Part 3 Project 3 Research Point 2

This research point asks me to compare the approach of some contemporary landscape artists. It is suggested that I start by looking at Tacita Dean's blackboard drawings and Seurat's Landscape with Houses.

Seurat I have come across often but Tacita Dean is an unknown quantity so I'll investigate her work first.

Tacita Dean b1965 - 

Tacita Dean (1)

Dean used chalk in her earlier career then moved on to work in film.  After a ten year gap she returned to chalk and drew Fatigues in 2012.  Nothing unusual there except that this work was truly monumental in size. What is amazing is that the space available was a two story building. The work depicted the mountain peaks of Hindu Kush slowly moving down into the space as descending rivers, snow melt and eventually flood; the bringer and taker of life.

Fatigues - Tacita Dean 2012 (2)

The images are awe inspiring as individual works but together they must be wonderful as they tell a story.

Fatigues (detail) - Tacita Dean. 2012 (3)

If ever there was an object lesson in tone it is in this work.

But how does it compare to Seurat?

Georges Seurat - 1859-1891

Georges Seurat - self portrait (4)

My notes suggest that I look at Seurat's Landscape with Houses:

Landscape with Houses - Georges Seurat.  1881-2
Conte crayon. 10x 12.5 inches (5)

I have looked at Pointillism in the past and admired the use of colour but been unaware that Seurat drew so beautifully as well.  I can't really see in a detailed way how the marks are made but there are quite wild ones on the left that I think might be tree branches.  There are trees in the background and the whole image is very hazy and indistinct and the foreground lacks detail when you might expect something different.

Margaret Davidson (2011) believes that Seurat was the first artist to explore the way the medium and the paper interrelated.  Seurat experimented with textured paper and crayon to produce a speckly, broken tone.

Davidson says this technique works in 3 ways

• It prevents strokes from being too detailed or too refined
• It requires the artist to draw form according to light and shadow ... and not according to an outer edge, contour or detail
• It forces every crayon stroke to break into dots of black and white. 

This technique is very definitely Seurat's as no other artist has developed it (Davidson, 2011).

Whilst I was looking at these I was reminded of the landscapes of van Gogh so I decided to incorporate one into my comparison:

Farmhouse with Wheatfield along a Road- van Gogh, 1888 (6)

This work by van Gogh is everything I wish I could do.  The marks are deceptively simple but the wheat  is rhythmical as blows in the wind.  There is the portrayal of distance and the trees on the horizon become just smudges.

I recently became acquainted with the atmospheric landscapes of Nicholas Herbert so I've compared one of his drawings as well. L774 has the same feel as the Landscape with Houses; hazy and difficult to grasp.

L774 The Chiltern Hills - Nicholas Herbert. 2014 (7)

Herbert's work seems very spontaneous and immediate.  I find it quite inspirational but it seems well beyond me right now.

For the sake of clarity I've used a table to identify the similarities and differences between these artists and their work.

	Fatigue	Landscape with Houses	Wheatfield	L774 Herbert
Monochrome	x	x	some brown ink	x
Large	x
Small		x	x	x
Chalk	x
Conte crayon		x
Acrylic				x
Soluble crayon				x
Pencil			x	x
Pen			x
Panoramic	x
Mid view			x	x
Close up view		x
Tonal	x	x	x	x
Artist uses other media	x	x	x
Paper		x	x	x
Board	x
Quick sketch		x	x	x
Lengthy endeavour	x

It has been interesting to compare work in this way and find the only similarity across all the pieces is tonality.


Davidson, M. (2011) Contemporary Drawing. Watson Guptill, New York.

(1) http://arteseanp.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/tacita-dean.html
(2) http://vmagazine.com/site/content/639/analog-dream
(3) www.mariangoodman.com
(4) http://wortleyvillage.net/postimp/G_Seurat/indexB.html
(5) http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/337676
(6) http://www.vangoghgallery.com/catalog/Drawing/912/Farmhouse-with-Wheat-Field-along-a-Road.html
(7) https://nicholasherbert.wordpress.com/