Seurat and The Bathers

by John Leighton

In Seurat and The Bathers the authors discuss the various choices Seurat made with regard to subject, format and technique in preparing this monumental painting. They relate Seurat's working methods - the preparatory oil sketches and drawings - and the painting's physical nature - colour, brushwork and surface - to his academic training, his study of optical theory, the development of his distinctive drawing style, and his early interest in plein-air oil sketching and impressionism. Stylistically, Seurat responded to the French tradition of monumental figure painting and also to contemporary artists, both Salon painters and Impressionists, arriving at a paradoxical but subtle new synthesis. Finally the authors consider the subject matter of the Bathers in relation to other nineteenth-century representations of middle- and working-class life and leisure activities in the Parisian suburbs, particularly at Asnieres.

168 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

John Leighton (pseud. Luke Limner) was an English artist notable for his book illustrations and book cover designs. His talent for design found early expression in the publication "Suggestions in Design ... for the Use of Artists and Art Workmen" (1852). This was a work that expounded Leighton's values and beliefs with regard to the history of design. He used the ornaments and designs repeatedly in the thirty years after its publication with regard to illustrations within books, and for many hundreds of drawings for book cover designs.

Leighton was one of the first to study book plates, and encourage their collection, and in the early 1890s helped in the establishment of an Ex-Libris Society, of which he was the Vice-President. As a publisher, he produced a journal for the society called the Book-Plate Annual.

Several works by the artist have been sold at auction, including 'Edwardian Woman Sitting in an Armchair Admiring a Floral Display' sold at John Moran Auctioneers, Inc. 'Antiques & Decorative Arts Auction' in 2011. There have been Several articles about John Leighton, including 'Art Fund brings Sir Denis Mahon's 57 Italian Baroque masterpieces into the collections of six UK museums' written for ArtDaily in 2013.