Author: Annette Labedzki
Source: ezinearticles.com
Georges-Pierre Seurat or Georges Seurat, a French painter & drafter, is recognized as the initiator of the nineteenth century French School of ‘Neo-Impressionism.’ Born into an affluent family in Paris on December 02, 1859, his father Antoine Chrysostom Seurat was a legal official and his mother Ernestine Faivre was a Parisian. In 1875, Seurat studied drawing under the sculptor Justin Lequien and painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Stern, obsessive, and highly secretive as a young man, he entered Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, in 1878. Here, the creator of “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (Un dimanche apres-midi a l’Ile de la Grande Jatte),” Georges Seurat, read a book by Humbert de Superville, on relationship between lines and images, which helped him shape his artistic career.
The ideal exemplary of a scientific artist, the artist spent his life mastering dye & color theories and the special effects of diverse linear structures. Georges’ works have always glorified ‘Modern Art’ with elite techniques, such as ‘Pointillism,’ the skill of displaying light using minute brushstrokes in contrasting colors. This exceptional painter had astounding powers of focus, concentration, and positive approach towards his work. Profoundly well versed in the scientific theories on color and vision, he found genuine inspiration in the works of Ogden N. Rood, Eugene Delacroix, Rembrandt, and Francisco de Goya. Seurat created a new genre of art, grounding on the basic of perception and optical laws, called ‘Chromoluminarism.’ In this style, he shaped big compositions, such as “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” with the tiny, isolated strokes of color, which sparkled his works in brilliance.
Through 1884-86, Seurat painted the huge “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.” This 81.7″ x 121.25″, oil on canvass, ‘Modern Art’ painting with a ‘Neo-Impressionist’ soul, depicted public in a park at the island. Resembling a mural, the theme shows an island the Parisian middle class used as a place of group recreation. In the painting, the activity pattern seems to segregate the figures. For a brilliant finish, the artist outlined the scene with painted dots and framed the canvass in white wooden frame. He used a then new color pigment, zinc yellow, for highlighting the lawn. Orange and blue pigments have also been significantly used. The ‘Pointillism’ Seurat engaged here was adopted by a set of his supporters, the ‘Neoimpressionists,’ and was widely used in the early twentieth century. Seurat displayed this masterpiece in 1888, at the eighth ‘Impressionist’ exhibition. Completely executed using dots, it is currently gracing the Art Institute of Chicago. Some of Seurat’s other noted works are “Les Poseuses,” “Port-en-Bessin,” “Le Chahut,” and “Jeune femme se poudrant.”
In 1889, Seurat met Madeleine Knobloch, a young uneducated model with whom he started living and had a son in 1890. Georges’ final work, “Circus” remains unfinished, due to his sudden death on March 29, 1891. Owing to his painstaking painting techniques, evident in “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” Seurat completed comparatively few major paintings in his lifetime. By the age of 31, Georges-Pierre Seurat had finished seven large paintings, 40 miniature paintings or sketches, and roughly 500 drawings. These 500 drawings single-handedly ascertain Seurat as a great master. However, he will be revered for his method called ‘Pointillism,’ or ‘Divisionism,’ which uses minute dots or strokes of different color to craft subtle changes in his art.
Annette Labedzki received her BFA at the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. She has more than 25 years experience. She is the founder and developer of an online art gallery featuring original art from all over the world. It is a great site for art collectors to buy original art. Is is also a venue for artists to display and sell their art . Artists can join for free and their image upload is unlimited. Please visit the website at http://www.Labedzki-Art.com
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