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Katherine Brion, Paul Signac's Decorative Propaganda of The RIHA Journal 0044 | 14 July 2012 | Special Issue "New Directions in New-Impressionism" This article is part of the Special Issue "New Directions in Neo-Impressionism." The issue is guest- edited by Tania Woloshyn and Anne Dymond in cooperation with egina Wenninger and Anne-!aure "risac-#hra$bi from I%A &ournal. '(ternal peer reviewers for this Special Issue were %ollis #layson* Andr+ Dombrowski* #hantal -eorgel* #atherine .eneu(* obyn osla,* and .ichael Zimmermann. * * * Paul Signac's Decorative Propaganda of the 1890s* Katherine Brion Abstract In the 1890s the political and artistic ambitions of the neo-impressionist artist Paul Signac were embodied by a series of decorative projects !his article contends that Signac" inspired by anarcho-communist discourse and the prospect of revolution" attempted to synthesi#e in these wor$s the didactic logic of propaganda and %purely aesthetic emotion % !his synthesis was epitomi#ed by the e&plicit deployment of two systems" divisionism and decorative pattern 'ith these systems" Signac hoped to initiate contemporary viewers into the aesthetic and social harmony of an anarcho-communist future In the interest of addressing larger audiences" particularly among wor$ers" he imagined proletarian spaces for his wor$ (ut the didactic elements of Signac)s painting met with critical resistance" and public sites he envisioned never materiali#ed *aced with this lac$ of recognition" and with a diminished revolutionary outloo$ in the wa$e of the Procès des Trente" Signac focused his painting on atemporal landscapes !his trajectory has been read as one of aesthetic liberation+ this article see$s to retrieve the e&tent to which it was also one of constraint" tied to the frustration of Signac)s political aspirations Contents Intro uction !ropa"an a an Re#olution Art an !ropa"an a "$n %&lix &corati(" Decorati#e !aintin" in t)e "*re es attentats" +)warte Am,itions -onclusion ntroduction ,1- In a ./ December 1891 journal entry" the neo-impressionist painter Paul Signac 218/3-19345 wrote6 *7li& remar$s to !hevenot that anarchist terrorism has done much more for propaganda than twenty years of 8eclus or 9ropot$in)s brochures. :e demonstrates the logic of the various attacks ,;- It)s the attack of ,<mile- :enry" directed at the electors = perhaps guiltier than the elected" whom they force to serve as deputies = that seems to him the most )anarchist )1 > I would li$e to than$ !ania 'oloshyn" ?nne 0ymond" :oward @ay" and the anonymous reviewer for their insightful comments on various iterations of this article" as well as 8egina 'enninger for her help in the final editing process ? conference organi#ed by !ania 'oloshyn and ?nthea Aallen" %Bew 0irections in Beo-Impressionism"% provided the initial impetus I would also li$e to e&press my gratitude to the late *ranCoise Aachin for allowing access to the Signac ?rchives" to Darina *erretti- (ocEuillon for devoting her time to archival visits and subseEuent Euestions and reEuests" as well as to Aharlotte @i7bert :ellman for agreeing to the reproduction of Signac)s ?sniFres project and citations from his correspondence !he Dairie de Dontreuil generously provided an image of Au temps d'harmonie+ Deghan Dusolff and Sally (jor$ were very helpful with other image concerns 8esearch for this article" which is part of a larger dissertation project on decorative painting in the late 19th century" was made possible by the Georges @urcy *oundation" the 8ac$ham Graduate School at the Hniversity of Dichigan" a Getty 8esearch Institute @ibrary Grant" and a Susan @ipschut# ?ward 1 %*7li& fait remarEuer à !hevenot Eue les attentats anarchistes ont fait beaucoup plus pour la propagande Eue les vingt ans de brochures de 8eclus ou de 9ropot$ine Il montre la logiEue des License: The text o( this article is provided under the terms of the Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC-ND 3.03 RIHA Journal 0044 | 14 July 2012 | Special Issue "New Directions in New-Impressionism" ,.- *7li& *7n7on 2181/1-19115" Signac's friend and fellow anarchist" was commenting on a series of anarchist terrorist attacks 2attentats5 that struck Paris, beginning in the 1880s and culminating in a wave of terrorist violence from 189. to 1891 . *7n7on = who had spent much of the preceding summer in Dazas prison" accused of a similar attack on the restaurant *oyot = singled out <mile :enry)s bombing of %innocent% patrons at the Aaf7 !erminus for particular praise 3 Hnchastened by imprisonment or his narrow acquittal at trial" the *7n7on of Signac's journal argued decisively for a violent form of la propagande par le fait 2propaganda by the deed56 action as the means of gaining adherents to the anarchist cause" and" ultimately" of dismantling the capitalist socio- economic order 1 !he critic gave theoretical propaganda = the anarcho-communist %brochures" of <lisée 8eclus and Pierre 9ropot$in = short shrift 4 In the debate over what form of propaganda best served anarchist revolution" *7n7on)s position was clear ,3- Jvents suggest Signac's contrary view on the matter / Jven as anarchist %deeds" continued to stri$e Paris, and Signac's friends and colleagues fled or were rounded up in divers attentats ,;- A)est l)attentat d):enry" s)adressant aux 7lecteurs" peut-Ktre plus coupables Eue les 7lus" puisEue ceux-ci sont forc7s par eux de faire ce m7tier de d7put7s" Eui lui semble le plus )anarchiste )% Paul Signac" %J&traits du Lournal in7dit de Paul Signac I" 1891-1894"% in6 La Gazette des Beaux-Arts 3/ 219195" 9M-1.8" here 113 !ranslations are my own unless otherwise indicated . *7néon was also an art critic and a champion of neo-impressionism ? table providing a list of the main anarchist attac$s in this period 2%l'ère des attentats%5" as well as the e&ecutions of their perpetrators 2when identified5" can be found in Lean Daitron, Le mouvement anarchiste en France !es origines à #$#%" vol 1" Paris 19M4" .11 3 <mile :enry threw a bomb into the Gare Saint-Lazare)s Aaf7 !erminus on 1. *ebruary 1891 = wounding twenty" of whom one died = and was captured 2with difficulty5 while trying to escape 0uring the investigation he too$ responsibility for a previous bomb" which had resulted in five deaths at a police station on the rue des (ons Enfants on 8 Bovember 1893 !hese attentats are discussed in detail in 'alter (adier" &mile 'enr( !e la propagande par le fait au terrorisme anarchiste" St Georges d)Nl7ron .00M" particularly /M-9M !he 1 ?pril 1891 bombing of the *oyot restaurant wounded four people" including the poet and anarchist sympathi#er Laurent !ailhade *or an account of the implications of the *oyot bombing" see :oward G Lay" %Beau Geste) 2Nn the 8eadability of !errorism5"% in: *ale French +tudies 101 2.00.5" M9-10. In her biography of *7néon, Loan :alperin suggested that the critic was in fact responsible for the *oyot bombing" a thesis that has been challenged by Philippe Nriol" among others Loan Hngersma :alperin, F,lix F,n,on- Aesthete and Anarchist in Fin-de-+iècle Paris" Bew :aven 1988" .M4-.M/+ Philippe Nriol" . propos de l'attentat Fo(ot /uel0ues 0uestions et 0uel0ues tentatives de r,ponses" Paris 1993 1 *7néon was tried" in the conte&t of the %Procès des Trente"% in ?ugust 1891 :is narrow acEuittal has been attributed to persuasive character witnesses 2including St7phane Dallarm7 and Aharles :enry5 and his own clever responses to Euestioning See Ahapter 11" %Imprisonment and !rial"% in :alperin, F,lix F,n,on- Aesthete and Anarchist in Fin-de-+iècle Paris" .M9-.94" as well as Darie- Louise *7n7on and *7li& *7néon, Le procès des trente 1u à travers la presse de l',po0ue telle 0u'elle a ,t, conserv,e par 2adame F,néon mère et annot,e par F,lix F,n,on " l'issue de son procès" ed Daurice Imbert" !usson .001 4 !heory was the term used by the anarcho-communists themselves to distinguish various forms of propaganda, primarily written and oral" from revolutionary action. See" for e&ample" %Lutte et théorie"% in: La 3,volte- organe communiste-anarchiste I" no .1 211-1M *ebruary 18885" 1-. / Signac did write the following in an 1893 letter to his friend and colleague !héo van 8ysselberghe6 %Le regrette plus l)incendie de la maison :anseatiEue Eue la bombe parlementaire , -% 2the maison :ans7atiEue was a 1/th century building on the ?ntwerp doc$s that burnt down in 18935 (ut this statement should not be taken as an endorsement of terrorist violence" since Signac applied the verb %regret% to both events" and the parliamentary bombing resulted only in minor injuries Hndated letter ,1893- from Signac to !héo van 8ysselberghe" !héo van 8ysselberghe Aorrespondence" !he Getty 8esearch Library" Los ?ngeles License: The text o( this article is provided under the terms of the Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC-ND 3.03 RIHA Journal 0044 | 14 July 2012 | Special Issue "New Directions in New-Impressionism" mass arrests of anarchist sympathi#ers, the artist was wor$ing on a rather apposite image6 Au temps d'harmonie l'âge d'or n'est pas dans le passé- il est dans l'avenir 2In Time of 'armon( The Golden Age is not in the Past- It is in the Future5" 1891-94 2*ig 15 M Bot only did this vision of a harmonious anarchist future occlude the violence that had become anarchism)s public face in this period" but it also provided the $ind of didactic image demanded by anarchist theorists li$e 9ropot$in and Lean Grave 8 *urthermore" Signac's direct involvement with anarcho-communist publications" whether boo$s, journals, or brochures, would only increase over the ne&t decade 9 ,1- Bevertheless, the relationship between Signac's wor$ and %propaganda
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