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Camille Pissarro

The Audacity of Impressionism

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Camille Pissarro

By: Anka Muhlstein, Adriana Hunter - translator
Narrated by: Christine Rendel
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About this listen

From the acclaimed biographer and author of Balzac's Omelette, an engaging new work on the life of "the father of Impressionism" and the role his Jewish background played in his artistic creativity.

The celebrated painter Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) occupied a central place in the artistic scene of his time: a founding member of the new school of French painting, he was a close friend of Monet, a longtime associate in Degas's and Mary Cassatt's experimental work, a support to Cezanne and Gauguin, and a comfort to Van Gogh, and was backed by the great Parisian art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel throughout his career. Nevertheless, he felt a persistent sense of being set apart, different, and hard to classify. Settled in France from the age of twenty-five but born in the Caribbean, he was not French and what is more he was Jewish. Although a resolute atheist who never interjected political or religious messages in his art, he was fully aware of the consequences of his lineage.

Drawing on Pissarro's considerable body of work and a vast collection of letters that show his unrestrained thoughts, Anka Muhlstein offers a nuanced, intimate portrait of the artist whose independent spirit fostered an environment of freedom and autonomy.

©2023 Anka Muhlstein (P)2023 Tantor Art Art & Literature Artists, Architects & Photographers

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All stars
Most relevant
Camille Pissarro's 'Upper Norwood in the Snow' is my absolute favourite work of art. But I knew little about the artist. Then I came across this audiobook. What a feat of research and joyous unfolding of the great man's life...It's all there...the family feuds, his cosmopolitan background, his Jewish heritage, the dealers, the cruel merciless critics, wife, children, poverty, war and exile, and eventual recognition. And the impressive supportive links between the artists of the period, as well as their creative disputes was brilliantly revealed. The emerging industrialisation and the growing American art market are also threads running through this work. A very impressive work not only on Pissarro but on the world of Impressionism as a whole.

The narrator was excellent. I found the speed set at 1.10x to be just right.

Stunning detail and dogged research

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