From Publishers Weekly
One of the most independent of the impressionists, Pissarro is a figure rich in paradox. Born in the West Indies to Jewish parents of Danish citizenship, he came from a peripatetic merchant family yet painted timeless, idyllic images of rural France. His family strongly opposed his marriage to his mother's Gentile maid, Julie Vellay. A bohemian, an anarchist, a devotee of homeopathy, he relied on his bourgeois parents for maintenance. He fled Paris amid the bloody putdown of the Paris Commune in 1871, but returned to witness friends tried for anarchist activities and the anti-Semitism unleashed by the Dreyfus Affair. In this attractive, compact catalogue of a British exhibit, art historian Thomson ( Seurat ) interprets Pissarro's images of rural laborers and markets, of Rouen's factory-clogged port, of Paris's industrialized suburbs, of bucolic landscapes as a continual reassessment of the impact of modernization on a transformed world. Some 100 black-and-white reproductions and 26 color plates accompany the text. Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This is a companion volume to a 1990 exhibition, touring in Britain, of selected works of the key Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro. Thomson, an art history scholar, has chosen works that exemplify the complexities and tensions in Pissarro's world as it evolved from an agricultural to an industrial society. His artistry is perceived within the context of its salability, the sociopolitical climate, and his own anarchistic ideology. Twenty-six lovely colors and 110 black-and-white plates complement the well-written text, which analyzes specific motifs, namely, Parisian suburbs, the marketplace, rural idylls, and Rouen. Notes, chronology, and catalog supplement this important study. Highly recommended.- Joan Levin, Indian Trails P.L., Wheeling, Ill.Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Book News, Inc.
Thomson (history of art, U. of Manchester) assesses Pissarro's relationship not only to Impressionism but also the broader patterns of late-19th century French art, and places his work within the context of contemporary social and political developments and the artist's own ideological commitments. The plates (110 b&w and 26 color) were selected to illuminate these relationships. No index. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Book Description
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) was at the very center of the Impressionist movement. Although his paintings seem to typify the impressionist style, the variety of media in which he worked and his working practices, which involved careful studio preparation as well as plein air painting, lead us to redefine our concept of Impressionism.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) was at the very center of the Impressionist movement. Although his paintings seem to typify the impressionist style, the variety of media in which he worked and his working practices, which involved careful studio preparation as well as plein air painting, lead us to redefine our concept of Impressionism.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

One of the most independent of the impressionists, Pissarro is a figure rich in paradox. Born in the West Indies to Jewish parents of Danish citizenship, he came from a peripatetic merchant family yet painted timeless, idyllic images of rural France. His family strongly opposed his marriage to his mother's Gentile maid, Julie Vellay. A bohemian, an anarchist, a devotee of homeopathy, he relied on his bourgeois parents for maintenance. He fled Paris amid the bloody putdown of the Paris Commune in 1871, but returned to witness friends tried for anarchist activities and the anti-Semitism unleashed by the Dreyfus Affair. In this attractive, compact catalogue of a British exhibit, art historian Thomson ( Seurat ) interprets Pissarro's images of rural laborers and markets, of Rouen's factory-clogged port, of Paris's industrialized suburbs, of bucolic landscapes as a continual reassessment of the impact of modernization on a transformed world. Some 100 black-and-white reproductions and 26 color plates accompany the text. (July)

Library Journal

This is a companion volume to a 1990 exhibition, touring in Britain, of selected works of the key Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro. Thomson, an art history scholar, has chosen works that exemplify the complexities and tensions in Pissarro's world as it evolved from an agricultural to an industrial society. His artistry is perceived within the context of its salability, the sociopolitical climate, and his own anarchistic ideology. Twenty-six lovely colors and 110 black-and-white plates complement the well-written text, which analyzes specific motifs, namely, Parisian suburbs, the marketplace, rural idylls, and Rouen. Notes, chronology, and catalog supplement this important study. Highly recommended.-- Joan Levin, Indian Trails P.L., Wheeling, Ill.

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