Academic Male Nude - Georges Seurat

Gift of Richard and Mary L. Gray

"Academic Male Nude" by Georges Seurat (1877) Black Conté crayon, black chalk, and charcoal, with stumping and erasing, on cream laid paper.

Commentary

"Academic Male Nude" by Georges Seurat (1877) invites a close look at how form and feeling work together. Themes to notice include drawings (visual works). This piece is held in the source collection's Prints and Drawings collection. Georges Seurat is the artist behind this work. A useful anchor for reading the piece: Georges Seurat French, 1859–1891. The work is cataloged within a France cultural context. How to look at this work: It is cataloged as drawings (visual works), which gives a clue to how the museum frames the object. Its medium (Black Conté crayon, black chalk, and charcoal, with stumping and erasing, on cream laid paper) affects texture, durability, and how detail reads at different distances. Its listed dimensions (63.6 × 48.5 cm (25 1/16 × 19 1/8 in.)) suggest how intimate or monumental it may feel in person. Subject cues from the catalog include drawings (visual works). Compare this reading with the museum record at the source collection: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/202356

Sources: Art Institute of Chicago; Art Institute of Chicago / Public Records; Art Institute of Chicago Collection Data