I visited the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to view the exhibit Cezanne and Pissarro: Pioneering Painting, 1865-1885. The exhibit was intended to depict the artistic relationship between Paul Cezanne and Camille Pissarro in their landscape paintings, still lifes, and some works they created side by side, during the forenamed time period. Both Cezanne and Pissarro were pioneers of the Impressionist movement, although both moved on to create artwork that would be categorized otherwise, later in their careers. The Impressionists were interested in the effects of light on objects and frequently painted plein aire to capture these effects. They were also interested in experimenting with brushstroke, the application of paint, and the use of color.
As I viewed the artworks in the exhibit, I slowly began to realize the differences in style and, in a few instances, the subtle differences that Pissarro and Cezanne embodied in their application of paint, construction of form, and the projected overall mood of their artworks.
Camille Pissarro, Children on a Farm, 1887
Photograph of Camille Pissarro
Camille PissarroAt first, I was unable to pin down the different sets of style each artist applied to their artworks; I was only able to view the similarities of each. However, after moving on to the third room of paintings, I began to understand the unique stylistic differences employed by the artists, which were continually represented in most of the artworks.
I chose to relate Pissarro's Small Bridge, Pontoise, made in 1875, to Cezanne's The Bridge at Maincy near Melun, made from 1879-1880. During the time these artworks were made, as mentioned above, many Impressionists engaged in plein aire painting to experiment with time the restrained process and the diverse types of light effects during the different hours of the day. During this period, these types of work were rebellions against the traditional paintings of the French Academy and...