POINTILISM

neo impressionism
a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of pure color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism.

HISTORY
During the 19th century, scientist-writers such as Michel Eugne Chevreul, Ogden Rood and David Sutter wrote treatises on color, optical effects and perception. They adapted the scientific research of Helmholtz and Newton into a form accessible to laypeople. Artists followed new discoveries in perception with great interest.

Chevreul a French chemists great contribution was producing a color wheel of primary and intermediary hues. He discovered that two colors juxtaposed, slightly overlapping or very close together, would have the effect of another color when seen from a distance. The discovery of this phenomenon became the basis for the pointillist technique of the Neoimpressionist painters.

The practice of Pointillism is in sharp contrast to the traditional methods of blending pigments on a palette. Pointillism is analogous to the four-color CMYK printing process used by some color printers and large presses that place dots of Cyan (blue), Magenta (red), Yellow, and Key (black). Televisions and computer monitors use a similar technique to represent image colors using Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) colors.

Neo Impressionist Artists

GEORGES SEURAT

ROBERT DELAUNAY

HENRI EDMOND CROSS