ART

SHOPPING MALL > DEPARTMENT STORE > ART > ART HISTORY

COMPARISON SHOPPING SEARCH ENGINE

Fine Art Prints

Best Sellers Art Prints

Sale Art Prints

Limited Edition Art Prints

Buy Modern Art Prints, Fine Art Prints, Framed Art Prints and Art Prints Posters.

Select the first letter of the artist's last name to search the Fine Art Prints: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

GEORGES SEURAT
The Can-Can/Le Chahut (1889-1890)
Oil on white primed canvas
169cm X 139cm/66 1/2in X 54 3/4in

Dissatisfied with the apparently casual, arbitrary methods of the Impressionists, Seurat aimed at a more permanent, monumental record of modern life, an art elevated to the stature of Egyptian or classical art. During the first half of the 1880s, he devoted himself to developing his 'color-and-light' or 'chromo-luminarisi' method of scientifically recording the unified effects of light and color in nature. His acad-emic training, albeit relatively brief, gave him a foundation in the classical tradition and in careful draftsmanship which was to remain with him throughout his career. He soon abandoned the more linear emphasis of academic drawing, preferring instead the softer, more tonal approach which had been growing in popularity - particularly among independent artists - and these studies he used to analyze delicate gradations in the fall of light and shade. Seurat's knowledge of the theories of simultaneous, or complementary contrast of tones and colors was gained by thorough reading of Chevreul's theories, and later publications like those of the American Ogden Rood, which appeared in a French edition in 1881. He exploited the phenomenon of simultaneous con-trast in his drawings, before he had begun to use color.

In drawings like Seated Boy with a Straw Hat, a study, drawn in 1883-1884, for one of the seated figures in Bathing, Asnieres. the use of simultaneous contrast of tones can be seen. Where a dark block of tone meets a lighter one, the tones are mutually enhanced by contrast. This means that the edge of the dark block will appear optically darker by contrast, and the light edge lighter. In this drawing, Seurat has incorporated this optical effect physically. Thus, he has drawn the background paler behind the boy's back, and the boy's back darker, where the two meet, to exaggerate the contrast and to separate the boy's figure from the background, thereby giving it solidity. Similar handling is visible along the profile of the boy's face. The technique is reversed where the light falls from the right directly on the boy, highlighting his arms and legs. Thus, the light parts on his limbs have been made lighter, and the background darkened, to maximize the contrast and again make the figure stand out from the background.

These effects of tonal contrast are visible in nature, but are not commonly 'painted into' a picture, because they necessitate drastic adjust-ments to the tone of the background, resulting in an artificial and visually disturbing lighten-ing and darkening of the background. However, for Seurat, these effects were perfect for strength-ening structure and modeling in his drawings, and. incorporated in his paintings, they in-crease the sense of form while introducing an eerie unreality to their atmosphere. Although in his paintings the gradation from black to white of the studies was replaced by gradations from saturated pure color through to white to avoid sullying the hues, the principle re-mains the same. It can be clearly seen in Can-Can, where the planes of the background appear to swell in and out of the picture, as they darken or lighten, depending upon their proximity to the forms in front. For example, the background darkens noticeably in intensity where it adjoins the pale hues of the front dancer's skirt.

In Seurat's painting, contrasts of color replace contrasts of black and white, so that the contrast between light and dark is also one between color complementaries. Thus warm colors, especially dots of orange signifying the gaslighting, pervade the pale creamy-white areas, while darker, cool blues, violets and greens dominate the shaded parts away from the light. The orange-blue complementary pair is the basis for the color harmonies, while dots of orange indicating reflected gaslight are speckled over the entire canvas. The stiff styl-ization of the composition is far greater than during his earlier phase. This resulted from his study of the recent work of the scientist Charles Henry, with whom Seurat became acquainted in 1886. Henry worked on scientific means to formularize the relationship between line, color and tone and their impact on the emo-tions. For example, warm orange-reds, such as those which dominate this painting, were con-sidered to denote gaiety. Similarly, lines moving upward, like the legs, arms and facial features of the dancers reinforced the emotion associ-ated with warm color. Seurat's late paintings, based loosely on Henry's theories, were all designed on the basis of the particular emo-tions evoked by line, tone and color. Thus in these works pale, warm colors signified gaiety and action, while dark cool colors stood for sadness with middle tones and a balance between warm and cool colors in a painting indicating harmony and tranquility.

Lines had a comparable function - upward moving lines expressed joy or gaiety, horizontal and vertical lines indicated tranquil balance, and downward moving lines meant sorrow. It was felt that systematization of these theories could lead to a formula for painting, in which the emotional impact of the picture could be scientifically predetermined. This idea of a universal absolute in the ordered representa-tion of expression in art, is very much in keep-ing with certain ideas then current in Symbolist theory. However, it also marks a modern alternative to the classical absolutes of truth and beauty, which had become so associated with the constraints of academic dogma in the nineteenth century.

Recent scholarship has suggested that, in his art, Seurat aimed to find a new means of expression by combining the classical with the modern. The famous art historian and theore-tician, Charles Blanc, whose book Grammar of the Arts of Drawing Seurat consulted in the 1870s. saw the Renaissance as the perfect model for the modern society which sought social and artistic progress through science. Seurat may thus have adapted Blanc's theory which offered the artist a radical way of recon-ciling in his painting his apparently contradic-tory admiration for classical harmony and modern technological methods.

Although Seurat remained the undisputed leader of the Neo-Impressionists, his rigorously scientific method was gradually abandoned by his followers after his early death in 1891. They each sought more personal variations of the Pointillist style. Seurat's decorative styliz-ation and his use of classical proportions were much admired by twentieth century artists.

Within a matter of years of their execution contemporaries began to note the dulling of the brilliant pitch of Seurat's colors. This makes it difficult to assess the impact of the color or its effects in Seurat's work, for it is impossible to know how different they now are. However, Seurat's use of separate touches of pure color in tiny dots in fact resulted . in an overall subdued, almost gray tint in his painting, as can be seen here. This is because the color fusion that actually takes place is in fact subtractive- or darkening and graying in effect-in accordance with the laws of pigmental color, as opposed to the additive laws of colored light. In the latter, the mixture of colored lights becomes increasingly ligh ter, finally resulting in white ligh t. The pain ting was designed to work on a very large scale- larger than the biggest standard format easel size. The canvas measures 169cm x 139cm 66 1/2in x 54 3/4 in), and this reproduction is only a few centimeters (inches) high. A comparison with the actual size detail shows how greatly the color is concentrated by this size reduction of the whole picture.

Seurat's small oil sketch for Can-Can is one of several preparatory works for the final picture. His typical working method echoed academic practice, in that he used drawn studies, oil studies, and oil sketches of the composition like this one. It measures only 21.5cm x 16.5cm (8 1/2 in x 6 '/2 in), and is painted on wood panel, probably a cigar box lid. Seurat often used this type of support for his oil sketches. It is primed with white and has not only a painted frame on three sides, but a painted wooden flaming strip was also added.

This detail of Seurat 's black Conte crayon drawing on coarse Ingres paper from 1883-1884 shows his mature-tonal drawing technique. Precise outline and distinct hatching are en tirely suppressed in Seated Boy with a Straw Hat. Instead, subtle gradations of tone are achieved by varying the pressure of the soft, dense crayon on the paper. Lightly applied strokes catch only on the paper tufts, leaving the hollows white. Firm marks cover thepaper to create deep velvety blacks. These tonal variations sculpt form.

Cheap Posters

ART

SHOPPING MALL > DEPARTMENT STORE > ART > ART HISTORY

Shopping Mall : Art Gallery, Fine Art Collection, Art History, Art Supply & Art Print

ART Category: Art, Arts, Fantasy Art, Wildlife Art, Art Gallery, Fine Art, Art History, Art Print, Digital Art, Art Supply, African Art, 3d Art, Poster Art, Cartoon Art, Nude Art, Art Wall, Religious Art

Shopping Mall: Art Store offers Arts, Fantasy Art, Wildlife Art, Art Gallery, Fine Art, Art History, Art Print, Digital Art, Art Supply, African Art, 3d Art, Poster Art, Cartoon Art, Nude Art, Art Wall, Religious Art

ART Topics: Art, Arts, Fantasy Art, Wildlife Art, Art Gallery, Fine Art, Art History, Art Print, Digital Art, Art Supply, African Art, 3d Art, Poster Art, Cartoon Art, Nude Art, Art Wall, Religious Art