Seurat and La Grande Jatte: Connecting the Dots.

Seurat and La Grande Jatte: Connecting the Dots. SEURAT AND LA GRANDE JATTE: Connecting the Dots (2004; $17.95) byRobert Burleigh. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (published in association withThe Art Institute of Chicago Art Institute of Chicago,museum and art school, in Grant Park, facing Michigan Ave. It was incorporated in 1879; George Armour was the first president. Since 1893 the Institute has been housed in its present building, designed in the Italian Renaissance style by ), 115 West 18th Street, New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , NY 10011;www.abramsbooks.com. Visitors to the Art Institute of Chicago are usually drawn to oneof its largest and best-known paintings. The work is almost 7 feet highand 10 feet wide. Its subject matter involves a sunny, Sunday afternoonin a Parisian park called "La Grande Jatte," a small island inthe River Seine. This book is appropriate for primary- and intermediate-levelelementary-school students. The text helps to guide looking anddiscussing the painting: the people depicted, their attire, summeractivities and the park setting. What is as important is the feelingquality (the impression) created by the artist. As the author put it: "A strange stillness. An almost eeriesilence. A sense of mystery. Feelings like this hover over the entirepainting." The painting is accomplished through a surface of dotsof color not of the white race; - commonly meaning, esp. in the United States, of negro blood, pure or mixed.See also: Color (small brush-tips of paint); hence, the descriptive term"pointillism pointillism(pwăn`təlĭz'əm): see postimpressionism. pointillismIn painting, the practice of applying small strokes or dots of contrasting colour to a surface so that from a distance they blend together. ." Seurat demonstrates how certain colors, placedside by side, seem to merge when seen from some distance. Also included in this book are some of Seurat's preparatorydrawings and painting. Some of the important dates in the life ofGeorges Seurat are added along with a glossary and selectedbibliography.--J.J.H. For information about this publication, circle No.394 on the Reader Service Card.