Paul Signac

Galerie Druet, Paris
Victor von Mutzenbecher, Wiesbaden (acquired from the above on 5th April 1906)
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (acquired in 1923)
Private Collection
Galerie de l'Elysée (Alex Maguy), Paris
M. Miller, London (acquired in 1967)
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, 22nd October 1980, lot 54
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Weimar, 1905, no. 78
Paris, Galerie Druet, Exposition Signac, 1906
Paris, Grande serre de l'Alma au Cours-la-Reine, 22ème Exposition de la Société des Artistes Indépendants, 1906, no. 4627
Cologne, Städtische Ausstellungshalle, Internationale Kunstausstellung des Sonderbundes Westdeutscher Kunstfreunde und Künstler zu Köln, 1912, no. 194
Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paul Signac. Peintures, cartons de tableaux, dessins, aquarelles, 1923, no. 8

The Artist's Handlist (Cahier manuscrit), listed as La Dogana
Louis Vauxcelles, 'Le Salon des Indépendants', in Le Gil Blas, 20th March 1906, p. 2
Henri Pellier, 'Le Salon des Indépendants', in La Petite République, 20th March 1906, pp. 1 & 2
Henry Eon, 'Le Salon des Indépendants', in Le Siècle, 20th March 1906, p. 3
Le Masque Rouge, 'Le Salon des Indépendants', in L'Action, 23rd March 1906, p. 3
Claude Roger-Marx, La Chronique des Arts, 24th March 1906, p. 92
V. Koenig, La Critique théâtrale, 1st April 1906
Antoine Leduc, L'Energie française, 21st April 1906, p. 244
Octave Maus, L'Art Moderne, 6th May 1906, p. 142
Gaston Lévy, 'Pré-catalogue', circa 1932, listed as La Dogana p. 346
Françoise Cachin, Signac. Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Paris, 2000, no. 412, illustrated p. 267

The canvas has been laid down on board. There are retouchings across the paint surface, particularly in the sky, which are visible under ultra-violet light. There are some fine, stable lines of craquelure throughout. Colours: Overall fairly accurate, although richer and more vibrant in the original, particularly in the pink tones.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

La Dogana was inspired by Signac's first visit to Venice, in the spring of 1904. It depicts a view along the Grand Canal, with the customs building, or La Dogana, visible in the distance. Signac had planned to visit Venice in the summer of 1903, his fascination with the city partly influenced by John Ruskin's popular The Stones of Venice, but postponed his travels until the following year. He arrived there at the end of March 1904, staying until May, and producing a large number of watercolours during his sojourn. Several of Signac's Venice oils were exhibited at the 1905 Salon des Indépendants, where they were greatly admired by both the public and the critics. Louis Vauxcelles wrote at the time: 'nothing is more vibrant, more atmospheric, than the shimmering Venice of M. Signac.'

  

Marina Ferretti-Bocquillon wrote that 'the City of the Doges had everything to offer the avid museum-goer Signac had become in his search for new subject matter. He visited an impressive number of churches and museums, always delighted when he found in the masterpieces of the past traces of an instinctive use of the principles of color division and contrast. Between museum visits he enjoyed the spectacle of the city and executed a large number of watercolors [...] Signac was enchanted by the play of light, water, and sky, and the color of the monuments. Clear architectural forms dissolved in the atmosphere in his compositions, which were often centered on boats, gondolas, or bragozzi with colorful sails' (M. Ferretti-Bocquillon, in Signac (exhibition catalogue), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2001, pp. 233-234).

 

Situated at the entrance to the Grand Canal, the handsome colonnaded building named the Dogana di Mare dates from the second half of the seventeenth century. Its tower is crowned by two Atlases holding up a bronze globe. On top of the globe, another statue - Fortuna - acts as a weathervane by holding a garment, or perhaps a ship's rudder, to the wind. In his book of travel writings Italian Hours, published in 1909, Henry James described the Dogana in Venice: 'The charming architectural promontory of the Dogana stretches out the most graceful of arms, balancing in its hand the gilded globe on which revolves the delightful satirical figure of a little weathercock of a woman. This Fortune, this Navigation, or whatever she is called - she surely needs no name - catches the wind in the bit of drapery of which she has divested her rotary bronze loveliness. On the other side of the canal twinkles and glitters the long row of the happy palaces which are mainly expensive hotels. There is a little of everything everywhere, in the bright Venetian air.'

 

This work has been requested for the exhibition The Light of Venice, to be held at the Fondation Beyeler, Basel from September 2008 until January 2009.