Aux Buttes Chaumont

&quotThe composition is somewhat nonsensical in this poster for a toy and gift sale. Essentially a grouping of figures loosely connected in order to take advantage of the verticality of the poster. It’s the scale and Cheret’s details that are so winning here. (Such as,) The pointy-chinned clown doll being plucked from a pet goat, it’s legs akimbo. The way his costume matches the polka dots of the drummer. The bucked tooth kinship of the little girls, their hairdos wild with excitement. Cheret often portrayed children in his posters, largely for such toy and gift sale announcements. Hiatt refers to this commenting that ‘The joy of the little ones in possession of their playthings is contagious’ (Hiatt p.34). And the mother’s expression as she serenely considers a fan for herself is absolutely sublime&quot (Rennert, PAI-XXVII, 339)