“The Pagoda, Kew" by Lucien Pissarro (1863-1944)

The Pagoda, Kew

Lucien Pissarro (1863-1944)

1919

Oil on canvas

Unframed 52.5 x 42.5 cm; framed 69 x 59 cm

Collection: Ben Uri Gallery and Museum

Accession number: 1987-321; gift from Ethel Solomon

In the early days of their relationship, Pissarro often used to meet Esther in Kew Gardens: "Lucien afterwards said that these were the loveliest of all gardens to him" (Meadmore 56). [Commentary continues below. Mouse over the text for links.]

Kindly made available via Art UK on the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (CC BY-NC-ND).

The Ben Uri Gallery's own site notes that the "dappled paint and use of light and shade reflects Pissarro’s Impressionistic roots in this artful view of the famous Pagoda in London’s Kew Gardens. The long shadows and stippling of orange suggest that day is lengthening into evening and the park has emptied of figures." Pissarro had resigned from the London Group early in 1914, and in this very year (1919) established with his friend James Bolivar Manson a group that reflected his lifelong adherence to his father's artistic principles — the Monarro Group, its name coined from a combination of the two major Impressionists, Monet and Camille Pissarro. According to Nicholas Reed, Pissarro produced twenty paintings of Kew Gardens (35). — Jacqueline Banerjee

Related Material

November Sunset on the Thames, Kew, 1919

Bibliography

Baron, Wendy. "Pissarro, Lucien Camille (1863–1944), artist and printer." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Web. 11 August 2020.

Meadmore, William Sutton. Lucien Pissarro: Un Coeur Simple. New York: Knopf, 1963.

The Pagoda, Kew. Ben Uri Collection. Web. 15 August 2020.

Reed, Nicholas. Pissarro in West London: The Pissarro Family in Kew, Chiswick and Richmond. 4th ed. Folkestone: Lilburne Press, 1997.

Created 14 August 2020