Ann Saul

Abstract Pissarro: Planting the Seeds of Abstract Art Ann Saul

ABSTRACT PISSARRO shows why this well-loved Impressionist artist was much more than we imagined! Camille Pissarro's early paintings daring, radical, and uncompromising--defied the Paris Salon and subverted academic art--flaunting his rough brushstrokes, blatantly placing pure colors side-by-side with no transition tones, choosing unappealing motifs, using patches of color to create forms, pressing structures into flattened planes, and ignoring perspective when it pleased him. He was the first to intentionally draw attention to the materiality of painting--brushstrokes on canvas, rather than a recognizable picture. And he did it before Impressionism. The new research presented in Abstract Pissarro reveals Camille Pissarro's principal role in the birth of modern art. It explores his continual innovation and daring use of new ideas. The many comparisons of his paintings with those of other artists show how he influenced artists of his time and how he continues to inspire artists to this day. Indeed, Camille Pissarro was the first to plant the seeds of what we now call abstract art.