Camille Pissaro

The French painter Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) was one of the original impressionists. Although his work is generally less innovative than that of his major contemporaries, it is no less important in reflecting the new style.

Camille Pissarro was born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, on July 10, 1830. His father, a Portuguese Jew, ran a general store. Although Pissarro attended school in Paris and demonstrated an exceptional talent for drawing, he returned to St. Thomas in 1847 to work in the family business. During the ensuing years his interest in art persisted, and in 1855 his parents finally yielded to his ambition to become a painter.

Pissarro reached Paris in time to see the important World's Fair of 1855. He was particularly impressed by the landscapes of Camille Corot and other members of the Barbizon group, who had taken the first steps toward working directly from nature, and by the ambitious and forthright realism of Gustave Courbet, although his own work increasingly gravitated toward landscape rather than figurative subjects.

During the next 10 years Pissarro received some academic training at the école des Beaux-Arts, but he spent most of his time at the Académie Suisse, where free classes were offered. This was an important gathering place for those artists whose ambitions and sensibilities lay outside the teaching of the official schools, for it offered greater opportunity to discuss and develop personal ideas about painting and art in general. In this setting Pissarro became friends with Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and Paul Cézanne, who were seeking alternatives to the established methods of painting. Pissarro's works at this time were occasionally, though by no means consistently, accepted at the annual Salons. More importantly, however, he received critical backing and encouragement from émile Zola.

During the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-1871 Pissarro and Monet went to London, where they were impressed by the landscape paintings of John Constable and J.M.W. Turner. By this time Pissarro and Monet had begun to work directly from nature and to develop the unique style that would later be called impressionism. In their pursuit of this new and revolutionary direction, the lessons of the earlier English landscapists provided crucial and much-needed support, particularly in terms of the loose handling of paint, the abstractness, and the strong response to nature which characterized their own paintings. When Pissarro returned to his home at Louveciennes near Paris, he found that the Prussians had destroyed nearly all of his paintings.

By the early 1870s the work of Pissarro and his colleagues had been rejected by the Salon on repeated occasions. In 1874 they held their own exhibition, a show of "independent" artists. This was the first impressionist exhibition (the term "impressionist, " originally used derisively, was actually coined by a newspaper critic). There were seven similar exhibitions until 1886, and Pissarro was the only artist who participated in all eight. This fact is important because it reveals something about Pissarro's relation to impressionism generally: he was the patriarch and teacher of the movement, constantly advising younger artists, introducing them to one another, and encouraging them to join the revolutionary trend that he helped to originate.

In 1892 there was a large retrospective of Pissarro's work, and he finally gained the international recognition he deserved. Characteristic paintings are Path through the Fields (1879), Landscape, Eragny (1895), and Place du Théâtre Français (1898). He died in Paris on Nov. 12, 1903.

Further Reading

Pissarro is the subject of critical analysis in these works by John Rewald: Camille Pissarro (1963), a monograph on the artist; C. Pissarro (1965), an exhibition catalog; and The History of Impressionism (1961), in which Pissarro's role in the development of impressionism is well documented.

Additional Sources

Adler, Kathleen, Camille Pissarro: a biography, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1978, 1977.

Cogniat, Raymond, Pissarro, New York: Crown Publishers, 1988, 1981.

Lloyd, Christopher, Camille Pissarro, Geneva: Skira; New York: Rizzoli, 1981.

Pissarro, Camille, Camille Pissarro, New York: H.N. Abrams, 1989.

Pissarro, Camille, Pissarro, New York: Crown Publishers, 1975.

Shikes, Ralph E., Pissarro, his life and work, New York: Horizon Press, 1980. □

Pissarro, Camille (b Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, Virgin Islands, 10 July 1830; d Paris, 13 Nov. 1903). French painter, printmaker, and draughtsman, born in the West Indies, where his parents (a French Jewish father and a Creole mother) ran a prosperous general store. He was educated at boarding school in Paris, but he then returned to the Caribbean and did not settle in France until 1855. Before this he had been mainly self-taught, but he now studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and the Académie Suisse, as well as copying in the Louvre. In 1859 he met Monet, and with him became a central figure of Impressionism. Pissarro in fact was the only artist who exhibited at all eight Impressionist exhibitions and he was a much-respected father figure to his colleagues (he was about a decade older than most of the other members of the group). His talents as a teacher made him influential even among artists of greater stature than himself—Cézanne and Gauguin, for example, spoke glowingly of him—and his roles as a guide and mediator have perhaps tended to obscure his own high quality as a painter.

During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1, when his home at Louveciennes was overrun by the German invaders and many of his paintings were destroyed, Pissarro joined Monet in England. In 1872 he settled at Pontoise, where he introduced Cézanne to painting out of doors. From 1884 he lived at Eragny in Normandy, although he travelled a good deal. In 1885 he met Seurat and for several years afterwards he experimented with Neo-Impressionism; in about 1890, however, he reverted to his Impressionist style, though with freer brushwork than in his early work. By this time, following early hardships, he was beginning to prosper, and by the end of his career his work was selling well in Germany and the USA as well as France. From about 1895 deterioration of his eyesight caused him to give up painting out of doors and many of his late works are urban scenes painted from windows (usually of hotels) in Paris and elsewhere. Although he is best known for his landscapes and city views, he painted various other subjects, including portraits, still-lifes, and genre scenes. In addition to a large output of paintings and drawings, he was the most prolific printmaker among the Impressionists, working in a variety of techniques and sometimes mixing them. The best representation of his paintings is in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris. There is another good collection of his work (including numerous drawings) in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

Pissarro had five painter sons, of whom the most important was the eldest, Lucien (b Paris, 20 Feb. 1863; d Hewood, Somerset, 10 July 1944). He took part in the final Impressionist exhibition (1886) and with Seurat in the second Salon des Indépendants, adopting the pointillist technique for a time. In 1890 he settled in England, and he became a British citizen in 1916. From 1905 he was part of Sickert's circle and he was a member of the Camden Town Group and afterwards of the London Group. He was a distinguished book illustrator and from 1894 to 1914 ran the Eragny Press, one of the best of the private presses that flourished at this period. A modest and unassuming character, he has been overshadowed by his more famous father, but he was an important figure in helping to introduce Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism to England. His daughter Orovida Pissarro (1893–1968) often known simply as ‘Orovida’, was a painter and etcher, mainly of animal subjects.

Pissarro, Camille (1830–1903). French painter, printmaker, and draughtsman, born on St Thomas in the West Indies, where his parents (a French Jewish father and a Creole mother) ran a prosperous general store. He was educated at boarding school in Paris, but he then returned to the Caribbean and did not settle in France until 1855. Before this he had been mainly self-taught, but he now studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and the Académie Suisse, as well as copying in the Louvre. In 1859 he met Monet, and with him became a central figure of Impressionism. Pissarro in fact was the only artist who participated in all eight Impressionist exhibitions and he was a much-respected father figure to his colleagues (he was about a decade older than most of the other members of the group). His talents as a teacher made him influential even among artists of greater stature than himself—Cézanne and Gauguin, for example, spoke glowingly of him. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1, when his home at Louveciennes was overrun by the German invaders and many of his paintings were destroyed, he joined Monet in England. In 1872 he settled at Pontoise, where he introduced Cézanne to painting out of doors. From 1884 he lived at Eragny in Normandy, although he travelled a good deal. In 1885 he met Seurat and for several years afterwards he experimented with Neo-Impressionism; in about 1890, however, he reverted to his Impressionist style, though with freer brushwork than in his early work. By this time, following early hardships, he was beginning to prosper, and by the end of his career his work was selling well in Germany and the USA as well as France. From about 1895 deterioration of his eyesight caused him to give up painting out of doors and many of his late works are urban scenes painted from windows (usually of hotels) in Paris and elsewhere. Although he is best known for his landscapes and city views, he painted various other subjects, including portraits, still lifes, and genre scenes. In addition to a large output of paintings and drawings, he was the most prolific printmaker among the Impressionists, working in a variety of techniques and sometimes mixing them. The best representation of his paintings is in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris. There is another good collection of his work (including numerous drawings) in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

Pissarro had five painter sons, of whom the most important was the eldest, Lucien (1863–1944). He took part in the final Impressionist exhibition (1886) and with Seurat in the second Salon des Indépendants, adopting the pointillist technique for a time. In 1890 he settled in England, and he became a British citizen in 1916. From 1905 he was part of Sickert's circle and he was a member of the Camden Town Group and afterwards of the London Group. He was a distinguished book illustrator and from 1894 to 1914 ran the Eragny Press, one of the best of the private presses that flourished at this period. A modest and unassuming character, he has been overshadowed by his more famous father, but he was an important figure in helping to introduce Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism to England. His daughter, Orovida Pissarro (1893–1968), often known simply as ‘Orovida’, was a painter and etcher, mainly of animal subjects.

Camille Pissarro , 1830-1903, French impressionist painter, b. St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. In Paris from 1855, he came under the influence of Corot and the Barbizon school. Later he allied himself with the impressionists, and was represented in all of the eight impressionist exhibitions (1874-1886). In 1884 he experimented with the theories of color devised by Seurat . Abandoning divisionism in the 1890s, he reverted to a freer, more vital interpretation of nature. It was not until then that his works began to be popular. Pissarro's warmth and generosity made him an endearing figure to many French painters. He was especially beloved as teacher and friend to Gauguin, Cézanne, and Cassatt. His son Lucien was also his pupil. Pissarro's paintings are in many leading American collections, including Le Fond de l'Hermitage (Cleveland Mus. of Art) and Bather in the Woods (Metropolitan Mus.).

Bibliography: See his works ed. by J. Rewald (1963); his Letters to his Son Lucien ed. by J. Rewald (1943); W. S. Meadmore, Lucien Pissarro (1963).

Pissarro, Camille (1830–1903) French painter who adopted impressionism and tried pointillism. In the 1880s, he experimented with the pointillist theories of Georges Seurat but abandoned them in the 1890s for a freer interpretation of nature. His works include Louvre from Pont Neuf (1902).

http://www.metmuseum.org; http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk; http://www.nga.gov