CHICAGO (CBS) — It’s one of the vital recognizable work of all time – Georges Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.”
Seurat painted the masterwork from 1884 to 1886, and first arrived on the Art Institute of Chicago practically a century in the past.
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The portray is now being restored and reframed. CBS 2 Photographer Scott Wilson received a behind-the-scenes have a look at the meticulous work of touching up a masterpiece.
“For the Art Institute, it’s a destination piece,” mentioned Art Institute curator Gloria Groom. “Chicago has always been blessed with amazing collectors. When they see it, they can’t believe they’re seeing the real thing.”
Groom mentioned the portray is “the centerpiece of our modern collection.”
“Amazing acquisition – it was very forward-thinking; very astute,” mentioned Art Institute affiliate conservator Kirk Buillemot. “You know, I think the Parisian government would love to take it back.”
Groom mentioned “La Grande Jatte” can be “kind of a perfect social distancing painting.”
“You can see all of these people are with their pod, but they’re not near the other people,” she mentioned.
The Art Institute notes on its web site that “La Grande Jatte” was initially panned by critics, who used phrases resembling “bedlam,” “scandal,” and “hilarity.”
But it after all has develop into famend as Seurat’s best work.
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“With what resembles scientific precision, the artist tackled the issues of color, light, and form. Inspired by research in optical and color theory, he juxtaposed tiny dabs of colors that, through optical blending, form a single and, he believed, more brilliantly luminous hue,” the Art Institute says on its web site. “To make the experience of the painting even more intense, he surrounded the canvas with a frame of painted dashes and dots, which he, in turn, enclosed with a pure white wood frame, similar to the one with which the painting is exhibited today.”
Now, the Art Institute has a possibility to offer portray a brand new body as soon as extra.
“The Art Institute has always been stuck with the problem is, how would have Seurat liked to see the painting presented,” mentioned Buillemot, who’s constructing the body.
The new body, Groom mentioned, “will be a much closer frame to what the artist would have put on it.”
“With Seurat, what’s so humbling is that it’s all on his terms, and that anything you do is going to affect the painting,” Buillemot mentioned. “Hopefully, we’re just going to have something that will live peacefully on the side – not get in the way of the painting – and just let you enjoy what’s inside the frame.”
“La Grande Jatte” was bought by artwork collector and Art Institute trustee Frederic Clay Bartlett in 1924 – greater than 30 years after Seurat’s demise – and positioned it on mortgage to the museum. It has left the museum precisely as soon as within the 98 years since for a 1958 look on the Museum of Modern Art in New York – the place it escaped harm when a hearth broke out at that museum.
“La Grande Jatte” additionally, after all, was the inspiration for the 1984 Broadway musical “Sunday in the Park with George” by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine.
“La Grande Jatte” will return to show subsequent Thursday. If you wish to go and see it, be aware that the Art Institute has strict COVID guidelines in place.
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You want proof of vaccination, non-members want to purchase tickets prematurely, and everybody should put on a masks.
