Seurat: Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 9 avril - 12 août 1991

World of Art

by Françoise Cachin

, 464 pages, fully illustrated throughout in colour with some black and white images, includes preface by Jaques Sallois, to coincide with exhibition, French text

Genres: Art, Art History, Nonfiction, Biography

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1965

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another in the excellent Thames and Hudson series "The World
of Art" where there are just not enough colour prints for my
liking but in the case of Seurat who died young (in his early
30s) and whose work consisted of several mammoth canvases, it
is a chance to see how each painting evolved. Seurat was
intensely private and secretive - not even revealing how he
came to paint in his unique way, so Russell had to go to interviews
with Paul Signac (in 1900), a great friend of Seurat's, who
reveals the origins of his style. So secretive was he that
friends and family were astonished to learn, after his death, that
not only did he have a mistress (who managed to turn everyone
against her when she contested the will) but he also had a
baby son who died from the same disease (meningitis or diphtheria)
only two weeks after his father's death.
The book begins with the sensational reception of "Une Baignade,
Asnieres" at the 1884 opening of the Salon des Artistes Independents
(which Seurat helped to form). At only 24 Seurat had shown that
he was heir apparent of the great picture architects of the past.
Measuring 79 inches by 118 inches, the public were amazed at the
unwieldiness and eccentricity of it. His earlier sketches dating
from 1876-77 when he was a teenager shows an amazingly gifted
draughtsman at work, even though he was not thought to be talented
by his teachers (47 in a class of 80). There are a couple of pages
of sketches of a gentleman showing how Seurat evolved his drawings.
When Seurat was beginning to be known the art world was in turmoil
with Manet and Renoir almost at their career's end and most critics
being convinced that Impressionism was dead - "we had had enough
of the lights and colours that stun us". Young artists then turned
to Puvis De Chavannes, a traditional and now obscure painter and
Seurat found in him, as well as Ingres and Holbein, an artist to
worship.
Russell shows through different sketches, some scribbled in the
corners of art tablets how Seurat had in mind his big canvases
years before he started on them. Fortunately there is also a
reproduction of Seurat's first painting in oils "Sous-bois a'
Pontaubert" (1883) and it is truly beautiful, the stark and spindly
trees against the green foliage. On the negative side, Russell
doesn't mention Pointillism very much, the art movement in which
Seurat is synonymous. He refers to Seurat as part of the "divisionist"
group and he did read and study the scientific theories of Charles
Blanc and Ogden Rood. Looking at divisionist paintings ie Van
Gogh's "Self Portrait With Green Felt Hat", it seems to employ the
same style that Seurat used in his drafts or rough copies. With
his finished paintings ie "La Grand Jatte" Seurat's style is a series
of minute dots.
All in all, if you love Seurat's works, this book is not really
recommended. Only for the serious artist. I feel a spontaneousness
and awe when I see his work in books etc, he was one of a kind,
unique and to have each blade of grass analysed was a bit
disheartening and especially when the artist had almost no private
life. Apparently he thought himself superior to most of his
contemporaries and his secretiveness and taciturnity derived from
the fact that he was jealous of even his friends finding out his
technique secrets and riding on his coat-tails to fame and fortune.
Even so, his personality was strong and his friends hung on his
every word and if they suddenly espoused different opinions, Russell
feels sure that the opinions were probably Seurat's to begin with.
Still doesn't make for riveting reading.

[Roya Kadhem · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this World of Art edition, John Russell provides a good overview of Georges Seurat's life and practice of art. Organised in chronological order, this serves as a good point of reference for Seurat's work and progression over time. Though informative, I feel there could have been a deeper / more insightful exploration of the technical aspects of Seurat's work, especially considering how heavily rooted he was in the science and technique of art. This level of only scratching the surface of his work makes for an accessible read, but I believe the average reader of a book like this would be more than capable of understanding the more complex parts of art.

My main criticism lies in that this book collects, from an array of sources, opinions about Seurat's work, but the author's voice doesn't add much to what is quoted directly from said sources. The most meaningful parts of the book are written not by John Russell, the author, but by other commentators.

See below:

'Some critics say that Seurat didn't leave a life's work behind him, but it seems to me that, on the contrary, he gave what he had to give, and gave it admirably. He would certainly have painted many more pictures, and made further headway, but his task was completed. He has passed the painter's problems in review an said the last word, more or less, on all of them: black and white, harmony of line, composition, colour harmony and colour contrast ... and even the frame. What more can one ask of a painter?'

I would have liked to hear more of what Russell himself had to say about both Seurat and his work. His (limited) comments under some of the paintings and sketches displayed in the book are actually quite poetic and leave an impression, such as his description of a painting's tree bending like that of a human elbow. From an organisational perspective, I feel there could have been a more appropriate and tidy way to choose the orders and sizes of Seurat's works displayed in the book. Many of the chosen works didn't have any comment under them or didn't seem to serve a particular purpose in the narrative told by the book (as pleasant as they are to look at). Because of these choices, for the majority of the referencing to a work in the book, the illustration would not be very close to the text and you had to go back and forth between the pages. This could have been cleaned up a lot, or at least made easier for the reader by including the page number, not only the illustration number, when referring to a painting or drawing.

Overall, this is still a good starting point for anyone who would like to know more about Seurat's (quite secretive and solitary) life and his work.

[Barb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Found the writing very pedantic and the pictures not of the best quality. But was surprised at how much of Seurat's work I was familiar with!

[Joel Ackerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the better art books I have read. It, of course, is easy to analyze Seurat with his whole approach being the "science of art"—an idea I am very sympathetic to.

[Henny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book about Seurat, it is easy to read and full of interesting facts about the great artist. The colour plates were wonderful and well... I just love Seurat.

[Saleris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Seurat's work. I'd like to have bought a more extensive book, but this was what I could afford. It has information and I like it.