Herbert, Robert L., "Georges Seurat, 1859–1891"

Curators of the Exhibition
Foreword
Sponsor's Statement
Note to the Reader

Catalogue
Robert L. Herbert

Introduction

Early Life and Education

Independent Drawings 1881–1884

Independent Paintings 1879–1884

Une Baignade, Asnières 1883–1884

Un dimanche à la Grande Jatte 1884–1886

1884–1886

Seascapes: Grandcamp and Honfleur 1885–1886

1886–1888

Poseuses 1886–1888
Françoise Cachin

The Café-Concert 1886–1888
Gary Tinterow

Parade de cirque 1886–1887
Gary Tinterow

Seascapes: Port-en-Bessin 1888

1889–1890

Chahut 1889–1890

Seascapes: Gravelines 1890

Cirque 1890–1891
Anne Distel

Appendixes
A. Seurats Painted Borders and Frames
B. Aman-Jean on Seurat's School Years
C. Seurat's Collection of Prints, Reproductions, and Photographs
D. Seurat's List of Owners of His Works, 1886
E. Seurat's Esthétique
F. Seurat's Letter to Fénéon, June 20, 1890
G. Charles Blanc
H. D.P.G. Humbert de Superville and G.B. Duchenne de Boulogne
I. David Sutter
J. Michel-Eugène Chevreul
K. Ogden Rood
M. Camille Corot
O. Thomas Couture
P. Gauguins Article (Le papier de Gauguin)

Chronology
Anne Distel

List of Exhibitions
Françoise Cachin

Bibliography
Concordance
Acknowledgments for the American Edition
Index

From Publishers Weekly
This extraordinary volume presents a Seurat far more fascinating and complex than the standard image of the coolly scientific dot painter of picnickers and circuses. Cataloguing a large retrospective now at New York's Metropolitan Museum on the centenary of the artist's death, the book gives us a Seurat of many moods and styles. His drawings include powerful naturalistic pictures of laborers, as well as shadowy, mystical portraits and symbolic landscapes suggestive of Odilon Redon. His meditative seascapes suggest a spiritual cleansing, and the solitary figures on dusky streets prefigure the modern age of urban atomization. Seurat mocked commercialized big-city entertainment with his puppetlike figures. His rarely seen female nudes bring impetuosity and freshness to a classic theme. The reproductions are superb. The text, written by Herbert ( Seurat's Drawings ) in collaboration with scholars from the Met and the Musee d'Orsay, Paris, intertwines the life and work of the enormously prolific artist who died at the age of 31.

From Library Journal
Never accorded a proper tribute from France, Seurat was the subject of a major retrospective held recently in Paris, then New York, commemorating the centennial of the Neo-Impressionist's death at 31. In collaboration with distinguished staff from the Musee d'Orsay and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Seurat scholar Herbert has compiled this extensivie exhibition catalog. Such masterpieces as "La Grande Jatte" are conspicuously absent from the show but given ample coverage here. The grandeur and extent of Seurat's oeuvre are evident in the conte crayon drawings of lonely figures, the serene seascape paintings, and the serio-comical scenes of cafe and circus life. Each of the more than 230 works analyzed includes a history of ownership and exhibitions. The substantial text examines such issues as the science of light and color, pointillism, biographical material, and influences. This work should have permanent value and is strongly recommended.
- Joan Levin, MLS, Chicago

Robert L. Herbert is Professor of Art History, Mount Holyoke College.

Françoise Cachin is Directeur, Musée d'Orsay.

Anne Distel is Conservateur en chef, Musée d'Orsay.

Gary Tinterow is Engelhard Associate Curator, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Susan Alyson Stein is Special Exhibitions Associate, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.