A Hopeful Pointillist Painting After Georges Seurat’s “Sunday Afternoon…” by Brenda Joysmith

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With a hopeful view for our own era, listed and celebrated African American artist Brenda Joysmith created an idealized gathering … Read more With a hopeful view for our own era, listed and celebrated African American artist Brenda Joysmith created an idealized gathering of folks of all races and ages relaxing and playing together, while very much enjoying each other’s company in a park. Likely inspired by “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” created a century earlier by French painter George Seurat. Joysmith employed the unusual pointillist technique seen in Seurat’s picture, a technique originated by Seurat and Paul Signac. Instead of traditional long brushstrokes, artists apply thousands of tiny, distinct dots of pure, unmixed color in specific patterns to form an image. Rather than mixing pigments on a palette, colors are placed side-by-side on the canvas. When viewed from a distance, the viewer’s eye and brain "mix" these dots into a cohesive image. Rather like the pixels on the screen you are now viewing.
While there are fewer people rendered in Joysmith’s work than the 48 Parisians of the original, she did reach for the inspiration’s monumental scale. Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon…” measures 121.25 inches wide by 81.75 high, (or 9,912.1875 square inches, for the mathematically inclined), while this piece is only slightly less spacious at 98.5 inches wide by 99 inches high, (or 9,751.5 square inches)—unframed, which fortunately saves considerably on shipping. See less