Finding aid for the Paul Signac letters and Signac family correspondence, 1860-1935 870524
Lesley Heins Walker.
Special Collections
1998
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
Business Number: (310) 440-7390
Fax Number: (310) 440-7780
reference@getty.edu
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Paul Signac letters and Signac family correspondence
Creator:
Signac, Paul, 1863-1935
Creator:
Turpin, Georges
Creator:
Lecomte, Georges, 1867-1958
Creator:
Guillemot, Maurice
Creator:
Martineau, Henri, 1882-1958
Creator:
Pissarro, Camille, 1830-1903
Creator:
Moreau, Luc-Albert, 1882-1948
Creator:
Fer, Edouard
Identifier/Call Number: 870524
Physical Description:
93 items
Date (inclusive): 1860-1935
Abstract: Letters from French painter Paul Signac to several colleagues discussing work in progress, exhibitions, contemporary art,
the Société des Artistes Indépendants, and personal and financial matters. A significant number addressed to Edouard Fer,
a neo-impressionist disciple whose independent means and connections enabled him to promote Signac's career. Other correspondents
include Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet, Georges Turpin, Henri Martineau, Georges Lecomte, and Luc-Albert Moreau. Most of the
letters are Signac family correspondence; some of these are addressed by Paul Signac to his cousins.
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here for the
access policy .
Language of Material:
French
.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Paul Signac Letters and Signac Family Correspondence contains letters from Signac to several colleagues discussing work
in progress, exhibitions, contemporary art, the Société des Artistes Indépendants, and personal and financial matters. A significant
number of these letters are addressed to Edouard Fer, a neo-Impressionist disciple whose independent means and connections
enabled him to promote Signac's career. Other correspondents include Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet, Georges Turpin, Henri
Martineau, Georges Lecomte, and Luc-Albert Moreau. There is also a draft essay for a review of the Exposition des peintres
provençaux held in 1902. Most of the letters in this collection are Signac family correspondence; some of these are addressed
by Paul Signac to his cousins. (The repository also holds a significant series of Signac's correspondence within the papers
of Theo van Rysselberghe, accn. no. 870305.)
In his thirty-five letters to Edouard Fer (1916-1932, bulk 1918-1921) Signac discusses the organization of exhibitions, mostly
in Switzerland, and the critical reaction to his own work. He does not forget to offer Fer the occasional bit of advice. Other
letters include ten to Pissarro (1886-1899) in one of which he comments on Pissarro's stylistic evolution and his own recent
landscape painting in the Midi (1897); a letter that recounts the formation of the Société des Artistes Indépendants in 1884
with mention of Redon, Seurat, and Theodore Rousseau; a letter to Georges Lecomte where Signac comments on Symbolism, Puvis
de Chavannes, Maximilien Luce, and Lecomte's recent work; a letter from Brussels describing at great length a visit to a foundry
(1897); two notes to Henri Martineau pertaining to Signac's study of Stendal (1919, 1928); one letter to an unnamed critic
thanking him for a favorable article and describing Signac's trips to Brittany and Provence (1933); and one fragment of a
letter in response to an enquete on interior decorating.
A draft essay of a review of the Exposition des Peintres Provençaux held in Marseilles in 1902, includes an introductory statement
on the exhibition followed by remarks characterizing the work of individual painters including Jean Antoine Constantin, Emile
Loubon, Auguste Aiguier, Gustave Ricard, Adolphe Monticelli, and Paul Guigou.
Signac family correspondence deals with family life, children, illness, vacations, money worries, marriages, divorces and
so forth. A small number of these are written by Paul Signac to his cousins. The rest are between other family members. Most
of the letters seem to be about Julie and Alfred Signac's family—Paul Signac's aunt and uncle. Included are letters from his
grandmother, grandfather, and cousins.
Arrangement note
Arranged in one series.
Biographical Historical Note
Parisian painter Paul Signac (1863-1935), a founder of the Salon des Indépendants, developed with Georges Seurat the technique
of pointillism, or divisionism, and was a principal adherent and spokesman for the Neo-Impressionist movement. He was the
author of the books
D'Eugène Delacroix au néo-impressionnisme (1899) and
Jongkind (1927).
Acquisition Information
Acquired in 1987.
Preferred Citation
Paul Signac letters and Signac family correspondence 1860-1935, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no.
870524.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa870524
Publication Rights
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- France
Painting, Modern -- 19th century -- France
Symbolism (Art movement)
Art -- Exhibitions
Neo-impressionism (Art)
Interior decoration
Société des artistes indépendants (Paris, France)
Signac, Paul, 1863-1935
Seurat, Georges, 1859-1891
Rousseau, Théodore, 1812-1867
Ricard, Gustave, 1823-1873
Redon, Odilon, 1840-1916
Puvis de Chavannes, Pierre, 1824-1898
Luce, Maximilien, 1858-1941
Loubon, Emile, 1809-1863
Monticelli, Adolphe, 1824-1886
Aiguier, Louis Auguste Lauren
Exposition de peintres provencaux (Marseilles, France)
Constantin, Jean-Antoine, 1756-1844
Guigou, Paul, 1834-1871
box 1, folder 3
Letters to Pissarro and Monet
box 1, folder 4-5
Letters to artists, museum curators, and colleagues, ,
1907-1935 undated
Scope and Contents note
Many are on Société des Artistes Indépendants stationary.
box 1, folder 6
Manuscript for L'Exposition des Peintures Provinçaux
box 1, folder 7
Letters from Paul Signac to his cousin Albert Signac
box 1, folder 8
Letters from Paul Signac to his cousins,
ca. 1912
box 1, folder 9
Letters from Julie Signac (presumably Paul's aunt) to Marie and Albert Signac (his cousins)
box 1, folder 10
Letters addressed to Madame Veuve Signac,
1914-1918
box 1, folder 11
Letters from H. Signac addressed to Julie Signac,
1902-1910
box 1, folder 12
Letters from Julie Signac to Albert Signac
box 1, folder 13
Letters from L.A. Signac (presumably Paul's grandfather) to Julie Paché and his son Alfred Signac,
1860-1862
box 1, folder 14
Letters from the Héberts to Julie and Alfred Signac
box 1, folder 16
Letters from Cousin Dorez,
1888-1889
box 1, folder 17
Unidentified family letters
box 1, folder 18
Letters from a Madame Lantru
Scope and Contents note
Presumably the Signac family wetnurse.