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Artist or Maker: Georges Seurat (1859-1891)

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Description: Paysans aux champs
conté crayon on paper
9 1/4 x 11 5/8 in. (23.4 x 29.4 cm.)
Executed circa 1883

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Provenance: B. Hein, Paris.
Private collection, Paris, since 1950s.

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Exhibited: Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Cinquante ans de dessin, December 1952 - January 1953.
Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, De Toulouse-Lautrec à Chagall, March - April 1956, no. 163 (illustrated).

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Published: C.M. de Hauke, Seurat et son oeuvre, vol. II, Paris, 1961, no. 528 (illustrated p. 121).

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Notes: THE PROPERTY OF A FRENCH PRIVATE COLLECTOR

Seurat died at the age of only 31. However, he left behind him an extraordinary body of work. Some 230 paintings and 500 drawings survived him. Some would argue that his rich velvety drawings are a serious challenge to the pre-eminence of his paintings. His mature drawing period begins in 1881 when he completely abandons himself to a superb shading method perfected over the following ten years.

Exploiting the rich tone of conté crayon, which was easier to handle than charcoal, he could produce the desired degree of darkness simply by applying pressure as he drew, and by quickly building up the density of line. The tone in these drawings 'modulates from the deepest, most velvety blacks right through to the natural white on the paper; no longer are we conscious of individual pencil strokes, but merely of the process of uninterrupted becoming' (J. Russell, Seurat, New York, 1965, pp. 80 and 83). Paysans au champs dates from Seurat's best period as a draughtsman. Drawn in circa 1883 it belongs to a relatively small group of compositions incorporating a complex number of elements. The compositional balance and tonal variances Seurat achieves in this small work is quite remarkable.

Paysans au champs has remained in the same private collection for over 50 years. Like so many of these conté drawings it has rarely been exhibited, last being shown in Brussels in 1956.


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