Camille Pissarro

Sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 13th April 1892, lot 46
Durand-Ruel, Paris (purchased at the above sale)
Bernheim-Jeune & Georges Petit, Paris (acquired from the above on 13th February 1899)
Sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 7th June 1911, lot 34
Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (purchased at the above sale)
Tilla Durieux (actress and widow of Paul Cassirer; sale: Berlin, 22nd October 1932, lot 63)
Galerie Paul Cassirer, Berlin 
Étienne Bignou, Paris (acquired before 1938)
Alex Reid & Lefevre, London (acquired after 1941)
The 9th Earl of Jersey, Jersey (acquired from the above in August 1951)
Thence by descent to the present owners

London, Alex Reid & Lefevre, Pissarro and Sisley, 1937, no. 6
Glasgow, McClellan Gallery, French Art of the 19th & 20th Centuries, 1937, no. 43
London, Alex Reid & Lefevre, The 19th century French Masters, 1937, no. 29 (titled L'Oise près de Creil)
New York, Bignou Gallery, Masterpieces by 19th century French Painters, 1938, no. 11
London, Alex Reid & Lefevre, Milestones in French Paintings, 1939, no. 23
Jersey, La Societé Jersiaise, Centenary Art Exhibition, 1973, no. 6
London, Hayward Gallery; Paris, Grand Palais & Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Pissarro, 1981, no. 28, illustrated in the catalogue

Émile Dacier, Le Bulletin de l’art ancien et moderne, 25th March 1899, p. 101
Maurice Méry, Le Moniteur des arts, 31st March 1899, p. 1242
Ludovic Rodo Pissarro & Lionello Venturi, Camille Pissarro, Son art, son œuvre, Paris, 1939, no. 214, illustrated pl. 43
Dr Richard Bretell, Pissarro and Pontoise; the painter in a landscape, Yale University,1990, illustrated in colour p. 83
Joachim Pissarro & Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts, Pissarro, Catalogue critique des peintures, Milan, 2005, vol. II, no. 297, illustrated in colour p. 234

The canvas is lined. UV examination reveals two vertical lines of retouching in the water to the lower left corner, a small diagonal line of retouching in the lower right corner with some further spots above it, and a further tiny speck of retouching to the upper right of the boat mast. Otherwise, this work is in overall good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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."

Painted in 1873, Usine à Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône, la crue de l'Oise is an extraordinary example of early Impressionism and testament to Camille Pissarro’s desire to capture and embrace a true portrait of contemporary France: the Industrial Revolution and all the enormous changes that came in its wake. The present work forms part of a group of four paintings of 1873, all depicting the then newly erected and vast factory of Chalon et Cie, situated on the south side of the River Oise, and which Richard Brettell has described as a ‘very important series’ (R. Brettell ‘Camille Pissarro: A revision’, in Pissarro (exhibition catalogue), Hayward Gallery, London, 1981, p. 21).  He remarks that ‘when [this group is] considered in the context of Pissarro’s peasant landscapes and market scenes, they reflect a preoccupation with labour which is opposed to that absorption in a more leisurely world which is characteristic of the other Impressionist landscape painters’. He goes on to comment on another notable feature of the group, that they are ‘unusual in Pissarro’s œuvre because they are virtually unpopulated’ (ibid.). The other three works in this important group are all held in museum collections: The Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield; The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts; and The Israel Museum, Israel.

Like his peer Manet, Pissarro should be considered first and foremost a ‘painter of modern life', a conception first proposed by Baudelaire in his famous 1863 essay of the same name. He was fascinated by the symbols of the new urban scenery, be it in the form of the new Parisian boulevards or the factory chimneys and smoke of the present work. This interest in depicting the changing face of France is at the heart of this work, but subject matter aside, this painting is also a celebration of the nuance of atmosphere, of weather, and of light. In the true Impressionist tradition, this is a snapshot of a very particular transitory moment in time, painted by an artist whose sensitivity to the world around him is unparalleled. The gestural handling of the paint perfectly expresses the spontaneous spirit of Pissarro’s en plein air painting methods. Through his subtle tertiary palette, Pissarro succeeds in making the chimney smoke into something lyrical and poetic, a sort of ode to change or to the intangible.  The present work is an exceptional portrait of an urban landscape in a time of unprecedented change and demonstrates the artist’s insatiable curiosity and ability to find beauty in the everyday. Emile Zola once described Pissarro’s paintings as possessing ‘a heroic frankness and simplicity’, words which perfectly articulate the solemn and affecting visual impact of this important painting Usine à Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône, la crue de l'Oise.