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Fifth Grade Print Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884-1886) By Georges Seurat (Zhorzh Soo-rah) Technique: oil on canvas Size: 81 ¾” x 121 ¼” Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago Art Style: Pointillism

OBJECTIVES:  The students will study Seurat’s method of pointillism as used in his painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.  The students will collaboratively create a large painting in the style of pointillism.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Georges Seurat was born in 1859 of a wealthy Parisian family. During his formative years, all young Seurat could think about was art. He entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1878. Seurat had a systematic mind and, from the outset, he aimed at logical construction. He gained his insights into art quite independently through persistent study of the old masters and selected Poussin as his guide. But it was, above all, through the Impressionists that Seurat was able to carry forward his theories.

First, he attacked the problem by considering the psychological effect of line direction and relationship, and the science of related colors. He studied the theories of Delacroix, Chevreul and other contemporary theoreticians of color. These led him to evolve the theory of Divisionism and then a method of painting by applying the pigment in tiny round dots of pure color with scientific precision as to the color relation of dot to dot: seen from a certain distance, the dots produce the intended color on the viewer’s retina. This technique, known as Pointillism or Divisionism, was enormously laborious and required great discipline. Seurat also developed a formal type of composition based on the Golden Section, aiming at a static, monumental quality.

Seurat’s work was coolly premeditated. He worked from sketches made out of doors, but his paintings took form in his studio. Working day and night, a single picture took him a whole year to complete. La Grande- Jatte is a calculated, intellectual piece, of the lineage of Paolo Uccello’s and Piero della Francesca’s work (about 1416-1492). Like these old masters’ work, it moves one with its serene monumentality.

In La Grande-Jatte, the illusion of natural appearance is transformed into a precise organization composed of people and objects that are solid and arranged with mathematical precision in a deep space filled with sunlight. Surprisingly, they form an effective pattern based upon the verticality of the figures and the trees, the horizontals in the shadows and the distant embankment, and the diagonals in the shadows and the shoreline, each of which contributes to the effect of movement. Seurat plays upon repeated motifs: the lady’s profile, the umbrella, and the cylindrical forms of the figures, each so placed as to set up a movement into space as well as from side to side. He also played with his color scale. Using only a restricted palette of the basic hues tinged with their complementary colors, he managed to create a vibrant and marvelously rich surface of color values that extend to the edges of the canvas to form a colored frame. 2

Master of his own technique, and consumed by the rigorous demands of pointillism, Seurat died on February 3, 1891, while still a young man.

*Biographical text from: Ross, R. (Ed.). (1988). Art image visuals. Champlain, N.Y.: Art Image Publications, Inc.

*Georges Seurat by Mike Venezia can be read aloud (selected pages or in its entirety if time allows). The Venezia book may be checked out from the Tarwater library for the lesson and then returned immediately following the lesson. Please preview the book ahead of time.

QUESTIONS AND POINTS FOR DISCUSSION: Subject Matter  What is the setting of this painting? (A public garden near the Seine River in France)  What time of day do you think it is? (Afternoon) Why do you think so? (Length of shadows, quality of light, people sitting in shade)  What are the people in this painting doing? Is their posture relaxed and casual or rather stiff?  Where is the light coming from in this painting? (From across the river) How do you know? (Direction of shadows) Elements of Art  What colors dominate this painting? (Greens, yellows, red)  How has Seurat applied the paint? (In small dabs of color)  How do the small dabs of color affect the look of this painting? Why do you think Seurat painted it that way?  Georges Seurat invented this technique called pointillism. Evaluation  Do you like this style of art? Why or why not?

PROJECT: Imitating Seurat’s La Grande-Jatte painting, the students will collaboratively create a large painting in the style of pointillism. A large black and white outline of La Grande-Jatte will be sectioned off with a grid and divided into 24 rectangles. Each student will receive one rectangle (one section of the outlined picture labeled with an alphabet letter). Using Seurat’s La Grande-Jatte as a guide, the students will add color to their picture sections by using Q-tips to apply dots of paint next to each other. Groups of 4 students may share egg cartons, containing tempera paint in the primary and secondary colors + white & brown. The students can share and re-use the Q-tips that have already been dipped in paint (16- 20 Q-tips per group of 4 students). The students should avoid mixing paint, smearing paint, and drawing with the Q-tips; instead they should continue to add more and more dots until their rectangular section is filled with dots of color. When all of the rectangles are complete the art guide will put the painted sections together like a puzzle in order to create a unified painting. (Each rectangle is labeled with an alphabet letter to help with sequencing the sections.) The completed “puzzle” should be glued to a sheet of butcher paper leaving a border like a frame. The border can be dotted with paint to imitate Seurat’s painted border. When the painting is dry it can be displayed so the students will have an opportunity to enjoy the final product of their group effort. It is perfectly acceptable for each section of the painting to have a unique application of color. The goal is for the students to learn about the visual effects that occur when paint is applied in dots of color without blending. 3

SUPPLIES:  Tempera paint (red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple, brown, & white - pour paint sparingly)  Egg cartons (use as paint tray) – Collect these ahead of time.  24 rectangular sections of a black and white outline of La Grande-Jatte  Laminated color copies of La-Grande-Jatte with grid overlay  Q-tips & paper towels  Newspaper for covering desks (Individual art guides provide the newspaper. Please scan the newspaper and avoid any papers with inappropriate pictures, etc.)  Large garbage sack for clean up (This is optional and to be provided by the individual art guides.)