Un Samedi Après-Midi au Fleuve de Roche
This post is dedicated to my friend V, who believes that nothing of any cultural value exists in Wisconsin.
Just in time for the July fourth holiday, Beloit does Seurat!
I spent several pleasant summers teaching at a small college in this town in south-central Wisconsin. In the afternoons, when it wasn't obnoxiously humid, I used to go running along the banks of the Rock River. I probably passed the spot where this picture was taken a hundred times. I haven't been back there in years, but seeing this brings me back there instantly.
A random bit of trivia: eagle-eyed art afficionados will recognize that the woman in the foreground at right is wearing a shoulder bag emblazoned with another famous post-Impressionist painting, Gustave Caillebotte's Paris Street; Rainy Day, which normally hangs a few rooms away from the Seurat at The Art Institute of Chicago. Like the Seurat, it is enormous—the canvas spans nearly 60 square feet, almost exactly the same size as the "Grande Jatte"—and can only really be appreciated in person. If you walk across the room parallel to the canvas at a decent distance, the triangular building in the background actually seems to shift perspective. You can practically feel the rain-slicked cobblestones under your feet.
Additional information about the Seurat project, including photos documenting the staging of this scene, is available on Flickr.
Just in time for the July fourth holiday, Beloit does Seurat!
I spent several pleasant summers teaching at a small college in this town in south-central Wisconsin. In the afternoons, when it wasn't obnoxiously humid, I used to go running along the banks of the Rock River. I probably passed the spot where this picture was taken a hundred times. I haven't been back there in years, but seeing this brings me back there instantly.
A random bit of trivia: eagle-eyed art afficionados will recognize that the woman in the foreground at right is wearing a shoulder bag emblazoned with another famous post-Impressionist painting, Gustave Caillebotte's Paris Street; Rainy Day, which normally hangs a few rooms away from the Seurat at The Art Institute of Chicago. Like the Seurat, it is enormous—the canvas spans nearly 60 square feet, almost exactly the same size as the "Grande Jatte"—and can only really be appreciated in person. If you walk across the room parallel to the canvas at a decent distance, the triangular building in the background actually seems to shift perspective. You can practically feel the rain-slicked cobblestones under your feet.
Additional information about the Seurat project, including photos documenting the staging of this scene, is available on Flickr.
posted by Biff at 09:26
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