Pissarro, Camille. Camille Pissarro, Letters to His Son Lucien (L. Abel, Trans.). New York: Pantheon Books, 1943.
I found the letters in this book to be more exciting to read and a little less melancholy than the letters written by Van Gogh in Dear Theo. This book is a personal account of the thoughts and feelings of Camille Pissarro toward everything from art to politics.
Pissarro was very critical of the other Impressionist artists that surrounded him. To his son, Lucien, who was also an artist, he would write his deepest thoughts on artists such as Monet, Gauguin, Degas, Cassatt, Seurat, Sisley, and Rodin whom today, we consider masters. He was very forward in his judgment of others and very rarely held back his thoughts. He was particularly critical of Gauguin, whom he thought was too "commercial" and "borrowed" too much of his art from others. The following are letters revealing Pissarro's suspicion of Gauguin and his attitude toward art. He writes:
Yesterday I received a letter from Gauguin, who probably had heard from Durand that I did some good work here. He is going to look me up and study the place's possibilities from the point of view of art and practicality. He is naive enough to think that since the people in Rouen are very wealthy, they can easily be induced to buy some paintings.... Gauguin disturbs me very much, he is so deeply commercial, at least he gives that impression. I haven't the heart to point out to him how false and unpromising is his attitude; true, his needs are great, his family being used to luxury, just the same his attitude can only hurt him. Not that I think we ought not try to sell, but I regard it a waste of time to think only of selling, one forgets one's art and exaggerates one's value. It is better to get low prices for a while, and even easier, particularly when your work is strong and original, and to go ahead bit by bit, as we do. (44)
Gauguin is gone.... completely disappeared.... but I did hear that this summer at the sea shore he laid down the law to a group of young disciples, who hung on the words of the master, that austere sectarian. At any rate it must be admitted that he has finally acquired great influence. This comes of course from years of hard and meritorious work - as a sectarian! (96)
Bracquemond told me that he took some of Gauguin's pictures with him, hoping to sell them; he considered them good paintings but.... strange.... A little confused, but after all interesting.... Alas! All those to whom he showed the pictures became literally angry, conceiving that they were being taken in.... All in all, Bracquemond seemed to imply that it was the art of a sailor, a little taken from everywhere.... Aha, what do you think? I was always discreet, but I am not surprised, I made up my mind a long time ago, and while I won't say that he may not change for the better, at the bottom his character is anti-artistic, he is a maker of odds and ends. (97)
I saw Gauguin; he told me his theories about art and assured me that the young would find salvation by replenishing themselves at remote and savage sources. I told him that this art did not belong to him, that he was a civilized man and hence it was his function to show us harmonious things. We parted, each unconvinced. Gauguin is certainly not without talent, but how difficult it is for him to find his own way! He is always poaching on someone's ground; now he is pillaging the savages of Oceania. (221)
It is interesting to see Pissarro's reactions to Gauguin's art. Pissarro, at one time was in Gauguin's shoes: little understood and thought to be mad because of his theories and techniques in painting. I find it hard to take a side in this argument. Pissarro is partly right in that Gauguin is in fact stealing an art that he cannot begin to fathom. While on the other hand, Gauguin is indeed creating his own interpretation of the art created by the "savages." He is not copying their art, but is reacting to it in his own way.
Pissarro consistently gave advice to Lucien in his letters. I found these to be very interesting and helpful to me in my own art. The following are quotes that deal primarily with Pissarro's advice on drawing. He writes:
I recognize fully that you cannot draw well, my dear Lucien. I told you any number of times that it is essential to have known forms in the eye and in the hand. It is only by drawing often, drawing everything, drawing incessantly, that one fine day you discover to your surprise that you have rendered something in its true character. Don't despair. If you could work evenings in the free art schools where there are nude models would make progress. (32)
I can see no harm in drawing the nude, the figure, if you are permeated with the idea of not following Legros in the field of Greek theory, and are resolved not to seek formulas, not to be influenced by apt pupils, not to fix the proportions in advance, in a word if you can learn to see for yourself and to draw relying on a ready made system.... I mentioned to Degas that you are thinking of taking Legros' course in drawing. Degas says that there is one way of escaping Legros' influence, the method is simply this: it is to reproduce, in your own place, from memory, the drawing you make in class. I suppose you begin by making a sketch of the whole figure; when you get home you prepare your sketch and try to do it again from memory what you did from nature.... The drawing will have art - it will be your own - this is a good way of escaping slavish imitation. (34)
You wrote that there is a rather simple old fellow who has an Academy but is rather lax in running it. This would be just right, for, let me repeat, I fear Legros has a preconceived method. (39)
To draw the figure, you have to know anatomy. You need four or five months of work at the academy as a start; the thing to do is to discontinue when the weather gets better and then to go back in the winter. If you could go just in the morning, that wouldn't be bad. When I went I did so only at night so that I could paint during the day. (52)
Surprisingly enough, Pissarro was very self-doubting and critical when it came to his work. He often wrote to Lucien saying that he was fed up with art. He also wrote that France was misled by fools that ran the art market and his art would never have a place in it. He painfully writes,
There are moments when I ask myself whether I really have talent.... in fact I often doubt it. What does my work lack then, or what has it in excess? Perhaps I am out of date, or my art may conflict and not be conciliable with the general trend which seems to have gone mystical". (162)
I have grown very close to Pissarro's art and thoughts about art during the course of this study. Reading about him has definitely had an influence on me, but now, after reading this book, I am inspired to paint even more. He radiates, even through the pages of a book, the energy and determination of a true artist. He is a fascinating artist to study and I find this book to be a gem among coals in finding out what Pissarro's character was really like.