Lucien Pissarro
Encyclopedia
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, printmaker, wood engraver and designer and printer of fine books. His landscape paintings employ techniques of Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism
Neo-impressionism
Neo-impressionism was coined by French art critic Félix Fénéon in 1886 to describe an art movement founded by Georges Seurat. Seurat’s greatest masterpiece, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, marked the beginning of this movement when it first made its appearance at an exhibition...
, but he also exhibited with Les XX
Les XX
Les XX was a group of twenty Belgian painters, designers and sculptors, formed in 1883 by the Brussels lawyer, publisher, and entrepreneur Octave Maus. For ten years 'Les Vingt' , as they called themselves, held an annual exhibition of their art; each year twenty international artists were also...
. Apart from his landscapes he painted only a few still-lifes and family portraits. Until 1890 he worked in France, but thereafter was based in Britain.
Biography
Lucien Pissarro was born on 20 February 1863 in Paris, the eldest son of the ImpressionistImpressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
painter Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro was a French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas . His importance resides in his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, as he was the only artist to exhibit in both forms...
and his wife Julie (nee Vellay). He studied with his father, and was influenced by Georges Seurat and Paul Signac
Paul Signac
Paul Signac was a French neo-impressionist painter who, working with Georges Seurat, helped develop the pointillist style.-Biography:Paul Victor Jules Signac was born in Paris on 11 November 1863...
.
In 1886 he exhibited with the Impressionists. From 1886 to 1894 he exhibited with the Salon des Independents
Société des Artistes Indépendants
—The Société des Artistes Indépendants formed in Paris in summer 1884 choosing the device "No jury nor awards" . Albert Dubois-Pillet, Odilon Redon, Georges Seurat and Paul Signac were among its founders...
.
He first visited Britain in 1870-1 during the Franco-Prussian War. He returned in 1883-4, and in 1890 settled permanently in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. In 1892 he married Esther Bensusan. He met Charles Ricketts
Charles Ricketts
Charles de Sousy Ricketts was a versatile English artist, illustrator, author and printer, and is best known for his work as book designer and typographer from 1896 to 1904 with the Vale Press, and his work in the theatre as a set and costume designer.-Life and career:Ricketts was born in Geneva...
and Charles Shannon, and contributed woodcuts to their Dial. In 1894 he founded the Eragny Press and with his wife printed illustrated books until 1914. In 1903 he designed the typeface Brook Type.
He associated with Walter Sickert
Walter Sickert
Walter Richard Sickert , born in Munich, Germany, was a painter who was a member of the Camden Town Group in London. He was an important influence on distinctively British styles of avant-garde art in the 20th century....
in Fitzroy Street, and in 1906 became a member of the New English Art Club
New English Art Club
The New English Art Club was founded in London in 1885 as an alternate venue to the Royal Academy.-History:Young English artists returning from studying art in Paris mounted the first exhibition of the New English Art Club in April 1886...
. From 1913 to 1919 he painted landscapes of Dorest, Westmorland, Devon, Essex, Surrey and Sussex.
In 1916 he became a British citizen.
While in Britain he was one of the founders of the Camden Town Group
Camden Town Group
The Camden Town Group was a group of English Post-Impressionist artists active 1911-1913. They gathered frequently at the studio of painter Walter Sickert in the Camden Town area of London.-History:...
of artists. In 1919, he formed the Monarro Group with J.B. Manson
J.B. Manson
James Bolivar Manson was an artist and worked at the Tate gallery for 25 years, being its Director 1930–1938. In the Tate's own evaluation he was the "least successful" of their Directors...
as the London Secretary and Theo van Rysselberghe
Théo van Rysselberghe
Théo van Rysselberghe was a Belgian neo-impressionist painter, who played a pivotal role in the European art scene at the turn of the century.-Early years:...
as the Paris secretary, aiming to show artists inspired by Impressionist painters, Claude Monet
Claude Monet
Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...
and Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro was a French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas . His importance resides in his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, as he was the only artist to exhibit in both forms...
. The group ceased three years later.
From 1922 to 1937 he painted regularly in the south of France, interspersed with painting expeditions to Derbyshire, south Wales and Essex.
From 1934 to 1944 he exhibited at the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
in London.
He died on 10 July 1944, in Hewood, Somerset.
The Pissarros' only child, Orovida Camille Pissarro
Orovida Camille Pissarro
Orovida Pissarro , known for most of her life as Orovida, was a British painter and etcher. She was part of a family of artists, including her father Lucien Pissarro and grandfather, the Impressionist Camille Pissarro....
, was also an artist.
Further reading
- Ashmolean Museum, Lucien Pissarro in England: the Eragny Press 1895-1914 (2011)
- M. D. Genz, A History of the Eragny Press 1894-1914 (2004)
- Fine Art Society, Drawings, watercolours, oil paintings, woodcuts and etchings by Lucien Pissarro 1863-1944 (2003)
- N. Reed, Pissarro in west London (1997)
- L. Urbanelli, The wood engravings of Lucien Pissarro ... (1994)
- N. Reed, Pissarro in Essex (1992)
- Canterbury City Council Museums, Lucien Pissarro his influence on English art 1890-1914 (1986)
- A. Thorold, A Catalogue of the oil paintings of Lucien Pissarro (1983)
- J. Bensusan-Butt, Recollections of Lucien Pissarro in his seventies (1977)
- Arts Council, Lucien Pissarro 1863-1944 a centenary exhibition (1963)
- W. S. Meadmore, Lucien Pissarro un coeur simple (1962)
- C. Pissarro, Camille Pissarro, Lettres à son fils Lucien, ed. J. Rewald (Editions Albin Michel, Paris 1950) [English translation: 'Camille Pissarro, Letters to his son Lucien']
- C. Pissarro, Correspondance de Camille Pissarro, ed. J. Bailly-Herzberg (5 vols., Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1980 & Editions du Valhermeil, Paris, 1986-1991) ISBN 2-13-036694-5 - ISBN 2-905-684-05-4 - ISBN 2-905-684-09-7 - ISBN 2-905684-17-8 - ISBN 2-905684-35-6
- L. Pissarro, The letters of Lucien to Camille Pissarro 1883-1903, ed. A. Thorold (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York & Oakleigh, 1993) ISBN 0-521-39034-6