SIGNAC (Paul). Letters to Henri Person, [ca. 1900-1926]. Set of 78 l.a.s. forming approximately 308 pp. in black ink, mostly in-8 format - some on the letterhead of the Société des Artistes Indépendants, chaired by Signac, or of La Hune, his villa in Saint-Tropez - and 5 autograph postcards. Very important correspondence between the painters Paul Signac (1863-1935) and Henri Person (1876-1926), precursors of Pointillism, showing both the friendship between the two men and their shared passions: painting, sailing and Saint-Tropez. Henri Person, born into a middle-class family in Amiens, attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1896 to 1900. He exhibited at the Paris Salons from 1903, when he took part in his first Salon des artistes français, and from 1910 he exhibited at the Salon des indépendants. In the early 1900s, Person was amazed to discover Saint-Tropez, a small fishing port where Signac had settled in 1892. Person stayed there, housing his studio at the Château Saint Suffren. From then on, Person's life and work would be intimately linked to Saint-Tropez, his adopted home and anchorage, where in 1922 he set about founding a museum of living art: the Museon Tropelen, the forerunner of the Musée de l'Annonciade, a project that Signac helped to bring to fruition by supporting it with his fame. Although Paul Signac was thirteen years older than Henri Person, the two men shared a number of passions: painting, of course, but also sailing, their second passion, which strengthened their friendship. They also shared a love of Saint-Tropez, where they both naturally settled. Together, they sailed from port to port, or went to the motif to paint side by side, which they then had fun comparing. As early as 1905, Person's works showed his adherence to the Divisionist technique and the influence of Signac's theories. In 1906, Henri Person acquired the boat Henriette II. The following year, he made a trip to Constantinople with Paul Signac, which marked an important stage in his work. After this trip, the two artists shared a boat, the Sinbad, and kept up a regular correspondence throughout their lives. This exceptional collection of letters has remained in Henri Person's family to this day. In the course of these letters, in which sailing, Saint-Tropez and painting feature prominently, Signac evokes the Var, his various boats (the Sinbad, the Balkis, the Ville-d'Honolulu), yachting and the clubs he frequented, naval or automobile trips he had made, he gives news of his companion Jeanne and his daughter Ginette, asking for Germaine Person and mutual acquaintances, the capital and Provence, etc. Signac also gives Person advice on how to make the most of his time in the Var. Signac also gave Person practical advice on painting technique, offering encouragement or remarks on the painter's craft, as in this passage: "Yes, painter, I would like to see you make a canvas of 100 - or 120. Why talk to me about your old Salons? It's not a question of making a large canvas, for the surface. But I can see you moving away from your usual formats. That would force you to introduce: 1° several centres of harmony, 2° a greater variety of elements, 3° more sensitive contrasts, 4° a more elaborate composition, hence new balances, etc. etc. [...] I have always found this exercise very rewarding, after which I have noticed progress... the fruit of a new conquest, a new effort...". [n°3]. In another letter: "Make a large canvas... at least 1m50. You'll see how much progress that will make - and how much fun it will be [...]" [n°27]. In this field, as in that of boats, he often asked Person for services: to send him "a tube of silver white with amber" [no. 13], to lend him a frame for the Salon des Indépendants or to have one made according to precise instructions [no. 14], for example. The neo-impressionist painter mentioned Henri-Edmond Cross ("painting with a capital P" [no. 4]), Pierre Bonnard, Maurice de Vlaminck and many other artists. He mentions Cézanne in the course of a comment on his vegetarianism: "I swear that these fruits reach the style, by their flavour and their power. It's like admiring a Cézanne. And what a treat for the poor vegetarian that I am" [n°27]. Two letters are adorned with an autograph drawing by Paul Signac - a pencil landscape on a letter card [no. 9] (7 x 11 cm) and an ink view of the City of Honolulu [no. 10] (6 x 13.5 cm), above which he himself wrote: "It looks like an illustration from Le Voyage de Bougainville" - and seven other letters contain a sketch in his hand, mostly relating to navigation - the capsizing of a trawler [no. 18], a village plan [no. 55], a boat [no. 59], a section of the Henriette II [no. 66], a canoe [no. 78], a rudder and a bilge [no. 94], or two diagrams of a naval accident [no. 96]. 6 letters from Signac (18 pp.) to Germaine Person, Henri's wife, are attached to this set, which thus comprises a total of 84 letters and 5 autograph postcards from Paul Signac (approximately 326 handwritten pages). Also included are a l.a.s. from Henri Person [no. 8], three l.a.s. from Jeanne Desgrange (1877-1958), Signac's companion [nos. 100, 101, 104], and a child's l.a.s. from Ginette Signac, their daughter [no. 105]. 9 letters incomplete at the beginning or end (nos. 10, 20, 28, 38, 50 bis, 55, 87, 95, 98); a few minor defects that do not hinder reading, small hole in two letters affecting a word [no. 58] or a character [no. 67].