Gustave Caillebotte and Georges Seurat were both extremely talented and their narratives were extremely prominent in their works. Caillebotte’s most renowned work is Paris Street; Rainy Day and Georges Seurat’s is A Sunday on La Grande Jatte-1884. They are held at the Art Institute of Chicago. Both of these canvases stand approximately nine feet tall, making them tower over the viewer. The complex scenes of modern life are present in both works, representing the popular themes in artwork during that period. The momentous scale and perspective add to the depth of the canvas on which they appear. The figures closer to the viewer hold more detailed aspects and the characters far away seem smaller and less detailed. All the individuals hold different lives and viewpoints, while placed in the same scene of a canvas. These two pieces specifically hold many similarities. Both spotlight a life-sized couple. In Paris Street; Rainy Day, the couple seems to appear busier than the couple in A Sunday on La Grande Jatte. Both couples are dressed fashionably, representing the initial starting point from where the remainder of the piece unfolds. Both of these unique pieces were shown in exhibitions for Impressionistic works. Caillebotte’s was represented at the third in 1877 and Seurat’s was at the eighth and last in 1886. Because of their size and dedication, both paintings were commended by winners of the avant-garde and derided by protectors of the scholastic customs. Seurat’s park and Caillebotte’s street scenes are placed amidst the Art Institute of Chicago’s major pieces. Both are recognizable almost instantly. The history of both these pieces is lesser known than the work itself. The preliminary sketches on paper were drawn to assist in the completion of these miraculous works. These glorious artists took away from the great Impressionists’ style, such as Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas. Both artists worked outside of the style of Pissarro, Renoir, and others who utilized brushwork for blending individuals into landscapes. They helped do this by altering the values of light and the environment. In both compositions, Caillebotte and Seurat took a planned approach. The environments, planning periods, and detailing techniques will now be discussed. Caillebotte’s chosen setting was an unnamed eight-point intersection north of the Care Saint-Lazare, a few blocks from his home. The Art Institute of Chicago received a pencil sketch for Paris Street, which built the foundation for the nine-foot-wide canvas. Specialists found tiny indentations in the sketch, designating the horizon area and the center of the main lamppost. This divided the sketch into four areas, including lines within the street and the buildings’ vanishing points. It assisted in the transformation of the image to canvas without the usage of grids. The artist used twisted lines to represent individuals within the place. He planned for his canvas to hold pedestrians while connecting the squiggly lines to represent movement. Seurat’s chosen setting is an area of an island near the Seine River, extremely close to his Paris apartment in Clichy. Seurat also took advantage of the sketching technique. In the sections where Caillebotte placed his lines and indentations, Seurat used a finer quality paper, Michallet paper. He turned the piece horizontally to represent the thin trunks of the trees and vertically to show the trees’ anatomical portions. A tonal ballet, present because of the usage of conte crayons, assisted in the perception of depth. One specific drawing by Seurat includes a monkey and three dogs within the park. Light and dark tones are created, representing shadows, in the orangish sunlight. Seurat utilized this technique to connect the miscellaneous groups of park goers. This is the same method utilized by Caillebotte during the repetition of umbrellas, linking the pedestrians in the street. Gustave Caillebotte and Georges Seurat are some of the top masters of the post-Impressionism movement due to their usage of perspective, scale, and detail. Their works will continue to serve a historical and educational purpose for all the decades to come.
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