Beginning in the 1880s, Seurat favored drawing with Conté crayon, a dense, greasy medium consisting of refined graphite and clay. The years 1881 to 1884 are those of Seurat's early artistic maturity and the only period in which he treated the subjects of peasants and agricultural labor with any regularity. This sheet shows Seurat's virtuoso control of his medium, achieving a tonal variation ranging from pure white to pure black. His evocative rendering of the twilight, through both the atmospheric conditions and the figures who are no longer working, is also indicative of his esteem for the painter Jean-François Millet.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Peasants
Artist:Georges Seurat (French, Paris 1859–1891 Paris)
Date:1881–84
Medium:Conté crayon
Dimensions:9 13/16 x 12 7/16 in. (24.8 x 31.6 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot (1876-1967), 1967
Object Number:67.187.34
Paysans (Ouvriers - Artisans)
Inscription: On verso, at lower left, in graphite: "Collection Félix Vallotton / J. Rodrigues-Henriques / Février 1926"
On verso, at center, in red pencil: "Seurat 166/S" [posthumous inventory dessin number].
Emile Seurat (French)artist's brother; Félix Vallotton (Swiss); Jacques Rodrigues-Henriques; Adelaide Milton de Groot (American)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Seurat: Drawings and Oil Sketches from New York Collections," September 29–November 27, 1977.
Wildenstein & Co., Inc. "La Revue Blanche : Paris in the days of Post-Impressionism and Symbolism," November 17, 1983–December 31, 1983.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," July 26–October 18, 1999.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," October 4, 2005–January 9, 2006.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Georges Seurat: The Drawings," October 9, 2007–January 7, 2008.
Amsterdam. Van Gogh Museum. "Jean-François Millet: Sowing the Seeds of Modern Art," October 4, 2019–January 12, 2020.
Saint Louis Art Museum. "Millet and Modern Art: From Van Gogh to Dalí," February 16–September 7, 2020.
deHauke 523
Gustave Coquiot Georges Seurat. Albin Michel, Paris, 1924, p. 252.
Germain Seligman The Drawings of Georges Seurat. Curt Valentin Gallery, New York, 1947, cat. no. 37, fig. no. pl. XXVI, pp. 39, 69, ill.
César de Hauke Seurat et son oeuvre. vol. 2, Paris, 1961, cat. no. 523, pp. 116-117, ill.
Jacob Bean Seurat, Drawings and Oil Sketches from New York Collections. Exh. cat.: September 29 - November 27, 1977. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1977, cat. no. 11.
La Revue Blanche : Paris in the days of Post-Impressionism and Symbolism. Exh. cat., 17 November - 31 December. Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York, 1983, pp. 70, 86, ill.
Nicholas Wadley Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Drawing. Laurence King Publishers, London, 1991, fig. no. 101b, p. 284, ill.
Nienke Bakker, Abigail Yoder Jean-François Millet : Sowing the Seeds of Modern Art. Simon Kelly, Amsterdam, 2019, cat. no. 94, pp. 99, 204, ill.
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