Jean Signovert was born in Paris in 1919. He was not yet 20 when he met the painter-engraver Abel Renaut, who introduced him to engraving. The young man attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Saint-Étienne in 1943 and 1944. In 1945, he crossed paths with Roger Chastel, with whom he would remain closely associated for the rest of his life, and the following year (1946) he joined the Galerie Maeght in Paris. At the end of 1946-beginning of 1947, Jean Signovert took part in the group exhibition...

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  Biography of Jean Signovert

  

  Jean Signovert was born in Paris in 1919. He was not yet 20 when he met the painter-engraver Abel Renaut, who introduced him to engraving. The young man attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Saint-Étienne in 1943 and 1944. In 1945, he crossed paths with Roger Chastel, with whom he would remain closely associated for the rest of his life, and the following year (1946) he joined the Galerie Maeght in Paris. At the end of 1946-beginning of 1947, Jean Signovert took part in the group exhibition “ Le noir et une couleur ‘ at the Galerie Maeght (devoted to the first issue of the famous magazine ’ Derrière le miroir ”). That same year, he took part in the “ Jeune peinture ” exhibition organized by Galerie Drouant-David (Paris), then in the Salon de Mai, his very first, to which he remained faithful until 1971. The artist became friends with Jean Fautrier. In 1948, Jean Signovert took part in his first Salon des Réalités Nouvelles. The following year, his meeting with Georges Braque marked the start of a five-year collaboration between the two men; he engraved for Braque, among other works, the illustration for “ Milarepa ”. His talent as an engraver led him to work for some of the greatest artists of his time (Jean Fautrier, Serge Poliakoff, Maurice Estève, Jean Arp, Chastel and Jacques Villon).Jean Signovert did not neglect his personal work. He produced a large body of engraved work, as well as subtle paintings, drawings, charcoals and gouaches of the highest quality. “ For Jean Signovert, engraving was not the art of producing multiples. Printed by him, on his press, each proof became an original work. He gave it his own imprint, so to speak, never identical, “ writes Jean-Marie Dunoyer in the preface to a posthumous exhibition catalog by the artist in 1982. From 1973, the artist was in charge of the printmaking section at the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles. Jean Signovert, an artist of subtleties, was appointed professor of engraving at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts shortly before his death in 1981; the artist, then without a dealer, slowly slipped into unjust oblivion. “ The oyster completes its life by secreting the pearl, and Signovert was born to sublimate etching, for the rose never blooms into a carnation, “ Roger Chastel wrote to his friend.

  
  

  

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