Henri Person (1876 - 1926) — The Gulf Of Saint-tropez Under Stormy Skies

The Gulf of Saint-Tropez under stormy skies
Oil on panel, studio stamp lower right.
16 x 24 cm

History:
Atelier Person, Person estate.

Bibliography:
Henri Person, Les couleurs du Midi, under the direction of Marie-Aude Bossard, reproduced under number 23 p.125.

Certificate from Madame Marie-Aude Bossard, granddaughter of the artist.

The sea as muse: Henri Person and the Mediterranean  

Henri Person was born into a middle-class family in Amiens in 1876. His first visits to the South of France date back to his childhood, when his parents owned a villa in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, where the family regularly vacationed.
The young man first studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, notably under Fernand Cormon. His first submissions to the Paris Salons date from 1903: to the Artistes français until 1910, then to the Indépendants from that date until the end of his life. In the early 1900s, the young painter arrived in Saint-Tropez, a small Mediterranean port that would become a great success in the years to come, but which was then just a charming fishing hamlet. It was here that he met up with Paul Signac, who had settled there in part at the end of the previous century. In addition to their passion for painting, the two artists shared a second passion for the sea and sailing. Despite their age difference, the two men formed an unshakeable friendship, even co-owning a boat named Le Sinbad.
In 1907, they travelled together to Constantinople, and the young Person, advised by his master, adopted the Divisionist technique for good. He did, however, display a more discreet, softer temperament, reflected in the adaptation of his palette. Throughout his life, he would build his work around the themes that were dear to him: boats, the sea, the trees that line it and the small villages of the Mediterranean coast.
Person seems to have gradually distanced himself from Divisionism, however, moving closer to the group of young painters who discovered Saint-Tropez in the early 1900s, notably Henri Manguin, Albert Marquet and Charles Camoin. Following in the footsteps of Paul Signac, the artist also produced subtle, poetic watercolors in which the heart of the Mediterranean, its spirit and its warmth, beat.
As a Tropezian, the artist committed himself body and soul to the development of a project that demonstrated, if proof were needed, his deep attachment to his adopted port: the creation of the future Saint-Tropez Museum. He enlisted the help of artist friends such as Alphonse Stival, Carlos Reymond and André Turin. The project was presented to and unanimously approved by the town council on September 4, 1921. The Museon Tropelen gradually came to life, and within five or six years, some thirty works had already been assembled thanks to the generosity of the artists who frequented the little port: Pierre Bonnard, Henri Lebasque, Charles Camoin, Louis Valtat, Henri Manguin...
Henri Person passed away in 1926, temporarily halting the growth of the collection, but the torch was soon taken up by Georges Grammont, a patron of the arts who made this commitment his own. Taking up this original matrix, he enriched the selection of works and thus gave birth to the Musée de l'Annonciade, which today boasts one of the finest collections in its field.
In October 2015, under the direction of the artist's granddaughter Marie-Aude Bossard and published by Editions Galerie Alexis Pentcheff, the first monograph devoted to Henri Person was published. On the occasion of the book's presentation at the Musée de l'Annonciade in December 2015, Marie-Aude Bossard presented the curator, Jean-Paul Monery, with all the artist's archives relating to the creation of the museum.
Marie-Aude Bossard Archives

Discover more of this artist's works on the gallery's website: https://www.galeriepentcheff.fr/fr/peintre-henri-person#Oeuvres