Paul Signac

Painter

• Born: November 11, 1863
• Birthplace: Paris, France
• Died: August 15, 1935
• Place of death: Paris, France

Significance: Paul Signac was a French neo-impressionist painter. As a young artist, Signac was almost entirely self-taught. He initially adopted the style of impressionist painters before developing a new form of impressionism with other artists, including his friend Georges Seurat. He cofounded the Société des Artistes Indépendants with other painters and developed what came to be known as neo-impressionism. He produced a prolific output of artwork before his death in 1935.

Background

Paul Signac was born on November 11, 1863, in Paris, France. His family was of middle-class status and was able to afford a comfortable lifestyle. When the family moved to the Montmartre area of Paris, Signac was exposed to a prospering artistic community. Many renowned artists of the belle époque (beautiful era) had studios and worked in the Montmartre hills, including Claude Monet, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Montmartre introduced the young Signac to the avant-garde culture and had a great influence on his upbringing.

The young Signac loved the works of the early impressionist movement. His liberal-minded parents encouraged their son to attend artistic exhibitions. Although Signac's family wanted him to pursue studies in architecture, he eventually chose to focus on art. At sixteen, he visited the fifth impressionist exhibition and was deeply affected by the works of Monet. A budding artist, Signac often attempted to copy works of art he saw at exhibitions as practice. While sketching a work by artist Edgar Degas at the fifth impressionist exhibition, artist Paul Gauguin approached Signac and reprimanded him for copying a work. He was then thrown out of the gallery.

In 1880, Signac's father died of tuberculosis. After his father's death, Signac's mother moved to Asnières, a new Parisian suburb. He attended school there for a brief period but was unhappy with the move. He dropped out of school and moved back to Montmartre, where he rented an apartment and divided his time between there and Asnières. He turned his attention to painting, using Asnières's picturesque surroundings as the subject of many of his early works. He often painted or sketched images of his home garden, local bridges, the banks of the Seine River, and factory buildings. Signac also developed a passion for boating, and his artwork routinely featured sea vessels. Although he took a few introductory portrait training classes, Signac was mostly self-taught, studying the works of his favorite impressionist artists to develop his technique.

Life's Work

In Montmartre, Signac made sure to socialize with the many artists and musicians living in the area. He frequented local clubs, cafes, and other venues. He was a regular patron of the famous French cabaret Le Chat Noir. Signac was also known to write satirical essays. Alongside his artist friends, Signac befriended several writers and critics, including Gustave Kahn and Félix Fénéon. A number of the writers and critics he made connections with in his early years became some of the most vocal supporters of his work.

Signac's earliest paintings were created between 1881 and 1882 when he was eighteen. The impressionist movement's influence on his art is evident in many of these early works, and by 1884 he had fully assumed the impressionist style. Signac and fellow painters Odilon Redon and Albert Dubois-Pillet cofounded the Société des Artistes Indépendants and its Salon des Indépendants in 1884. At the first Salon des Indépendants exhibition, Signac met Georges Seurat. He and Seurat became good friends, and Seurat's post-impressionist artistic style soon began to sway Signac's own works. The Société des Artistes Indépendants marked the inevitable decline of the impressionist movement, making way for new styles of painting.

By 1885, Signac, Seurat, and several other Société des Artistes Indépendants members had officially adopted a new style of painting they termed neo-impressionism, which was characterized by its scientific approach to light and colors. The movement also incorporated new types of paint strokes such at dots and dashes. Despite objections by prominent impressionist painters, Signac's and Seurat's new works were admitted into France's final impressionist exhibition and received positive reviews.

Throughout the remainder of the 1880s, Signac's paintings featured a number of interior scenes as well as landscapes, cityscapes, and various outdoor scenes. In 1886, he met Vincent Van Gogh in Paris and the two developed a pleasant working relationship, with Signac influencing some of Van Gogh's technique. Signac took an interest in anarchist politics during the late 1880s and early 1890s. His political beliefs bled into his artwork and also made him a target of French authorities. Signac's good friend Seurat died in 1891. Following Seurat's death, Signac's style grew more bold and colorful while remaining neo-impressionistic. Signac and his wife moved into an apartment in Paris's Castel Beranger in 1897. He also purchased a house in the South of France, where he created some of his most famous works.

Signac continued to produce art into the twentieth century, exhibiting hundreds of works at prestigious galleries across Paris. In 1908, he was named president of the Société des Artistes Indépendants. Signac moved to Antibes in 1915 and was appointed the peintre officiel de la marine (official naval painter). He also began a series of watercolor paintings featuring French ports. After a long illness, Signac died on August 15, 1935, at the age of seventy-two.

Impact

Signac's Société des Artistes Indépendants helped establish a different kind of exhibition structure in Paris. The Salon des Indépendants freed artists from the critical and financial pressure imposed on them by France's official salon and gave artists the liberty to exhibit their work to the public without judgment. His neo-impressionist style was a major source of influence of several future art movements, including post-impressionism, fauvism, and cubism.

Personal Life

Signac married Berthe Roblès in November 1892. Signac also had a daughter with his mistress, Jeanne Selmersheim-Desgrange.

Principal Works: Paintings

• Snow: Boulevard de Clichy, Paris, 1886
• Evening Calm, Concarneau, Opus 220 (Allegro Maestoso),1891
• The Buoy (La bouée), 1894
• Entrance to the Port of Honfleur, 1899
• Antibes, Goelettes au port, 1914
• Paris, le Pont des Arts, 1927
• Cherbourg, 1931

Bibliography

Bocquillon, Marina Ferretti. Paul Signac: A Collection of Watercolours and Drawings. Harry N. Abrams, 2000.

"Paul Signac." The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/artist-signac-paul.htm#biography‗header. Accessed 2 Feb. 2018.

"Paul Signac." Artsy, www.artsy.net/artwork/paul-signac-paris-le-pont-des-arts-1. Accessed 2 Feb. 2018.

"Paul Signac." Renoir Fine Art Investments Inc., www.renoirinc.com/biography/artists/signac.htm. Accessed 2 Feb. 2018.

"Paul Signac (1863–1935)." Musée d'Orsay, www.musee-orsay.fr/index.php?id=1388&L=1&tx‗ttnews[tt‗news]=4175&no‗cache=1. Accessed 2 Feb. 2018.

"Paul Signac: The Complete Works." Paul-Signac.org, www.paul-signac.org/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2018.