Product Description

Published in association with The Art Institute of Chicago The story behind one of the best- known paintings of all time

A Sunday on la Grande Jatte-1884 continues to fascinate art lovers over a century since Georges Seurat painted and first displayed it-so much so that it alone will form the basis of an entire exhibit at the world-famous Art Institute of Chicago. Award-winning author Robert Burleigh uses this extraordinary painting to give young children a compelling look at Seurat's life and introduce them to the post-impressionist art technique Seurat invented-pointillism, in which a picture is constructed from dots of pure color that blend at a distance into recognizable shapes and various color tones.

Part biography, part art appreciation, Seurat and La Grande Jatte tells the story behind the story depicted on the canvas of a busy park on a Sunday afternoon in 1884, and encourages children to discover their own methods of self-expression.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #609621 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 31 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 3-5–More an analysis of the painting than a biography of the artist, Burleigh's oversized volume explicates Seurat's well-known composition. Because the artist was a private man, little is known about his personal life; by studying the technique and subject matter of La Grande Jatte, the author makes inferences about his subject's life and work habits. He explains that the many croquetons (paintings on cigar boxes) and small studies executed as research for the final huge painting (7' x 10') show the artist's attention to detail. Seurat's artwork is compared to that of his contemporaries, and Burleigh interweaves a detailed look at the painting with facts about the time period, quotes from other artists, and information about Seurat's unique style. Throughout, the author does a thorough job of explaining Seurat's invention of pointillism without using technical terms. Easy-to-read, with large reproductions, this is a grand introduction.–Laurie Edwards, West Shore School District, Camp Hill, PA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Gr. 3-6. Like Action Jackson (2002), by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, this picture book for older readers focuses on a single painting to introduce an artist's life and work--in this case, Georges Seurat's La Grande Jatte. Burleigh begins with direct observations about the painting's size, pointillist style, and composition, dropping facts about Seurat's life into his discussion. The text is somewhat uneven. Sophisticated language about the artist ("he was--as a friend put it--'haunted by night's magnificence'") mixes with sometimes-cloying phrases aimed at younger children ("What do we notice first?") and the many handsome reproductions of the painting are occasionally lost in the book's binding. But Burleigh's accessible observations will encourage children to think about basic art principles (how colors work together; what harmony means in a painting) and to look, linger, and find the stories, or at least the questions, in artwork. There are no source notes, but a selected bibliography, a glossary, and a time line close this attractive title, which has been published in association with the Art Institute of Chicago. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Robert Burleigh is a painter himself, as well the award winning author of many books for children, including the Texas Blue Bonnet Master List book Chocolate: Riches from the Rainforest. He lives in Chicago.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic
The author has done a brilliant job crafting a book that appeals to elementary age students. I am an art teacher and used this as my primary resource when introducing Georges Seurat and Pointillism. There is just enough biographical information thrown in to benefit the students, but not so much it bores them. Fantastic examination of the painting and explanation of the process involved in making this piece. Wonderful!

Especially recommended for youngsters with a flair for art
Robert Burleigh's Seurat And La Grande Jatte is a very different kind of children's picture book -- it is an appreciation of a classic painting, "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte - 1884", which was created with the remarkable art style of pointilism (painting with dots) by the talented and dedicated French artist Seurat. Details and reproductions of this remarkable work (as well as other compositions by Seurat), superbly background the scene it portrays and deftly enhances the narrative musings into the life of the hard-working artist which fill the pages of this marvelous children's book which is especially recommended for talented youngsters who themselves have a flair for art.