Café-concert

As we write these words, even though the pandemic is still here, in some of the places in the world it is possible to go to a café and even a concert. Such a relief after months of lockdown! <3

Despite Georges Seurat's brief lifespan, he created many drawings, working almost exclusively in the waxy Conté crayon and textured paper used for this sheet.

Café-concerts were popular places of entertainment for the middle classes in Paris during the late 1800s and usually featured singers or other forms of vaudeville entertainers. Georges Seurat created eight drawings depicting café-concerts, some showing known establishments. This drawing has an innovative viewpoint, in which we peer through the bowler hats of male viewers listening to a female singer on stage. Seurat typically used a black crayon manufactured by the Conté company, and its waxy quality allowed him to exploit the texture of paper to striking effect.

We present today's work thanks to the Cleveland Museum of Art. 

And if you would like to learn more about Seurat and his fellow artists, please check our 101 Post-Impressionism course!

P.S. George Seurat, like many 19th-century artists, loved the circus and was inspired by the vivid shows of acrobats. Here are some of Seurat's circus paintings; let the show begin!