Georges Seurat

By Hava Kane

Post-Impressionism

• Era following impressionism 1880s-1900

• Artists rejected impressionist standards, but sprung from them

• New interest in color, shape & line

• Avoided realistic color

• Rejected rules of perspective

Background

• 1859 born in Paris to well-off family

• 1878 joined École Des Beaux Arts

• 1881-1891 career as artist• left 6 major canvases, 60 smaller ones,

170 wood panels and many drawings

• 1891 died at age 31

Personality & Style

• Shy and secretive

• Methodical

• Studious

• Revolutionary

• Empathetic to working class

• Painted his mistress and had a son nobody knew about

• Planned and organized everything before painting

• Researched and applied aesthetic theories of color and geometrics

• Started neo-impressionism with his pointillist/divisionist style

• Paintings that highlight class distinctions

Early WorksHead of a Young Woman

1877-79Aman-Jean

1880

Bathers at Asnières1883-84

A Sunday Afternoon on the

Island of

La Grande Jatte 1884-1846

Later WorksLe Chahut1889-90

The Circus1890-91

Critique

• “How Seurat Worked Up To Sunday”• The New York Times

• “He wasn't a scientific prodigy who happened to end up in art, but a prodigious artist learning on the job.”

In My Opinion

• I admire how methodical Seurat was about his work, and how revolutionary he was for his time

• I like pointillism and vibrant color

• I like how his works are usually recognizable just by the style

Bibliography

• http://www.renoirinc.com/biography/artists/seurat.htm

• http://www.theartstory.org/artist-seurat-georges.htm

• http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/20/arts/art-review-how-seurat-worked-up-to-sunday.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

• Bingham, Jane. Post-Impressionism. Chicago, IL: Heinemann Library, 2009. Print.

• Seurat, Georges, and Sarah Carr-Gomm. Seurat. London: Studio Editions, 1993. Print.