Georges Seurat: A Life of Color and Shadow

"A tall young fellow, timid as could be, but with the energy no less extreme than his shyness...A voice deep, hooded, quick to win others to his point of view..." (Stevens 31), these were the words used to describe Seurat by one of his friends. These words hold true to the character that Seurat possessed. Seurat was a very remarkable artist that stood the test of time. Today his artwork still pops up at art exhibits all over the world. His artwork has elements that no other artist has making him unique and imaginative. His work with color and its luminosity changed the way artists began to work with color. Seurat's work differs from other artists in that he proved himself to be as much a "master of the caressing shadow as of the calculated light."

Georges Seurat was born on December second in 1859 and was the third child of four brothers and sisters. Seurat showed an early love for art as a young boy, as he would draw family members and friends. He continued to do this throughout early childhood developing and honing his skills. At around the age of fifteen when Seurat had become efficient in his drawing skills he began taking art lessons at a municipal art school, run by Justin Lequien. Lequien expressed the industrial arts more then other art styles, which he also emphasized to his students. Seurat began his lessons here by drawing from plaster cast and tracing lithographs of various popular artist of the time. His skill progressed quickly and by the age of seventeen he was drawing from live models very efficiently. His main reason for attending these lessons was to prepare himself for the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, which he took the entrance exam for in 1878. This was the path taken by many of the aspiring artist of the time. The Ecole des Beaux-Arts was a very prominent school and hard to get into. Seurat succeeded in this task and a month after taking the entrance exam he was accepted and began his training under the wing of Henri Lehmann (Herbert 11-13). Here he continued to develop his drawing skills, drawing sketches from the work of his favorite artists, such as Raphael and Michelangelo. From some of his early sketches drawn between 1875 and 1879 we can see that Lehmann greatly expressed the human form upon his students, for most of Seurat's tracings and sketches dated during this time period were of the human form done by the old masters. Upon close examination of his sketches during this time period we can see how he developed in perfecting the human form. In Une sibylle, d'apres Raphael, [figure 1] we can see that at first he was hesitant in outlining the body's curves and hatched, rather mechanically, his lights and shadows giving the sketch a rather flat decorative two dimensional feel. In his later sketches however, we can see his improvement, looking at Academie, de profil, tete baissee [figure 2] we see much more use of light and shadow. His preliminary sketches are no longer hesitant they capture the form and posture of the subject well putting the components and curves of the human body in good proportion. His use of light and shadow along with the tones he uses brings the contour of the body out, no longer relying entirely on the contour lines like in Romulas vainqueur d'Acron d'apres Ingres [figure 3]. Also as compared with his earlier sketch the Academie, de profil, tete baissee is much more plastic in appearance and with a plain background gives the overall work a very dominating perspective.

Seurat's stay at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts was unfortunately short lived, he only studied there for around an eighteen month period leaving in November of 1879 to peruse a military career. The reasoning for his abandonment is rather unclear, many people believed that it was a rebellious act directed towards his parents but this can not be proven. His stay in the military was also short lived, serving for only one year. When he returned form the military however, he did not return to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, instead he began to draw and paint independently. He broke all ties that he had with the Ecole des Beaux-Arts no longer following the style taught to him there, instead he began to develop his own style (Herbert 13).

For this new style Seurat turned to naturalism for inspiration, following the work of such people as Thomas Couture. In Couture's book he emphasized the style of 'genre', which is drawing from the world around you and of capturing the essence of everyday things. He encouraged the drawing of people in the process of manual labor and in the act of doing everyday chores and routines (Herbert 33-35). Many of these concepts began to be seen in Seurat's drawings and sketches dated during this time period. In a drawing entitled Le laboureur [figure 4] we see a man leaning over working in a garden with a hoe and in Casseur de pierres [figure 5] we see another man breaking stones with a hammer. We can also clearly see in these pictures that Seurat had abandoned his idea of drawing the ideal individual and began portraying the common person. In many of his independent sketches he put much more emphases on body posture and position then he did on facial features and expression. His subjects were simple silhouettes giving us very little if any hint of light upon the person's body, he strictly focused on the person's posture and character. This can easily be seen in Devant le balcon, [figure 6] that shows us a rather proper looking lady sitting in a chair reading a book. The light is emanating from her right casting a large amount of shadow across her, which does give us a great sense of luminosity within the drawing but takes away the features of the woman.

Seurat's naturalism was quit different in many aspects then of the standard views associated with naturalism. Seurat's images were far from having a photographic quality; his form of naturalism was similar to Romantic naturalism. He emphasized more modern landscapes, instead of trees and a brilliant sunset he often went for dark shadowy subjects like factories and locomotives, things that were considered ugly or grim (Herbert 33-35). An example of this would be Le bateau a vapeur [figure 7]. In this drawing we can see a steamboat moving down a canal, the background is a very dark, smoke filled sky with a very faint image of a factory that is hidden by the shadows and the smoke, not your typical cheery drawing.

Seurat's drawing technique was also very unique and easily identifiable. His use of line is the major element that stood out in his sketches. Seurat had a very interesting way of using line; he made quick and irregular strokes that helped guide your way through the drawing. The often erratic lines give us a sense of movement in his drawings, like in le badigeonneur [figure 8] for instance. In this drawing we can see a man walking up a ladder, which may seem rather boring but the way that Seurat uses line in the drawing adds interest to it. Our eye follows the man up the ladder and out of the top left corner of the piece following the circular lines placed there by Seurat. We are then swept back in to the piece with the curved lines that lye in the bottom left corner and follow the man back up the ladder. Another of his drawings that demonstrates his unique use of line is in Place de la Concorde, hiver [figure 9]. In this drawing our eyes follow the stray lines that are scattered throughout the drawing bringing us to new areas within the composition and help break up the monotonous of the background. The lines make the monotone sky come alive inviting you to follow it back into space and then spring you forward again to the fountain in the foreground.

Like many of his other works Place de la Concorde, hiver is also very dark and shadowy in nature but while his drawings may have been rather dark and dense with shadows his paintings were very different in many respects. Seurat treated his paintings as an entirely different world then compared to his drawings; he no longer concentrated on shadow but on the luminosity and vibrancy of light. His major influence for the way he treated and used light was from the techniques that Delacroix used. Seurat read many articles and books on Delacroix's adopting many of his practices. Two of Delacroix's practices were of special interest to Seurat. The first was the process of surrounding a color with its opposite or complimentary color. Seurat felt that this brought the intensity out in the painting and helped harmonize it as well. The second practice that Seurat adopted was to break a color down into several tints (Herbert 103-104).

Seurat used a special color palette to do his paintings. In this palette black and earth tones were eliminated and only the colors which he believed were the colors of light were used. These colors included red, red-orange, orange, orange-yellow, yellow, greenish-yellow, yellowish-green, green, blue-green, cyan-blue, blue, blue-violet, and violet. The way that Seurat used his colors is what makes Seurat unique in many aspects. Seurat had a unique perspective and frame of mind in the way he went about painting; he felt that he was not painting with color but with dabs of light (Schiff 100).

Hommes enfoncant des pieux; Bucherons, [figure 10] demonstrates Seurat's unique use of light very efficiently. In the painting we can easily see the light bouncing off the men working and off the trees in the background. The subtle blues that are used on the man farthest to the right give us some contrast and help the yellows and greenish yellows come out more giving us a wonderful feel for the light that is emanating from just off the page. The light is illuminating the man holding the mallet, Seurat emphasized the sense of light by using a wine rose color on his arms intensifying the light that is engulfing him. From this painting we can also get a sense for Seurat's painting style. The brush strokes are rather small and uniform helping us to hold the painting together as our eye moves across it. We can also begin to tell which artist Seurat looked to for inspiration in developing his painting style. The brush strokes resemble that of Monet's short and uniform strokes. Seurat however, did not go into as much detail as Monet did in his paintings.

Seurat was greatly influenced by the impressionists and their methods. One element that distinguishes that Seurat's study of the impressionists and their methods was the lack or non-existence of line in his paintings (Homer 56-60). The impressionists felt that the boundary between objects should be the position of color areas, not line. This method can be seen in Seurat's work in Le, Jardinier [figure 11]. In this painting we can see a man bending over working in a garden. The only thing that separates the man from the trees and shrubs in the background is the vibrant blues that encompass his trousers and that flow down his back. The use of color clearly divides and defines the man from the background bringing him up and distinguishing him as the subject.

Seurat's first major work that he undertook was Une baignade, Asnieres [figure 12] that was painted between 1883 and 1884. Une baignade, Asnieres was one of the largest paintings that Seurat did in his career it measured an impressive 79 inches by 118 inches. In the painting we begin to see Seurat's distinctive style begin to develop. We see his loose and uniform brush strokes become smaller helping us to harmonize the piece and allowing our eye to pull the strokes together into solid masses of color. The grass on the riverbank in the painting is much more luminous then other color elements in the painting. The water for instance is rather plain we do not see as much light bouncing off the river as we do on the riverbank. The use of color also has some significance in the overall image. The colors are very cool in nature giving the painting a very calm and relaxed atmosphere, only by the reds and brown elements scattered throughout it do we get a feel of some variety and liveliness. It seems odd that Seurat did not emphasize the light on the water unlike in some of his preliminary paintings for the final piece. In paintings like Bords de riviere [figure 13] for instance we see a very intense light emanating across the river with contrasting reds yellows and greens.

This massive painting was not accepted by the official solon when he showed it to them in the spring of 1884. It is not known why the solon rejected the art but this setback did not stop Seurat from showing it. He instead had it shown at an exhibit with works from the Groupe des Artists Independants (Herbert 147).

Seurat's most famous painting was Un dimanche a la Grande Jatte [figure 14] In this work we see Seurat's distinctive style perfected and elaborated from his earlier masterpiece Une baignade, Asnieris. His brush strokes now no longer resemble strokes at all but dots. This is where Seurat's form of painting got its name it became known as Pointillism or Neo-impressionism as Felix Feneon coined it. The very small dots used in creating the painting blend together in our eyes bring order to the chaos and confusion that lies within the large field of dots. This is how Seurat wanted the viewer to experience the piece. He felt that within the retina of a persons eye the colored dots would mix together giving us the sense of where the light and shadows where on the painting.

Seurat's later paintings give us a better feel for perspective and depth then some of his early paintings. In Port-en-Bessin, le pont et les quais [figure 15] we have a much more interesting perspective with much more depth and open space. There are three small and lonely figures in the foreground that are giving us a vast and open feel. Seurat lets us see far into the distance all the way to the mountains lying behind the port town. Our eyes are allowed to walk across the bridge with the elderly lady to the houses and street in the background. From there we follow the path to the mountains in the distance until we can not go any farther and then we focus on the roofed structure bringing us back to the foreground. We have a wonderful sense of freeness and vastness in the painting giving us a wonderful feeling of movement.

One of his later paintings better demonstrates his distinctive way of using his dots to give a sense of movement. Upon close examination of Cirque [figure 16] we see the dots inviting us to follow their movements. The area where this effect happens more predominantly is in the extreme foreground where the clown is located. The dots flow away from the clown and sweep into the activities inside the painting. From there we witness the woman balancing on the horse as it prances around the ring and we can feel the whip cracking with a snap when we see the dots flow down the inside of its contour.

Seurat had a very productive career that surpassed many of the other great artists before him. His life was a rather short one living only to the age of thirty-one, but in a time span of only ten years where he painted and drew independently he produced more gallery quality work then other aspiring artists could hope to produce in five. It is this and his distinctive painting style that sets him apart from the artists before him. He was a man devoted to his art and his practice of painting with dots of luminous light. He was a very plain and boring man that expressed his thoughts and feeling on a canvas rather then with the people around him. He captured things on his canvas that everybody can relate to; he captured feelings that everyone has experienced one time during their lives. These qualities have made Seurat special and stand out from a crowd of thousands of artists.

In Un dimanche a la Grande Jatte we see more of Seurat's characteristic luminosity in his light. The page is coming alive with the light that is shooting through the trees and onto the ground, casting vast shadows through the field of people. The painting is also alive with action and chaos, there are people everywhere doing various things. There are trumpet players and marchers; there are dogs and even a monkey within the composition. One drawback to the composition however, is that the field is to cluttered not allowing our eyes to rest. The cluttered field also hinders our sense of depth within the painting not allowing our eyes to move back and forth in space in the composition. The dots themselves also give us some sense of movement and vibrancy within the painting. It seems as if the atoms of the objects in the painting are starting to come apart and fly away, the only Seurat's later paintings give us a better feel for perspective and depth then some of his early paintings. In Port-en-Bessin, le pont et les quais [figure 15] we have a much more interesting perspective with much more depth and open space. There are three small and lonely figures in the foreground that are giving us a vast and open feel. Seurat lets us see far into the distance all the way to the mountains lying behind the port town. Our eyes are allowed to walk across the bridge with the elderly lady to the houses and street in the background. From there we follow the path to the mountains in the distance until we can not go any farther and then we focus on the roofed structure bringing us back to the foreground. We have a wonderful sense of freeness and vastness in the painting giving us a wonderful feeling of movement.