Orovida Camille Pissarro
Encyclopedia
Orovida Pissarro known for most of her life as Orovida, was a British painter
and etcher. She was part of a family of artists, including her father Lucien Pissarro
and grandfather, the Impressionist
Camille Pissarro
.
, Essex
. Orovida would live primarily in London
throughout her life. She was the only child of artist Lucien Pissarro
and his wife Esther. Orovida was named after Esther's aunt. The list of artists in Orovida's family is headed by her grandfather, the French Impressionist
Camille Pissarro
. Her father Lucien, Camille's eldest son, was a painter, printmaker and wood engraver. Her uncles, including Georges
, Félix
, and Ludovic
, as well as other relatives, were also artists.
Orovida displayed her talent at a young age. Lucien said that it was "in her blood". Drawings by the five-year-old Orovida earned praise from her renowned grandfather. Orovida studied oil painting
with her father during her teens, becoming proficient in the Impressionist style.
As seen in her Self-portrait
, Lucien had limited her palette to using only five colours.
Her mother, who had artistic training
herself, believed that art was a financially insecure profession, and insisted that Orovida study music. But the daughter's interest in etching
, with its prospects for commercial illustration
, helped to assuage her mother's fears.
In 1913 Orovida briefly studied with Walter Sickert
, before renouncing formal art training. She never was a part of Britain's mainstream art movements. Orovida became the first female professional artist in the Pissarro family. She was also the family's first artist of her generation.
In 1921 she and French artist Marie Laurencin
were featured in a joint exhibition.
A 1924 British Museum
exhibit of Chinese painting
had a great influence on her artistic sensibilities.
Despite her father's disappointment, Orovida, in her 20s, abandoned Impressionism and developed an unusual decorative style inspired by Chinese
as well as Japanese
, Persian and Indian art
. This was partly due to a desire to distinguish herself from her family's strong Impressionist legacy. She further accomplished this by dropping her last name, wishing to be known simply as Orovida for the rest of her life. (Her uncle Georges
, similarly, had obfuscated his name, signing his work simply with his grandmother's maiden name, Manzana.) Despite distancing of herself from the family's fame, she remained proud of the Pissarro legacy.
Her spurning of Impressionism was more than just distancing herself from the Pissarros. She considered Western art to be in competition with photography
, while Eastern art was more suited to her independent nature. She never visited the Far East; her inspiration came solely from the works she had seen in museums and elsewhere.
Orovida painted with thin washes of gouache
or tempera
on silk, linen, paper, and gold leaf. Her paintings as well as her etchings depict primarily Asian subject matter. Her most frequent subjects were animals, especially tiger
s and horse
s, which she depicted in a decorative, Asiatic, stylized, linear manner. Another favorite subject was Mongolia
n horsemen hunting wild animals; others included Persian princes and African dancers.
. Her subject matter during this period includes portraits of family and friends, royalty, and especially all kinds of cats from domestic to wild.
Orovida was a prolific printmaker, producing about 8,000 impressions from 107 etched plates. In a 2001 book, her etchings and family connections are assessed: "Her original, craftsmanlike, modern decorative prints would have earned her a fine reputation regardless of such connections but would not likely have drawn as much attention."
Her mother had established the Pissarro family archive at the Ashmolean Museum
in Oxford
, and Orovida played a significant role in developing it.
Orovida never married. After her death in 1968 the Ashmolean Museum put on a 1969 memorial show of her paintings, etchings, and drawings. Another posthumous exhibition, Three Generations of the Pissarro Family, was held at the Leicester Gallery. She had participated in a show of that same name in 1943.
Her work is in many prominent collections including the British Museum
, Victoria and Albert Museum
, Ashmolean Museum
, Cleveland Museum of Art
,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
, and San Diego Museum of Art
.
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and etcher. She was part of a family of artists, including her father Lucien Pissarro
Lucien Pissarro
Lucien Pissarro was a landscape painter, printmaker, wood engraver and designer and printer of fine books. His landscape paintings employ techniques of Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism, but he also exhibited with Les XX. Apart from his landscapes he painted only a few still-lifes and family...
and grandfather, the Impressionist
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro was a French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas . His importance resides in his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, as he was the only artist to exhibit in both forms...
.
Early life and work
Orovida Camille Pissarro was born on 8 October 1893 in EppingEpping
Epping is a small market town and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of the County of Essex, England. It is located north-east of Loughton, south of Harlow and north-west of Brentwood....
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
. Orovida would live primarily in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
throughout her life. She was the only child of artist Lucien Pissarro
Lucien Pissarro
Lucien Pissarro was a landscape painter, printmaker, wood engraver and designer and printer of fine books. His landscape paintings employ techniques of Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism, but he also exhibited with Les XX. Apart from his landscapes he painted only a few still-lifes and family...
and his wife Esther. Orovida was named after Esther's aunt. The list of artists in Orovida's family is headed by her grandfather, the French Impressionist
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro was a French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas . His importance resides in his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, as he was the only artist to exhibit in both forms...
. Her father Lucien, Camille's eldest son, was a painter, printmaker and wood engraver. Her uncles, including Georges
Georges Henri Manzana Pissarro
Georges Henri Manzana Pissarro was a French artist. He was born in Louveciennes as the third child of Impressionist artist Camille Pissarro. Initially, he painted at his father's side, where he learned not only to handle brush and pencil but also to observe and to love nature...
, Félix
Félix Pissarro
Félix Pissarro , born in Pontoise, Paris, in the year of the first Impressionist exhibition, was a nineteenth-century French painter, etcher and caricaturist...
, and Ludovic
Ludovic Rodo Pissarro
Ludovic Rodo Pissarro , fourth son of Camille born in Paris. At an early age he was encouraged by his father to draw directly from the nature. In 1894, at the age of sixteen, Rodo published his first wood engravings in the journal, Le Pere Peinard....
, as well as other relatives, were also artists.
Orovida displayed her talent at a young age. Lucien said that it was "in her blood". Drawings by the five-year-old Orovida earned praise from her renowned grandfather. Orovida studied oil painting
Oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
with her father during her teens, becoming proficient in the Impressionist style.
As seen in her Self-portrait
Self-portrait
A self-portrait is a representation of an artist, drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by the artist. Although self-portraits have been made by artists since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid 15th century that artists can be frequently identified depicting...
, Lucien had limited her palette to using only five colours.
Her mother, who had artistic training
Art education
Art education is the area of learning that is based upon the visual, tangible arts—drawing, painting, sculpture, and design in jewelry, pottery, weaving, fabrics, etc. and design applied to more practical fields such as commercial graphics and home furnishings...
herself, believed that art was a financially insecure profession, and insisted that Orovida study music. But the daughter's interest in etching
Etching
Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
, with its prospects for commercial illustration
Illustration
An illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric...
, helped to assuage her mother's fears.
In 1913 Orovida briefly studied with Walter Sickert
Walter Sickert
Walter Richard Sickert , born in Munich, Germany, was a painter who was a member of the Camden Town Group in London. He was an important influence on distinctively British styles of avant-garde art in the 20th century....
, before renouncing formal art training. She never was a part of Britain's mainstream art movements. Orovida became the first female professional artist in the Pissarro family. She was also the family's first artist of her generation.
In 1921 she and French artist Marie Laurencin
Marie Laurencin
Marie Laurencin was a French painter and printmaker. -Biography:Laurencin was born in Paris, where she was raised by her mother and lived much of her life. At 18, she studied porcelain painting in Sèvres...
were featured in a joint exhibition.
A 1924 British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
exhibit of Chinese painting
Chinese painting
Chinese painting is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world. The earliest paintings were not representational but ornamental; they consisted of patterns or designs rather than pictures. Early pottery was painted with spirals, zigzags, dots, or animals...
had a great influence on her artistic sensibilities.
Despite her father's disappointment, Orovida, in her 20s, abandoned Impressionism and developed an unusual decorative style inspired by Chinese
Chinese art
Chinese art is visual art that, whether ancient or modern, originated in or is practiced in China or by Chinese artists or performers. Early so-called "stone age art" dates back to 10,000 BC, mostly consisting of simple pottery and sculptures. This early period was followed by a series of art...
as well as Japanese
Japanese art
Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture in wood and bronze, ink painting on silk and paper and more recently manga, cartoon, along with a myriad of other types of works of art...
, Persian and Indian art
Indian art
Indian Art is the visual art produced on the Indian subcontinent from about the 3rd millennium BC to modern times. To viewers schooled in the Western tradition, Indian art may seem overly ornate and sensuous; appreciation of its refinement comes only gradually, as a rule. Voluptuous feeling is...
. This was partly due to a desire to distinguish herself from her family's strong Impressionist legacy. She further accomplished this by dropping her last name, wishing to be known simply as Orovida for the rest of her life. (Her uncle Georges
Georges Henri Manzana Pissarro
Georges Henri Manzana Pissarro was a French artist. He was born in Louveciennes as the third child of Impressionist artist Camille Pissarro. Initially, he painted at his father's side, where he learned not only to handle brush and pencil but also to observe and to love nature...
, similarly, had obfuscated his name, signing his work simply with his grandmother's maiden name, Manzana.) Despite distancing of herself from the family's fame, she remained proud of the Pissarro legacy.
Her spurning of Impressionism was more than just distancing herself from the Pissarros. She considered Western art to be in competition with photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
, while Eastern art was more suited to her independent nature. She never visited the Far East; her inspiration came solely from the works she had seen in museums and elsewhere.
Orovida painted with thin washes of gouache
Gouache
Gouache[p], also spelled guache, the name of which derives from the Italian guazzo, water paint, splash or bodycolor is a type of paint consisting of pigment suspended in water. A binding agent, usually gum arabic, is also present, just as in watercolor...
or tempera
Tempera
Tempera, also known as egg tempera, is a permanent fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigment mixed with a water-soluble binder medium . Tempera also refers to the paintings done in this medium. Tempera paintings are very long lasting, and examples from the 1st centuries AD still exist...
on silk, linen, paper, and gold leaf. Her paintings as well as her etchings depict primarily Asian subject matter. Her most frequent subjects were animals, especially tiger
Tiger
The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
s and horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
s, which she depicted in a decorative, Asiatic, stylized, linear manner. Another favorite subject was Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
n horsemen hunting wild animals; others included Persian princes and African dancers.
Later years
For the last quarter century of her life, after her father's death in 1944, Orovida resumed oil painting, with a marked shift in style and choice of subject. Her work became more naturalistic and somewhat more akin to the Pissarro tradition. She melded her Asiatic leanings with a more substantial European look. The result has been compared to dry frescoFresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
. Her subject matter during this period includes portraits of family and friends, royalty, and especially all kinds of cats from domestic to wild.
Orovida was a prolific printmaker, producing about 8,000 impressions from 107 etched plates. In a 2001 book, her etchings and family connections are assessed: "Her original, craftsmanlike, modern decorative prints would have earned her a fine reputation regardless of such connections but would not likely have drawn as much attention."
Her mother had established the Pissarro family archive at the Ashmolean Museum
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...
in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, and Orovida played a significant role in developing it.
Orovida never married. After her death in 1968 the Ashmolean Museum put on a 1969 memorial show of her paintings, etchings, and drawings. Another posthumous exhibition, Three Generations of the Pissarro Family, was held at the Leicester Gallery. She had participated in a show of that same name in 1943.
Her work is in many prominent collections including the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
, Ashmolean Museum
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...
, Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art is an art museum situated in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on Cleveland's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian art, the museum houses a diverse permanent collection of more than 43,000...
,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
, and San Diego Museum of Art
San Diego Museum of Art
The San Diego Museum of Art is a fine arts museum located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California that houses a broad collection with particular strength in Spanish art. The San Diego Museum of Art opened as The Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego on February 28, 1926, and changed its name to the San...
.