Georges Seurat: the art of vision PDF
Preview Georges Seurat: the art of vision
Georges Seurat Georges Seurat the art of vision Michelle Foa Yale University Press New Haven and London This publication is made possible in part by the Barr Ferree Foundation Fund for Publications, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University. Copyright © 2015 by Michelle Foa. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illus- trations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written per- mission from the publishers. yalebooks.com/art Designed by Leslie Fitch Set in Crimson and Source Sans Pro type by Leslie Fitch Printed in China by Regent Publishing Services Limited Library of Congress Control Number: 2014941271 isbn 978-0-300-20835-1 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48–1992 (Perma- nence of Paper). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Jacket illustrations: (front) Detail of fig. 56, Georges Seurat, The Seine at Courbevoie, 1885; (back) Detail of fig. 26, Georges Seurat, Parade de cirque, 1887–88. Frontispiece: Detail of fig. 62, Georges Seurat, Poseuses, 1886–88. To Jeremy, Ethan, and the memory of my father This page intentionally left blank contents Acknowledgments viii Introduction 1 1 Seeing in Series 7 2 Figuring Out Vision 63 3 Seductive Sights 113 4 Sight and Touch in Black and White 155 Postscript: The Eiffel Tower as Urban Lighthouse 197 Notes 205 Index 227 Illustration Credits 233 acknowledgments I am happy to have the opportunity to thank in writing the people and institutions who have helped to make this book possible. Since this work originated as my doctoral disser- tation at Princeton, I would like to begin by expressing my deep gratitude to Hal Foster, Rachel DeLue, and most of all Carol Armstrong for their support, insight, and guidance. Their feedback on the project continued to inform its development long after I left Princeton, and I’m profoundly grateful to them for it, as well as for their advice over the years and for the models of intellectual rigor with which they provided me. In particu- lar, Carol’s continued support for my work has meant a great deal to me, and she has my enduring thanks for all of her encouragement. I first studied art history as an undergrad- uate at Brown University, and it was my courses and conversations with Kermit Champa that made me want to become an art historian. I am grateful to him for that inspiration and for supporting my interest in continuing my studies in graduateschool. I was fortunate to spend a year teaching in the Department of Art History at Mount Holyoke College as I was finishing my dissertation, and I thank the faculty there for their warmth and collegiality. During that time I first met Bob Herbert, and I am indebted to him for the scholarly and personal generosity that he has shown to me ever since, and for all of his work on Seurat. Tulane has been a wonderful academic home since then, and I thank my colleagues in the Art Department for their intellectual stimulation and friend- ship. Thanks are also due to the Dean’s Office of the School of Liberal Arts, the Newcomb College Institute, and the Office of the Provost for the grants and fellowships they have awarded me to pursue my research and publish this book. I am grateful, as well, for the support that I received from The Barr Ferree Publication Fund of the Art and Archaeology Department at Princeton. Jim Rubin gave me tremendously valuable feedback on the man- uscript at various stages, and he has my profound thanks for all of his wisdom and guid- ance. Gary Hatfield’s generous comments on my work, and my conversations with him, have been extremely helpful to me, and I am deeply appreciative of hisinput. Talks that I have given over the years helped me to develop some of the arguments put forward here, and I am indebted to the organizers of those events, as well as to some of the fellow participants and audience members, for giving me the opportunity to pres- ent on my work and for their thought-provoking questions and comments, including: Kathryn Brown, Anthea Callen, Robin Kelsey, Marni Kessler, Ségolène Le Men, Sarah Linford, Yukio Lippit, David Lubin, Peter Pesic, Todd Porterfield, Chris Poggi, Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Debora Silverman, Tania Woloshyn, and Henri Zerner. Thanks also go to the staff at the following institutions for facilitating my research and granting me access to archival materials: The Philadelphia Museum of Art (and Joseph Rishel in particular), The Barnes Foundation, the Musée d’Orsay, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the Bibliothèque de l’Institut national d’histoire de l’art, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and the Bibliothèque Forney. I am also grateful to all of the institutions and private collectors that provided me with repro- ductions for this book, and to my research assistant Aschely Cone for her hard work in helping me to acquire those images. I would also like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Katherine Boller at Yale University Press for her support for this project and for guiding it, and me, so smoothly and conscientiously through the publication process. Thanks are also owed to Heidi Downey and Amy Canonico at the Press for their work on this book, and to Deborah Bruce-Hostler for her copyediting of themanuscript. On a personal note, I thank my mother, stepfather, and sisters for their support, and especially Jeremy and Ethan, who are so very important to my happiness. Finally, I thank my father, who showed me the joys of being immersed in books, pursuing one’s curiosi- ties, and sharing one’s discoveries with others. ix acknowledgments
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