You're thinking: "No way is Camille Pissarro, one of the leading figures of the French Impressionists, in the Mixed experience?" But it's true.
Camille Pissarro was born in 1830 in the Danish West Indies. His father was of Jewish and Portuguese descent and his mother was Creole. Because his father had married outside of his faith, Pissarro and his siblings were forced to go to the all-black primary school. For secondary school, Pissarro's father sent him to study in France. There Pissarro developed an interest in the French art masters.
At 17 he returned to St. Thomas and practiced drawing from nature. At 21, Pissarro became the student and mentee of the Danish artist Fritz Melbye, and moved to Caracas, Venezuela to pursue his art. In 1855, he returned to France where he continued his studies.
In 1859, his first painting was displayed at the Paris Salon. That same year, while taking classes, Pissarro met the younger artists: Claude Monet and Paul Cezanne among others.
Pissarro married Julie Vellay with whom he had eight children.
Because of the Franco Prussian War, Pissarro was forced to flee to London with his family. Upon his return, he discovered that all but a few dozen of his paintings had been destroyed by soldiers.
In 1874, Pissarro along with his friends established an independent exhibition. These artists are known as the Impressionists. Pissarro constantly tried out the new styles in art. In 1885, he started painting in the style known as pointillism.
Pissarro died in Paris in 1903; he had sold few of his oil paintings.In the late 1889, Pissarro wrote to a relative that he thought his lack of recognition was, in part, due to his race: '…a matter of race, probably. Until now, no Jew has made art here, or rather no Jew has searched to make a disinterested and truly felt art. I believethat this could be one of the causes of my bad luck...'.
Today, some of his paintings sell for up to $4 million.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by writer Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to show that there is a long history of achievements of those involved in the Mixed experience. Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog! Thanks for reading. And check out some of the previous year's profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010.
Recent Comments