Paul Signac

Bernheim-Jeune, Paris

Galerie Charles Vildrac, Paris (1926)

Gaston Lévy (acquired from the above in November 1927)

B. Pollak, Paris (acquired in February 1928)

Marcel and Liliane Pollak, Paris (by descent from the above and sold: Sotheby's, London, November 29, 1994, lot 35)

Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paul Signac, Peintures, Cartons de tableaux, Dessins-Aquarelles, 1923, no. 14 (titled Lornalo [sic]. Thonier au mouillage)

Brussels, Galerie Giroux, 1923, no. 190

Tokyo, Exposition d'art français, 1926

Berlin and Frankfurt, Galerie Goldschmidt, Paul Signac, 1927

Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paul Signac, 1930, illustrated, no. 37

The present work was painted at Locmalo, a fishing village in Morbihan, Brittany, which the artist visited in 1922. Signac was fascinated with harbors and sailing vessels, and in the years between 1920 and 1930 he travelled to over 200 ports, executing numerous watercolors, but far fewer oils. His fellow artist and friend Gustave Caillebotte taught him to compete in regattas, and Signac became an experienced sailor on several vessels including a five-ton cutter Olympia named in honor of Manet.

The bold and confident brushstrokes which enliven the surface of the present painting are typical of the artist's post-1905 oeuvre. As John House observed, "Signac adopted a larger brushstroke, and began to work in mosaic-like blocks of paint, placed separately on the white-primed canvas, and sometimes at an angle to suggest directional movement. The priming is often left visible around the touches, and gives the painting a luminosity, alongside the richness of its color" (John House, Post-Impressionism (exhibition catalogue), Royal Academy of Art, London, 1979, p. 140).