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Georges Seurat. Le Chahut. Georges Seurat was born on December 2, 1859 in Paris. His father was a native to Champagne, and his mother was a Parisian. He lived at 100 Boulevard Magenta with his parents, a brother, Emile, and a sister, Marie-Berthe.
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Georges Seurat Le Chahut
Georges Seurat was born on December 2, 1859 in Paris. His father was a native to Champagne, and his mother was a Parisian. He lived at 100 Boulevard Magenta with his parents, a brother, Emile, and a sister, Marie-Berthe.
In 1875 Seurat took drawing lessons under the sculptor Justin Lequien. Seurat also took lessons from an artist named Ingres. Ingres didn't paint like Seurat did. But he was the praised student of Jacques-Louis David. Ingres was known for his meticulous working procedure in his works.
Seurat spent his life studying color theories and the effects of different linear structures. He developed the style of painting known as Pointillism. He had 500 works of art of his own and he was proclaimed to be a master. But it isn't just the number of his works that make him an expert. His magnificent pointillist pieces make him the famous artist that he is today.
Some of his most famous paintings include: -Bathing at Asnieres -A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte -Le Chahut -Eden Concert
Seurat was not just interested in the way that the colors were put onto the painting or the painting itself. He was mostly concentrating on the science in the picture and the optical mixing of the colors. Before actually painting the picture, he would sketch out parts of his artwork so that the models would not have to wait forever while he found the exact color.
Seurat had many people who really didn't like the new work that he was introducing, but Paul Signac, a fellow artist (b.1863, d. 1935), recognized that the technique was very artistic and complicated. In one of his journal entries he says of Seurat:
“He surveyed the scene and has made these very important contributions: his black and white, his harmony of lines, his composition, his contrast and harmony of color, even his frames. What more can you ask of a painter?”
A pointillist himself, Signac also commented on the importance of color purity in a pointillist piece: “I attach more and more importance to the purity of the brushstroke - I try to give it maximum purity and intensity. Any defiling sleight of hand or smearing disgusts me. When one can paint with jewels, why use [manure]?
Each time that my brushstroke happens to come up against another, not yet dry, and this mixture produces a dirty tone, I feel great physical disgust! It is this passion for beautiful colors which make us paint as we do...and not the love of the ‘dot,’ as foolish people say.” Pointillist artists appreciate the phenomenal optical mixing of the colors themselves.
Seurat developed Pointillism. He rejected broad brushstrokes of mixed color and instead applied tiny "points" of pure color to his canvas, relying upon the observer's eye to mix the colors. The result was extraordinary, but the method, painstaking.
Whether you like the "fuzziness" of pointillist paintings or not, note the concentration that a pointillist artist would have to have to create a piece that would have to be pleasing to the eye as well as scientifically stimulating.
This scene, with over forty figures and their surroundings, took the artist almost two years to complete, during which he refused to lunch with close friends lest they distract him from his work. Today it remains his best-known masterpiece and a monument to dedication.
In the final two years of Seurat’s life (d. 1891), his work was invaded by a frenzied gesticulation. Seurat studied and collected Jules Cheret's posters, and their compositional form is felt in Le Chahut, the cover art on the Reality Through the Arts textbook.
The curled mustache repeated in the dancer's turned-up lips, the decorations and ribbons on the dancers' shoulders and shoes, and the strange similarity of male and female legs expresses the taste for peculiar detail. This exuberance, however, does not conceal the extreme rigor of the composition.
Seurat inscribes his network of diagonals on a regular geometrical background. A figure in the foreground stabilizes the composition. Angles seem to guide and support the figures upward and give them balance. The precision of the painting is captivating.
The artist, in his studies of Chinese art, learned that upward turned lines in human faces have a powerful effect on the mood of the painting. Seurat not only made upward lines on the dancers’ lips and eyes but also the mustaches, eyes and eyebrows of the gentleman in the painting.
Note how the repeating patterns reinforce and echo one another. The shape of the bows on the dancers’ shoes matches that of the gentleman’s mustache. Breaks occur between the background and foreground, and in the intermediary space of Le Chahut, Seurat arranges a series of arc-shaped curves created by the dancers legs.
Even though it is not readily apparent at first, Seurat was very careful that this work did not contain any horizontal lines or right angles. Each angle is placed at exacting complementary positions to achieve true harmony in this wonderful work.
What do you think? Is this scientific approach to creating art creative and visionary? Or, is this calculating approach too impersonal and lacks emotion?
While Seurat alters mood and expression through the direction of line, his harmony of color is more intuitive than scientific.
Orange and yellow-orange dominate the overall color of the piece. The gas lamps, in the upper left of the painting, are the primary light source and flood a yellow-orange light over the entire painting’s surface. Following harmonious, chromatic principles, Seurat applied blue-green colors to the shadow side of objects, creating a powerful, visual effect of chromo-luminescence.
Seurat believed that a canvas should be a screen on which colored light shows through, creating a luminous glowing effect. Viewed at the proper distance, the small dots of color mix in the viewer’s eye. This stunning effect is only achieved through painstakingly careful choice of color based on chromatic principles.
Le Chahut 1889-90 Oil on Canvas 66 1/8 x 55 1/2 in Kroller-Muller Museum Otterlo
“Monsieur Seurat,” wrote Felix Feneon in 1889, “knows very well that a line, independent of its representational role, has an appraisable abstract value.”
When artists talk about value, sometimes they are referring to the monetary worth of an artwork, but often they are talking about the degree of light or dark that they see. For example, something light and bright is high value, and something dark is low value. Artists also use the word tone the same way.
The human eye can distinguish about 200 or so shades of grey with training. When people are initially learning how to draw, they often draw using only four or five different shades. As their observation and drawing skills improve, the number of shades they use increases.
The “trick” to being able to draw using light and dark is to start seeing the world as if through the lens of an old black and white camera. Everywhere you look, you will see patches of light and dark. If you are skilled at this, you may be able to draw successfully without ever using a line -- your entire drawing will be patches of light and dark.
When Seurat drew, all of his time was spent observing patches of light. When he looked at a child's shirt, he forgot what he was looking at and saw a patch of high value instead. By forgetting what he was looking at, and drawing the shades he perceived, he was able to create wonderful drawings using only black and white.
Often the best materials for making value drawings are ones that produce deep, rich blacks, such as 6B pencils, charcoal, or conté crayons. Richer blacks create a more impressive drawing because the contrast between the white of the paper and the black of the drawing medium is greater: it has more “snap.” The disadvantage to using these drawing media is that they are really smudgy! Try not to lean you hand on your paper when you draw. And be careful of your clothing - charcoal can be difficult to wash out.
Tips for Good Value Drawings: • Start by blocking in the main areas of light and dark. • Don't let your drawing become too dark too quickly -- it can be hard to get lighter later. • Comparison is important: look at areas of equal value around your drawing to see if they match.
If you're using a hard- or fine-tipped drawing material, then create darkness by building up layers of lines, dots, dashes, or other marks. • This is still useful if you're using a softer medium, like charcoal or pastel, but you can also vary drawing pressure. • Using an eraser is useful to add light areas to a drawing. You can also draw in light areas with a white pencil crayon or pastel. Try drawing with chalk on black paper.
