Most of the works that Pissarro submitted to the 1882 Impressionist exhibition were figure paintings in which the local villagers who had routinely animated his rural landscapes assumed monumental form, indicating a shift in his artistic focus. Pissarro's neighbor in Pontoise, a fifty-six-year-old mother of four named Marie Larchevêque, sat for this work, which was shown as Laveuse, étude (Washerwoman, Study).
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Title:Washerwoman, Study
Artist:Camille Pissarro (French, Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas 1830–1903 Paris)
Date:1880
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:28 3/4 × 23 1/4 in. (73 × 59.1 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Nate B. Spingold, 1956
Object Number:56.184.1
The Painting: As the portraits Pissarro painted during a long career are almost all of himself and other members of his immediate family, it is reasonable to ask whether he intended the present work to be read as a portrait, particularly as he showed it in the seventh Impressionist exhibition of 1882 with the title Laveuse, étude (Washerwoman, Study). The hale, round-faced late middle-aged peasant woman is Marie-Adeline Larchevêque, née Duquesne, born in 1824. Pissarro’s son Ludovic-Rodo Pissarro (1878–1952) identified her in his 1939 catalogue raisonné. Fifty-six years old and the mother of four children, she was a neighbor in the village of L’Hermitage. She is seated before a faded green board wall beside what may be a curtained window through which sunlight falls on the near side of her face. Women washing, sewing, or working in the fields (see The Met 1994.105) are constantly bending forward, and the model’s pose, with shoulders slightly rounded, would have been natural to her when she was at rest. Pissarro’s peasants all wore variations on the costume he described here: a head scarf (in this case yellow, although red and white was more common), a loose blouse (either of a solid color or blue and white stripes as here), a skirt (which, were she to stand, would reach her ankles), and an equally long apron. Pissarro saw Mère Larchevêque as both a type and an individual, but perhaps, in this case, more the latter since she was a near contemporary and friend.
The Artist’s Politics: From about 1880, the artist was increasingly preoccupied with peasant subjects, either single figures or small groups working in the fields or engaged in basic household tasks. Most were younger females. This led him to spend additional time in the studio preparing drawings of the local people whom he must have asked to sit for him. A confirmed anarchist, he abhorred extremes of capitalist wealth and believed that it should be possible over time to create a more egalitarian society. In the face of industrial development and of the resulting transformation of agrarian life and practice, he sought to counteract what he understood to be the negative assumptions of urban populations about people who cultivated the land. He depicted French peasant women as dignified, or even noble, clean, thrifty in their habits, dedicated to hard work, and to the care of their homes and the husbandry of land and animals. The present canvas is an early, more personal approach to such subject matter. Pissarro was alone among the artists in his circle in his strongly held political and social convictions.
Katharine Baetjer 2022
Inscription: Signed and dated (upper left): C. Pissarro 80
Camille Pissarro, Paris (1880–d. 1903); his widow, Mme Camille (Julie Vellay) Pissarro, Paris (1903–21; by deed of gift to Ludovic Rodo Pissarro); their son, Ludovic Rodo Pissarro, Paris (1921–48; sold to Salz); [Sam Salz, New York, 1948–49; sold in February 1949 to Spingold]; Mr. and Mrs. Nate B. Spingold, New York (1949–56; his life interest, 1956–d. 1958; her life interest, 1956–d. 1976)
Paris. Salons du panorama de Reischoffen. "7me exposition des artistes indépendants [7th Impressionist exhibition]," ?March 1–31, 1882, no. 107 (as "Laveuse, étude").
Paris. Galerie Manzi, Joyant. "Exposition rétrospective d'œuvres de Camille Pissarro (1830–1903)," January 26–February 14, 1914, no. 40 (as "La Mère Larchevêque").
London. Leicester Galleries. "Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Camille Pissarro, 1830–1903," May 1920, no. 67 (as "La Mère Larchevêque").
Paris. Galerie Nunès & Fiquet. "La Collection de Madame Veuve C. Pissarro," May 20–June 20, 1921, no. 38 (as "La mère Larchevêque").
Paris. Galerie Marcel Bernheim. "Études et portraits de femmes," May 25–June 12, 1923, no. 43 [see Snollaerts 2005].
Paris. Galerie Durand-Ruel. "Tableaux par Camille Pissarro," February 27–March 10, 1928, no. 34 (as "La mère l'Archevêque").
Paris. Musée de l'Orangerie. "Centenaire de la naissance de Camille Pissarro," February–March 1930, no. 122.
Paris. Galerie Marcel Bernheim. "Pissarro et ses fils," November 30–December 13, 1934, not in catalogue [see Pissarro and Venturi 1939].
London. Leicester Galleries. "Fifty Years of Portraits (1885–1935)," May–June 1935, no. 101 (as "La Mère Larchevèque").
Paris. Galerie de l'Elysée. "C. Pissarro: Tableaux, pastels, dessins," April 24–May 8, 1936, no. 10 [see Snollaerts 2005].
Paris. Galerie de l'Elysée. "C. Pissarro: des peintures et des pastels de 1880 à 1900 environ," April 23–May 5, 1948, no catalogue [see Snollaerts 2005].
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Nate and Frances Spingold Collection," March 23–June 19, 1960, unnumbered cat.
Waltham, Mass. Dreitzer Gallery, Spingold Theater, Brandeis University. "Nate B. and Frances Spingold Collection," June 11–16, 1965, no catalogue.
New York. Wildenstein. "Paintings from the Nate B. and Frances Spingold Collection," January 23–March 8, 1969, no. 25 (as "Mère Larcheveque").
Washington. National Gallery of Art. "The New Painting: Impressionism 1874–1886," January 17–April 6, 1986, no. 126.
San Francisco. M. H. de Young Memorial Museum. "The New Painting: Impressionism 1874–1886," April 19–July 6, 1986, no. 126.
Fort Lauderdale. Museum of Art. "Corot to Cézanne: 19th Century French Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," December 22, 1992–April 11, 1993, no catalogue.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 50.
Williamstown, Mass. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. "Pissarro's People," June 12–October 2, 2011, unnumbered cat. (fig. 140).
San Francisco. Legion of Honor. "Pissarro's People," October 22, 2011–January 22, 2012, unnumbered cat. (fig. 140).
Amsterdam. Van Gogh Museum. "Jean-François Millet: Sowing the Seeds of Modern Art," October 4, 2019–January 12, 2020, unnumbered cat. (fig. 53).
Saint Louis Art Museum. "Millet and Modern Art: From Van Gogh to Dalí," February 16–September 7, 2020, unnumbered cat. (fig. 53).
Draner. "Une visite aux impressionnistes." Le Charivari (March 9, 1882) [reprinted in Charles S. Moffett, ed. "The New Painting: Impressionism 1874–1886," San Francisco, 1986, p. 387], includes a caricature of it.
A[rthur]. Hustin. "L'Exposition des peintres indépendants." L'Estafette (March 3, 1882), p. 3 [reprinted in Ruth Berson, ed., "The New Painting: Impressionism 1874–1886," vol. 1, San Francisco, 1996, p. 395].
A[rthur]. Hustin. "L'Exposition des impressionistes." Moniteur des arts (March 10, 1882), p. 1 [reprinted in Ruth Berson, ed., "The New Painting: Impressionism 1874–1886," vol. 1, San Francisco, 1996, p. 396].
Armand Silvestre. "Le Monde des arts: Expositions particulières: Septième Exposition des artistes indépendants." La Vie moderne (March 11, 1882), pp. 150–51 [reprinted in Ruth Berson, ed., "The New Painting: Impressionism 1874–1886," vol. 1, San Francisco, 1996, p. 413].
J.-K. Huysmans. "Appendice." L'Art moderne. Paris, 1883, p. 267.
Maurice Hamel. "Camille Pissarro: Exposition rétrospective de ses œuvres." Les Arts no. 147 (March 1914), p. 32.
A. Tabarant. Pissarro. London, 1925, pl. 21.
Ludovic Rodo Pissarro and Lionello Venturi. Camille Pissarro, son art—son œuvre. reprint ed. 1989. Paris, 1939, vol. 1, pp. 45, 153, no. 513; vol. 2, pl. 105, no. 513.
Lionello Venturi. Da Manet a Lautrec. Florence, 1950, p. 71, fig. 74.
James J. Rorimer and Dudley T. Easby Jr. "Review of the Year 1956–1957." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 16 (October 1957), p. 45, ill., remark that Pissarro was particularly interested in painting peasants in 1880.
John Rewald. Camille Pissarro. New York, 1963, pp. 118–19, colorpl., identifies the sitter as one of Pissarro's neighbors, portrayed "without any grandiloquence"; remarks that Pissarro has "painted her rugged face, her clothes, and the scarf around her head with his eyes concentrated on color, texture, and the accidents of light and shadow".
Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 3, XIX–XX Centuries. New York, 1967, pp. 18–19, ill.
Richard R. Brettell and Christopher Lloyd. A Catalogue of the Drawings by Camille Pissarro in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Oxford, 1980, p. 143, reproduce a drawing of the artist's mother (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) in which she is depicted wearing the same type of loose kerchief as the one shown here.
Anne Schirrmeister. Camille Pissarro. New York, 1982, pp. 11–12, colorpl. 7, remarks that it hung in Pissarro's house until his death.
Christopher Lloyd inRetrospective Camille Pissarro. Exh. cat., Isetan Museum of Art. [Tokyo], 1984, p. 132, under no. 27.
Charles S. Moffett. Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1985, pp. 90–91, ill. (color), compares this work to Renoir's "A Waitress at Duval's Restuarant" (MMA 61.101.14) and to Ingres's portrait of Louis-François Bertin (Musée du Louvre, Paris).
Joel Isaacson inThe New Painting: Impressionism 1874–1886. Ed. Charles S. Moffett. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington. San Francisco, 1986, pp. 387–88, 394–95, 408, no. 126, ill. (color), identifies it as no. 107 in Exh. Paris 1882; reproduces a caricature that includes it [see Ref. Draner 1882] and translates the caption as "Our Lady of Pneumonia".
Melissa McQuillan. Impressionist Portraits. London, 1986, pp. 162–63, ill. (color).
Roger Hurlburt. "Free Spirits." Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) (December 20, 1992), p. 4D.
Helen Kohen. "Lasting Impressions." Miami Herald (December 20, 1992), p. 6I.
Joachim Pissarro. Camille Pissarro. New York, 1993, p. 156.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 439, ill.
Ruth Berson, ed. "Documentation: Volume I, Reviews and Volume II, Exhibited Works." The New Painting: Impressionism 1874–1886. San Francisco, 1996, vol. 1, pp. 395–97, 413; vol. 2, p. 208, no. VII-107, ill. p. 226.
Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts in Joachim Pissarro and Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts. Pissarro: Critical Catalogue of Paintings. Milan, 2005, vol. 1, pp. 362, 370, 372–74, 376, 379–80, 386, 393, 399, 409, 416; vol. 2, pp. 426–27, no. 640, ill. (color); vol. 3, pp. 954, 957.
Alexia de Buffévent in Joachim Pissarro and Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts. Pissarro: Critical Catalogue of Paintings. Milan, 2005, vol. 1, pp. 173, 175.
Joachim Pissarro. Cézanne/Pissarro, Johns/Rauschenberg: Comparative Studies on Intersubjectivity in Modern Art. New York, 2006, p. 220.
Susan Alyson Stein inThe Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 74, 246, no. 50, ill. (color and black and white).
Susan Alyson Stein inMasterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 88, 291, no. 82, ill. (color and black and white).
Richard R. Brettell. Pissarro's People. Exh. cat., Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Mass. San Francisco, 2011, pp. 184–86, 303, figs. 140 (color), 148 (in Draner caricature), calls it the earliest signed and dated painting in his series of rural genre paintings; compares it to Millet's "Woman Feeding Her Child" (1861, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Marseille) and his "Woman Sewing by Lamplight" (1870–72, Frick Collection, New York).
Richard R. Brettell inPissarro. Exh. cat., Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2013, pp. 63–64, fig. 29 (color), discusses Pissarro's elevation of a portrait of his peasant-woman neighbor to a status traditionally given to the higher classes.
Richard R. Brettell inPissarro Paintings and Works on Paper at the Art Institute of Chicago. Ed. Gloria Groom and Genevieve Westerby. Chicago, 2015, paras. 3, 9, under no. 10, fig. 10.4 (color); para. 10, under no. 15, fig. 15.7 (color) [https://publications.artic.edu/pissarro/reader/paintingsandpaper/section/8], states erroneously that all the paintings by Pissarro in the seventh Impressionist exhibition (Paris 1882) were already owned by the dealer Paul Durand-Ruel; states that Pissarro related it to his later "Woman Mending" (1895, Art Institute of Chicago).
Simon Kelly inJean-François Millet: Sowing the Seeds of Modern Art. Ed. Simon Kelly and Maite van Dijk. Exh. cat., Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. Bussum, The Netherlands, 2019, pp. 69, 203, fig. 53 (color), discusses the influence of Millet's peasant portraits on the picture.
Britany Salsbury and Jillian Kruse inDegas and the Laundress: Women, Work, and Impressionism. Ed. Britany Salsbury. Exh. cat., Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, 2023, p. 218, fig. 91 (color).
Camille Pissarro (French, Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas 1830–1903 Paris)
1888
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