A leader in the Neo-Impressionist movement, the French painter Paul Signac (1863-1935) is best known for the intense color effects in his oil landscapes and marine canvases. However, it is in his largely unknown graphic works on paper-the precise black-and-white sketches and fluid watercolors that filled his sketchbooks, and that are published here for the first time-that his evolution as an artist emerges. This catalogue raisonn-designed to accompany the first exhibition of 133 of Signac's watercolors and drawings-is the only book in print on this well-loved artist.
Presenting Signac's graphic oeuvre in its entirety, the stunning volume serves as a visual diary, tracing his life, his travels, and his artistic explorations, capturing his passion for boats and water, and providing a new understanding of this important artist. 157 illustrations, 140 in full color, 11 x 93_4"
MARINA FERRETTI BOCQUILLON has organized many international exhibitions on Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. She is the author of several essays and previous catalogues on Signac, as well as many articles on 19th-century art.
CHARLES CACHIN, a physician, contributes insights gleaned both as the artist's son-in-law and from his lifelong interest in Signac's work. TOWNSEND WOLFE is director and chief curator of the Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock.
EXHIBITION SCHEDULE Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock Feb. 19-Apr. 9, 1999
This exhibition catalog documents a recently acquired gift to the Arkansas Art Center of watercolors and drawings by Paul Signac. In his later years, from 1929 to 1931, the artist traveled the coast of France painting exhilarating sea scenes in a "Ports de France" series. Twenty-two of these surviving graphics, as well as earlier, impressionist-inspired, Dutch- and C?zanne-influenced watercolors form the basis of the full-color catalog with 133 reproductions. The authors, both of whom have previously written on Signac, discuss the unearthing of these gems and the context in which they were created. The accessible prose will bring appreciation to a wide audience. This book serves as an adjunct to the study of Signac's oeuvre, showing the watercolors as a counterpoint to the artist's pointillist oils and divisionist masterpieces. Academics and students seeking an in-depth exploration of Signac's formal theories of color and composition can turn to Floyd Ratliff's Paul Signac and Color in Neo-Impressionism (LJ 4/1/92). Recommended for museum, academic, and public libraries.
-Ellen Bates, MLS, New York
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
