Alexandrian, Sarane. Seurat. New York: Crown, 1980.
This book is a monograph accompanied by a summarized history of Georges Seurat. Seurat's training as an artist began while he was in high school by reading books on art and sketching. After high school Seurat was accepted to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under the instruction of Henri Lehmann, a pupil of Ingres. While studying with Lehmann, Seurat read many books and essays on art. He also experimented with Humbert de Superville's theories of "unconditional signs in art" and with Chveruel's "law of simultaneous contrast." Lehmann did not approve of these experiments and ranked Seurat forty-seventh out of eighty in his class.
After dropping out of Lehmann's studio, Seurat furthered his studies on color by continuing to read and draw on his own. In 1879, he discovered a series of articles entitled The Phenomena of Vision written by David Sutter that were published in six issues of Art magazine. The main idea of Sutter's that Seurat adopted was the idea of light being broken down into three main components: vertical, horizontal, and diagonal. Sutter concludes his article by stating that, 'Science removes all uncertainy, permits the artist to move about freely and in a very wide circle; furthermore, it is to do a double injustice to both art and science to believe that one necessarily excludes the other' (25).
Seurat's thirst for scientific knowledge and how it pertained to art lasted throughout his life. He read and reread Modern Chromatics by Ogden Nicholas Rood who was a professor of physics at Columbia University in New York and closely followed the experiments of Maxwell, Dove, and Brucke. He also immersed himself in Helmholtz's theories on the sensitivity of the eye.
Seurat's personality is described by Alexanderian as "taciturn, distant, and introspective" (43). Furthermore, Seurat was not enthusiastic about being chosen as the leader of the Neo-Impressionists. He considered his methods to be a "personal invention, conceived for him alone to use. He reluctantly allowed others to adopt it, on the express condition that they recognize that he had priority" (44).
Many of Seurat's paintings were considered more as experiments to him than artworks. He had come up with many of his own theories for line, color, and shape. In his painting "The Circus", Seurat uses lines and colors that represent "joy" to enhance the picture's mood.
I found George Seurat's work to be very quiet and haunting. There is a similar "frozen" character to it that I also found in Egyptian artwork. His late work in some instances has a sinister look to it. As if something unknown is about ready to happen to the figures depicted in the paintings. I like the use of his colors, but would have liked to have seen them used in more dynamic and expressive ways. The main element that is missing from Seurat's work is feeling. I disagree with Sutter about not having art without science, or vice versa. In my opinion, you can, and should have art without the influence of science. Art that is tied too closely to science, is an art that lacks emotion, feeling, and sensation. If science is used to enhance art, that is another story altogether. Sutter is also wrong by stating that, 'Science removes all uncertainty' If this where true, the photograph would have replaced painting entirely. Seurat, I believe, tried to find a way of scientifically defining art. This, to me, is impossible.
I found this book to be an important part of my study. Sarane Alexanderian explained the life and works of Georges Seurat in a clear and precise manner.