Skip to main content

Georges Seurat


Georges Seurat Was born in Paris in 1859 and died in 1891 at the age of 31. Best known for his painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, he was also known for developing the techniques of chromoluminarism and pointillism. The movements that he was involved in were Post-Impressionism, neo-impressionism, and Pointillism - he was a very influential player in the impressionist movement. There are 60 sketched studies that Seurat did for the 10 foot wide Sunday Afternoon painting. He spent countless hours preparing for his work before he would start. He loved detail and was very mathematically minded. He died at such a young age of an unknown disease and his young son died only a short while later of the same disease. His pregnant was later gave birth to their second child who only lived for a short time before passing away as well. A very tragic story. What I learn from him is a good work ethic. He put in the time and study in order to produce masterpieces. In his short life he created work that was shown in the Salon, created new art techniques, exhibited in France and abroad, and was part of a movement that brought about the contemporary art movement.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Henry Darger

Henry Darger just may be the most interesting and disturbing story about an undiscovered artist. He lived from 1892-1973 mostly in Chicago, IL. His posthumously discovered artwork consisted of painting, drawing, and  collage. I can't imagine what this man had going on in his head, the children in his drawings come from such a sad and lonely place. They make me feel uncomfortable. The images are so alike in many ways, but still they each seem to be a real child. I wonder if he based them on real children that he met in life or if he based them on himself. I guess it could be both. His mom died of a fever when he was only a few years old and them his father died when he was 13. He was put in an institution when he was about 7 years old and he was labeled as a disturbed child  ("his heart isn't in the right place") because he hurt himself. He was punished harshly in the institution and he was bullied by the other students, it was a very sad and cruel place for him. He...
Post a Comment
Read more

Kathe Kollwitz

Kathe Kollwitz, although born in the 1800's was a very progressive German artist. She worked in many mediums including painting, printmaking, and sculpture. Her work is heartrending. She was creating work that was well before it's time. She began to study art at a young age because her father recognized her abilities. She wasn't able to go to the better art schools because girls weren't allowed in them at the time. She attended an art school for women in Berlin. She began working in the arts - more in the commercial aspects- when she was just 12 years old. She was engaged by the time she was 17. Her husband was a doctor and he helped care for the poor. I think because they lived so near his practice and saw so much of the deprivation and sickness, that that was a huge influence on her troubling and tragic artwork. She was a socialist and very much felt the disparate nature of the class system that was creating such extreme poverty. the violence and tragedy that surrou...
Post a Comment
Read more

Grandpa Chan

Grandpa Chan (Lee Chan-jae, 76) is a Korean water color artist whose practice includes making water colors of the world around him in order to communicate with his grandchildren who live half a world away. He learned Instagram just so he could draw for them. On his account "Drawings for my grandchildren" he posts his images on Instagram along with a story or memory to go along with them. Although he has begun to use his fame to sell prints of his work- all the money he earns goes to a project called  The Unloneliness Project, and initiative from The Foundation for Art & Healing , and to his grandkids' college funds.  When I first started following him on Instagram, he lived in Brazil, but he has since moved back to Korea. His images are moving. Sometimes they tell stories about what is happening in his life at the moment, sometimes the stories are more about what is going on in the world - especially when large world events happen (good or bad). He is poignant and...
Post a Comment
Read more