July 2013 Newsletter: Georges Seurat

First Workshop at Glastonbury Studios Grand Success!

One of the projects done in workshop

I just want to mention, before I get into the incredible story of Georges Seurat, that my first studio Colored Pencil Workshop, held in June, was a flying success. In total I had seven people--a perfect size, compared to the 15-18 student-size workshops I have taught in other locations. My goal is to create workshops that will be small in size, providing more intimacy in learning and one-to-one interaction.

Everyone seemed to get a good chance to see and understand my demonstrations. No one had to bring anything because I supplied the materials and even lunch and  best of all, we had a lovely break in my back garden.  I appreciate the support of those who attended and hope to see more of everyone in future ones I will be holding. Now on to Georges Seurat...

Seurat: A life cut too short

George Seurat 1888

When studying artists, especially those who die young, I always wonder what he or she could have produced if given more time. Of the four post-impressionists we have studied so far, two were in their thirties when they died: Van Gogh (37) and Toulouse-Lautrec (36) And now, we see another great artist, Georges Seurat, whose life was cut short at 31.  It just doesn't seem fair.

Coming from a privileged background, Seurat never had to worry about money. He received a monthly allowance of 400 francs while most workers were only making 150 francs. Born in Paris in 1859, Seurat seldom left the city except to go to the coast or once to exhibit in Holland with the Group X. He was a dabber-looking man, always dressed to the hilt with top hat, gloves and such. Degas even dubbed him, "the notary" because of his attire.

Seurat was a very quiet and secretive man. He was bit of an enigma  When he was with a

A Woman Powdering Herself 1889
Oil on canvas,Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK
Believed to be Seurat's mistress

crowd of unfamiliar faces, he was silent; but with his friends, he would talk endlessly about life and art. He was a master of privacy. It was not until he died that most of his friends and certainly his family found out that he had a mistress, Madeleine Knobloch, a boy named Pierre Georges and another child on the way!

Beyond his style of dress and personality quirks, Seurat was a serious painter. Unlike the Impressionists who created completed paintings en plein air (outside), he produced his work in his studio--working from studies that he created en plein air. He had been classically trained first at Ecole Municipale de Sculpture et Dessin (school of sculpture and drawing) and then at  École des Beaux-Arts. After completing his military service in 1880, he worked for two years on monochromatic drawing, using Conté crayon--a  square drawing medium made up of powdered graphite or charcoal with a waxy base.

Embrodering (portrait of Mother) 1882-3
Conté crayon on paper

His friend and fellow artist, Paul Signac  described Georges Seurat's Conté crayon drawings as "the most beautiful painter's drawings that ever existed."

They are certainly incredible and to spend two years working on such a task is daunting in itself. However, what a great way to learn light and shadow, form, composition.  And when you don't really have to worry about making a living, it seems easier to learn, experiment and grow.

The drawing of his mother shows his great care to save the white of the paper, but also to create the darkest dark. I enjoy how he pours light over her hair and somewhat in the background and her hands.

The method used is what's called tonal drawing. Instead of relying strictly on the line, he created a drawing with the juxtaposition of light and shadow. This was not something new, just something not used very often, even today. Leonard Da Vinci practiced this method and even encouraged it, when he wrote: "The end of any color is only the beginning of another, and it ought not to be called a line, for nothing interposes between them, except the termination of the one against the other, which being nothing in itself, cannot be perceivable.”

The Drawbridge 1882-83

As you can see with Embroidering (above) he used this method, while he combined line and tonal drawing in the Drawbridge.  While on the other hand,in The Harvester, done in 1881 (see below) he's used more line in the form of hatch marks, which is a bit more coarser

The Harvester

All of this time spend on monochromatic work paid off as he graduated more and more into color. His first major work was Bathers at Asnières. A monumental piece measuring 201 cm × 300 cm  (around 6.5 feet by 9 feet), Bathers was completed in his studio from studies, both with Conté crayon and oils. Here is the bather in a tonal study, while the shoreline populated with subjects is in oil.

Tonal drawing of boy calling out

Final study in 1883

It took work, serious work but he created one heck of a masterpiece:

Une Baignade, Asnières 1884
Oil on canvas  National Gallery, London
Georges was 24 years old

I remember seeing this painting while at the National Gallery in London and was simply dumbfounded. It is enormous. I found myself staring at all the the little pieces as well as the whole. The characters depicted in the painting are of the working class. In the background you can see the smoke stack, representing their industrial lifestyle. At this point, Seurat is not using his famous pointillism  but instead using more impressionistic brush strokes. Of course, the painting was refused by the state run art exhibit, the Salon. So he exhibited in the Société des Artistes Indépendants (the Society of Independent Artists), where there was no jury, nor prizes. The society still exists today.

He began his next monumental piece and the one he is most famous for, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, just after The Bathers and completed it in 1885. He wanted to exhibit the piece with the Independants, but the show was cancelled because of money troubles.

This event was the tipping point of Seurat's painting life. That year he decided to spend some time painting with his friends on the Normandy coast. There he painted 12 oil sketches (he called them croqueton, little sketches) of Bec du Hoc. His first marine landscapes, he ended up using two for larger canvases later. But what was different here than any other time was he started to use his theory of color fusion--instead of mixing colors on the palette, he placed small dots to mix colors on the canvas.

Here is an example of one of his sketches of Bec du Hoc:

One of 12 studies on Bec du Hoc

Bec du Hoc using pointillism

Incredibly, Seurat went back to his studio and reworked his entire painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, using pointillism  To give you an idea of what this means, this painting is almost the same size of the Bathers at around 6.5 feet by 9 feet. He painstakingly put dots and very small strokes over everything!  And he did it in time for the next show in 1886. (For more information on his preparatory work on this painting, see my article November 2010.)

Here is the incredible of the incredible:

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte 1886
Oil on canvas, Chicago Art Institute

To give an idea of how large this painting is, here is a picture of it at the Chicago Institute of Art:

Public domain by author, Wikipedia

There has been so much written about this painting--so many theories, so many opinions. I would like to direct you to a great BBC documentary entitled, Seurat, The Private Life of a Masterpiece. I highly recommend it as the video explains so much of the detail here. 

Interestingly, the Bathers and Sunday Afternoon seem to have a connection. The bathers are on one side of the river,while the bourgeoisie (middle class) are on the other side. If you'll notice in the Bathers, there is land jetting out in the upper right hand corner and a boy shouting. Some say the land represents the other park and the boy is calling out to the other people across the way.

Here's an interpretation from Wikipedia, which I thought covered it best:
Seurat's Bathers preceded A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, which shows people on the bank of the other side of the river. While the bathers at Asnieres on the left bank are working class people, it is the bourgeoisie who are on the right bank. The bathers are cast in light, while on the Grande Jatte almost everyone is in shadows, and there are allusions to lust (a woman with a monkey on a leash) and prostitution (a woman "fishing"). Seurat's message has been interpreted as implying that the working class represented the future, while the middle classes had grown decrepit and ridden with vice. Seen this light and context, the boy who bathes on the other side of the river bank at Asnières appears to be calling out to them, as if to say "we are the future, come and join us".

The Cirque 1890
Musee D'Orsay

Again, another artist dies way too young. It was 1891 and Seurat was hanging his famous Le Cirque (see right) at the latest exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists. Surprisingly, it was not quite finished, but he was hanging it anyway, no one knows why. That was a Tuesday and he was annoyed by a sore throat. By Thursday the sore throat developed into a massive fever. By the next day he was at his mother's doorstep asking for care with his pregnant mistress and son in hand.

Unfortunately, by Sunday, he was dead at 31. He had choked to dead. According to an article I read from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Seurat probably had diphtheria and may have survived if he had gone to hospital instead, since they could have done a tracheotomy  to clear his airway. 

Sadly, his infant son dies two weeks later of the same illness.. His son dies two weeks later of the same thing. The CDC believes that perhaps Madeleine was a carrier of diphtheria, but never showed symptoms. Months later, she gives birth, but the child dies closely thereafter. In the end, Madeleine died at the early age of 35 from cirrhosis of the liver.

Every time I study an artist for this blog, I think I have met the best and then I meet another and say, Wow! Since I enjoy stippling so much, I feel a bit of kinship with Seurat.  I really do enjoy completing an entire drawing with small dots with pen and ink or now colored brush markers. It's actually very soothing, meditative and calming.

As with the article on Toulouse-Lautrec, I wish I had more time and space to talk about this artist too. Seurat  in his short 10 years of art production, created some of the best works the world has ever seen. His eye and understanding for color is amazing. He also was a master of composition, form and design. His work literally takes my breath away.

For fun, you can now find the play, Sunday Afternoon in the Park with George on YouTube. It's a fun play, although not terribly accurate regarding his mistress and child. I love how they incorporate his painting throughout the play. 

Next month, I'd like to conclude this series of articles with an examination of how these post impressionists affected modern art.

June 13 Henri Toulous-Lautrec: Soul of Montmartre

Imagine for a moment that you a very lively boy, born into a wealthy family where you

want for nothing. In fact, you’re so active and bouncy, your mother says you are like a ball. You’re also spoiled and even bratty, much learned from unquenchable, familial behavior. Intellectually, you are amazing, picking up languages (Latin, Greek, French, English) very quickly and even showing by three years old, a strong penchant  toward drawing—something the entire family does.

However, your mother is worried about you. You haven’t grown as well as your cousins and other children. You are her only child; your younger brother died just short of his first birthday from fever. Her relationship with your father is strained. The match was wrong from the start. So you have become the center of her universe.

Your father loves the outdoors and spends more time with his horses, dogs and hawks than with you, that is, until you’re old enough to ride. He thinks education is women’s work and he really won’t be part of your life until later. Nonetheless, you idolize your father and he in return.

Then, at 14 you break the femur on your left leg and 15 months later, the femur on the right. Your legs never knit back properly and you are damned to a crippling life never to reach higher than 4’11”. Your mother pulls out all the stops, taking you all over Europe for a cure, including the waters at Lourdes, praying for a miracle. In the meantime, your father begins to distance himself. The hope of having his son by his side while hunting and riding has been dashed. What’s worse as you head further into puberty, your body and face change—you nose widens, lips swell with drool coming down your tucked-under chin. Your torso grows, while your limbs stop growing. All your relatives—cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents—begin to treat you differently, not only a cripple but somewhat of a freak.

************

This was Henri Toulouse-Lautrec’s early life.  He was the product of first cousins and a family that insisted on marrying within the bloodline to keep outsiders from reaping from inheritances. What’s worse is his father was way over the top with eccentricities: wearing a tutu to dinner, washing his shirts in the gutters of Paris rather than trust a laundress to do the job right, doing whatever he wanted, never caring what anyone thought or being a notorious womanizer all his life. He once said that his women “did not mix love into the matters of copulation.”

Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Montfa was born in 1864 at the family home (they had several), Château de Bosc, in the town of Albi. His father was Count Alfonse de Toulouse-Lautrec and his mother, Adèle Tapié de Céleyran. Both families were among the oldest and most notable in France, with a history dating back to the times of Charlemagne and the Crusades.

Bedridden, while recovering from his injuries, Henri spent a lot of his time drawing and water coloring. “I am alone the entire day. I read a little, but after a while my head hurts. I draw and I paint so much that my hand grows tired…”

His favorite subjects were horses, hunts, dogs. While living in Paris with his parents, Henri was put under the tutelage of the deaf-mute, Rene Princeteau (1843-1914), a friend of the family. He and Henri got on very well, some say that the infirmities they both endured helped to seal their relationship. Neither whined about their problems, but instead

Lost
Self Portrait

accepted their fate and moved forward.

In time Henri moved onto the prestigious teacher, Léon Bonnat (1833-1922) and when he closed his studio Henri moved over to the  Atelier Cormon, an art school run by Fernand Cormon (1845–1924). Cormon’s desire was to teach students so that they would end up in the state-run Salon. Henri was to meet some of his closest friend there, including Émile Bernard and Vincent Van Gogh.  At the end of the day though,  he was tired of learning about the traditional “Salon” method and wanted to venture out on his own. “I am here to learn my trade,” he said, “not to let myself be absorbed.”

Henri began to frequent Montmartre —a section near Paris that was incorporated as the

18^th district (arrondissement) in 1860. A pastoral hill, just north of the city, Montmartre

Early Montmartre

was originally dotted with windmills, farms and vineyards, tended by nuns who also produced wine. As Napoleon and Haussmann tore down the medieval city of Paris, the poor and the underworld moved up the hill and other places outside the city borders.  Montmartre became a dangerous place and eventually becoming a lure for the wealthy to go slumming.

In 1881 Le Chat Noir (the Black Cat) opened as one of the first cabarets (entertainment

Moulin Rouge, late 19th century

Yes, they had a giant elephant in the garden where men
would enjoy private belly dances and opium. 

house) or nightclubs, where people came to drink, congregate and be entertained by variety shows. Others would follow: The Elysee-Montmartre, Moulin-de-la-Gallette, Mirliton and the Moulin Rouge. This marked the beginning of the “bohemian” * lifestyle in Montmartre. Everything was up for grabs, like the counter-culture of the 60s where if it feels good, do it or do your own thing was in fashion. The bourgeoisie (middle class) life-style was rejected and everyone was searching for a new truth. Artists, musicians, writers, entertainers and unfortunately anarchists were part of the Montmartre culture—so were prostitutes, pick-pockets, con men, murderers, thieves and so on. It was a dangerous place. (Even in 2010, when my family and I visited, we did not feel safe. It was the only place where we were accosted by anyone in the street.)

Montmartre gave Henri a place to be. His monstrous looks were often offensive to strangers and coughed up ridicule by others. Here, in a world of other

At the Mouline Rouge
 Valentin dancing(background)

outsiders, he felt safe. He was also frequently accompanied by his friends for a protective purpose.  He had a lisp and drooled when talked and he waddled like a duck when he walked, using a cane to help keep him steady. The only thing that seemed normal on him was his big beautiful eyes. Conversely, he had a winning personality—never showing pity for his plight in life (until the end) and was big on self-deprecating humor (let them laugh with you, instead of at you). He was generous, caring, passionate and sensitive. It sounds like he would have been a great friend, and I believe that’s why so many of them stuck with him to the bitter end.

At the Moulin Rouge (1894-95)
Friends visiting. Red head at table is Jane Avril,.
 May Milton is in the foreground.
Notice the background. Henri is there! 

He befriended Aristide Bruant  (owner of Mirliton where the proprietor would throw insults at everyone and where Henri displayed a lot of his work), dancers/entertainers, such as,  Marie-Clementine (Suzanne )Valadon (model/mistress), La Goulue  (Louise Weber/model) and  Valentin le désossé (Jacques Renaudin), who was never paid for his dancing. Interestingly, La Goulue, which means glutton in French, would become the Queen of Montmartre. She was known for drinking customers’ drinks while she performed and kicking her legs up so well during the can-can that she could knock off a man’s hat (supposedly done to the Prince of Wales during one of his visits to the Moulin Rouge). All of these people would end up on posters created by Henri to promote them and the cabarets. It is said that he raised these singers and dancers to the level of celebrities to the mass media through his posters—something not done in those days.

Bal du moulin de la Galette (1889)
Three prostitues looking for work as their pimp looks on.
Compare this to Renoir's rending of the same place.

Henri eventually set up a studio (after receiving an allowance from the family) in Montmartre and a flat with his friend Henri Bourges, who was a medical student. Even though influenced by artists like Degas and Bernard at the time, he started to find his own way. He exhibited with the Impressionists, the XX (the twenty) in Brussels and even had some drawings published in local papers.

Poster advetising Jane Avril

A somewhat new business was advancing in Paris at the time: the Poster Movement, which captured Henri’s interest. Before the mid-19th century, most towns and cities were not inundated with advertising. Today that seems hard to imagine when, wherever we go, there is an ad barking at us. But thanks to the invention of the lithograph (a type of printing that’s not relief) posters could be printed in volume to advertise events and products. The most well-known poster artist of the day was Jules Chéret (1836-1932).  It was a great way to be seen and make some money. So when Oller and Zidler (owners of the Moulin Rouge, where Henri would have an exclusive seat to drink and draw as long as wanted each night) asked Henri to produce a poster for their new season, he jumped at the chance. And as always, he worked diligently on the project, which became a great way for him to play with his designs and his love of Japanese art. As he made more posters, the more famous he became. Eventually he was overseeing his own production as the printing houses. By the way, we in the public are more familiar with his posters, which he created on cardboard, than anything else.

Poster advertising Bruant

In 1893, his roommate moved out of their flat in order to get married, Henri lost interest in Montmartre. By now he had contracted syphilis and his roommate Bourges had been helping him as best he could medically (later Dr. Bourges would write L'hygiène du syphilitique in 1897). Henri turned to brothels.

As others would say, Henri felt like an outsider. His father and family had rejected him, although his mother would stand by him to the end. Beyond his physical difficulties, the family, especially his father found his professional choice as an artist as offensive and demeaning. This was a world beneath the privilege of his birth.

In turn, prostitutes were outsiders too. He ate with them, slept with them, played with them (from cards to dice) and painted them. With his deformed body, what better place to go than a place where the inhabitants had seen everything!  Nakedness meant nothing to them either, making them perfect models. He once said, “Models always look as if they were stuffed; these women are alive. I wouldn't dare pay them to pose for me, yet God knows they’re worth it. They stretch themselves out on divans like animals…they’re so lacking in pretention….”

Sketch for Hung Over

Hung Over (1889)

Uniquely, Henri painted what he saw without comment. This is especially true with his album (series) of lithographs called Elles, where he depicted life inside a brothel. Here he shows women exhausted, waiting in line for their weekly checkup, caring for each other (many were lesbians, which fascinated Henri), bathing, waiting for customers and so on.

Lovers/Elles

Medical check ups/Elles

Woman staring at herself/Elles

The drinking, fast-track living and syphilis finally caught up to Henri. Near the end, his friends worried about him dearly and with his mother’s help he was put into an asylum for detox. He hated it there because he didn't believe he was mad, just a drunk. He was extremely worried he would never see freedom again because, in his mind, it was risky to be a wealthy patient—the hospital loses the patient; they lose income.  He indeed sobered up and began to draw circus motifs, all from memory! 

Reluctantly, the doctors released him in May 1899. But by autumn, he was drinking again. At first, he hid his liquor in a small bottle hidden in his cane, but after leaving it behind during one of his trips, he just went back to his old ways.

Two weeks before he died.

By now, his production was considerably lower. He was only in his mid-30s, but worse off than ever. These days he wasn't pleasant either. All the pity, anger, resentment came out to anyone nearby. It as if a veil was lifted, replacing all that good humor and cheer with his brokenness, depression, rage and loss. Henri would live another 18 months, struck down by paralysis (some say strokes) and the final stages of sphyllis. He was only 36 (a few months shy of his 37^th birthday).

Some call Lautrec, the chronicler of Montmartre, the soul of Montmartre, the master of lithograph, the first master of advertising design, the master of celebrity. All of this is true. Was he a saint? Not quite. Was he a master? Yes.  But more importantly, he was a human trying to get through the day with far greater challenges than most of us have ever imagined. What sustained his life was drawing; it’s just unfortunate it couldn't have saved his life.

Next month: George Seura

What's Coming Up

See my www.jillgoodell.com for other details

New! Workshops at Glastonbury Studios

This summer I am trying out something new: holding one-day workshops in my studio, located in Tigard, just off highway 99. To ensure a high student-tech ratio, there is a minimum of five students with a max of ten.

The cost is $70 per workshop, which includes supplies and lunch. All you have to do is show up, ready to learn!!

Saturday, June 15

Let’s Draw! with Colored Pencils 10 a.m. To 4 p.m.

Learn how to use colored pencil by building up layers until you reach a brilliant, colorful surface. Learn how to use a variety of strokes and blending techniques. No experience needed. All supplies provided. Age 16+

Friday, July 19

Travel Sketching Workshop   10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Journey with your sketchbook. Capture street scenes, markets, people and landscapes. Use pencil, watercolor washes or pen and ink. No experience needed. All supplies provided. Age 16+

Saturday, August 10

Let’s Paint!  with Pastels  Workshop 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Learn to create luscious pastel paintings using both soft and oil pastels on various papers and supports. Techniques covered will include:linear strokes, side strokes, blending, broken color, feathering, scumbling, sgraffito  and stippling. May do some outdoor work in backyard if weather permits. No experience necessary. All supplies provided. Age 16+

To register for a studio workshop contact Jill at:

jjgoodell@gmail.com

Glastonbury Studios:
Six-Week Classes Begin Week of June 2nd

Mark your calendars, the new classes for the first summer session will begin the week of June 2nd. I'm planning classes this time with similar themes: perspective, buildings and urban settings. Isn't it time to finally learn those pesky rules, so you can be confident when you're painting and/or drawing? Come see how easy it all is.

Tuesday evenings $70/session

7-9 p.m.

One, Two, Three Point Perspective

Come on, you know you should know this stuff. Perspective isn't as hard as you think. In fact, it can be lots of fun!! Will work from photos.

Wednesday mornings $70/session

10 to 12 noon

Sketch’n on the Go™

Urban Sketching 

We will begin in the studio and as weather permits we will begin our outdoor sketch of the Portland Metro area for the summer

Thursday evenings $80/session

6:30 to 9:00 p.m.

Beginning/Intermediate

City Scenes

Let's explore different city scenes from Venice to New York and of course, our own sweet city of Portland. Learn how to embrace the city using classical structure, both day and night.

Second Sundays: Visual Journaling

1:00 to 4 p.m. No experience. $20

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For more reading on Lautrec see: http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/publicprogrammes/documents/toulouselautrecandjaneavrilteachersresource.pdf

Toulouse Lautrec, the Soul of Montmartre by Reinhold Heller (1997)
Toulouse Lautrec by Henri Perruchot (1960)
Lautrec by Edouard Julien (no date) knew the Lautrec family

*Wikipedia definition: The use of the word bohemian first appeared in the English language in the nineteenth century to describe the non-traditional lifestyles of marginalized and impoverished artists, writers, journalists, musicians, and actors in major European cities. Bohemians were associated with unorthodox or anti-establishment political or social viewpoints, which often were expressed through free love, frugality, and—in some cases—voluntary poverty