Seurat- Bathers at Asniers Flashcards
artist
Georges Seurat, , Bathers at Asnières
date
1883-4
medium
oil on canvas
location of work now
The National Gallery (London)
scale
301 x 201cm
training of Seurat
*Had classical training at the École des Beaux-Arts
what style of painting did he create (after this peice)
*He developed a new method of painting, dubbed Pointillism. He applied small dots of pure colour onto the canvas, knowing that the human eye mixes the colour from a distance.
how did he diverge from impressionism
*He had little interest in en-plein-air painting, preferring instead to plan and prepare his compositions in his studio.
*His appreciation of traditional painting drew him away from the transitory values of Monet’s Impressionism and towards a more enduring, intellectual style of modern art.
location in painting
*The painting portrays a popular bathing spot on the left bank of the Seine, near the two bridges that cross the river between Asnières and Clichy
*Asnières is an industrial suburb located north-central (just 4 miles) of Paris on the river Seine.
*The stretch of river depicted lies between Asnières and Courbevoie with the smoking chimneys of Clichy in the background.
who is depicted in this work and how are they depicted
*Men and youths of the working class, and resident in the suburb bathe and relax on the banks of the Seine on a hazy summers day
*Distanced, almost indifferent depiction of working-class bathing boys and men relaxing on the banks.
*It is unlikely that they are workers from the factories behind them as their clothes would be dirty.
HOW
*They appear at ease in their environment.
*They are statuesque but largely unmodelled.
*The group have a rhythmic unity in the repetition of their limbs, gazes and angled heads.
*We cannot see their facial expressions and they are not in conversation with each other.
*Seurat’s figures are motionless. Only the boats, the ferry and the cropped rower at the right edge convey any sense of movement.
*The men with the hunched shoulders and rounded backs, provide curves.
what can u see in the background
*In the background are the modern bridges and the industrial town of Clichy. The two bridges are one directly behind the other.
*On closer inspection a steam train can be seen roaring across one of the bridges. Idea of encroaching urbanisation.
the smoking chimneys of Clichy in the background- Above the buildings in the background behind the bridges are 6 tall chimneys. The one in the centre spews out smoke that turns to dark blue as it drifts away to the right.
how is the relationship between man and nature seen
-man and nature in harmony together amidst urbanisation
composition
*Occupying half of the painting, the riverbank slopes down and almost across to the right of the canvas.
*Clear diagonal axis which Seurat has used to differentiate the land from the water and the sky.
*We are led into the depths of the picture by the receding diagonal of the riverbank.
*Verticals are created by the factory chimneys, and horizontals by the bridge.
what can we see on the river
*Some sailboats can be seen darting around on the river, creating movement that contrasts with the stillness of the inhabitants on the riverbank.
*There is a ferry with a tricolour hanging limply from its flagpole. In the ferry is a boatman, white shirted and straw-hatted, pushing his paddle to take his passengers to the far shore.
*The passengers are a lady with her back to us and a white umbrella (for shade), and a dark-suited man in a top hat. was common for the middle and upper classes to protect their skin from sun. However, it may be no coincidence that the parasol blocks her view of the workers on the bank. The sunshade and the top hat tell us probably that they are a lady and a gentleman.
use of light and colour
*The light and colours of the painting suggest the oppressive heat of a summer afternoon.
*Baking heat suggested by haze around trees, and the blue of the sky paling to white. Also a shimmering appearance at the surface.
*Seurat avoids strong contrasts of colour, preferring instead the rich interplay of red/green and blue/orange.
*Earth pigments – ochres and browns – lend the picture a soft, muted harmony.
Asniere’s in the 1880s
Asnières had evolved from a rural idyll into a dormitory town for a working population which commuted to the city centre.
Clichy had become an industrial town, home to numerous factories and businesses.
urbanisation of paris at the time
. Large migration of the workforce from the countryside to the cities. People came seeking opportunities in business and manual labour. The population of Paris doubled from 1 million in 1850, to 2 million in 1877.
the cost of rent in the city increased dramatically, . At the same time, big industrial companies were established outside the city. For these reasons, many of the working classes were encouraged to move out to the suburbs.
influence of piero della Francesca
influence from the frescoes of Piero della Francesca. Charles Blanc’ – a professor and director at the École – had arranged for copies of various frescoes to be displayed in the École chapel.
Notice the similarity of the poses, the depiction of the drapery and the flicking motif.
process
*Unlike the Impressionists, Seurat prepared his works meticulously.
*He recorded the landscape and figures on the spot, working in oil on small wood panels.
*Parallel to these oil studies, he also made drawings of the same subjects in conté crayon. These were typically drawings in order to work out the main figures in more detail. He would use live models.
in his studio, he painted the final composition, uniting all the preliminary studies into a balanced whole.
techniques
*Seurat was increasingly experimental with his application of paint.
*A new style of flat paintbrush enabled Seurat to develop the balayé technique, where the brush is used to apply colours using strokes in a criss-cross formation. This suggests the flickering play of sunlight over the blades of grass.
*Not executed using his Pointillist technique, the artist later reworked areas of the picture using this technique
interest in colour optics
*Seurat had a special interest incolour optics and the science of colour. For example, complementary colours when placed next to each other, enhance each other.
why did the salon reject this peice
*When he submitted it to the Salon of 1884 it is unlikely that its rejection took him by surprise. The size of the painting and its hieratic, almost classical composition, were not easy for Seurat’s contemporaries to accept.
*The only subjects deemed appropriate for such a large canvas were religious/historical/classical. Certainly not members of the lower orders lounging about on the banks of the Seine.
*By capturing the moment on such a large scale and in portraying working men, Seurat was challenging the right of the establishment to dictate what was or was not a suitable subject for art.
who did exhibit this painting
*The Societé des Artistes Indépendants did exhibit Seurat’s painting, but it hung in the canteen, so strongly was it felt that the composition and the motif were incompatible.
