While Georges Seurat is the best-known pointillist, he wasn't the only one. Signac: 1863-1935 reintroduces a tireless advocate of neo-impressionism, a painter whose suburban imagery and leisured lifestyle belied his left-wing political views. Lively essays by scholars and curators portray different facets of Paul Signac's career. Virtually self-taught, he found the catalyst for his mature style in the small-scale brushwork of the slightly older Seurat, but replaced his serene, formal quality with overtly decorative patterning. As a yachtsman, Signac was drawn to marine subjects such as boats gliding on sparkling water at different times of day. After moving from Paris to Saint-Tropez in 1892, he took up watercolor, ideal for painting sunsets. Attempts at translating his political convictions into art (culminating with the monumental figure of a worker wielding a pickax) met with failure. But Signac's brilliance as a colorist is indisputable, infusing each of the 223 plates in this handsome book. --Cathy Curtis

From Library Journal
This volume, which accompanies a traveling exhibition now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, is the first major overview of neoimpressionist artist Paul Signac in nearly 40 years. Tracing Signac's artistic development, the catalog effectively examines the artist's close relationship with fellow neoimpressionist Georges Seurat and shows how his interest in color, line, aesthetic harmony, and subjective experience in painting developed. The essays, written by American and French Signac scholars, demonstrate that the painter at first emulated Seurat's artistic style but then came to use more color and looser brushstrokes, and how as Signac worked more and more in the medium of watercolor, he produced some of his most successful works. Signac emerges as a theorist and critic through excerpts from his book, D'Eug ne Delacroix au neo-impressionisme, in which he explained Neoimpressionism to the public. The artist's political motivations are also observed he always stood against official bourgeois conventions and in favor of liberal causes as are his efforts to support the arts in general. With beautiful illustrations and valuable, if not especially groundbreaking, information on Signac, this volume is recommended for all libraries that collect art books. Sandra Rothenberg, Framingham State Coll., MA Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description
During his fifty-year career, the French Neoimpressionist artist Paul Signac produced powerful works in many media. This beautiful book, which examines various aspects of Signac's career and reproduces in color some two hundred of his paintings, drawings, watercolors, and prints, is an unprecedented overview of his art and influence. The book traces Signac's artistic development, which began with the luminous plein air paintings he made in the early 1880s, continued with his explorations of color harmony, contrasts, and neoimpressionist technique made in close association with Georges Seurat, and culminated with the scintillating works of his maturity, in which the rigors of pointillism gave way to richly patterned, decorative color surfaces. Essays discuss Signac's triumphs as a painter, draftsman, watercolorist, and printmaker, examine his role as a promoter of his own works and those of his colleagues, and shed new light on his appreciation of the works of his predecessors, contemporaries, and followers. The volume also includes an annotated chronology and a map that pinpoints the sites depicted in Signac's works.

From the Publisher
This book is the catalogue of the first retrospective of Signac's work in nearly forty years, which has been held at the Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Musée d'Orsay, Paris, and the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, and will be at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York from October 9 to December 30, 2001.

About the Author
Marina Ferretti-Bocquillon is a well-known Signac scholar. Anne Distel is Chief Curator of the Musée d'Orsay. John Leighton is Director of the Van Gogh Museum. Susan Alyson Stein is Associate Curator of European Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

During his fifty-year career, the French Neoimpressionist artist Paul Signac produced powerful works in many media. This beautiful book, which examines various aspects of Signac￯﾿ﾽs career and reproduces in color some two hundred of his paintings, drawings, watercolors, and prints, is an unprecedented overview of his art and influence. The book traces Signac￯﾿ﾽs artistic development, which began with the luminous plein air paintings he made in the early 1880s, continued with his explorations of color harmony, contrasts, and neoimpressionist technique made in close association with Georges Seurat, and culminated with the scintillating works of his maturity, in which the rigors of pointillism gave way to richly patterned, decorative color surfaces. Essays discuss Signac￯﾿ﾽs triumphs as a painter, draftsman, watercolorist, and printmaker, examine his role as a promoter of his own works and those of his colleagues, and shed new light on his appreciation of the works of his predecessors, contemporaries, and followers. The volume also includes an annotated chronology and a map that pinpoints the sites depicted in Signac￯﾿ﾽs works.

Author Biography: Marina Ferretti-Bocquillon is a well-known Signac scholar. Anne Distel is Chief Curator of the Musée d￯﾿ﾽOrsay. John Leighton is Director of the Van Gogh Museum. Susan Alyson Stein is Associate Curator of European Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

SYNOPSIS

Published in conjunction with the February 2001 exhibition beginning at the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais in Paris and ending at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, this volume examines Paul Signac's career and presents about 200 color reproductions of his paintings, drawings, watercolors, and prints. Curators and art scholars Feretti-Bocquillon (Musée D'Orsay), John Leighton and Sjraar van Heugten (both of the Van Gogh Museum), Susan Alyson Stein, and Kathryn Calley Galitz (both of The Metropolitan Museum) discuss the artist's triumphs and examine his role as a promoter of his own works and those of his colleagues, shedding new light on his appreciation of the accomplishments of his predecessors, contemporaries, and followers. In the process, they discuss the individual character of his art, his unique sensibilities, and the wide range of his activities as an artist, writer, spokesman, exhibition organizer, collector, political and social activist, and yachtsman. Contains 223 colorplates and 92 b&w illustrations. Distributed by Yale U. Press. Oversize: 9.5x12.25".

Annotation © Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal