Paul-Victor-Jules Signac was born in Paris on 11 November 1863.[2] His parents wanted him to studyarchitecture but, as he said, his preference was to drawthe Seine. He was particularly affected by an 1880 exhibition ofClaude Monet's work. Signac began boating.[3]
Portrait of Félix Fénéon, by Paul Signac in 1890, oil on canvas, 73.5 × 92.5 cm (28.9 × 36.4 in),Museum of Modern Art, New YorkPortrait of Paul Signac byGeorges Seurat in 1890,conté crayon, private collectionPortrait of his wife, Berthe, painted at Saint-Tropez by Paul Signac, 1893,Femme à l'ombrelle (Woman with Umbrella), oil on canvas, 81 x 65 cm,Musée d'Orsay, Paris
In 1884 he metClaude Monet andGeorges Seurat. He was struck by the systematic working methods of Seurat and by his theory of colors and he became Seurat's faithful supporter, friend, and heir with his description ofNeo-Impressionism andDivisionism method.[4] Under Seurat's influence he abandoned the short brushstrokes ofImpressionism to experiment with scientifically-juxtaposed small dots of pure color, intended to combine and blend not on the canvas, but in the viewer's eye, the defining feature ofPointillism.
The Mediterranean coast is a major theme across Signac's paintings.[5] He left the capital each summer, to stay in the south of France in the village of Collioure or atSt. Tropez, where he bought a house and invited his friends. He envisioned the south of France as the perfect location for a future anarchist utopia.[6]
Signac,Albert Dubois-Pillet,Odilon Redon, and Seurat were among the founders of theSociété des Artistes Indépendants. The association began in Paris 29 July 1884 with the organization of massive exhibitions, embracing as their motto, "Neither jury nor awards" (Sans jury ni récompense). "The purpose of Société des Artistes Indépendants—based on the principle of abolishing admission jury—is to allow the artists to present their works to public judgement with complete freedom".[7] For the following three decades their annual exhibitions flourished and set the trends in art of the early twentieth century. Signac was a guiding force in the Société and was its President from 1908 until his death.
Capo di Noli, 1898, oil on canvas, 93.5 × 75 cm (36.8 × 29.5 in),Wallraf-Richartz Museum, CologneIn the Time of Harmony: the Golden Age is not in the Past, it is in the Future, 1893–95, oil on canvas, 310 x 410 cm (122 × 161.4 in), Mairie de Montreuil, Paris
In 1886 Signac metVincent van Gogh inParis. During 1887 the two artists regularly went toAsnières-sur-Seine together, where they painted such subjects as river landscapes and cafés. Initially, Van Gogh chiefly admired Signac's loose painting technique. Signac would also meetToulouse Lautrec who was a friend of Van Gogh.[8]
In March 1889, Signac visited Van Gogh atArles. In 1890, during the banquet of theXX exhibition inBrussels, Lautrec challenged to a duel the artistHenri de Groux who criticized Van Gogh's works. Signac declared he would continue to fight for Van Gogh’s honor if Lautrec was killed. De Groux apologized for the slight and left the group and the duel never took place.[9]
The next year he made a short trip to Italy, seeingGenoa,Florence, andNaples.
In 1892, he sailed theGaronne River southeast in France to the Mediterranean Sea, spending time in Saint-Tropez.[10]
Signac experimented with various media. As well as oil paintings andwatercolors he madeetchings,lithographs, and many pen-and-ink sketches composed of small, laborious dots.
The Neo-Impressionists influenced the next generation: Signac inspired Henri Matisse andAndré Derain in particular, thus playing a decisive role in the evolution ofFauvism. Signac himself did not admire the style when it first appeared.[11]
Having prospered well, his financial support of the arts was considerable. As donations, he sent regular cheques and made a gift of his works for five lotteries between 1895 and 1912.[12] Signac's 1893 painting,In the Time of Harmony originally was entitled,In the Time of Anarchy, but political repression targeting the anarchists in France at this time forced him to change the title before the work could be accepted by a gallery.[13]
At the 1905 Salon des Indépendants,Henri Matisse exhibited the proto-Fauve paintingLuxe, Calme et Volupté. The brightly colored composition was painted in 1904 after a summer spent working inSt. Tropez on theFrench Riviera alongside theneo-Impressionist paintersHenri-Edmond Cross and Paul Signac.[14] The painting is Matisse's most important work in which he used theDivisionist technique advocated by Signac, which Matisse had adopted in 1898 after reading Signac's essay,d'Eugène Delacroix au Néo-Impressionnisme.[15][16] Signac purchased the work after the 1905 Salon des Indépendants. In 1908 Signac was elected president of the Twenty-fourth Salon des Indépendants.[17]
As president of theSociété des Artistes Indépendants, from 1908 until his death, Signac encouraged younger artists by exhibiting the controversial works of the Fauves and theCubists. He was the first patron to buy a painting by Matisse.
Signac served as a juror withFlorence Meyer Blumenthal in awarding thePrix Blumenthal, a grant given between 1919 and 1954 to painters, sculptors, decorators, engravers, writers, and musicians.[18]
In November 1897, the Signacs moved to a new apartment in theCastel Béranger, which was built byHector Guimard. A little later, in December of the same year, they acquired a house inSaint-Tropez named,La Hune, where the painter had a vast studio constructed that he inaugurated on 16 August 1898.
In September 1913, Signac rented a house atAntibes, where he took up residence withJeanne Selmersheim-Desgrange. She gave birth to their daughter, Ginette, on 2 October 1913. Meanwhile, Signac leftLa Hune and theCastel Beranger apartment to Berthe and they remained friends for the rest of his life. On 6 April 1927, Signac formally adopted Ginette. His granddaughter,Françoise Cachin, was an art historian.
Paul Signac died fromsepsis in Paris on 15 August 1935 at the age of 71. His body was cremated and was interred three days later, on 18 August, at thePère Lachaise Cemetery.
Signac wrote several important works on the theory of art, among them,From Eugène Delacroix to Neo-Impressionism, first published in serial form in 1898. It is an important history of color and explanation of neo-impressionist technique. It also discussesJohan Barthold Jongkind (1819–1891). Signac also authored several introductions to the catalogues of art exhibitions and many other writings yet to be published.
L'almanach de Cocagne pour l'an 1920–1922, Dédié aux vrais Gourmands Et aux Francs Buveurs (1921), published byJean Cocteau and Bertrand Guégan (1892–1943)[19]
[20]One-hundred-and-thirty-three watercolors and drawings by Signac are in the collection of theArkansas Museum of Fine Arts, which is the largest assemblage of Signac’s graphic art outside of France. The collection was donated in 1999 by philanthropist James T. Dyke.
^ Anne Dymond (2003) A Politicized Pastoral: Signac and the Cultural Geography of Mediterranean France, The Art Bulletin, 85:2, 353-370, DOI: 10.1080/00043079.2003.10787076 .
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