Seurat's Circus Sideshow

Thomson, Richard with contributions by Susan Alyson Stein, Charlotte Hale, and Silvia A. Centeno (2017)

This title is out of print.

Publication Details

Description

Georges Seurat (1859–1891) created just six major figure paintings during his lifetime, one of which, the alluring Circus Sideshow (Parade de cirque), has remained the most challenging to interpret since it first intrigued viewers at the 1888 Salon des Indépendants in Paris. Unlike Seurat’s earlier sunlit scenes, Circus Sideshow presents a nighttime tableau depicting a parade—a street show enticing passersby to purchase tickets. With its geometrically precise composition, muted colors, and elements of abstraction, the painting stands apart as a masterpiece of Neo-Impressionism and heralds Seurat’s subsequent depictions of popular entertainments.

This book, the first comprehensive study of Circus Sideshow, situates the painting in the context of nineteenth-century Paris and of the many social changes France was undergoing. Renowned art historian Richard Thomson illuminates the roles of caricature, naturalist and avant-garde painting, and circus advertising; examines Seurat’s use of contemporary aesthetic theory; and discusses how artists ranging from Rouault to Picasso mined the sideshow theme into the twentieth century. Illustrated with Seurat’s related drawings, works by other artists, and period posters and broadsides, Seurat’s Circus Sideshow delves into the history of traveling circuses and seasonal fairs in France, exploring the ongoing appeal of this traditional form of popular entertainment through the fin de siècle. Two additional essays describe the painting’s enthusiastic reception in New York upon its 1929 debut and present the results of a fresh technical examination of the canvas, making this volume the definitive resource on one of Seurat’s most captivating works.

Table of contents

Director’s Foreword

Acknowledgments

Lenders to the Exhibition

Seurat’s Circus Sideshow : A Parade of Paradoxes
Richard Thomson

Circus Sideshow Comes to Town
Susan Alyson Stein

Seurat’s Circus Sideshow : Materials, Technique, Evolution
Charlotte Hale and Silvia A. Centeno

Notes

Checklist

Selected Bibliography

Provenance and Exhibition History

Index

Photograph Credits

About the authors

Richard Thomson is Watson Gordon Professor of Fine Art at the University of Edinburgh.

Susan Alyson Stein is Engelhard Curator of Nineteenth-Century European Painting in the Department of European Paintings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Charlotte Hale is Conservator in the Department of Paintings Conservation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Silvia A. Centeno is Research Scientist in the Department of Scientific Research at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

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Silvia Centeno

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Related Content

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History (3)

Essays (2)

Georges Seurat (1859–1891) and Neo-Impressionism

Post-Impressionism

Timelines (1)

France, 1800–1900 A.D.

Exhibition

Seurat's Circus Sideshow

February 17–May 29, 2017

Taking as its focus one of The Met's most captivating masterpieces, this thematic exhibition will afford a unique context for appreciating the heritage and allure of Circus Sideshow (Parade de cirque), painted in 1887–88 by Georges Seurat (1859–1891). Anchored by a remarkable group of related works by Seurat that will fully illuminate the lineage of the motif in his inimitable conté crayon drawings, the presentation will explore the fascination the sideshow subject held for other artists in the nineteenth century, ranging from the great caricaturist Honoré Daumier at mid-century to the young Pablo Picasso at the fin de siècle.

This rich visual narrative will unfold in a provocative display of more than 100 paintings, drawings, prints, period posters, and illustrated journals, supplemented by musical instruments and an array of documentary material intended to give a vivid sense of the seasonal fairs and traveling circuses of the day. Among the highlights will be Fernand Pelez's epic Grimaces and Misery—The Saltimbanques (Petit Palais, Paris), of exactly the same date as Seurat's magisterial work and, with its lifesize performers aligned in friezelike formation across a 20-foot stage, a match for his ambition.

Plan Ahead

MetPublications