"In his early twenties, Georges Seurat (1859 - 1891) withdrew temporarily from painting into draftsmanship. The result of this intense three-year period of work was a large number of drawings, some preliminary sketches for later paintings and other works completed for their own sake. These were exhibited more than 40 years later at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris and reproduced in full in this volume. While most of the 151 Seurat drawings of this collection were notes jotted down about the people with the intent to abstract their fundamental lines in light, the variety of subject matter was never restricted nor limited solely to human forms. Seurat drew isolated persons, the two studies of 'A Man Sleeping,' tall young women, presumably preliminary sketches for his masterpiece 'La Grande Jatte,' and perhaps his purest form of all - the young male nude for 'The Bathing Place' - as well as detailed examinations of things, like 'Study of Drapery Folds,' a 'Male Torso,' and numerous studies of half-illuminated and half-shaded faces. There are drawings a completely modern vein as is the woman 'Raising Her Skirt' to protect it from the mud; those designed to find truth i optical illusions like the 'Haunted House' and those in direct contrast, the 'Man Whitewashing'; realistic portraits - of Paul Signac, the Holbein-like portrait of his mother, and the studies for the painting 'Models Posing' - drawings which depict the beauty of physical labor; a study of luminous sunbeams; and a group of very small drawings, including a clown's hand - the last known of his drawings. Despite the label 'Neo-Impressionist,' these 151 drawings of Georges Seurat are, in every case, completely personal and individual. It is difficult to find precise influences in them or point out direct 'borrowings.' What they do contain and consequently reflect is the artist's direct confrontation with the problems central t his development and, even more significantly the roots of this later pointillism. Unabridged republication of the illustration of the two portfolios of Les Dessins de Georges Seurat (1859 - 1891), published in 1928. Essay by Gustave Kahn and list of illustrations by Stanley Appelbaum especially for this edition." -- from back wrapper. Printed in black-and-white.