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拍品专文
It was in 1892, following the death of Georges Seurat, his close friend and fellow pioneer of Neo-Impressionism, that Paul Signac first ventured to Saint Tropez. Signac was already familiar with parts of the South of France, having embarked upon previous painting expeditions to Cassis and Collioure. Saint Tropez, however, proved to be a revelation. Arriving by boat, the artist was immediately struck by the untouched beauty and peace of this modest fishing town, where life was governed by the tides and rhythms of the sea. In a letter to his mother written shortly after his arrival, Signac conveyed his euphoria at landing there: ‘I am settled here since yesterday and overjoyed. Five minutes out of town, in the midst of pine trees and roses, I discovered a pretty little furnished cottage... In front of the golden coast of the gulf, the blue sea breaking on a small beach, my beach... and a good anchorage for the Olympia [his yacht]. In the background the blue silhouettes of the Maures and the Esterel – there is enough material to work on for the rest of my days. Happiness – that is what I have just discovered’ (quoted in M. Ferretti-Bocquillon, A. Distel, J. Leighton and S. Stein, eds., Signac: 1863-1935, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2001, p. 172).
Describing the coastal town as the ‘eighth wonder of the world,’ Signac decided to base himself in Saint Tropez, spending extended periods in this quiet corner of the Côte d’Azur (quoted in T. Woloshyn, ‘Colonizing the Côte d’Azur: Neo-Impressionism, Anarcho-Communism and the Tropical Terre Libre of the Maures, c. 1892-1908’ in RIHA Journal, 0045, Special Issue ‘New Directions in Neo-Impressionism,’ 14 July 2012). In 1897, he purchased a house there, La Hune, situated on a hillside overlooking the town, adding an Italianate terrace to the property, as well as a painting studio, which stretched forty-five feet long and boasted expansive views of the Mediterranean Sea and the Maures. Saint Tropez became a haven for the artist, offering an escape from Paris and the politics of its art scene. As the artist predicted, it also provided a rich stream of painterly inspiration, its dynamic vistas, lush landscapes, and intriguing luminosity feeding his creativity.
Numerous paintings focus on the bustling mix of boats, water and people that centred around the town’s harbour, its energy and constantly changing character drawing Signac to its shoreline on an almost daily basis. In other compositions, he focused on the quiet pathways through the verdant landscape, filled with exotic plants that flourished in this environment. However, above all else, it was the light of the Mediterranean coast, its crystalline intensity and the drama of its powerful sunsets, that captivated Signac the most. By immersing himself in the full, sun-drenched atmosphere of Saint Tropez, Signac brought richer colour effects to his work, ushering in an array of deep golden hues, vibrant pinks, deep purples and sonorous blue tones.
Painted in 1905, Sainte-Anne (Saint-Tropez) captures this familiar, peaceful landscape in the fading light of early evening, the last rays of the sun caressing the tall cypress trees in the foreground, the wooded hillside as it slopes towards the buildings of the town, and the rugged profile of the Maures across the water. The port of Saint Tropez lies in the lower-centre of the composition, the town’s belltower clearly visible, silhouetted against the turquoise sea. Despite the amount of time that Signac spent in Saint Tropez and its environs, Sainte-Anne (Saint-Tropez) is one of only two works showing the area of the Chapelle Sainte Anne, a small chapel perched above the town which enjoys sweeping views down to the coast through the trees. Built between 1618 and 1628 and dedicated to the patron saint of seafarers, this traditional Provencal church was an important location for the town’s fishermen and their families; Signac, an avid sailor himself, would have been well acquainted with the site, and its repository of votives left as offerings for a safe return. The other work depicting the chapel, a watercolour from around 1895, shows a view of the trees seen through some of the cloister-like arches of the building, recalling the drawings of Signac’s friend and fellow artist Vincent van Gogh from the hospital gardens of Saint-Rémy.
While the treatment of the trees in Sainte-Anne (Saint-Tropez) is more naturalistic than Signac’s earlier renderings of the landscape, the points at the peaks of their profiles are deliberately cut off, allowing the thin, spindly trunks and full, leafy bodies of the cypresses to become framing devices for the landscape that unfurls beyond the promontory. This was a frequent compositional technique in Signac’s work – he often made use of verticals such as masts, sails and the pine trees of the South of France to add a curtain-like frame to the foreground of his landscapes, directing the eye through the scene. Signac had already used this device in an earlier view of Saint Tropez painted in 1896, now in the Musée de l’Annonciade, Saint Tropez (Saint-Tropez. Coucher de soleil au bois de pins; Cachin no. 299). It also featured in another view showing the customs path with Saint Tropez in the background, Bord de mer (le Sentier de douane. Saint-Tropez) now in the Musée de Grenoble (Cachin no. 427).
At the same time, the sinuous curving lines of the boundary wall that snakes through the trees, protecting visitors from the steep drop to the woods below, similarly directs the viewer, leading them to the gap in the trees and onto the view of the town below. The sweeping wall appears almost like a decorative curlicue as it cuts through the scene, its profile highlighted in touches of vibrant pigment as the sunlight catches it at different points. With these almost theatrical framings of the distant landscape, Signac appears to be invoking the legacy of French master Claude Lorrain, renowned for his light-filled pastoral scenes and dramatic seascapes, which elevated the landscape genre to new levels of appreciation in the seventeenth century. It is no coincidence that, in his preface to an exhibition of Signac’s paintings a few years earlier, Félix Fénéon had referred to a comment made by Goethe about Claude Lorrain: ‘These pictures have the greatest truth without the slightest shadow of reality... that is the true idealism’ (quoted in M. Ferretti-Bocquillon, ‘Paul Signac au temps d’harmonie, 1892-1913’ in E. Franz, et al., Signac et la libération de la couleur, De Matisse à Mondrian, exh. cat., Musée de Grenoble, 1996, p. 69). Blending these classical compositional devices with the dynamism of his Neo-Impressionist brushstroke and brilliant colour palette, Signac sought to reach a new vision of harmony in his work.
In his paintings of this period, Signac increasingly simplified his compositional elements, explaining to his fellow Neo-Impressionist, Henri-Edmond Cross that ‘Simplification of the elements leads you to more colour’ (quoted in exh. cat., op. cit., 2001, p. 15). He began to incorporate more luminous, vivid tones and increasingly flexible strokes of pigment, eschewing the painstakingly precise point-like brushwork of Seurat and overall silvery tonality, and instead embracing larger, geometric blocks of vibrant colour. In Sainte-Anne (Saint-Tropez), these tesserae of pigment create a mosaic-like effect, in which the brushstrokes overlap and abut one another, shifting direction and orientation as they describe certain details within the scene. Signac employs an array of deep purples of varying hues, especially within the trunks of the trees and throughout the largely green areas of the leaves, to generate an impression of encroaching shadow and darkness, as the sun sets and dusk settles over the countryside. These passages are off-set by the warm golden hues of the middle ground, where the final rays of sunlight bath the trees in bright, vibrant tones, which in turn give way to the pastel hues in the water and the soft pink of the sky as it meets the Maures, conveying a sense of the hazy atmosphere that envelopes the landscape at this time of day.
With its nuanced study of light, energetic surface and electric interplay of colour, Sainte-Anne (Saint-Tropez) was clearly admired by both the artist himself and his contemporaries. It featured in a number of important early exhibitions of Signac’s work, including his 1907 retrospective organised by Fénéon at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, for which the artist created sketch-like illustrations for the catalogue, and at La Libre Esthétique in Brussels the following spring. The importance of Sainte-Anne (Saint-Tropez) is also reflected in its provenance: it was acquired in 1905, shortly after it was completed, by Gustave Fayet, one of the most important supporters of the avant garde in the early twentieth century, as well as an early patron of Post-Impressionism, and of Paul Gauguin in particular.
Describing the coastal town as the ‘eighth wonder of the world,’ Signac decided to base himself in Saint Tropez, spending extended periods in this quiet corner of the Côte d’Azur (quoted in T. Woloshyn, ‘Colonizing the Côte d’Azur: Neo-Impressionism, Anarcho-Communism and the Tropical Terre Libre of the Maures, c. 1892-1908’ in RIHA Journal, 0045, Special Issue ‘New Directions in Neo-Impressionism,’ 14 July 2012). In 1897, he purchased a house there, La Hune, situated on a hillside overlooking the town, adding an Italianate terrace to the property, as well as a painting studio, which stretched forty-five feet long and boasted expansive views of the Mediterranean Sea and the Maures. Saint Tropez became a haven for the artist, offering an escape from Paris and the politics of its art scene. As the artist predicted, it also provided a rich stream of painterly inspiration, its dynamic vistas, lush landscapes, and intriguing luminosity feeding his creativity.
Numerous paintings focus on the bustling mix of boats, water and people that centred around the town’s harbour, its energy and constantly changing character drawing Signac to its shoreline on an almost daily basis. In other compositions, he focused on the quiet pathways through the verdant landscape, filled with exotic plants that flourished in this environment. However, above all else, it was the light of the Mediterranean coast, its crystalline intensity and the drama of its powerful sunsets, that captivated Signac the most. By immersing himself in the full, sun-drenched atmosphere of Saint Tropez, Signac brought richer colour effects to his work, ushering in an array of deep golden hues, vibrant pinks, deep purples and sonorous blue tones.
Painted in 1905, Sainte-Anne (Saint-Tropez) captures this familiar, peaceful landscape in the fading light of early evening, the last rays of the sun caressing the tall cypress trees in the foreground, the wooded hillside as it slopes towards the buildings of the town, and the rugged profile of the Maures across the water. The port of Saint Tropez lies in the lower-centre of the composition, the town’s belltower clearly visible, silhouetted against the turquoise sea. Despite the amount of time that Signac spent in Saint Tropez and its environs, Sainte-Anne (Saint-Tropez) is one of only two works showing the area of the Chapelle Sainte Anne, a small chapel perched above the town which enjoys sweeping views down to the coast through the trees. Built between 1618 and 1628 and dedicated to the patron saint of seafarers, this traditional Provencal church was an important location for the town’s fishermen and their families; Signac, an avid sailor himself, would have been well acquainted with the site, and its repository of votives left as offerings for a safe return. The other work depicting the chapel, a watercolour from around 1895, shows a view of the trees seen through some of the cloister-like arches of the building, recalling the drawings of Signac’s friend and fellow artist Vincent van Gogh from the hospital gardens of Saint-Rémy.
While the treatment of the trees in Sainte-Anne (Saint-Tropez) is more naturalistic than Signac’s earlier renderings of the landscape, the points at the peaks of their profiles are deliberately cut off, allowing the thin, spindly trunks and full, leafy bodies of the cypresses to become framing devices for the landscape that unfurls beyond the promontory. This was a frequent compositional technique in Signac’s work – he often made use of verticals such as masts, sails and the pine trees of the South of France to add a curtain-like frame to the foreground of his landscapes, directing the eye through the scene. Signac had already used this device in an earlier view of Saint Tropez painted in 1896, now in the Musée de l’Annonciade, Saint Tropez (Saint-Tropez. Coucher de soleil au bois de pins; Cachin no. 299). It also featured in another view showing the customs path with Saint Tropez in the background, Bord de mer (le Sentier de douane. Saint-Tropez) now in the Musée de Grenoble (Cachin no. 427).
At the same time, the sinuous curving lines of the boundary wall that snakes through the trees, protecting visitors from the steep drop to the woods below, similarly directs the viewer, leading them to the gap in the trees and onto the view of the town below. The sweeping wall appears almost like a decorative curlicue as it cuts through the scene, its profile highlighted in touches of vibrant pigment as the sunlight catches it at different points. With these almost theatrical framings of the distant landscape, Signac appears to be invoking the legacy of French master Claude Lorrain, renowned for his light-filled pastoral scenes and dramatic seascapes, which elevated the landscape genre to new levels of appreciation in the seventeenth century. It is no coincidence that, in his preface to an exhibition of Signac’s paintings a few years earlier, Félix Fénéon had referred to a comment made by Goethe about Claude Lorrain: ‘These pictures have the greatest truth without the slightest shadow of reality... that is the true idealism’ (quoted in M. Ferretti-Bocquillon, ‘Paul Signac au temps d’harmonie, 1892-1913’ in E. Franz, et al., Signac et la libération de la couleur, De Matisse à Mondrian, exh. cat., Musée de Grenoble, 1996, p. 69). Blending these classical compositional devices with the dynamism of his Neo-Impressionist brushstroke and brilliant colour palette, Signac sought to reach a new vision of harmony in his work.
In his paintings of this period, Signac increasingly simplified his compositional elements, explaining to his fellow Neo-Impressionist, Henri-Edmond Cross that ‘Simplification of the elements leads you to more colour’ (quoted in exh. cat., op. cit., 2001, p. 15). He began to incorporate more luminous, vivid tones and increasingly flexible strokes of pigment, eschewing the painstakingly precise point-like brushwork of Seurat and overall silvery tonality, and instead embracing larger, geometric blocks of vibrant colour. In Sainte-Anne (Saint-Tropez), these tesserae of pigment create a mosaic-like effect, in which the brushstrokes overlap and abut one another, shifting direction and orientation as they describe certain details within the scene. Signac employs an array of deep purples of varying hues, especially within the trunks of the trees and throughout the largely green areas of the leaves, to generate an impression of encroaching shadow and darkness, as the sun sets and dusk settles over the countryside. These passages are off-set by the warm golden hues of the middle ground, where the final rays of sunlight bath the trees in bright, vibrant tones, which in turn give way to the pastel hues in the water and the soft pink of the sky as it meets the Maures, conveying a sense of the hazy atmosphere that envelopes the landscape at this time of day.
With its nuanced study of light, energetic surface and electric interplay of colour, Sainte-Anne (Saint-Tropez) was clearly admired by both the artist himself and his contemporaries. It featured in a number of important early exhibitions of Signac’s work, including his 1907 retrospective organised by Fénéon at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, for which the artist created sketch-like illustrations for the catalogue, and at La Libre Esthétique in Brussels the following spring. The importance of Sainte-Anne (Saint-Tropez) is also reflected in its provenance: it was acquired in 1905, shortly after it was completed, by Gustave Fayet, one of the most important supporters of the avant garde in the early twentieth century, as well as an early patron of Post-Impressionism, and of Paul Gauguin in particular.