Professor Butter Beard’s “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”
“Sunday, by the blue purple yellow red water
On the green purple yellow red grass
Let us pass through our perfect park
Pausing on a Sunday
By the cool blue triangular water
On the soft green elliptical grass
As we pass through arrangements of shadow
Toward the verticals of trees
Forever”
- Stephen Sondheim, “Sunday In The Park With George”
My comfort cravings are very specific. First, there must always be a jar of dark chocolate M&Ms at the waiting. The specific production may vary with the prevalent mood, but a score by Sondheim will always float me on a journey outside the competing voices in my head. And when I require a transcending vision, I transport myself to a Sunday picnic on the Island of la Grande Jatte as perfectly captured by one of my soul’s heroes, Georges Seurat.
Georges Pierre Seurat was born on December 2nd, 1859 in Paris, at 60 rue de Bondy (now rue René Boulanger). He first studied art at the École Municipale de Sculpture et Dessin run by the sculptor Justin Lequien. His studies resulted in a well-considered and prolific theory of contrasts: a theory to which all his work was thereafter subjected. In 1890, in a letter written to Maurice Beaubourg, he wrote: “Art is Harmony. Harmony is the analogy of opposites, the analogy of similarities of tone, of tint, of line taking account of a dominant and under the influence of the lighting, in combinations that are gay, calm or sad.”
During the 19th century, scientist-writers such as Michel Eugène Chevreul, Ogden Rood and David Sutter wrote treatises on color, optical effects and perception. Chevreul was perhaps the most important influence on artists at the time; his great contribution was producing a color wheel of primary and intermediary hues. His work as a tapestry restorer led to an astonishing revelation that the only way to restore a section properly was to consider the influence of the colors around the missing wool. Two colors juxtaposed, slightly overlapping or very close together, would have the effect of another color when seen from a distance. This revelation specifically opened the door to the Impressionist painters’ technique known as “Pointillism.”
In the warm summer of 1884, Seurat began work on “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.” The island itself is a mile long and located on the Seine in the Neuilly-sur-Seine department of Paris and represents a high class get away for the Parisian community. The cast of the painting includes three animated dogs, eight sailing boats and forty-eight Parisians as they congregate for a Sunday afternoon respite and stroll in the sunny park alongside the shimmering river.
Seurat's use of light and color and composition are the the unique points of his masterful interpretation of a delicious Sunday afternoon. His inspired use of tiny, juxtaposed specks of multi-colored paint allows the viewer's eye to blend colors optically, rather than having the colors physically blended on the canvas. Brilliant! He believed that a painter could use color to create harmony and emotion in art in the same way that a musician uses counterpoint and variation to create harmony in music. Sondheim captured these theories perfectly in “Sunday In The Park With George,” when we witness the master creating: “Order. Design. Composition. Tone. Form. Symmetry. Balance.” Dot by dot by dot.
My go-to comfort cookie, speckled with dark chocolate M&M candies and baked in my grandmother’s cast iron skillet, can be prepared in the time it takes George to introduce his “blank page or canvas” and Dot to lament her employment as a model on such a hot summer day. By the time the company and orchestra’s passions explode into the exquisite choral “Sunday,” you will be ready to enjoy a slice as you pause on the green purple yellow red grass and pass through arrangements of shadow toward the verticals of trees. Forever.
Iron Skillet Comfort Cookie
Makes one cookie baked in a 10” iron skillet
Ingredients:
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla paste
1 tsp orange extract (or 1 Tbsp fresh orange zest)
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp kosher salt
1 tsp espresso powder
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp chili powder
1 cup Dark Chocolate M&Ms (or be creative and add your go-to-comfort candy)
½ -1 tsp coarse sea salt
1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
2) In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, espresso powder, cinnamon and chili powder.
3) In a standing mixer, cream together the butter and sugars, add the egg, vanilla paste and orange extract (or zest).
4) On low speed, add the dry mix to the creamed mix.
5) Remove from the mixer and fold in ¾ cup of the M&Ms. Spread the batter evenly in the cast iron skillet (no need to grease the pan).
6) Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup M&Ms on the top of the batter and press in slightly.
7) Bake the cookie for 25-28 minutes.
8) Remove carefully from the oven and sprinkle the top with ½ tsp coarse sea salt
9) Let cool at least 15 minutes before diving in!
Georges Seurat, 1888.
Author as “Jules” in NENA’s production of “Sunday in the Park with George”
