Camille Pissarro

CAMILLE PISSARRO (1830-1903)

In this look at the genius of Camille Pissarro, the artist's great grandson enlarges on the traditional image of the oldest member of the Impressionist group as a brilliant follower rather than a trailblazer. He shows, instead, that Pissarro worked together with his colleagues - especially Degas and Cezanne - in a rich symbolic exchange of innovative perceptions and techniques. Not only does the author illuminate the process of painting as Pissarro engaged in it, he also introduces many works from closely guarded private collections never before reproduced at all. Reuniting related pictures side by side for the first time, he sees provocative comparisons. What emerges vividly from this book is Pissarro's remarkable receptiveness to new ideas throughout the 73 years of his life. From his early days in his native Charlotte Amalie, in the Virgin Islands, to his daring flight to Venezuela, where he first flexed his artistic muscles, to his subsequent career in France, he continually experimented with new theories and methods. The only artist who participated in all eight Impressionist exhibitions, he went beyond Impressionism at the end of his life to work in a fragmental and analytical style of great tonal beauty. It is this unceasing quest to approach closer to reality, both of the mind and the eye, that explains why Pissarro's work never grew stale or repetitive - despite his frequent practice of painting the same scene in different weather or from different vantage points, much as Monet painted his series of Rouen Cathedral. In each version Pissarro found something new to say. His subjects were varied but never exotic - they spanned the whole spectrum of French peasant life, especially in the north, and the changing world of city and suburb, in Paris and occasionally in London.