Michael Craig-Martin, Reconstructing Seurat (orange), 2004. Acrylic on aluminum panel, 73 5/8 in. x 110 1/4 in. Extended loan from Mildred Goldsmith Palley (Class of 1978).
Michael Craig-Martin: Reconstructing Seurat
February 10 – June 7, 2015

Conceptual artist Michael Craig-Martin trains his eye on George Seurat’s monumental painting Une Baignade, Asnières (“Bathers at Asnières”), 1884, one of the most famous pictures in the collection of the National Gallery, London. Moving several steps beyond Seurat’s own remarkably modern reduction of figures into forms, curves and colors, Craig-Martin deconstructs and reconstructs the image through his signature style: his painting, and two sets of related prints, recast the scene of boys on the banks on the Seine through sharp graphic line drawings with a thrilling pop palette.

Curated by Lisa Fischman, Ruth Gordon Shapiro '37 Director, with generous support from Wellesley College Friends of Art at the Davis.