Portrait of Monsieur Pool

Albert Dubois-Pillet

Oil on canvas

Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields

This striking Pointillist portrait captures a distinguished military officer in full dress uniform, his silver hair and mustache rendered through thousands of individual dots of color that shimmer against an intricately patterned tapestry backdrop. Dubois-Pillet, a founding member of the Société des Artistes Indépendants alongside Seurat and Signac, applies the Neo-Impressionist technique with remarkable precision, building form and depth through optical color mixing rather than blended brushwork. The sitter's gold epaulettes, medals, and braided cord are picked out with warm ochre and crimson touches that contrast beautifully with the cooler blues and violets of the decorative wallpaper. A rare military man among the avant-garde painters of his circle, Dubois-Pillet brings a disciplined, almost scientific sensibility to this intimate study of rank and character.