The Kunsthaus Zürich presents work by Georges Seurat until 17 January 2010. A colleague of Paul Cézanne and Vincent van Gogh’s, Seurat brought a scientific precision to Impressionist painting. He introduced rationality to figures and space, seen in the 60 paintings and drawings the Kunsthaus Zürich has assembled from collections in London, Paris, New York and Washington.
Father of Pointillism
Together with Cézanne, van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat (1859-1891) is considered one of the ‘fathers’ of modern art. He was also the most original of France’s avant-garde artists in the late 19th century. Seurat was born in 1859 in Paris, and by the time he died at age 31 he had developed a basic theory for Impressionism. Stimulated by contemporary colour theories, Seurat began to cover canvases with systematic dots of pure colour. This process, which would come to be known as ‘Pointillism’, soon inspired other artists.
Figure in space
Seurat was a recognised master during his own lifetime, with contemporary artists fascinated by his choice of colours and his technique. His use of figures in space played a key role in his career, and is the central theme of the show. Seurat captured contemporary society in severely calculated drawings and paintings. While he occasionally varied a particular figure, he always gave his subjects an individual, isolated appearance.
Geometric landscapes
Seurat began his career with drawing. The exploration of the human form that was characteristic of the mature artist was visible in his attempts as a student. Dark and light effects, accentuate his drawn figures, as in ‘At the Concert Européen’ (1886-88), from New York’s Museum of Modern Art. In Seurat’s paintings, too, the representation of people in space is of central importance. In works such as ‘The Gardener’ (c 1882), from the Kunsthaus Zürich collection, and ‘Stone Breaker and Wheelbarrow, Le Raincy’ (1882-83), from The Phillips Collection, Washington, Seurat began painting his subjects with a new technique and setting them in innovative compositions.
Seurat used geometry to transform the space and figures within it, as in ‘Eiffel Tower’ (1889), on loan to Zurich from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Artists such as the Italian Futurists, Fernand Léger and Le Corbusier helped continue his scientifically informed work in the 20th century.
Exhibition in Zurich and Frankfurt
Kunsthaus Director Christoph Becker together with Julia Burckhardt Bild assembled the retrospective for the Kunsthaus Zürich. It is to be hosted next by Frankfurt’s Schirn (4 February to 9 May 2010).
Art education
The exhibition is accompanied by a free audio guide in English, German and French. Until 24 November 2009 the Volkshochschule Zürich presents a series of German-language lectures entitled ‘Georges Seurat – Figur im Raum’. The programme is available on www.volkshochschule-zuerich.ch.
The Maria at Honfleur Harbour by Georges Seurat
Visitor information
Kunsthaus Zürich, Heimplatz 1, CH–8001 Zurich
Opening hours: Sat, Sun, Tues 10h00 – 18h00, Wed, Thurs, Fri 10h00 – 20h00, closed on Mondays.
Admission: CHF 18
Advance sales/arrival by train: RailAway/SBB Kombi-Ticket, with 20 percent reduction on travel and entrance to the exhibition, at SBB stations and by phoning Rail Service: 0900 300 300.
Expatica 2009
Text size
Visit the exhibit ‘Figure in Space’ through January 2010.
Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook
Flickr
0
