The other Seurat painting in the show is the small version of "Models (Poseuses)" of 1887-88, in which Seurat does everything he doesn't do in "Circus Sideshow" — paints daylight, flesh and a moment of relaxation.
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In the first room, we are told that the bulls of Picasso's "Composition: The Peasants" (1906) descend from their painted landscape of golden hay into the gallery with flowers in their mouths, while the bored woman in Corot's painting joins a tea party with Seurat's nudes in "Models (Poseuses)" (1886–1888).
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Models (Les Poseuses) by Georges Seurat A poseur is someone who poses for effect, or behaves affectedly,Allen, R.E. Fowler, H. W. The Pocket Oxford Dictionary of Current English. Clarendon Press. (1984). who affects a particular attitude, character or manner to impress others,Morris, William. editor. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.
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Though Parade de cirque was eclipsed by Les Poseuses at the 1888 Salon des Indépendants, several critics did mention the arduous and innovative lighting effects employed by Seurat. Félix Fénéon pointed out that it was only "interesting insofar as it applies to a nocturne a method pointillism, that has been mainly used for daylight effects."Félix Fénéon. "Le néo-impressionnisme à la IVe exposition des artistes indépendants". L'Art moderne 8 (April 15, 1888), p.
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Models (Les Poseuses), oil on canvas, 207.6 × 308 cm, Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia Itinerant fairs housed in temporary structures such as the Circus Corvi made seasonal appearances along the boulevards of Paris. Seurat's interest in these fairs produced several studies in anticipation of Parade de cirque, including a series of cafe-concert performances, performing saltimbanques or acrobats. The name Fernand Corvi appears on Seurat's small sketch for the ticket window. Gustave Kahn characterized Parade de cirque as "so willfully pallid and sad".
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Models, also known as The Three Models and Les Poseuses, is a painting by Georges Seurat, painted between 1886 and 1888 and held by the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. Models was exhibited at the fourth Salon des Indépendants in spring of 1888. This painting, the third of Seurat's six major works, is a response to critics who criticized Seurat's technique for being cold and unable to represent life. Thus, the artist offers a nude, the same model, in three different poses.
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The painting was overshadowed by the much larger Models (Les Poseuses) when first exhibited at the 1888 Salon des Indépendants. Subsequently neglected by Seurat himself, Parade was not included among the large canvases listed in his "ésthetique" of 1890. Robert Herbert writes of Parade: > Falling uneasily between the huge, early plein-air paintings Baignade and La > Grande Jatte and the late indoor scenes Chahut and Cirque, Parade has > neither the grandeur of the former nor the posterlike memorability of the > latter. Yet it nonetheless demands a central role in Seurat's concise > oeuvre.
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In 1975, Haacke created a similar piece to the Manet project at the John Weber gallery in New York, exposing the history of ownership of Seurat's Models (Les Poseuses) (small version). In the same manner as the previous installation, this work showed the increase of the value of the work as it passed from one patron to another. Also In 1975, he created one of his most memorable installations, entitled On Social Grease. The work, which takes its title from a speech by a corporate head of one of the world's major oil companies, is made up of carefully factured plaques exhibiting quotes from business executives and important art world figures.
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