Camille Pissarro (redirected from Camille Pissaro)

Pissarro, Camille 

Born July 10, 1831, on the island of St. Thomas, in the West Indies; died Nov. 12, 1903, in Paris. French painter, one of the founders of impressionism.

Pissarro, who studied at the Académie Suisse in Paris from 1855 to 1861, was influenced by J. Constable, C. Corot, and J. F. Millet. Painting such modest subjects as rural landscapes and scenes of suburbs and boulevards, Pissarro revealed the charm and poetry of everyday objects and unveiled the inner aesthetic and spiritual qualities of what at first glance seem to be ordinary events in nature and in the life of man (Diligence à Louvesiennes, 1870; Museum of Impressionism, Paris). With a special subtlety, the artist masterfully rendered the transparency and moistness of air and the impression of rain that has just fallen or is approaching. At the same time, Pissarro preferred a more finished and more structured composition than most impressionists. He also gave more volume and definition to his forms. These features are evident in the works Plowed Earth (1874, A. S. Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow) and Boulevard Montmartre (1897, Hermitage, Leningrad).

In the late 1880’s, Pissarro became influenced by neo-impressionism. He produced drawings, watercolors, etchings, and lithographs. Playing a leading role in the impressionist movement, Pissarro exerted a profound moral and artistic influence on his fellow impressionists and on artists of the younger generation. Politically, he was close to the left-wing movement.

REFERENCES

Iudenich, I. V. Peizazhi Pissarro v Ermitazhe. Leningrad, 1963.
Kamil’ Pissarro: Pis’ma, kritika, vospominaniia sovremennikov. Moscow, 1974. [Translated from French. Introductory article, compilation and notes by K. G. Bogemskaia.]
Pissarro, L. R., and L. Venturi. Camille Pissarro, son art, son oeuvre, vols. 1–2. Paris, 1940.
Rewald, J. Camille Pissarro. New York, 1963.

V. A. KALMYKOV