Camille Pissarro

Original Prints: Etchings and Lithographs

 

One of the founding fathers of impressionism, Camille Pissarro (1830 - 1903) was also the most devoted of the impressionists to printmaking.

In the span of nearly 40 years, he produced over two hundred works in the different media, with a clear predilection for etching.

Although he had constant difficulties in selling his etchings, and the most part were never even editioned in his lifetime, he delighted in elaborating a veritable cuisine of the various techniques, some of which he pioneered, in order to capture the subtle effects of light and atmosphere.

Camille Pissarro, Portrait de Cezanne, etching

Portrait de Cezanne

Portrait of Cezanne

Delteil 13, Leymarie & Melot 13

etching, 1874, only known state

In 1872, Cezanne settled at Auvers-sur-Oise, where he was to work closely with Pissarro, in a friendship evoked by this ruggedly skillful portrait.

       

Camille Pissarro, Rue Damiette, Rouen, etching

La Rue Damiette à Rouen

Rue Damiette in Rouen

Delteil 52, Leymarie & Melot 52

etching, 1884, the extremely rare 1st state (of two), before extensive reworking

Pissarro's later prints of the Rouen series show rich effects of acid wash, here throwing a narrow street of the old town into deep shade, with the cathedral towering in the background.

     

Camille Pissarro, La Sarcleuse, etching with drypoint, circa 1887-88

La Sarcleuse

Woman Weeding

Delteil 72, Leymarie & Melot 71

etching with drypoint, 1887 (?), the 2nd state (of two), from the rare edition of only 12 impressions made during Pissarro's lifetime

Having settled in Éragny in 1884, Pissarro soon became a keen observer of everyday life in the countryside, here a young farmwoman bent over in an audacious pose, diligently weeding a garden plot.

     

Camille Pissarro, Vachère au Bord de l'Eau, etching with drypoint, ca. 1887

Vachère au Bord de l'Eau

Tending Cows at the Waterside

Delteil 93, Leymarie & Melot 93

etching with drypoint, 1890, a superb impression of the exceedingly rare, if not unique, 4th state (of eight)

Pissarro made considerable efforts in finalizing this print, even if he never completed an edition in his lifetime;  it is furthermore one of his most well-known etchings, as it was subsequenty published years later in the Gazette des Beaux Arts, May 1904.

     

Pissarro, Paysans portant du Foin, drypoint

Paysans portant du Foin

Peasants carrying Hay

Delteil 126, Leymarie & Melot 127

drypoint engraving, 1900, the extremely rare 1st state (of seven?), before extensive reworking

Pissarro's last engraving, one of the everyday country scenes that he held dear, shows the ease with which he would boldly lay out the subject with drypoint, here in a remarkable working proof with rich burr.

     

Pissarro, Porteuses de Fagots, lithograph

Porteuses de Fagots

Women bearing Faggots of Kindling

Delteil 153, Leymarie & Melot 174

lithograph, 1896, the only known state

Pissarro's long-standing sympathies for the rural proletariat, together with his political commitment to socialist movements, are joined in this fine print, which was a notable contribution to Jean Grave's anarchist journal, Les Temps Nouveaux.

Pissarro, Porteuses de Fagots, lithograph      Pissarro, Porteuses de Fagots, lithograph (image)

Camille Pissarro,Femme portant une Corbeille, relief zincography, ca. 1900

Paysanne portant une Corbeille

Peasant Woman carrying a Basket

Delteil n.d., Leymarie & Melot n.d., Cailac 196 (the revised edition of Delteil's catalogue raisonné; Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1999)

Relief zincography, circa 1900 (?), the only known state, a working proof of an experimental printmaking technique, of the utmost rarity

According to Jean Cailac (the expert who directed the artist's Atelier sales in 1928 and 1929, and who first described this rare print therein), Pissarro explored new techniques of printmaking with his son, Lucien, at the time Lucien was engaged in making woodcuts for the collaborative series Travaux des Champs.

Pissarro, Porteuses de Fagots, lithograph      Pissarro, Porteuses de Fagots, lithograph (image)  next artist  >