PAINTERS IN SAINT-TROPEZ

Only a little over a hundred years ago Saint-Tropez was a rather sleepy fishing village on a remote peninsula, a world away from the hothouse of creativity that Paris had become at the end of the nineteenth century. Although the railway line between Saint-Raphaël and Toulon, which opened in 1890, lessened the sense of isolation it was a visit from an enthusiastic yachtsman and painter that put the town on the artistic map, where it has remained ever since. The overview of artists that follows is by no means comprehensive but does include some of the most significant figures in modern art history.

Paul Signac (1863–1935)
He was born in Paris and after early training as an architect devoted himself to painting after seeing the work of Monet and the other Impressionists. Amongst these was Gustave Caillebotte who was also a passionate yachtsman and introduced Signac to the delights of sailing. In the Post-Impressionist movement Signac soon became a devotee of Georges Seurat, the pointillist, and when his mentor died in 1891 he assumed the mantle of champion of the Neo-Impressionists. One of his fellow painters was Henri Cross who had already moved to the South of France and it was an invitation from him combined with his love of sailing that led him to seek anchorage in the little harbour at Saint-Tropez in his yacht Olympia in May 1892. He was soon renting a small cottage and setting up his easel on the quaysides. After a couple of years he moved to a larger villa called La Hune which he eventually bought in 1897 and here he built a large studio. Over the following years he would work and entertain a wide circle of fellow-painters spanning several pivotal movements in the development of modern art. They included Henri Cross, Theo Van Rysselberghe, Maximilien Luce, Henri Matisse, Henri Manguin, Charles Camoin, Albert Marquet, Maurice Denis, Francis Picabia and Pierre Bonnard. He travelled widely within France and beyond but Saint-Tropez was perhaps the place that inspired him the most and led to many of his most influential works. The picture shown above is Saint-Tropez, le quai painted in 1899 (Musée de l’Annonciade, Saint-Tropez).

Henri Edmond Cross (1856–1910)
Originally from northern France his artistic talents were always encouraged by his family and he received formal training in Paris and Lille. He first met Signac in 1883 while on a painting trip in the South of France and so started a life-long friendship and collaboration, both of them being enthusiastic exponents of the Divisionist technique. He suffered from chronic rheumatism and had been advised by his doctors to abandon the damp and cold of Paris in favour of the more benign climate of the south. In October 1891 he and his future wife moved to a rented villa only a few yards from the beach at Cabasson, a hamlet to the west of Le Lavandou in the Var region. His new surroundings inspired him to paint pictures of simplicity and purity that, perhaps, could not have been painted anywhere else. In 1892 he bought a plot of land in Saint-Clair, a seaside village just to the east of Le Lavandou and not many miles from Saint-Tropez, where he had a house built and where he lived, worked and entertained for the rest of his life. The picture shown is Les bateaux dans le port de Saint-Tropez (Private collection).

Maximilien Luce (1858–1941)
Maximilien Luce was another member of the ‘Neo’ circle and he joined Signac and Cross at Saint-Tropèz and Cabasson in 1892. He was a frequent visitor to the Cross household and painted a portrait of Henri Edmond in his studio. The quartet of Signac, Cross, Van Rysselberghe and Luce were the principal figures in the movement and exhibited together on many occasions. In common with other Neo-impressionists, Luce held quite radical views and he was imprisoned for a short time in 1894 following the assassination of President Carnot and he was detained again two years later when the king of Spain made a visit to Paris. The picture shown is La Côte de la citadelle à Saint-Tropez painted in 1892 (Musée de l’Annonciade, Saint-Tropez).

Théo Van Rysselberghe (1862–1926)
Originally from Ghent in Belgium where he received formal training and also at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. He travelled extensively in Spain and North Africa and found himself as a guest aboard Signac’s yacht in 1892 and was certainly no stranger to the delights of the Mediterranean. He became firm friends with Cross and spent a great deal of time in his company, exploring the Côte d’Azure and finding inspiration for many paintings. He was devastated by his friend’s death in 1910 and shortly after that he moved to Saint Clair where he lived for the rest of his life. The picture shown is Point-Saint-Pierre, Saint-Tropez (Private collection).

Henri Matisse (1869–1954)
Henri-Emile-Benoît Matisse was born at Le Cateau-Cambrésis in northern France, the son of a store-keeper. Parental pressure led him to study law but after a period of illness and convalescence, when he started drawing to pass the time, the course of his life changed. He abandoned his legal career and he moved to Paris in 1892 to pursue artistic studies at the École des Arts Décoratifs where he met and became friends with Albert Marquet. He then moved to Gustave Moreau’s studio at the École des Beaux Arts and this remarkable teacher sowed the seeds of enquiry into the nature of colour that would fascinate Matisse for the rest of his life. He became fascinated by Neo-Impressionism and it was at this point that he made a visit to Signac in Saint-Tropez in the summer of 1904. Matisse was surrounded by the ‘Divisionist’ work of Signac and Cross and this led him to create his seminal work Luxe, Calme et Volupté (see A walk around the town). His initial studies for this painting were possibly made at Plage des Graniers, just outside the town. Signac was thrilled by the picture and bought it for himself but for Matisse this was the culmination of his interest in this approach to painting and he quickly moved on to other ideas. The picture shown is Place des Lices, Saint-Tropez, 1904 (Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen). The following summer he was with André Derain in Collioure experimenting with pure colour and introducing Fauvism to the art world. After that he would continue to follow an innovative creative path distinctly his own.

Charles Camoin (1879–1965)
He was born in Marseille but trained in Paris where he became a life-long friend of Henri Matisse. Indeed he followed in his friend’s footsteps when he made a visit to Signac in 1905 in the company of Henri Manguin and Albert Marquet. All three were followers of Fauvism, creating highly provocative paintings using vibrant, non-representational colour. Although Camoin’s palette was slightly more subdued his paintings still employed an array of primary colours, ideally suited to capture the atmosphere of the region with an air of freshness and spontaneity. After a meeting with Renoir in 1918 and with Cézanne and Bonnard being other important influences, his work developed in the Impressionist tradition rather than seeking to adopt the ideas of the more innovative movements of the twentieth century. After military service in the First World War, Camoin divided his time between studios in Paris and Saint Tropèz. The picture shown is La Chapelle Sainte-Anne à Saint-Tropez (Private collection).

Albert Marquet (1875–1947)
He was another student in Paris who formed an enduring friendship with Matisse and, like Camoin, went on to become a member of the short-lived Fauve movement. Their radical use of colour always sat uncomfortably with Marquet and eventually his paintings became more naturalistic in style. After being declared unfit for military service he moved to Marseille. He was an inveterate traveller, often in the company of Camoin, and lived for several years in Algiers. The picture shown is Le Port de Saint-Tropez, 1905 (Villa Flora, Winterthur, Switzerland).

Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947)
Born into a wealthy Parisian family, he studied law and practiced as a barrister for a short time before deciding to become an artist. He was soon mixing with the likes of Toulouse-Lautrec and Édouard Vuillard and for a time he became part of the Nabis group led by Maurice Denis. It was in 1910 that he left Paris for the South of France which provided the setting for his very individual development as an artist. Using sketches, notes and even photographs as reference material he would return to his studio to create the final work. As he said “I have all my subjects to hand, I go back and look at them. I take notes. Then I go home. And before I start painting I reflect, I dream.” The picture shown is La jétée de Saint-Tropez painted in 1912 (Private collection).

Francis Picabia (1878–1953)
Born in Paris the son of a French mother and a Spanish-Cuban father. The family was not short of money and Francis was free to pursue his creative interests, enrolling at the École des Arts Decoratifs in the late 1890’s. Early in his career he moved, butterfly-like, between many artistic movements including Impressionism, Pointillism and Fauvism and all of these styles are represented in his paintings of Saint-Tropez. Later he dabbled with Cubism, the Dada movement and Surrealism before turning to other interests including poetry, typography and photography. The picture shown is Saint-Tropez vu de la citadelle painted in 1909 (Musée de l’Annonciade, Saint-Tropez).

Raoul Dufy (1877–1953)
An almost exact contemporary with Picabia, Dufy was also exposed to ever-changing developments in the art world and moved from one ‘ism’ to another absorbing influences all the time. He developed a unique style all his own which has led to him being recognised as a highly influential figure in the development of modern art. Born on the Normandy coast at Le Havre, he was the son of a church organist and choirmaster. The sea and music would prove to be enduring passions throughout his life. At evening classes he met Othon Friesz and Georges Braques who became lifelong friends. He continued his art education in the capital and here he entered the creative hothouse of ‘fin-de-sciecle’ Paris, meeting many of the leading artists of the day. His early landscapes, painted with a fairly subdued palette in an impressionistic style, were exhibited in 1903 and well-received. It was at this time that Dufy was encouraged to visit the ‘South’ and from then on he became a denizen of this enchanted coast and his work was transformed. The picture shown is Saint-Tropez painted in 1928.

André Dunoyer de Segonzac (1884–1974)
He first came to Saint-Tropez in 1908 and became a regular visitor, eventually buying the Villa le Maquis in 1925. His paintings of the area tend to be more sombre than many of his contemporaries, preferring grey skies and stormy weather. He is best known as a printmaker where his sophisticated use of line and simplicity of composition allowed him to capture an Impressionistic handling of light. The picture shown is Saint-Tropez (Private collection).

Henri Lebasque (1865–1937)
Perhaps not as well-known as his friends such as Matisse, Vuillard and Bonnard he is nonetheless an important figure in the pantheon of twentieth century painters, especially with regard to his work in the South of France. He first visited Saint-Tropez in 1906 and was immediately captivated by the place and the sunny delights of the Côte d’Azure became a constant theme for his work over the following years, indeed he was referred to as “the painter of joy and light”. The picture shown is Au jardin en été, Saint-Tropez (Private collection).

Auguste Pégurier (1856–1936)
A local man and a prominent member of the Provencal School. He was much influenced by the Impressionists but was also a keen observer of the succession of avant-garde artists who came to his home town to paint. However, his work owes little to these new movements and he was more interested in recording the fabric and traditions of his home-town. The picture shown is La Procession à Saint-Tropez painted in 1907 (Musée de l’Annonciade, Saint-Tropez)

Charles-Henri Person (1876–1926)
Another member of the Provencal School who captures the vibrancy of the town in his sun-filled canvases and being another keen sailor he effortlessly conveys the atmosphere of a bright and breezy day in Sortie du port de Saint-Tropez (Musée de L’Annonciade, Saint-Tropez)).

Pierre Adolphe Valette (1876–1942)
Usually referred to as Adolphe Valette this notable artist is perhaps better known in England than in his native France, principally because of his close association with Manchester. For more than 20 years at the start of the twentieth century he made this industrial city his home and he became a respected teacher at the Manchester Municipal School of Art with L.S. Lowry being one of his many pupils. His evocations of industrial and urban landscapes are his most significant works and many of these are to be seen at Manchester Art Gallery alongside works by his, now more famous, pupil. He eventually returned to France to live and work in the Beaujolais region but he was an enthusiastic traveler and he visited Saint-Tropez on several occasions. What a contrast this sun-drenched harbour town must have made to the gritty, grime-stained streets of the industrial north-west of England. The picture shown is Saint-Tropez (Private collection).

A few visitors from further afield

Henry Scott Tuke (1858–1929)
The highly regarded artist who could be described as an English Impressionist and who is best known for his paintings of sailing ships and young male nudes in rather idyllic Cornish settings around Falmouth. He made visits to Saint-Tropez in 1926 and 1927 and no doubt felt quite at home in this equally attractive harbour town. The watercolour shown is Saint-Tropez (Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society).

Frank Townsend Hutchens (1869–1937)
From an English Impressionist to an American one, Hutchens was born in New York State and after studying in New York he followed in the footsteps of many aspiring artists and journeyed to Paris to continue his education. He returned to the States and embarked on a successful career as a painter of both portraits and landscapes. Throughout his life he was a keen traveller and was no stranger to North Africa and the South of France. The picture shown is Saint-Tropez (Private collection).

John MacLaughlan Milne (1886–1957)
Originally born and educated in Edinburgh, he moved to Canada in 1908 for several years working as a sometime cowboy to supplement his earnings from painting. On his return to Europe he visited Paris and was inspired by the work of Cézanne. He served in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War and afterwards settled in France with his French wife. He enjoyed patronage from a Dundee marmalade manufacturer which allowed him to pursue his artistic interests without financial worries. He had much in common with the Scottish Colourists although not officially recognised as a member of their group and like Peploe and Cadell he was a frequent visitor to the Riviera and Saint-Tropez in particular. The picture shown is Quayside, Saint-Tropez (Private collection).