Camille Pissarro

Paul Cassirer, Berlin
Hedwig Cassirer
Anne-Marie Cassirer Lowenberg (by descent from the above)
Marianne Lowenberg Davis (a gift from the above)
Daniel B. Grossman, New York (acquired circa 1983)
E. V. Thaw, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1983

Paris, 28 Avenue de l'Opéra, Quatrième Exposition de peinture, 1879, no. 170
Jerusalem, The Israel Museum & New York, The Jewish Museum, Camille Pissarro: Impressionist Innovator, 1995, no. 47, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Washington D.C., The Phillips Collection (& travelling in the USA), Impressionists in Winter: Effets de Neige, 1998-99, no. 41, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
New York, The Museum of Modern Art; Los Angeles, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art & Paris, Musée d'Orsay, Pioneering Modern Painting: Cézanne and Pissarro 1865-1885, 2006, no. 42, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

John Rewald, The Paintings of Paul Cézanne, A Catalogue Raisonné, London, 1996, vol. I, illustrated p. 162
Joachim Pissarro & Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts, Pissarro, Critical Catalogue of Paintings, Milan, 2005, vol. II, no. 394, illustrated in colour p. 295

The canvas is lined. UV examination reveals a short vertical line of retouching to the upper left corner. There are some fine lines of craquelure and minor paint shrinkage in places. Otherwise this work is in overall good condition. Colours: fairly accurate in the printed catalogue, though overall slightly more subtle in the original and more green/blue to the clouds in the sky.
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La maison sous la neige, Pontoise, circa 1874, is a charming depiction of a snowy country lane in the small hamlet of l’Hermitage, on the outskirts of Pontoise. Paul Cézanne’s painting Maison et arbre, quartier de l'Hermitage, of the same view and year, offers a fascinating insight into the great artistic influence the two artists had on each other during this period, as well as being testament to their lively friendship. The fact that Pissarro’s version is illustrated in the Cézanne catalogue raisonné is further proof of the work’s art historical importance. The painting is also a wonderful example of one of the most loved and desired subjects of Impressionism, the winter landscape and much celebrated effets de neige. Quite apart from being extremely appealing images, these Impressionist snowscapes ‘go to the heart of one of the central issues of Impressionism, a dedication to painting specific effects of weather and light that is unprecedented in the history of art’ (Eliza E. Rathbone, in Impressionists in Winter, Effets de Neige (exhibition catalogue), op. cit., p. 9). The attraction to the subject of snow lay mainly in the Impressionist obsession with winter light: as the jewel-like palette of the present work demonstrates, the pure white of snow highlights any existing accents of colour in the landscape, as well as reflecting the pinks of the sun on a crisp day.

The present work was probably executed during the winter of 1874-1875, the end of an important year that saw Pissarro (along with Monet, Degas, Renoir, Morisot and others) put on a show at the photographer Nadar’s studio which is now recognised as the first ever Impressionist exhibition. Indeed, Richard Brettell has argued that ‘the 1870s are at the very core of Pissarro’s career’ and that it was ‘in that decade that he became an Impressionist, severing, at least partially, his strong links with French artists of the nineteenth century and working more fervently with the young rebels whom he had met at the Académie Suisse and the Café Guerbois in the early 1860s. By 1869, Monet had supplanted Corot as the touchstone against which to measure his achievement.’ He goes on to comment that ‘students of Monet have observed the important shifts in his style during the period between 1868 and 1880, and [that] many of the same shifts can be found in the contemporary paintings of Pissarro’ (R. Brettell, ‘Camille Pissarro: A revision’, Pissarro (exhibition catalogue), Hayward Gallery, London, 1980-81, p. 16.)

The beautifully rich and varied palette of the present work deserves a particular mention. The close of an icy winter’s day might ordinarily evoke rather bleak imagery, but here the sun has broken through the blue-grey sky, bathing the side of the right-hand house in a glorious peach-hued glow. This soothing light effect is complemented by the easy intimacy of local life. While many of Pissarro’s Impressionist contemporaries added figures as a superficial compositional device, or as an afterthought to their landscape paintings, for Pissarro they played a central role. In the present work, a couple walk arm in arm in quiet companionship, clinging onto each other to support one another and keep warm. A man follows behind them carrying a large bundle: this is a true and delightfully intimate portrait of everyday life in a close-knit rural community. Katherine Rothkopf has praised the way that Pissarro has here resisted the temptation ‘of producing a more typically picturesque view of a farm house with the expanse of land in the distance’ and placed importance on the way that he ‘has instead focussed on the cramped yet seemingly cosy living arrangements in this small village’ (K. Rothkopf, in Impressionists in Winter, Effets de Neige (exhibition catalogue), op. cit., p. 154).

It has been argued that ‘of all the Impressionists, three artists were particularly drawn to paint effets de neige: Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and Camille Pissarro’ (E. Rathbone, op. cit., p. 9). It was these artists' extraordinary sensitivity to the most subtle effects of climate or light that rendered them such masters in their field, and which made the depiction of snow and its effects such an enduringly appealing subject matter for them. The present work is a veritable celebration of nuance, an ode to light, tone and form. The whole scene is imbued with a meditative air of calm and magic, a snapshot of muffled conversations between loved ones, making the daily route home, snow crunching underfoot. The closed composition of the narrow lane is framed by the pink-tinged buildings and charming purple shutters, emerging behind the magnificent arabesque forms of the leafless walnut tree branches. La maison sous la neige, Pontoise invites the viewer to find beauty in the everyday, to appreciate the intimacy of the familiar, and to delight in the atmosphere that precedes that most magical time of day, winter dusk. All of this is enhanced, of course, by the profound and quiet presence of the glistening snow.