This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| Please note: Artists not classified as American in our database may have limited biographical data
compared to the extensive information about American artists.
 Paul Seignac long held a leading position as a
painter of genre, especially children, in the schools of his native
country. Born in Bordeaux, he went to Paris for this artistic
education. There he studied under Theodore Duverger and at the
Ecole des Beaux-Arts under Francois Picot.
Seignac made his
debut at the Paris Salon of 1849, where, in 1889, he received an
Honorable Mention. In London his works were shown by the Belgian
dealer Ernest Gambart at this “French Exhibitions” on Pall Mall for
many years.
Living at Ecouen, a small town eight miles north
of Paris, the artist became a member of the colony of painters who
gathered around Edouard Frere. This colony also included the
Swiss artist Luigi Chialiva and the Danish artist August Schenck.
Seignac painted in the same vein and with a similar selection of
subjects as Frere. While varied, they are generally attractive,
especially in the qualities of homey sentiment and domestic appeal.
Source:
Biography excerpted from the unpublished catalog by Edward P. Bentley
for the Haussner Restaurant in Baltimore, Maryland, titled:
Haussner’s, The Art Collection.
Biography submitted by Edward P. Bentley. |
Biography from South Coast Fine Art:
| Please note: Artists not classified as American in our database may have limited biographical data
compared to the extensive information about American artists.
Paul Seignac was born in Bordeaux on February 12,1826. He became
a pupil of Edouard Picot in Paris, a history painter who executed a
number of commissions in churches in Paris. Seignac followed a
different path specializing in genre paintings depicting children and
rural life. This was a popular genre throughout Europe in the
nineteenth century; compatriots included Simon Cabaillot known as Louis
Lasalle, Theophile Emmanuel Duverger and Pierre Edouard Frere; in
England artists such as William Bromley and Thomas Webster specialized
in this field.
Many of Seignac's works show children in endearing, if unlikely roles such as The History Lesson, A Willing Helper, Hard at Work,
achieving an almost didactic quality. In others, children might be
reprimanded for some slight misdemeanor, but all are calculated to
appeal to maternal and paternal feelings.
Seignac also painted
rural life---outdoor scenes set in country villages, depicting charming
scenes of everyday life. These works, picturesque as they are,
show the germ of social realism propagated by Jules Bastien Lepage and
Jean Francois Millet whose works enjoyed huge popularity in the latter
half of the century.
Seignac exhibited at the Paris Salon, making his debut in 1849, and
receiving an honorable mention in 1889. His works were, and
remain, popular with collectors in France, (he was represented by
Galerie des Artistes Moderne in Paris in his lifetime), England and the
United States.
His works can be found in museums in Ajaccio Corsica, and Reims.
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