The study is in a private collection, whereas the finished pointillist work is in the New York Met. In the finished work, there is a feeling of tranquility achieved by the meticulous use of small dots of colour.
Signac hated the word 'Pointillisme'. It was invented by a journalist as an insult, just as was the term 'Impressionism' originally. Signac wrote a treatise explaining the aims of 'Divisionism', as he preferred to call the style. The colours mix in the eye of the spectator, rather than on the palette, much as nowadays the chromatic dots in a newspaper photo. The movement formed an important link between Impressionism and the art of the Fauves painters in the early 20th century, where colour becomes the main feature and is released from any realist intention.
Paul Signac (1863 -1935) might be considered as having a charmed life. Compared with many artists, he knew no hardship. His parents were well off. He decided early on he wanted to be a painter and they supported him. During his life he painted, wrote, owned a flotilla of boats which he enjoyed sailing in and had a loving wife and later a mistress who provided him with the child his marriage lacked. He had several monographic exhibitions of his work during his lifetime at various galleries along with international shows in Brussels, Vienna and Germany.
The young Signac was impressed profoundly when he saw Monet's first solo exhibition at La Vie Moderne gallery in the passage des Princes in 1880. Much later, in 1932, Signac bought a painting of flowering apple trees by Monet which he had seen at this early show.
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| Monet Pommiers en fleur au bord de l'eau 1880 |
He was caught copying the paintings at the 5th Impressionist exhibition by Gauguin, who reprimanded him, saying "We don't copy here'. Gauguin should have taken it as a mark of respect by the young artist. By the time of the last Impressionist exhibition, in 1886, Signac, aged only 22, was himself exhibiting alongside his idols.
It is interesting to see how Signac's technique developed from Impressionism to Divisionism.
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| Paul Signac: Saint-Briac. Le Béchet 1885 |
This Brittany scene shows the typical vigorous brushwork of the Impressionist artists, with its squiggly strokes of vivid colour portraying the water. The rock juts forward into the painting, leading the eye in and giving depth to the scene. Influenced by Japanese artists, Signac had a liking for such composition.
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| Signac: Tub's aft 1888. private coll. |
The two boats at the front lead the eye into the painting but also give the spectator the feeling of gentle rocking since they are at different angles. Its cool whites and blues are enlivened by touches of orange and red. At 24, Signac was already mastering colour contrasts. The work is the last scene Signac painted at Asnieres, where his mother was living. He gave it to his friend Fénéon, who noted gratefully in his register of Signac's works: "Oh merci, Paul Signac".
As a tribute perhaps to Seurat, the Ile de la Jatte figures in the centre distance of the painting. A close-up shows the small dots of colour.
Signac's method of using small brushstrokes with dabs of pure colour was meant to capture the freshness and vividness of a scene, as opposed to the blending of colours on the palette which he disliked as it led to muddiness. It could not possibly be done 'on the spot (if you will pardon the pun) since one colour had to dry before another set of coloured spots were applied. A painting would take weeks , if not months, to complete and had to be done in the studio. Any white showing in between the different dots would add to the brilliance of the colour.
Signac first came into contact with this method of painting when he saw the works of Seurat in the 1880s. Both artists were founding members of the Society of Independent Artists in 1884. The aim of this group was to hold exhibitions "without jury or awards" ("ni jury, ni recompense") unlike the traditional Salon system in France. Signac became President of the Society in 1908, a post which he held for 25 years. The two men were of different temperaments, Seurat being more cold and reserved, while Signac, 4 years younger, was warm and friendly.
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| Seurat Un dimanche apres-midi sur l'ile de la Grande Jatte 1884-86 207.6 X 308 cm. |
Seurat's masterpiece 'Sunday afternoon at the Grande Jatte" is the proud possession of the Chicago Art institute and is too big to be lent out. Seurat first painted the scene in true Impressionist style 'sur le motif' but later reworked the scene in his studio, applying small dots of primary colours which when placed next to each other enhanced and influenced each other. At the same time the scene takes on a curious stillness, as if the figures are fixed in limbo. There is no interaction between them. This is the opposite of an impressionist painting where we feel the movement of people, clouds, trees blowing in the wind, or the movement of sunlight dappling over objects. 3 years later, Seurat even went on to paint the frame using small dots of colour.
Signac was blown over by this apparently scientific way of conveying pure colour to the eye. He saw it as a logical progression from Impressionism and called it 'divisionism' in his treaty published in 1899: "D'Eugene Delacroix au neo-impressionisme". After Seurat's untimely death, through illness in 1891, Signac felt himself to be the chief proponent of Divisionism and wanted to write something to perpetuate his mentor's memory.
Art critic Félix Fénéon invented the term 'Neo-Impressionism' to describe the innovatory style as early as September 1886. Fénéon became a good friend. Signac painted an amazing portrait of him where he appears as a magician (to the reviewer) against a background of interreacting colours.
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| Signac: Portrait of M. Félix Fénéon 1890. Coll. MoMa, New York |
Along with Fénéon, Pissarro and Luce, Signac was a partisan of pacifism and anarchism, although Signac's idealism was badly shaken by the 1st world war. One of Signac's sizeable and famous works is now a permanent fixture of the town hall of Montreuil, in the East of Paris. It's title was originally "In the time of Anarchy", fairly soon amended to "In the time of Harmony: the golden age is not in the past, it is in the future" to allow it's inclusion in the Independents Salon. The work shows a golden age scene where workers all live in harmony.
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| Au temps d'harmonie (3.10m X 4.10m) Signac 1893-5 |
8 years later, in 1904, Henri Matisse spent a summer in St Tropez with Signac and Henri Cross and produced his iconic divisionist work (now in the Centre Pompidou, Paris): "Luxe, Calme et Volupté". A similar atmosphere of idyllic happiness may be experienced.
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| Matisse "Luxe,calme et volupté" 1904 |
By the time he was living in St Tropez, from 1891 onwards, Signac had relaxed his style somewhat and was doing rather larger dots, or small squares, causing one critic to refer to him as a 'mosaïc-maker'. He was living in a house called La Hune with his wife Berthe , a milliner by trade and cousin of fellow painter Pissarro. 14 years later Signac lived for extended periods in Antibes with his new girlfriend Jeanne, whom he'd met through painting classes and who had a daughter by him, whereas he and Berthe had been childless. Eventually Signac and Berthe adopted the child, despite Berthe's caustic comments on the situation.
At St Tropez Signac welcomed other painters and inspired them to paint in Pointillist style-- for example Maximilien Luce, a fellow anarchist who championed workers' rights and who produced some bright scenes such as the Foundary:
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| The Steelworks Maximilien Luce 1899 |
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| Signac Portrait of Maximilien Luce 1890 |
Signac's watercolour and ink portrait of Luce reading 'La Revolte' shows a different aspect of his work.
Signac had been introduced to water colour by Pissarro. He later found it to be a perfect medium to combine working in Pointillist style and also working in the open air. As in his oils, he left small spaces in between the coloured dots to give brilliance. His series of water colour port scenes of the 1920s and 30s were well represented in the Jacquemart exhibition.
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Nice 2 May 1931 Paul Signac water colour and graphite
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| Toulon, stormy sky April 1931 watercolour and graphite |
In painting his port scenes, Signac combined two of his loves: art and sailing. He travelled round 100 French ports, sponsored by the owner of Monoprix stores, Gaston Lévy. The agreement was for Signac to paint two scenes of each port, of which Lévy would chose one for his art collection. Because of weather conditions, the enterprise took 2 years instead of the programmed 5 or 6 months. The 2nd world war changed the look of certain ports irrevocably. Signac died four years later, leaving his port scenes as a testimony.
A postnote about Signac's boats. He enjoyed sailing and competed in regattas, just like his artist friend Gustave Caillebotte. His owned 32 boats in his lifetime, ranging from canoes to yachts. Their names reflected both his absurd sense of humour and his passions. His first one- rather a long and instable canoe- was named the "Manet, Zola, Wagner". He also owned a rowing skiff called the "Epileptic Herring". One of his yachts was his pride and joy, named "Olympia", like Manet's controversial portrait. The "Tub" was a simple craft, portrayed above. His last Breton canoe was named "The town of Honolulu". He sailed on the Seine and around the coast. He also drove in a small Bollée car around France and visited many other places in Europe by train. In 1904 he spent a month in Venice, where he painted among other scenes a brilliantly coloured fan:
To finish on an Italian note, the Jacquemart-Andre museum has an exhibition of Botticelli coming up soon in September, until January and an excellent permanent collection of mainly 18th century art, many portraits and great masters including Rembrandt and ceilings by Tiepolo.
Here is one of my favourites, a small gem of a work by Guardi:
The Jaquemart-Andre Museum is to be found at 158 boulevard Haussmann, Paris 8.
Open daily until 6pm.
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