conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me a description for a story titled Camille Pissarro about French, Camille, Impressionist with the genre: Arts & Photography, History & Criticism.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: This gorgeously illustrated, major reassessment of Camille the author (1830-1903) makes a persuasive case for his pivotal role as a technical innovator in the Impressionist movement. Art historian and curator the author, the artist's great-grandson, interprets the French painter's career as a quest for autonomy embracing constantly evolving techniques in an effort to capture ever-changing reality. Born in the Virgin Islands to a French family descended from Portuguese Marranos (Jews forcibly converted to Christianity who practiced their original faith in secret), the author became a free-thinking anarchist and married Julie Vellay, a servant in his parents' Parisian home. The author's masterful, loving analysis of the paintings argues forcefully against interpreting them as a reflection of the author's political outlook, as modern critics have done. Lovers of French Impressionism will want to own this story, which includes many works never before reproduced. BOMC divided selection. <BR>Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me the first paragraph for this story.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Camille Pissarro
  The young men who would become the Impressionists formed a group in the early 1860s. Claude Monet, son of a Le Havre shopkeeper, Frédéric Bazille, son of a wealthy Montpellier family, Alfred Sisley, son of an English family living in France, and Auguste Renoir, son of a Parisian tailor had all come to study painting in the independent studio of Charles Gleyre, whom in their view was the only teacher who truly personified neo-classical painting.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me four more paragraphs.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Many years later, the elder Renoir spoke enthusiastically about this period to his son. "The intransigents wanted to put their immediate impressions on canvas, without any translation," writes Jean Renoir. "Official painting, imitating imitations of the masters, was dead.
  Gleyre's illness was not the only reason the formal training of the Impressionists came to an end. In all likelihood they felt that they had learned everything their teacher was capable of teaching them during the time they had already spent in the studio. They were young and full of enthusiasm. Ideas about a new modern art made them want to get out of the studio as soon as possible to immerse themselves in real life and its vitality. On their way home from Gleyre's studio, Bazille, Monet, Sisley and Renoir stopped at the Closerie des Lilas, a café on the corner of boulevard Montparnasse and avenue de l'Observatoire, where they had long discussions about the future direction of painting. Bazille brought along his new friend, , who was a few years older than the others. The members of this small group called themselves the "intransigents" and together they dreamed of a new Renaissance.
  At Paul Durand-Ruel's request, Pissarro summarised his own biography in the following way: "Born at St. Thomas (Danish Antilles) on 10 July 1830. Came to Paris in 1841 to enrol in the Savary boarding school in Passy. In 1847 I returned to St. Thomas, where I began to draw while employed in a business firm. In 1852 I gave up business and left with Mr Fritz Melbye, a Danish painter, for Caracas (Venezuela), where I lived until 1855. I returned to St. Thomas to work in business. I finally returned to France at the end of 1855 in time to see the Paris Universal Exhibition.
  Since then I have settled in France, and as for the rest of my life as a painter, it is linked with the Impressionist group" (L. Venturi, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 24-25). This "rest" of the painter's biography consists of his entire life, which was inseparable from Impressionism. Without this, the story of Pissarro's life would have simply been a commonplace one, typical of all painters, or nearly so.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me the last five paragraphs.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Pissarro was convinced of the need for his group of friends to carve out an independent niche. Among the future Impressionists he was one of the most courageous. "You are right, my friend, we are beginning to have an impact," he wrote to Théodore Duret in February 1873, "we are being strongly challenged by some of the established masters, but should these differences of opinion come as any surprise, when one arrives, uninvited, and plants one's modest flag in the middle of the fracas? (...) We hope to forge ahead without concern for the opinions of others" (L. Venturi, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 36). In 1874 Pissarro took an active part in organising their first exhibition. During discussions over its organization he insisted on the need for creating a cooperative. As an example he proposed the bylaws of the bakers' union, which he had learned of in Pontoise. He also proposed a system in which each of the painters would be well positioned when the time came to hang the paintings. To avoid conflicts Pissarro thought it necessary to determine by lot where each painting would be hung. But all these proposals were rejected: they seemed too radical to the other painters.
  Pissarro dearly loved Paris, and visited when he could, but his poverty and his work with rural landscapes kept the family in the provinces. They had seven children, and later lost one of their daughters. Country life was far less expensive and the painter's wife made things somewhat easier by growing vegetables and raising hens and rabbits. Despite his indigence, Pissarro remained the same with his friends. Life had done its best to break him, yet he continued to be the heart and soul of the clan, "Old Man Pissarro", and he was always ready to offer help. When he received a "sad and kind" letter from Monet in Pontoise, lamenting the trouble he was having selling his paintings, Pissarro replied that, although "my patch of land is small and my cupboard is bare," he would be happy to let Monet know if he learned of any good opportunities. In 1882 the Pissarro family moved to the small village of Osny, about five kilometres from Pontoise, where they could live even more simply.
  The painter believed his financial situation was somewhat stable now. "I'm not being 'showered with gold,' as the romantics say," he wrote to Duret. "I'm enjoying the fruits of modest, but consistent sales" (L. Venturi, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 62). In September he even decided to make a journey through the Aube region and the Côte d'Or, hoping to find new motifs: "Old towers, churches, and old houses with a romantic air about them – these would be extremely interesting to do with our fine modern eye" he wrote (L. Venturi, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 62). In 1884 Pissarro again moved a bit farther north to Éragny on the Epte River, this same little river on whose banks sat Claude Monet's Giverny. He settled into a very large but simple farmhouse right on the river bank, facing the village of Bazincourt. The meadows and gently sloping hills of Éragny served as Pissarro's "studio", as did the meadows of Giverny for Claude Monet. Like all the Impressionists Pissarro worked devotedly, in the rain as well as on days with frost, waiting long hours for the atmospheric phenomenon he needed. Catastrophic weather was often a source of delight for the painter. "I won't have the chance to finish my two P [paintings]," he wrote to Durand-Ruel, "I'm not seeing the hoarfrost effects: on the other hand I've had some superb flooding, but it's gone so fast !" (L. Venturi, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 39).
  No matter what Pissarro's attitude might be towards his motif, it remained that of an Impressionist and the role of weather was in no way least important for him. "The Sun ! It's a rare delicacy at the moment. The canvases I've begun with this effect are back in my crate waiting for it to clear up, but the effects of rain never stop" he wrote from Rouen, "there are even times when I have to keep my windows closed!" (L. Venturi, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 41). For an Impressionist painter, painting a landscape from a window was the same as working in the open air.
  In 1885 Pissarro met Seurat and Signac. For a short interval he and his son Lucien adhered to their "pointillist", "neo-Impressionist style," and both began to paint using small, juxtaposed touches of colour. In the beginning Pissarro was captivated by the way Seurat tackled the lessons of classical art and the science of colour. Pissarro was a man of many enthusiasms, and remained young all his life because of his temperament. He painted a whole series of Pointillist works in the manner of Seurat and Signac, but in 1888 he began to caution Signac about the dangers of following "Pointillism" blindly. He advised him to make use of science, which belonged to everyone, but to preserve his artist's sensibility. He knew it would be impossible to change Seurat's view of the correctness of his new system of painting, and that the issues Seurat was raising would assuredly be dealt with. Still, "Old Man Pissarro" had too much respect for Signac not to try to warn him. Pissarro was convinced that creativity was superior to theory. On that basis he came to the conclusion that "Pointillism" wasn't right for him, since the impression it produced had a lifeless monotony to it.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the last sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Pissarro was convinced of the need for his group of friends to carve out an independent niche. Among the future Impressionists he was one of the most courageous. "You are right, my friend, we are beginning to have an impact," he wrote to Théodore Duret in February 1873, "we are being strongly challenged by some of the established masters, but should these differences of opinion come as any surprise, when one arrives, uninvited, and plants one's modest flag in the middle of the fracas? (...) We hope to forge ahead without concern for the opinions of others" (L. Venturi, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 36). In 1874 Pissarro took an active part in organising their first exhibition. During discussions over its organization he insisted on the need for creating a cooperative. As an example he proposed the bylaws of the bakers' union, which he had learned of in Pontoise. He also proposed a system in which each of the painters would be well positioned when the time came to hang the paintings. To avoid conflicts Pissarro thought it necessary to determine by lot where each painting would be hung. But all these proposals were rejected: they seemed too radical to the other painters.
  Pissarro dearly loved Paris, and visited when he could, but his poverty and his work with rural landscapes kept the family in the provinces. They had seven children, and later lost one of their daughters. Country life was far less expensive and the painter's wife made things somewhat easier by growing vegetables and raising hens and rabbits. Despite his indigence, Pissarro remained the same with his friends. Life had done its best to break him, yet he continued to be the heart and soul of the clan, "Old Man Pissarro", and he was always ready to offer help. When he received a "sad and kind" letter from Monet in Pontoise, lamenting the trouble he was having selling his paintings, Pissarro replied that, although "my patch of land is small and my cupboard is bare," he would be happy to let Monet know if he learned of any good opportunities. In 1882 the Pissarro family moved to the small village of Osny, about five kilometres from Pontoise, where they could live even more simply.
  The painter believed his financial situation was somewhat stable now. "I'm not being 'showered with gold,' as the romantics say," he wrote to Duret. "I'm enjoying the fruits of modest, but consistent sales" (L. Venturi, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 62). In September he even decided to make a journey through the Aube region and the Côte d'Or, hoping to find new motifs: "Old towers, churches, and old houses with a romantic air about them – these would be extremely interesting to do with our fine modern eye" he wrote (L. Venturi, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 62). In 1884 Pissarro again moved a bit farther north to Éragny on the Epte River, this same little river on whose banks sat Claude Monet's Giverny. He settled into a very large but simple farmhouse right on the river bank, facing the village of Bazincourt. The meadows and gently sloping hills of Éragny served as Pissarro's "studio", as did the meadows of Giverny for Claude Monet. Like all the Impressionists Pissarro worked devotedly, in the rain as well as on days with frost, waiting long hours for the atmospheric phenomenon he needed. Catastrophic weather was often a source of delight for the painter. "I won't have the chance to finish my two P [paintings]," he wrote to Durand-Ruel, "I'm not seeing the hoarfrost effects: on the other hand I've had some superb flooding, but it's gone so fast !" (L. Venturi, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 39).
  No matter what Pissarro's attitude might be towards his motif, it remained that of an Impressionist and the role of weather was in no way least important for him. "The Sun ! It's a rare delicacy at the moment. The canvases I've begun with this effect are back in my crate waiting for it to clear up, but the effects of rain never stop" he wrote from Rouen, "there are even times when I have to keep my windows closed!" (L. Venturi, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 41). For an Impressionist painter, painting a landscape from a window was the same as working in the open air.
  In 1885 Pissarro met Seurat and Signac. For a short interval he and his son Lucien adhered to their "pointillist", "neo-Impressionist style," and both began to paint using small, juxtaposed touches of colour. In the beginning Pissarro was captivated by the way Seurat tackled the lessons of classical art and the science of colour. Pissarro was a man of many enthusiasms, and remained young all his life because of his temperament. He painted a whole series of Pointillist works in the manner of Seurat and Signac, but in 1888 he began to caution Signac about the dangers of following "Pointillism" blindly. He advised him to make use of science, which belonged to everyone, but to preserve his artist's sensibility. He knew it would be impossible to change Seurat's view of the correctness of his new system of painting, and that the issues Seurat was raising would assuredly be dealt with. Still, "Old Man Pissarro" had too much respect for Signac not to try to warn him. Pissarro was convinced that creativity was superior to theory.