The Art of Pointillism
The late 1880s saw the advent of a new revolutionary style in painting abandoning the concepts of Impressionism. This was the style of painting with multiple use of dots popularly known as pointillism. The main objective was to create an illusion of dots or tiny strokes of paint that blend together when viewed from a distance and appear merely as dots when looked closer. This style of painting also falls under Neo Impressionism and is related to Divisionism. While Divisionism too focuses on application of unblended colors, it deals with color theories unlike Pointillism which highlights the specific use of brushstrokes.
Term & Technique
French art critic Arsene Alexandre, came up with the term “Pointillism” after observing the pictorial technique and ridiculing the style as “painted with dots”. The musical compositions that evolved during this time had textures of sound similar to the style of textures in painting. Hence music was also referred to as Pointillism. Artists working in this style avoided blending of pigments in palette before applying them on canvas. They preferred the application of raw pigments directly to the pictorial surface that would seem to blend when looked from a distance. It was a pivotal technique developed in the history of Western history of art that broke away from all traditional approaches and trained the mind to look at a work by visually blending the colors in the mind. The technique isn't as easy as it seems to be. Adding dots is not the only thing here. Applying bright hues to the canvas, which would be balanced enough to create appropriate contrast and eventually blend together to form the complete image as we step backward from the artwork, was actually a monumental task executed by the artists. The urge to form a groundbreaking vision of art was only because artists wanted to revolutionize styles of painting.
Colors of Pointillism
Before Pointillism the painters were into Divisionism which had cube-like strokes of paint similar to mosaic art. They were following theories created by color theorist Charles Blanc. The fact that juxtaposition of two colors lead to having the effect of one color over another when seen from a distance was brought up by Michel Eugene Chevreul. He was a French chemist who is known for his great contributions in the color wheel of primary and intermediate hues. Chevreul's book on color contrast, published in 1859, inspired artists to think not only about the object in emphasis but all the surrounding colors to achieve balance and harmony in the artwork. And this color phenomena helped Neo-Impressionist artists to develop the new Pointillist technique. Later they also studied phenomena of optical illusions to execute the Pointillist technique in their artworks. It was important to know the scientific explanations of color theories and how they impact on the human eyes and brain to create the effects of chiaroscuro even with application of unblended colors. Intense contrast was created with bright vivid raw paints which were not pre blended in the palette. This juxtaposition of contrasting colors had a strong impact on viewers who were visually blending the individual colors in their mind. Due to the application of colors in dots or minute strokes, the paintings looked simple from a distance and were rich in complexity when viewed closely. The approach was more scientific because artists had to study how colors appeared together when stepped back from the canvas. That is why many art critics have described Pointillism to be rigid, mechanical and analytic. Henri Matisse and even Van Gogh were fascinated by these bright contrasting chromatic colors which later paved the way for movements such as Fauvism & Expressionism.
Inspiration from Impressionism
Even though Pointillism was a reaction to the Impressionist style of painting, the latter actually inspired the new style in art. During the late Impressionist era, artists started to modify the dabs or thick strokes of paints into much smaller strokes which appeared like small dots from a distance. Artists like Camille Pissaro, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Albert Dubois-Pillet and Henri-Edmond Cross were the precursors of Pointillism and their working periods often ranged between Neo Impressionism and Divisionism. The concept of applying raw paints and broken brush strokes was common in both the styles; only Pointillists reduced their paint application further into multiple use of small sized dots/brush strokes. Pointillist approach was more scientific as they were not merely focused on capturing the moments but using colors to create optical illusion effect with respect to distance.
Late Works of Camille Pissarro that inspired Pointillism:
Major Artists of Pointillism:
The movement was primarily led by two painters - George-Pierre Seurat and Paul Signac, eventually joined by other artists who adapted the style later. Georges Seurat was academically trained in conventional painting techniques; drawing from antique sculptures and copying old masters’ works. After finishing his studies at Ecole Des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he went for military service for a year. After returning he shared a studio with his friend and started researching optical theories and color contrasts. He was also reading scientific researches by Michel Eugene Chevreul, Ogden Rood and David Sutter who wrote about optical effects of colors and perception. Seurat also attended lectures by mathematicians and scientists who discussed symbolic meaning and emotional significance of colors and lines. For two years Seurat had been working with monochrome technique and later he started his career as a Post Impressionist painter. His practice period of traditional art helped him to explore the use of colors as he closely observed works of Eugene Delacroix.
Apart from his paintings he is also known for his extensive fascination for drawing. He used a similar technique of using textures in his sketches which often served as a study work before he went for execution of a larger piece in paints. He mostly used graphite pencils, charcoal and conte crayon on rough surfaces of paper for making these sketches.
Examples of drawings done by George-Pierre Seurat:
Popular paintings done by George-Pierre Seurat:
The most popular work of Seurat was Bathers at Asnieres which was initially rejected by the Paris Salon for exhibition. He had been working with the leisure of man belonging from different strata of the society. He worked on a huge scale and his balanced use of colors to create optical illusions would often attract the attention of Cubists artists.
Another renowned artist who seems to have equally driven this movement is the French painter Paul Victor Jules Signac. Although his parents wanted him to be trained in architecture, he was greatly inspired by works of Claude Monet (after visiting an exhibition in 1880) and wanted to practice art. In 1884 he became friends with Georges Seurat and got impressed by the use of pure colors keeping their identity of individual hues and leaving it on the viewers to visually blend it with their eyes. He was also a member of the “Societe des Artistes Independants” which had the central idea of “No Jury No awards”. The objective was to reject the idea of an admission jury and let artists work with complete freedom to present their ideas to the society without being judged on any criteria. Signac was drawn towards outdoor compositions and hence we see landscapes including rivers and architectures as a subject in most of his paintings. Apart from using oil paints he also experimented with watercolors and tried his hands in lithography and etching. His pen and ink drawings also show his laborious dedication of composing with dots. He is also known for his published works such as “From Eugene Delacroix to Neo-Impressionism”. After his friend George Seurat passed away, Signac became the prime spokesperson of Pointillism, held a number of annual shows and continued to inspire artists who adopted his style.
Works done by Paul Signac:
Neo-Impressionism to Pointillism:
Maximilien-Jules-Constant Luce was an artist working during the Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist period who turned into a Pointillist. After spending four years in military service he came back to Paris and began his painterly works mostly influenced by the Divisionist technique established by Georges Seurat. Gradually he also developed his Pointillist style of painting and exhibited many of his works which were appreciated by the contemporary artists. One of his works “La Toilette” was bought by Paul Signac and artists like Camille Pissarro as well as art critics were impressed by his works exhibited in the show. He met and discussed works with many Neo Impressionist artists but his career reached its peak during his Pointillist period.
Works done by Maximilien Luce:
French Neo-Impressionist painter Albert Dubois-Pillet started his career as an army officer. He was a self-taught artist without any formal educational training in visual arts and he spent most of his life in different provincial military posts. He experimented with his own painterly styles however the Paris Salons rejected his submissions initially. His first painting exhibited at the Tuileries Exhibition in May 1884, that caught attention was “Enfant Mort” (dead child). He became friends with Georges Seurat and experimented with both Divisionism and Pointillism techniques. After meeting Signac he was also inclined towards creating pen and ink drawings in the same approach.
Early works done by Albert Dubois-Pillet:
Pointillist works done by Albert Dubois-Pillet:
Decline of the movement:
Pointillism did not have its sudden end; rather it inspired a lot of artists to think about new approaches in painting. It had its widespread influence on all the upcoming art styles of Fauvism, Expressionism and Cubism and is still popular in modern art where contemporary artists like Damien Hrist and Yayoi Kusama have used the dotted art technique with a modern twist.
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