Camille Pissarro

Kokichi Kekejima, Tokyo
Sale: Christie's, London, 29th June 2000, lot 524
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Tokyo, Xème Éxposition commémorative d'art français, 1921

Ludovic Rodo Pissarro & Lionello Venturi, Camille Pissarro, son art - son oeuvre, Paris, 1939, vol. I, no. 1638, catalogued p. 306; vol. II, no. 1638, illustrated pl. 309

Executed on buff-coloured laid paper not laid down, the edges supported by brown tape, hinged to the mount at two points along the top edge. There is a thin flattened crease running down the centre of the fan. There is a spot of studio dirt and some minor foxing to the top right and neither visble when framed. There is some slight time staining to the edges otherwise this work is in good condition. Colours: Much more vibrant and stronger in the original - the blue hues are richer and overall less yellow in the original.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Femme portant un enfant dans un jardin is a fine example of Pissarro's experimental usage of fan shaped gouaches and watercolours. Having begun this style of painting around 1879, Pissarro resumed his experiments with fans in 1887, at a time of particular financial hardship for the artist. The context in which he was painting did not detract from his work as these fans proved to be Pissarro's intriguing contribution to the fashion of japonisme which at the time was popular amongst circles of the Parisian avant-garde.

Whilst Manet, Degas, Monet and Van Gogh where all influenced by the East, Pissarro's reaction to Japanese art appears more complex and ambitious. This is suitably illustrated in the way that he allows the very shape of the fan to so openly dictate the composition of this work. Within the frame of the half-moon, Pissarro's exemplary use of delicate brushstrokes and subtle chromatic harmonies justify why he is regarded as one of the most sophisticated and experimental exponents of Impressionist art.