Camille Pissarro
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Camille Pissarro (July 10 1830 – November 13 1903) was a French Impressionist painter.
Camille Jacob Pissarro was born in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas to Abraham Gabriel Pissarro, a Portuguese Sephardic Jew, and Rachel Manzano-Pomié, from the Dominican Republic. Pissarro lived in St. Thomas until age 12, when he went to a boarding school in Paris. He returned to St. Thomas where he drew in his free time. Pissarro was attracted to political Anarchy, an attraction that may have originated during his years in St. Thomas. In 1852, he travelled to Venezuela with the Danish artist Fritz Melbye. In 1855, he moved to Paris, where he studied with the French landscape artist Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot.
Camille Pissarro married Julie Vellay, a maid of his mother's household. Julie was much younger than Pissarro when the two met. They would marry ten years later after their initial meeting. Of their eight children together, one died at birth and a daughter died when nine. The surviving children all painted, and Lucien, the oldest son, became a follower of William Morris.
Known as the Father of Impressionism, Pissarro painted rural French life, particularly landscapes and workers in the fields as well as scenes from Montmartre. He was a mentor to Paul Cezanne and Paul Gauguin and his example inspired many younger artists, including Californian Impressionist Lucy Bacon.
His influence on the Impressionists is probably still underrated; not only were many of the ideas his own, but he also managed to remain on friendly, mutually respectful terms with such difficult personalities as Edgar Degas, Cézanne and Gauguin. Pissarro exhibited at all eight of the Impressionist exhibitions. Moreover, whereas Monet was the most prolific and emblematic practitioner of the Impressionist style, Pissarro may have been the main thinker in the development of Impressionist theory.
Probably the strength of Pissarro's mind led him to experiment with Neo-Impressionist ideas between 1885 and 1890. Discontent with what he now referred to as "romantic Impressionism", he investigated Pointillism which he called "scientific Impressionism" before returning to a more pure Impressionism in the last decade of his life.
In March 1893, Paris Gallery Durand-Ruel organized a major exhibition of 46 of Pissarro's works along with 55 others by Antonio de La Gandara. But while the critics acclaimed Gandara, their appraisal of Pissarro's art was less enthusiastic.Pissarro died in Éragny-sur-Epte on either November 12 or November 13, 1903 and was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
During his lifetime, Camille Pissarro sold few of his paintings. By 2005, however, some Pissarro paintings sold for around U.S. $4 million.
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