Camille Pissarro, The Haymakers, 1890

Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)
The Haymakers, 1890
Etching numbered 17/100
Stamped "Atelier C. Pissarro" in the plate
Annotations in the lower margin (D 94)
19.9 x 13.2 cm
Provenance: Claude Bonin-Pissarro

Camille Pissarro and Engraving

Considered to be the "father of the Impressionists," Camille Pissarro was a tireless worker who constantly questioned himself. Paul Cézanne, one of his friends, stated: "Perhaps we all come from Pissarro (...). He is the first Impressionist." Pissarro began engraving in the early 1860s, primarily under the influence of a movement of painter-engravers known as "the revival of etching." Along with Degas, he was the Impressionist who took the most serious interest in printmaking: the two men introduced intaglio into their practice very early on. Their collaboration resulted in a body of prints whose experimental nature marked a turning point in the history of art.

Unwittingly, Degas and Pissarro created, with the "original" print, an art object accessible to all. After 1890, having joined the social struggle to anarchist ideals, Camille Pissarro sought to combine his printmaking practice with his convictions. According to Michel Melot, he "found in printmaking the medium that could offer the unique to all and the best for all." Unlike painting, printing preserves the memory of the "states" destined to disappear. For Pissarro, each "state" is considered a finished work.

According to Christophe Duvivier, "Pissarro innovates knowing that he will not be understood by dealers or print collectors." He speaks of an "artistic sensation" or even "engraved impressions." Through engraving, Pissarro pursues his research into various techniques. Thus, engraving reveals itself to the Impressionist painter as an experimental laboratory that contributes to his evolution during the last twenty-five years of his career. Pissarro, as Jean Leymarie notes, is, along with Degas, "the most prolific engraver of the Impressionists and the most Impressionist of engravers."

Finally, according to Charles Kunstler, "Camille Pissarro left a large number of plates—nearly 200—most of which command admiration for their transparency, their keen observation of nature, and the richness and originality of their technique." Almost unknown during his lifetime, Pissarro's engraved work was revealed to the general public in 1923, twenty years after the master's death, when the catalogue of his prints was published. A century later, the gallery has the honor of bringing this exceptional body of work back into the spotlight, which places its author among the greatest engravers in the history of art.