RIHA Journal 0043 | 14 July 2012 | Special Issue "New Directions in New-I pressionism" This article is part of the Special Issue "New Directions in Neo-Impressionism." The issue is guest- edited by Tania Woloshyn and Anne Dymond in cooperation with egina Wenninger and Anne-!aure "risac-#hra$bi from I%A &ournal. '(ternal peer reviewers for this Special Issue were %ollis #layson* Andr+ Dombrowski* #hantal -eorgel* #atherine .eneu(* obyn osla,* and .ichael Zimmermann. * * * The Death of Georges Seurat: Neo-Impressionism and the Fate of the Avant-Garde in 1891* Marnin oung A!stra"t This essay examines the critical and artistic responses to the death of Georges Seurat in 1891. While some at the time saw the avant-garde divided etween scientifically-oriented neo-impressionism and mystical sym olism! the posthumous understanding of Seurat"s wor# increasingly collapsed the two categories. In particular! the neo-impressionist em race of the aesthetic of %harles &enry! in which compositional lines produced predictable effects on the viewer! made it possi le to see Seurat"s paintings in purely formal! indeed idealist! terms. The neo-impressionist avant-garde conse'uently struggled to define its distinctive nature over the course of the year! with important conse'uences for later art. #ontents Intro!uction Neo-I pressionism an! Sy "olism in 1#$1 Denis's Neo-I pressionis Si&nac's Sy "olism 'onclusion Yesterday I went to Seurat's funeral. I saw Signac who was deeply moved by this great misfortune. I believe you are right, pointillism is finished, but I think it will have consequences which later on will be of the utmost importance for art. %amille (issarro! letter to his son )ucien! 1 *pril 18911 Introdu"tion +1, When the ody of Georges Seurat -18.9-1891/ entered the family vault in (0re )achaise cemetery! the artist"s last wor#! Cirque! still hung in room five of the Salon des Ind pendants -1ig. 1/. *t the time! the pu lished reviews of the exhi ition suggested a certain lack of enthusiasm for the canvas. The critics agreed that it was a wor# of 2 This paper originated in a seminar on %amille (issarro at the 3niversity of %alifornia, 4er#eley. 1or feed ac# on that original version, $ would li#e to thank Tim %lar# and 5atherine 5uenzli. Subse'uent comments on the completely revised version, first presented at the 78ew 9irections in 8eo-$mpressionism7 conference in )ondon! especially from Todd %ronan and the anonymous reviewers! have proved helpful as well. :any thanks to Tania Woloshyn, *nne 9ymond! and ;egina Wenninger for their editorial assistance. 3nless otherwise indicated! translations are mine. 1 %amille (issarro! letter to Lucien (issarro! 1 *pril 189<! in: Correspondance de Camille !issarro" #ome $%&'(&)&'(*! ed. >anine 4ailly-&er6 erg! (aris 1988! .?= 7>e suis all@ à l"enterrement de Seurat hierB C"ai vu Signac 'ui est ien affect@ de ce grand malheur. >e crois 'ue tu as raison! c"est fini le pointill@! mais Ce pense 'u'il se d@gagera d"autres cons@'uences 'ui seront d"une tr0s grande cons@'uence plus tard pour l"art7B trans. in %amille (issarro! +etters to ,is Son Lucien! ed. >ohn ;ewald! 8ew Dor# 199.! 1.8. License: *he text o- this article is provided under the terms o- the Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 RIHA Journal 0043 | 14 July 2012 | Special Issue "New Directions in New-I pressionism" 7experimental interest7 y a 7pure theoretician of impressionism!7 whose concern with the 7science of colors" had led him to expand 7the love of pointillism all the way to the picture frames.7E 4ut even those who hesitantly admired the painting"s 7happy result!7 declined to Cudge the 'ualities of the 7process" F that is, the neo-impressionist techni'ue.G 1 Georges Seurat, Cirque 4The Circus), 1890-91, oil on canvas, 185 , 152 c . Musée d'Orsay3 Paris (source: *he Yorck Project/>i;i edia Co mons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Georges_Seurat_019.jpg5 E *rs0ne *lexandre! 7Le Salon des $nd@pendants!7 in: !aris -E< :arch 1891/! E= 7Huant à son grand tableau du Cirque! il sera fort discut@B mais si on veut ien se dire 'u'il a avant tout un int@rIt d"exp@rimentation, l"on devra reconnaître 'ue cette exp@rience est curieuse! et 'u'il en doit forc@ment sortir 'uel'ue chose un jour ou l"autre.7 :. 1.! 7Le Salon des $nd@pendants!7 in: +e -I-e si.cle -E< :arch 1891/! as 'uoted in Eric 9arragon, 7(@gase A 1ernando= L propos de Cirque et du r@alisme de Seurat en 1891!7 in: /evue de l'art 8M -1989/! ??-.N! here .M! n. N= 7Le grand tableau de :. Seurat! le Cirque! malgr@ des agencements de lignes asse6 curieux en leur i6arrerie! est sans perspective aucune. %"est une Ouvre de pur théoricien de l"impressionnisme.7 %h. 1ormentin, 7%he6 les *rtistes $nd@pendants!7 in: Le 0our -EN :arch 1891/! as 'uoted in 9arragon, 7(@gase A 1ernando!7 .M! n. 1?= 7le Cirque de :. Seurat où la science des couleurs fait pardonner pres'ue l"incorrection du dessin.7 (aul 222! 7)"Exposition des $nd@pendants!7 in: +e 1ational -E1 :arch 1891/! as 'uoted in 9arragon, 7(@gase à 1ernando!7 .M! n. M= 7Et cette peinture charentonnes'ue n'est pas le cri suprIme du genre. $l y a :. Seurat 'ui pousse l"amour du pointill@ jus'u'à pointiller ses cadres.7 G L. ;oger-:il0s! 7Exposition des $nd@pendants!7 in: +e Soir -EM :arch 1891/! as 'uoted in 9arragon, 7(@gase A 1ernando!7 .M! n. 8= 78iere6-vous parce 'u'il y a cette complexit@ d"effets recherchés! niere6-vous 'ue :. Seurat ne soit un artisteQ %e serait lA une grande injusticeB on peut discuter ses proc@d@s! on ne peut nier la r@sultante heureuse des effort accomplis.7 License: *he text o- this article is provided under the terms o- the Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC-ND 3.01 RIHA Journal 0043 | 14 July 2012 | Special Issue "New Directions in New-I pressionism" +E, (erhaps no single incident crystalli6ed the seeming failure of Cirque to capture and hold an audience than the one later related y %harles *ngrand. Rn about EG :arch! he and Seurat witnessed (ierre (uvis de %havannes enter room five! pause to study some wor#s y :aurice Denis -18N<-19?G/! and then proceed past Cirque without stopping.? So upsetting was this pointed indifference that Seurat reportedly fled the exhi it.. *ngrand never saw him again. 2 Georges Seurat, Chahut, 1889-90, oil on canvas, 169 , 141 cm. Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo (source: *he 0orck Project/ >ikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Georges_Seurat_013.jpg5 +G, In the wa#e of his untimely demise some six days later! however! Seurat"s fortunes rather typically egan to rise. In early *pril! critics started focusing not on the artist"s scientific and impressionist concerns, ut rather on how neo-impressionism might e folded into the increasingly dominant theoretical understanding of sym olism. To take a notable example! the co-founder of +a /evue wagn rienne! Teodor de Wy6ewa! reversing years of coolness to neo-impressionism! loudly lamented the painter"s death.M >ules *ntoine gave one possi le explanation for such a reconciliation= 7Seurat was attempting to get out of ? %harles *ngrand! letter to Gustave %o'uiot! 'uoted in %o'uiot! Seurat! (aris 19E?! 1MM-1MN. *ngrand dates the incident to the :onday or Tuesday efore Easter 1891! that is EG or E? :arch. 8o doubt Seurat was especially disappointed with the reaction to his painting! as he had wor#ed hard organi6ing the hanging of the exhi ition. 1or his part! *ngrand played a special role in the painting= he appears in the first row of circus spectators. %harles *ngrand! letter to (aul Signac! 19<<! cited in ;o ert L. &er ert! 7Seurat and (uvis de %havannes!7 in: Yale 2rt 3allery 4ulletin E.=E -Rcto er 19.9/! EE-E9! here E9. License: *he text o- this article is provided under the terms o- the Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC-ND 3.01 RIHA Journal 0043 | 14 July 2012 | Special Issue "New Directions in New-I pressionism" ;ealism! which he found limited. &e produced! in this new way! two wor#s: +e Chahut +1ig. E, and +e Cirque, conceived in a sym olic spirit.7N 4efore long! even 1@lix 1@n@on came to admit that 7Seurat"s Cirque is sym olic.78 Indeed! a consensus gradually emerged that Seurat"s wor# approached more closely sym olism than the impressionism with which he had once een associated! and y early 189E! neo-impressionism had in many respects ecome indistinguisha le from sym olism. +?, This essay see#s to explain these shifts in Seurat"s posthumous reception y placing them within the context of contemporaneous art theory and production. *s a close analysis of the avant-garde in 1891 makes clear! neo-impressionism entered a crisis following the death of Seurat in large part ecause it had already een collapsed into a rising artistic movement that many perceived! perhaps incorrectly! to e its antithesis. Seurat"s painting ecame a site of contestation! and the very meaning of neo- impressionism was at stake. Would his art! and y extension neo-impressionism as a whole! e understood as a scientific and socially-engaged version of impressionism or as a Wagnerian painting! fundamentally sym olic in spiritQ EtopF Neo-Impressionism and S$m!o%ism in 1891 +., To call Seurat"s Cirque 7sym olic" is, of course! to eg the 'uestion of definition.