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

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Expressing a hopeful view for our own era, listed and celebrated African American artist Brenda Joysmith created an idealized gathering … Read more Expressing 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.
The artist has achieved significant national recognition beginning in the 1980s, becoming one of the most visible Black artists in popular media. Her works not only appeared in the films “Philadelphia” and “Love and Basketball” as well as television series such as “The Cosby Show” and “A Different World,” but also have been collected by such notables as Maya Angelou, Oprah Winfrey and Roberta Flack.
Joysmith earned a B.A. in 1974 from the University of Chicago, followed by professional art studies at the California College of Arts and Crafts and the University of California Berkeley. She remained in Northern California for 25 years before returning to her birthplace, Memphis.
Likely inspired by “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” created a century earlier by French painter George Seurat, in this work Joysmith employed the unusual pointillist technique seen in Seurat’s picture. Instead of traditional long brushstrokes, the image is formed by applying thousands of tiny, distinct dots of pure, unmixed color in specific patterns. 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 fewer people inhabit Joysmith’s work than the 48 Parisians of Seurat’s original, she did reach for the inspiration’s monumental scale. “A Sunday Afternoon…” measures 121.25 inches wide by 81.75 high, while this piece is only slightly less spacious at 98.5 inches wide by 99 inches high—unframed and unstretched.
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