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Paul Signac, The Buoy (Saint-Tropez, the Harbour) (La bouée (Saint-Tropez, le port)), 1897

Paul Signac

Paul Signac (1863-1935) was the first Neo-Impressionist to try his hand at printmaking. He abandoned the spontaneous working of Impressionist art to focus instead on a scientific approach to colour and line.

Signac set out to transfer his paintings, done with small touches of colour, to the lithography stone with a view to making his art accessible to a wider audience.

Colour wheel

Signac’s scientific approach to colour is clearly visible in the theatre programme he made for the Théâtre Libre. The colour wheel devised by the colour theorist Charles Henry has been incorporated in the letters and in the image of the spectator. Signac approached colour and form in a mathematical way. This is the first example of Pointillism in graphic art.

Paul Signac, Application of Mr. Ch. Henry's Colour Circle (Application du cercle chromatique de Monsieur Ch. Henry), theatre programme for Les résignés by Henry Céard and L'echéance by Jean Jullien (Théâtre Libre, 31 January 1899), 1888

Paul Signac, Application of Mr. Ch. Henry's Colour Circle (Application du cercle chromatique de Monsieur Ch. Henry), theatre programme for Les résignés by Henry Céard and L'echéance by Jean Jullien (Théâtre Libre, 31 January 1899), 1888

Dutch waters

Paul Signac produced six colour lithographs in 1894-95, in close collaboration with the master printer Auguste Clot. The works, which were published by Gustave Pellet, were idyllic and peaceful river and harbour views, mostly in the Netherlands. The Frenchman was captivated by the Dutch light and – drawing on Clot’s expertise – worked the scenes up into incredibly complex pointillist images printed in four to as many as seven colours.

Paul Signac, Trial proof of The Harbour of Volendam (Le port de Volendam), 1898

Paul Signac, Trial proof of The Harbour of Volendam (Le port de Volendam), 1898

Further reading
  • Pat Gilmour, ‘New Light on Signac’s Color Lithographs – Again!’, Second Impressions. Modern Prints & Printmakers Reconsidered (1996), New Mexico
  • Ellen Wardwell Lee, Neo-Impressionisten: Seurat tot Struycken, Amsterdam 1988
  • Françoise Cachin, Signac. Catalogue raisonné de l’oeuvre peint, Paris 2000

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