Seurat and pointillism

Schapiro and Eisenman, both write about Seurat, a neoimpressionist, and his technique of pointillism. Schapiro’s focuses more on description of Seurat and his painting techniques; while Eisenman also mentions the social context that Seurat was experiencing. Because of the time in which Seurat shortly painted, he chose his subjects for a purpose his paintings dealt with people and what they were doing; he was trying to represent what was going on at the time. Seurat, like many artists at the time, grew out of a reaction to the Impressionists. Schapiro, focuses especially on Puvis de Chavannes, some of Seurat’s painting appear to mock and response to Puvis. Seurat used his pointillism to make images that looked similar to Puvis but lacked the same definition. Seurat chose to capture and transform “the Golden Age, so grey in Puvis’ imagination, into a golden day” (Schapiro 105-106). Thus Seurat transformed what had not been accomplished by before by getting rid of lines! His style was revolutionary, he focused values and color to bring depth and light to his paintings and I believe he accomplished this very well. His paints are relatable and even inform about the time in which they were done.

Seurat captured a time of transition in Paris, which is what drew him to the Eiffel Tower. To Seurat, “the Eiffel Tower, the iron bridges, and the new airships… towards the end of the century spelled modernity” (Schapiro 107-108). Paris was changing into a more modern and industrialized time that faced many new ways of life. Many of his painting portray people outdoors experiencing life and the others show the ways in which they escaped at the Circus or Chahut. Chahut, in particular, “Seurat paradoxically depicts both a dream of unrestrained pleasure and a nightmare vision of vulgarity” (Eisenman 286). Seurat wanted to show the struggle that middle class Parisians were experiencing a time of industrialization but also the need to escape this new industrialization.

I liked Seurat’s paintings and method of painting, especially the way he seemed to put two different styles into a painting. Although the dots defy what had been done and did away with lines, Seurat still used very careful and methodical placement and measurements in his paintings. His figures were always proportional and he “carefully placed curved, horizontal, vertical, or crisscrossed strokes of unmixed or partial blended paint” (Eisenman 277). Seurat had a purpose in every painting, whether it was the style or subject, and will never be forgotten for effectively executing it.