The patch of purple flowers at the lower left adds a sprightly note to this canvas, which probably dates to the spring of 1878. Featuring strollers on a path, it is typical of Pissarro’s views of Pontoise and its surroundings, almost all of which show the peasants who worked the land or lived in the village. Pissarro painted in the region for almost two decades, beginning in 1866; the site of this scene was identified by his son, Ludovic-Rodo, although it cannot be pinpointed today.
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Title:Côte des Grouettes, near Pontoise
Artist:Camille Pissarro (French, Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas 1830–1903 Paris)
Date:probably 1878
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:29 1/8 x 23 5/8 in. (74 x 60 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of Janice H. Levin, 1991
Accession Number:1991.277.2
The Painting: According to the painter’s son Ludovic-Rodo Pissarro (1878–1952), author with Lionello Venturi (1885–1961) of the 1939 catalogue raisonné, the subject is a hillside called “les Grouettes.” The coauthors suggested that the date is probably 1878 and that, therefore, the location is near Pontoise, because when painting out-of-doors Pissarro did not stray a significant distance from his home. Neither the hamlet nor the distant plain offers a distinguishing feature, so it is unlikely that anything further with respect to the topography will be discovered. Two peasants on a rough pathway are a man in black trousers, white shirt, vest, and wide-brimmed hat striding away, and a stolid, unmoving peasant woman with a basket on her arm, dressed typically in a red headscarf and a pale blue blouse, a long blue apron with a bib which covers her skirt, and wooden sabots on her feet. Her face and hands are little more than shapes, the hands disproportionately large. On the right, trees with slender trunks reach toward the woodland canopy for light. A patch of blossoming wildflowers in the lower left corner may be lupine. The deep greens of the grass and foliage are mixed with some yellow that may indicate late summer. The canvas gains greatly in interest when seen close at hand because what distinguishes it is the vibrant Impressionist technique. Two, three, five or more strokes of the same color mixture may be layered over a lighter or darker tone. Dabs of green stand out at lower left while flicks of red, yellow, and white dot the surface. The thin foliage at the top is indicated in liquid pigment over pale underpaint. Light blues and some beige in the sky are dilute as well, but with impasted blue and white streaks marking every direction.
A Related Work: Among several upright canvases with tall trees dating to 1878 is Resting in the Woods (Côte des Grouettes) in the Hamburger Kunsthalle (1090), which is similar in tonality and composition. By contrast, the Hamburg picture shows a woman and her children formally dressed and at leisure.
Katharine Baetjer 2022
[Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1881–88; bought from the artist on January 14, 1888 for Fr 440; stock no. 754; transferred to Durand-Ruel, New York, April 25]; [Durand-Ruel, New York, 1888; sold on April 25 to Lambert]; Catholina Lambert, Paterson, N.J. (1888–99; sold on April 14, 1899 for $500 to Durand-Ruel); [Durand-Ruel, New York, 1899–1916, stock no. 2194; sold on January 25, 1916 to Durand-Ruel]; [Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1916–20, stock no. 10828; sold for Fr 14,400 to Bollag]; [Max Bollag, Zürich, from 1920]; Josef Stransky, New York (until 1922; sale, American Art Galleries, New York, February 16, no. 52, for $2,000 to Durand-Ruel and Knoedler); [Durand-Ruel, New York, and Knoedler, New York, 1922–25; Knoedler stock no. 15347; Knoedler share sold on January 29 for $1000 to Durand-Ruel]; [Durand-Ruel, New York, 1925–27, stock no. 4720; sold on May 31, 1927 to Durand-Ruel]; [Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1927–67, stock no. 12753; sold on December 15, 1967 for Fr 4,000]; [Sam Salz, New York, until 1971; sold January 27 to Levin]; Philip and Janice H. Levin, New York (1971); Janice H. Levin, New York (1971–d. 2001)
Kunsthaus Zürich. "Französische Kunst des XIX. und XX. Jahrhunderts," October 5–November 14, 1917, no. 157.
New York. Durand-Ruel Galleries. "Paintings by Camille Pissarro, 1830–1903," December 1–?, 1923, no. 21 (as "Environs de Pontoise").
Lyons. Palais Municipal. "Salon du Sud-Est," April 25–June 1, 1936, unnumbered cat. [see Snollaerts 2005].
Paris. Durand-Ruel. "Exposition Camille Pissarro," June 26–September 14, 1956, no. 34 (as "Environs de Pontoise, Côte des Grouettes").
Kunstmuseum Bern. "Camille Pissarro, 1830–1903," January 19–March 10, 1957, no. 50 (erroneously as in a private collection [per Letter Durand-Ruel 2002, who lent it]).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paintings from New York Collections: Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Philip J. Levin," July 13–September 7, 1971, no. 3 (as "Environs at Pontoise").
Fort Lauderdale. Museum of Art. "Impressionism to the Present: Camille Pissarro and His Descendants," January 29–April 30, 2000, no. 26 (as "Outskirts of Pontoise, Grouettes Hill").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A Very Private Collection: Janice H. Levin's Impressionist Pictures," November 19, 2002–February 9, 2003, no. 5.
Birmingham Museum of Art. "An Impressionist Eye: Painting and Sculpture from the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation," February 1–April 11, 2004, no catalogue.
"Random Impressions in Current Exhibitions." New York Tribune (December 9, 1923), p. 8 [see Ref. Snollaerts 2005].
Ludovic Rodo Pissarro and Lionello Venturi. Camille Pissarro, son art—son œuvre. reprint ed. 1989. Paris, 1939, vol. 1, p. 146, no. 465; vol. 2, pl. 95, no. 465, date it about 1878.
Richard R. Brettell with Joachim Pissarro. Pissarro and Pontoise: The Painter in a Landscape. New Haven, 1990, p. 213 n. 32.
Gary Tinterow in "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 1991–1992." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 50 (Fall 1992), p. 46, ill. (color), notes that it was probably painted in May or June of 1878; remarks that the blue of the lupines or delphiniums is repeated in the blouse of the peasant woman.
Joachim Pissarro. Camille Pissarro. New York, 1993, p. 115, fig. 121, dates it 1878.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 439, ill.
Richard Shone. The Janice H. Levin Collection of French Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2002, pp. 5, 24–27, ill. (color, overall and detail), dates it to the late summer or early fall of about 1878.
Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts in Joachim Pissarro and Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts. Pissarro: Critical Catalogue of Paintings. Milan, 2005, vol. 1, pp. 371, 373, 380, 390–91, 394, 400, 422, 424; vol. 2, p. 387, no. 569, ill. (color); vol. 3, pp. 954, 957, dates it about 1878, and notes that it once "bore a fake signature in the lower right corner, which was subsequently rubbed out".
Camille Pissarro (French, Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas 1830–1903 Paris)
1879
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