Pissarro Self Portrait 1898

Pissarro's People takes a look at the figure painting of Camille Pissarro 1830-1903. This exhibition explores Pissarro's family ties, his friendships, and his involvement with social and political theories of this time.

Pissarro took an active interest in radical social and economic theory of the late 19th century. His paintings with figures reflect this interest. Pissarro often painted subjects which were far different from his peers. Among the French Impressionists, he is unique. Only Pissarro used his art to elevate the dignity of his subjects, showing a respect for common domestic maidservants or

post impressionistic pointillists, Georges Seurat and Paul Signac. Part of what drove Pissarro's embracing of pointillism was his feeling that he wanted to break out of an "artistic mire." He returned to themes and subjects he had known during his youth in Venezuela, painting peasants who worked hard at making a living. He wanted to “educate the public” by painting people at work or at home in realistic settings, without idealizing their lives.

The last years of Pissarro's artistic life, he abandoned pointillism. He would return to his impressionist roots, although with a refined palette and a greater attention to detail in drawing.

Under the subtitle, "Fanciful Artist," here’s what the SF Call's column "Talk of the Town and Topics of the Times" found fit to print.
--- Fanciful Artist ---
“A well known art critic in the East has written the following trite review of the work of a famous painter of the impressionistic school:

“Camille Pissarro, the French painter, who died recently in Paris at the age of 73, was a native of the French Antilles, but went to France at an early age. He was a favorite pupil of Corot, but about thirty years ago he became one of the leaders of the impressionistic school. Pissarro’s early work was idealistic, as was natural to one who learned of Corot, but his later development would have much amazed that soul of simplicity and poetic vision. With Monet and Sisley he led the vagary of restlessness and discomfort, with nature in theatrical poses, trees as tremulous as reeds, water on the verge of catching fire, buildings as fragile as dreams, and the earth as hysterical *phantasmagoria. Pissarro was neither so able as Monet nor so incoherent as Sisley, but he made one note in the cacophony of so-called ‘impressionism.’”

(*phantasmagoria ... a shifting series of phantasms, illusions, or deceptive appearances, as in a dream or as created by the imagination.)

San Francisco's de Young hosts
Masters of Venice:
Renaissance Painters of Passion and Power
from the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Mantegna 1431 - 1506 Andrea Mantegna is credited with introducing spatial illusionism. By experimenting with perspective, such as lowering the horizon, he created a sense of greater monumentality in his subjects, much as one would experience looking at a statue on a pedestal. This is a skill he learned from his teacher, the sculptor Donatello, who taught him how to paint anatomically correct figures and how to compose figures with an accurate perspective view.

Giorgione c1477-1510 was born born Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco. Only six of his paintings are acknowledged to survive today. Not much is known of his short life of 33 years and he remains one of

the most mysterious figures in European painting. In 1500, he was a most successful twenty-three year old, commissioned to paint the portrait of Doge Agostino Barbarigo, the same year he met Leonardo da Vinci.

All accounts of Giorgione report him to have been a romantic, a great lover, musician, and given to artistic tastes for sensuous and imaginative grace. It is believed that Giorgione was Titian's master and that he died in the plague of 1510.

Titian 1488 - 1576 His real name was Tiziano Vecellio, but little is known as Titian. He was prolific and lived into his late 80's. Today, he is revered as the greatest Venetian artist of the 16th century. His works are noted for their remarkable use of color. His style was influential for over a hundred years, well into the 17th century. He produced paintings in a variety of genres, altar pieces, portraits, mythologies, and pastoral landscapes with figures. He died in the plague of 1576, and was the only victim of that plague to receive a church funeral.

San Francisco
Legion of Honor
Dutch and Flemish Masterworks
from the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection
through October 2, 2011
Pissarro's People
Opening Oct 22 - Jan 22

Oakland
Oakland Museum of California
May 1, 2010 - Dec 2 A Walk in the Wild:
Continuing John Muir's Journey
Aug 6, 2011 - Jan 22, 2012
Gallery of California Art 800 works from the OMCA's collecton

San Francisco
Chinese Historical Society of America
Finding Jake Lee: The Paintings at Kan’s
Extended due to Popular Demand
See our April '11 newsletter article
and your Jake Lee page

Ukiah
Grace Hudson Museum
MEADOWS AND MOUNTAINS:
THE ART OF WILLIAM F. JACKSON
through Sep 25
ALSO SHOWING: THE LANDSCAPE SKETCHES OF GRACE CARPENTER HUDSON
http://www.gracehudsonmuseum.org

Monterey
Monterey Museum of Art
Gottardo Piazzoni’s Final Murals
April 27, 2011 - December 2012
Edward Weston: American Photographer
through Oct 2
The Art of California, 1880 to the Present
through Oct 23
California Artists and Portraiture
through Jan 8, 2012
http://www.montereyart.org

Belmont
Peninsula Museum of Art
“Alexander Nepote”
through Dec 18
See our Nepote Page

Palm Springs
Palm Springs Art Museum
Simply Masterful: Picasso and Artists of the Modern Era
Through Sept 4, McCALLUM WING
Western and Native American Art
from the Permanent Collection
Reopening with new selections Oct 18, 2011 / Combining traditional and contemporary artworks, this installation presents a complex blend of cultures, landscapes, historical forces and artistic traditions that both inform and challenge our ever evolving notion of the West.

Oceanside
Museum of Art
METAMORPHORES: Marianela de la Hoz
July 2 - October 9, 2011
WE CAN WORK IT OUT: Becky Guttin
October 1 - Jan 5

Portland, OR
Portland Art Museum
Permanent Collection: American Art