Circus Benneweis

Ib Antoni had many exciting collaborations with customers from all over the world – including Cirkus Benneweis. The Binneweitz family lived from touring with their music, with permission from the police in Vordingborg to perform as artists and musicians, but received the permit under the name “Benneweis”, which was probably due to a spelling mistake in the public register. On July 13, 1887, Circus Benneweis was founded and the first performance consisted of the small family: Gottfried, Marie, Marie’s sister Josefine (who, despite being both deaf and mute, played on barrel organ) and also her brother Alexander, who could make somersaults. In 1933, Gottfried and Marie’s eldest son, Ferdinand Benneweis (1888-1945), became circus director. Ferdinand Benneweis was married to Irene Daucke (1891-1970), who was a line dancer at Cirkus Benneweis and together they adopted Eli (1911-1993), who in 1945 became the owner of Cirkus Benneweis, initially in partnership with his foster mother Irene. Under Eli Bennewei’s leadership, Circus Bennewei became bigger and bigger, and soon it was the largest circus in the Nordic countries.

As Antoni Legacy is constantly working on cleaning Ib Antoni’s beautiful original drawings, one can never know when a new illustration from Antoni’s hand will see the light of day. But when the illustration is ready for reproduction, it is added to the collection on this page, both under Products, Motifs and the client for which the motif was designed. If you have a special interest in, or further knowledge about an Antoni-illustration or an Antoni-customer, you are more than welcome to contact us.

See the products associated with Circus Benneweis below.