

country children were asked what would be their top ten for visiting London.

Their top answer was: 'Seeing those funny men drawing on the pavements'.

On a good day, nothing could compete with watching the row of pavement pastelists stretching as far as the eye could see, creating their colourful outdoor galleries.

A picture spoke 1000 words so in a world where poor people were largely unable to read and write, pavement art was a visual newspaper for world events.

In 1906, Music Hall singer and comedian, Gus Elen wrote and performed his famous pavement art routine to packed houses throughout Britain.

Gus Elen 'The Pavement Artist' song.

Big events were big business for the humble screever, and so when the Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911, the screevers had a field day replicating the famous piece on the pavement, claiming theirs to be the original masterpiece.

'Night Screevers' & World War 1

 Before the beginning of World War One, in 1914, screevers had chalked the streets by candlelight for 150 years.  

It was a subculture within a subculture, however the war meant the end of night screeving which was prohibited by the black out laws in London. 

 All lights had to be extinguished at dusk, and it became illegal to even light candles.

The war ended on the eleventh of November 1918, and pavement artists had more than tripled. 

 Ex soldiers with physical and mental scars who couldn't find employment ended up begging, street peddling or becoming pavement artists. 

As at that time there were no war pensions.  It was a humiliation to the nation. The debate became known as 'The Pension Question'.

(British Seaman Stoker Smith)

In 1917, the Ministry of Pensions was established later becoming the Department of Social Security which provided a war pension for ex servicemen and later, a social security benefits system for the unemployed in Britain.

In 1933, George Orwell wrote his book 'Down and out in Paris and London' where he depicted social inequality and conditions that created homelessness in that era, which included the lives of chalk artists.

Sidewalk Sam

Side walk Sam, A KA Bob Guillemin was renowned for filling the pavements of Boston with his street art beginning in 1973.  He was known for his reproductions of European masterpieces, chalked or painted on the sidewalk. In 1994 however, an accident left him paralyzed, but he did not stop there.  He simply increased his focus on large participatory art projects for communities and businesses. Sidewalk Sam passed away in 2015, and his passing was reported in the Boston news as he had touched so many peoples hearts in his lifetime. See interviews below. 

Sidewalk Sam Interview 

Sidewalk Sam on Boston News

Street Painting Festivals

In the 1970's, street painting festivals became more popular.

The first modern chalk festival, 

'Fuere Delle Grazie', 

was held in 1973, in Curatone Italy.

Since then, chalk festivals have become popular though out Europe.

 The Pasadena Chalk Festival, was started, in California in 1983.

The Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival began Santa Barbara, California in 1987.

 The Sarasota Chalk Festival in Florida was founded in 2007. 

The Chalktober fest began in the City of Marietta, 

Georgia, U.S in 2010.

3D Chalk Art

Kurt Wenner

In 1982 Kurt Wenner combined traditional street painting techniques with his classical training and understanding of illusion to invent an art form all of his own. This has come to be known as anamorphic, illusionistic, or 3D pavement art.  

Julian Beever

UK Street artist Julian Beever has been creating 3D 'anamorphic' drawings all over the world since the 1990's.

In his first attempt at anamorphic art, he depicted a woman in a swimming pool, followed by batman theme, a lobster theme, New Orleans and even portraits of himself pavement drawing as above, and so on.

Jullian Beever Interview

Street Art in Glastonbury, England.

(Pic by Nick Lancaster)

In the early 2000's Gaz Young appeared on Glastonbury high street with his chalked mandalas. Every one of them is a unique masterpiece, filling the town with colour and he has continued this tradition for almost one decade and his mandalas are seen as part of the high street now. They are often accompanied with famous and positive thought provoking quotes.    

Gaz Young Interview

 Gaz's Bitchute Channel

Lisa Ceneri 

AKA Raw Poet AKA @sunfoodqueen

Lisa Ceneri began brightening the streets of Glastonbury in the year of 2020. She embarked this journey by chalking her enormous library of original poems on a multitude of subjects as well as writing short street articles on pertinent subjects, shortly followed by her pavement art.

Some of the themes for her chalk art include love, spirituality, lunar and western astrology, indigenous cultures as well as political themes and so much more.

Raw Poet's Channel

Keeping The Tradition Alive

It is street art such as this that is keeping this ancient tradition of pavement art alive, and in a world where everything revolves around the internet, it is refreshing to see something that is real, where the audience can interact with the artist as well as each other.  So if you happen to stumble across one in your travels, give them a little support, so they can continue spreading the love into the next century, in every city and in every corner of the world.

Ren's 'It's Alright' Chalk themed song :-)