Camille Pissarro

Wilhelm Hansen, Copenhagen (acquired in 1918)

Kojiro Matsukata, Tokyo and Kobé (acquired from the above in 1923)

The 15th Bank, Japan (1927-28)

Kyuzaemon Wada, Osaka

Fujikawa Galleries, Tokyo (acquired in 1971 and until 1974)

Private Collection, Japan

Tokyo, National Museum of Western Art, Selected Masterpieces from the Matsukata Collection, 1960

Ludovic Rodo Pissarro and Lionello Venturi, Camille Pissarro, Son Art-Son Oeuvre, vol. I, Paris, 1939, no. 1249, catalogued p. 254; vol. II, no. 1249, illustrated pl. 244

The Old Matsukata Collection, Kobé, 1990, no. 1198, illustrated p. 322

Richard R. Brettell and Joachim Pissarro, The Impressionist and the City: Pissarro's Series Paintings, New Haven, 1993, no. 143, illustrated p. 191

Wirenfeldt Asmussen, Wilhelm Hansen's Original French Collection at Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen, 1993, no. 59, illustrated p. 211

During his last years, Pissarro embarked on two series featuring the French port of Dieppe on the English Channel. His first series, completed in the summer of 1901, focused primarily on the market surrounding the Church of Saint-Jacques, the subject of many vibrant compositions (see fig. 1). The artist formed many friendships in Dieppe during his sojourn there, and returned the following year. Created as part of his second series, La Poissonerie à Dieppe depicts the bustling activity that lured the artist to this coastal town. In a letter dated July 8, 1902, he explained, "I leave tomorrow for Dieppe to look for a hotel there; Dieppe is a wonderful place for a painter who enjoys life, movement, colour. I have some friends there and I know the motifs I would like to do. In spite of the dense crowds, I have decided to go back there again this year" (quoted in Richard R. Brettell and Joachim Pissarro, The Impressionist and the City: Pissarro's Series Paintings (exhibition catalogue), Dallas Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1992-93, p. 181). Pissarro settled at the Hôtel du Commerce and also rented a room at 7 Arcades de la Poissonerie, where he painted the present work. These locations provided him with alternate vantage points of the seaport, and a wide choice of compositional variations.

The Quai de la Poissonerie, depicted in the present painting, provided the artist with a rich source of visual imagery: the fishmarket attracted many visitors from neighboring towns, and passengers crowded along the bank to board steamboats and ferries to England. The railway also ended there, and Pissarro occasionally featured a steam train in his compositions (see fig. 2). Here the impending arrival of the train is suggested by lines of passengers. As noted in The Impressionist and the City by Richard Brettell and Joachim Pissarro, "The railway ends on the Quai de la Poissonerie, on the edge of the harbours, by the fishmarket. Out of the train pour people from inland. The space nearby is wide open; the people are free to form any configuration and are depicted in lines, in groups, in circles, one by one, en masse. They work, shop, gaze, fish, queue, chat, wait, stroll, pass by, merge...[T]he artist's gaze surrounds the whole harbour, cuts through it, lays down his own pictorial boundaries and edits while he paints. Yet, from one compartment to the next, from one dock to the other, from one picture to another, things flow - the passage of communication works" (Richard R. Brettell and Joachim Pissarro, The Impressionist and the City: Pissarro's Series Paintings (exhibition catalogue), Dallas Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1992-93, p. 182).

La Poissonerie à Dieppe depicts the sweeping view from Pissarro's window, and reflects the artist's skillful orchestration of compositional devices. The latitudinal organization of the composition gently guides the eye from left to right, from the gaping entrance of the market to the crowded bank along the water. Then, following the acute angle formed by the channel, the viewer's gaze is soon drawn around and back to the neat row of buildings and the steamship docked in the harbor. Pissarro dedicated nearly half the canvas to the sky and clouds above the town, their movement complementing the busy marketplace below. Although the street scene is restricted to the lower portion of the picture plane, Pissarro's vantage point actually emphasizes the flurry of activity surrounding the market and the port.

As in earlier works, the present painting reflects Pissarro's concern for capturing the changing effects of light and weather. On August 11, 1902, the artist described his second Dieppe series to his son Lucien: "My motifs are very beautiful, the fishmarket, the inner harbour, the Duquesne port, the village of Le Pollet...in the rain, sun and smoke" (quoted in Richard R. Brettell and Joachim Pissarro, The Impressionist and the City: Pissarro's Series Paintings (exhibition catalogue), Dallas Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1992-93, p. 181). The dappled effect of sunlight on the street and façades of the buildings endows the composition with a warm glow, which is echoed in the rosy hues of the smoke, rising and merging with the passing clouds. Each element of the composition is rendered with equal care, reflecting Pissarro's mastery of his technique at the end of his career.  Moreover, the juxtaposition of market-goers and the steamship combine two of Pissarro's primary concerns throughout the years; the former represents his interest in humanity and provincial ways of life, while the latter is indicative of his fascination with industrial growth and rapidly changing cityscapes (see fig. 3) - an appropriate juxtaposition for one of the artist's last great canvases.

La Poissonerie à Dieppe was at one time in the collection of Japanese collector Kojiro Matsukata, a politician and wealthy businessman whose interests extended to the newpaper and shipbuilding industries. Soon after the beginning of World War I, profits from Matsukata's shipbuilding interests allowed him to travel extensively through Europe, collecting works of art along the way. Upon his return to Japan, it became his mission to promote the accessibility of western art. The Matsukata Collection was seized by France during the second World War, but part of it was eventually restituted to Japan as part of the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1959. Many works of art from the collection are now exhibited in the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo.

Comparables:

Fig. 1, Camille Pissarro, L'Eglise Saint-Jacques à Dieppe, Matin, Soleil, oil on canvas, 1901, Private Collection

Fig. 2, Camille Pissarro, Le Marché aux poissons à Dieppe, oil on canvas, 1902, Private Collection, Switzerland

Fig. 3, Camille Pissarro, Rouen, Saint-Sever, le matin, oil on canvas, 1898, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Gift of Mrs. Charles M. Cooke