Joachim Pissarro

Last updated

Joachim Pissarro (born 1959) is an art historian, theoretician, curator, educator, and director of the Hunter College Galleries and Bershad Professor of Art History at Hunter College of the City University of New York. [1] [2] [3] His latest book, authored with art critic David Carrier, is called Wild Art. [4] [5] [6] Pissarro was curator at the Museum of Modern Art's Department of Painting and Sculpture from 2003 to 2007. [7]

Contents

Early life and education

Pissarro was born in Caen, Calvados, Normandy. He is the great-grandson of impressionist painter Camille Pissarro. He spent much of his childhood in Suisse Normande with his grandparents surrounded by art and artists. Pissarro studied Philosophy at the Sorbonne and graduated with a M.A. from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. In 2001, he received his Ph.D from the University of Texas at Austin in History of Art. [8] Pissarro's dissertation was entitled: "Individualism and inter-subjectivity in modernism: two case studies of artistic interchanges. Camille Pissarro (1830–1903) and Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) : Robert Rauschenberg (1925– ) and Jasper Johns (1930– )". [9]

Career

Pissarro studied at Hunter College: here, West (background) and East Buildings West Building Hunter College CUNY.jpg
Pissarro studied at Hunter College: here, West (background) and East Buildings

In 1983, Pissarro began working on the Catalogue Raisonné of Camille Pissarro under John Rewald. In 1984, Pissarro was the director of Impressionist modern paintings and sculptures for Phillips Auction House in London. [10] He founded the department of modern Impressionist painting in the department of New York. [10]

Between receiving his Masters and his Ph.D, Pissarro began his teaching career as a visiting lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin. During this time, he also started his career as a curator, being an independent curator at institutions such as the Dallas Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Royal Academy, London. In 1994, Pissarro was named chief curator of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. In 2000, Pissarro began working in New York City as a member of the Advisory Committee on Archives, Library, and Research at the Museum of Modern Art. In 2003, he became curator of the MoMA’s Painting and Sculpture department. He has been an adjunct curator at the MoMA since 2007. Based in New York City for most of his career, Pissarro’s reputation as a highly esteemed art historian has allowed him to work with artists all over the world, contemporary and classical. He continues to work as an independent curator and research consultant. In 2023, Pissarro was named the Cultural Attache of France’s Normandy region.

Teaching

Pissarro has a teaching career that spans over 35 years, and one that has taken him all over the globe. He has taught History of Art at Yeshiva University; University of Texas (Austin); Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, Australia; Melbourne University; and Yale University. He also regularly travels the world to speak and lecture at various Art institutions. Since 2002, Pissarro has been a professor at Hunter College in New York City, where he was a Bershad Professor of Art History, and Director of the Hunter College Art Galleries until 2022. He continues to serve as a thesis advisor.

In 1999 he worked as a visiting lecturer at Sydney University and Melbourne University and ran a seminar on the Asia-Pacific Triennial at the Brisbane Art Gallery. [11]

From 1997 to 2000, Pissarro served as the Seymour H. Knox Jr. Curator of European and Contemporary Art at the Yale University Art Gallery and was adjunct professor in the Department of the History of Art. [12] Exhibits curated while at Yale include Jasper Johns Recent Paintings (with Richard Field and Gary Garrels, 2000); [13] After looking at Chinese Rocks: Brice Marden: Work in Progress (1999); [14] [15] and Post-Modern Transgressions (1999).

Curatorial Career

Pissarro has had an extensive career as a curator. He has worked for both internationally acclaimed museums and as a self-employed research consultant. He frequently works with contemporary artists, but also draws much inspiration from impressionist artists such as Cezanne, Van Gogh, Monet, and his great-grandfather.

From 1988 to 1993, he was an independent curator with the Dallas Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Royal Academy of London. [16] Pissarro served as Chief Curator at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, TX from 1994 to 1997. While at the Kimbell, Pissarro curated Matisse and Picasso: A Gentle Rivalry with Yve-Alain Bois. [17]

In 1999 he worked as a visiting lecturer at Sydney University and Melbourne University and ran a seminar on the Asia-Pacific Triennial at the Brisbane Art Gallery. [11]

From 1997 to 2000, Pissarro served as the Seymour H. Knox Jr. Curator of European and Contemporary Art at the Yale University Art Gallery and was adjunct professor in the Department of the History of Art. [16] Exhibits curated while at Yale include Jasper Johns Recent Paintings (with Richard Field and Gary Garrels, 2000); [18] After looking at Chinese Rocks: Brice Marden: Work in Progress (1999); [19] [20] and Post-Modern Transgressions (1999). [21]

Pissarro supervised the first reinstallation of the modern and contemporary collection at the Yale University Art Gallery and focused on the recent history of the Yale School of Art, leading to an exhibition entitled Then and Now and Later (co-curated with Thomas Crow, 1998). The exhibit featured the art of Yale alumni including Dawoud Bey, Gregory Crewdson, John Currin, Ann Hamilton, Roni Horn, Abelardo Morell, Jessica Stockholder, Peter Wegner, and Lisa Yuskavage. [22] [23]

From 2003 to 2007 he served as a curator in painting and sculpture for the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. [24] Notable exhibitions Pissarro curated include Pioneering Modern Painting: Cézanne and Pissarro 1865–1885 (2005) and Out of Time: A Contemporary View (2006, with Eva Respini). [25]

A number of Pissarro's exhibitions have toured nationally and worldwide [25] such as:


Personal life

Hay Harvest at Eragny (1901) by Camille Pissarro (National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa) Hay Harvest at Eragny, 1901, Camille Pissarro.jpg
Hay Harvest at Éragny (1901) by Camille Pissarro (National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa)

Pissarro is the great grandson of Camille Pissarro, [1] [33] [34] a key painter in the Impressionist movement and the only artist to have his work shown at all eight Paris Impressionist exhibitions. Camille Pissarro was a mentor to artists such as Georges Seurat, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin. [35]

Works

MOCA inspired Pissarro -- here, downtown buildings and Mark Thompson's Airplane Parts sculpture MOCA downtown buildings and Mark Thompson's Airplane Parts.JPG
MOCA inspired Pissarro — here, downtown buildings and Mark Thompson's Airplane Parts sculpture

Wild Art

Pissarro and art critic David Carrier—both with a background in philosophy—co-authored a book called Wild Art (Phaidon Press), which released October 14, 2013. [36] [37] [38]

The book features 10 chapters of about 50 works each showcasing alternative art genres such as street art, food art, minuscule art, ice, and sand sculptures. [4] [39] Carrier and Pissarro explore artwork that has notoriety outside the world of high art and, according to Huck Magazine, argue "for recognition of artwork that is made and displayed far from the beaten track." [40]

Pissarro and Carrier were partly inspired by the exhibition Art in the Streets (2011) at Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, which was the first time a major art museum in America curated street art and graffiti. [2] [41] [42] They coined the term "wild art" to mean the world of art beyond the established art world. [2] Wild art is the equivalent of what we call wild versus domesticated animals or plants. [2]

Select bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claude Monet</span> French painter (1840–1926)

Oscar-Claude Monet was a French painter and founder of impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his long career, he was the most consistent and prolific practitioner of impressionism's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions of nature, especially as applied to plein air (outdoor) landscape painting. The term "impressionism" is derived from the title of his painting Impression, soleil levant, which was first exhibited in the so-called "exhibition of rejects" of 1874–an exhibition initiated by Monet and like-minded artists as an alternative to the Salon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camille Pissarro</span> French painter (1830–1903)

Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas. His importance resides in his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Pissarro studied from great forerunners, including Gustave Courbet and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. He later studied and worked alongside Georges Seurat and Paul Signac when he took on the Neo-Impressionist style at the age of 54.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impressionism</span> 19th-century art movement

Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities, ordinary subject matter, unusual visual angles, and inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience. Impressionism originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Cézanne</span> French painter (1839–1906)

Paul Cézanne was a French Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation and influenced avant-garde artistic movements of the early 20th century, whose work formed the bridge between late 19th-century Impressionism and early 20th century Cubism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashmolean Museum</span> University Museum of Art and Archaeology in Oxford, England

The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of Oxford in 1677. It is also the world's second university museum, after the establishment of the Kunstmuseum Basel in 1661 by the University of Basel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Post-Impressionism</span> Predominantly French art movement, 1886–1905

Post-Impressionism was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction against Impressionists' concern for the naturalistic depiction of light and colour. Its broad emphasis on abstract qualities or symbolic content means Post-Impressionism encompasses Les Nabis, Neo-Impressionism, Symbolism, Cloisonnism, the Pont-Aven School, and Synthetism, along with some later Impressionists' work. The movement's principal artists were Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh and Georges Seurat.

Events from the year 1877 in art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Musée Marmottan Monet</span> Art museum in Paris, France

Musée Marmottan Monet is an art museum in Paris, France, dedicated to artist Claude Monet. The collection features over three hundred Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings by Claude Monet, including his 1872 Impression, Sunrise. The museum's fame is the result of a donation in 1966 by Michel Monet, Claude's second son and only heir.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Rewald</span> American art historian

John Rewald was an American academic, author and art historian. He was known as a scholar of Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Cézanne, Renoir, Pissarro, Seurat, and other French painters of the late 19th century. He was recognized as a foremost authority on late 19th-century art. His History of Impressionism is a standard work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Durand-Ruel</span> French art dealer (1831–1922)

Paul Durand-Ruel was a French art dealer associated with the Impressionists and the Barbizon School. Being the first to support artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, he is known for his innovations in modernizing art markets, and is generally considered to be the most important art dealer of the 19th century. An ambitious entrepreneur, Durand-Ruel cultivated international interest in French artists by establishing art galleries and exhibitions in London, New York, Berlin, Brussels, among other places. Additionally, he played a role in the decentralization of art markets in France, which prior to the mid-19th century was monopolized by the Salon system.

<i>Rouen Cathedral</i> (Monet series) 1892–1894 series of paintings by Claude Monet

The Rouen Cathedral series was painted in the 1890s by French impressionist Claude Monet. The paintings in the series each capture the façade of Rouen Cathedral at different times of the day and year and reflect changes in its appearance under different lighting conditions.

The Impressionists is a 2006 three-part factual docudrama from the BBC, which reconstructs the origins of the Impressionist art movement. Based on archive letters, records and interviews from the time, the series records the lives of the artists who were to transform the art world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art</span> Museum in Norman, Oklahoma

The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art is an art museum on the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman, Oklahoma.

<i>Côte des Bœufs at LHermitage</i> Painting by Camille Pissarro

Côte des Bœufs at L'Hermitage is an oil-on-canvas landscape painting by the French Impressionist artist Camille Pissarro. It was painted in 1877, and displayed the same year at an exhibition now generally referred to as the third Impressionist exhibition. The picture is large by Pissarro's measure, and he described the effort of painting it as the 'work of a benedictine'. Pissarro was proud of the painting, and it remained in his family's possession until 1913. It presently hangs in the National Gallery, London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blanche Hoschedé Monet</span> French painter (1865–1947)

Blanche Hoschedé Monet was a French painter who was both the stepdaughter and the daughter-in-law of Claude Monet.

<i>The Magpie</i> (Monet) 1868–1869 painting by Claude Monet

The Magpie is an oil-on-canvas landscape painting by the French Impressionist Claude Monet, created during the winter of 1868–1869 near the commune of Étretat in Normandy. Monet's patron, Louis Joachim Gaudibert, helped arrange a house in Étretat for Monet's girlfriend Camille Doncieux and their newborn son, allowing Monet to paint in relative comfort, surrounded by his family.

Janice H. Levin (1913–2001) was an American businesswoman and philanthropist and art collector from New York City. She was a patron of the ballet and collected mostly French impressionist paintings. She was a supporter of higher education as well as charities in Israel. She donated many of her paintings to museums.

<i>Skaters in the Bois de Boulogne</i> Painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Skaters in the Bois de Boulogne is an oil-on-canvas landscape painting by the French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, created during the winter of 1868. The painting depicts a snowscape with many Parisians, young and old, spending leisure time on a frozen park lake. Due to Renoir's strong dislike of cold temperatures and snow, the piece is one of his few winter landscapes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul-Émile Pissarro</span> French painter

Paul-Émile Pissarro, also Paulémile Pissarro or Paul Émile Pissarro was a French impressionist and neo-impressionist painter. He came from the Pissarro family of artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Batignolles group</span>

The Batignolles group was a group of young avant-garde painters from the end of the 19th century who gathered around Édouard Manet. The group bears its name in reference to the Batignolles district, where the artists used to meet between 1869 and 1875. Many of the artists in the group later became known for the Impressionism movement.

References

  1. 1 2 "Relative Authority Art Historian Joachim Pissarro Never Wanted To Trade On His Family Name. But Divorcing Himself From The Career Of His Great-grandfather – Impressionist Camille Pissarro – Wasn't Possible". Philly.com. Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Bradner, Liesl (29 September 2013). "A walk on the wild side of art". LA Times. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  3. "Behind the Veil: Questions About Art Authentication". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  4. 1 2 Kurutz, Steven (23 October 2013). "What Would They Do with Axl Rose?". New York Times. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  5. "Professor Joachim Pissarro: The Global Democratization of Art". Education Online Update. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  6. "Big Small Talk: Oct. 11–18". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  7. Pissarro, Joachim (2011). Lisa Kumar (ed.). "The Writers Directory". Vol. 2 (27 ed.). Detroit: St. James Press. p. 1989.
  8. "College of Fine Arts alumnus named curator at New York MOMA". University of Texas. Archived from the original on 29 March 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  9. Individualism and inter-subjectivity in modernism : two case studies of artistic interchanges. World Cat. OCLC   53277298 . Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  10. 1 2 Rita Rief (20 July 1984). "AUCTIONS". New York Times.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  11. 1 2 "Joachim Pissarro". Hunter College. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  12. "A walk on the wild side of art". Los Angeles Times . 29 September 2013.
  13. "Education Update - Professor Joachim Pissarro: The Global Democratization of Art".
  14. "Big Small Talk: Pearl Jam, Jim Beam and 'Boardwalk Empire'". Wall Street Journal. 14 October 2013. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  15. Pissarro, Joachim (2011). Lisa Kumar (ed.). "The Writers Directory". Vol. 2 (27 ed.). Detroit: St. James Press. p. 1989.
  16. 1 2 "Curatorial Appointments at the MoMA". Art Daily. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  17. "Matisse and Picasso: A Gentle Rivalry". Kimbell Art Museum. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  18. "Exhibit features new works by Jasper Johns". Yale. Archived from the original on 26 October 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  19. "Art Gallery expands its exhibit offerings on the theme of Asian art". Yale. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  20. "Renowned artists to take part in panel and symposium at Yale Art Gallery". Yale. Archived from the original on 11 September 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  21. "Millenial art: tarred, feathered, hung todry". Yale Herald. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  22. Zimmer, William (12 July 1998). "ART; Summer at Yale: A Variety of Shows". New York Times. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  23. "'Now and Later' celebrates the 'singular and compelling' art being created by recent alumni". Yale. Archived from the original on 10 September 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  24. "MoMA reunites Cezanne and Pissarro". CNN. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  25. 1 2 "Sotheby's Steve Cohen Show: Auctioneers and Dealers Become Pretend-Museums". Arts Journal. 3 April 2009. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  26. "Monet and the Mediterranean". Kimbell Art Museum. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  27. "When light meets water: Monet on the Mediterranean". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  28. "monet and the mediterranean". Artnet. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  29. "Exhibitions: Monet and the Mediterranean". Brooklyn Museum. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  30. "The Impressionist and the City: Pissarro's Series Paintings". Philadelphia Museum of Art. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  31. "Pissarro's Day In The City The Bustle And Ever-changing Face Of Urban Life Is Captured By The Impressionist In An Art Museum Show". Philly.com. Archived from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  32. "A Time To Brush Up On Your Pissarro Museum Features French Impressionist". Philly.com. Archived from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  33. "PROFILE: ART CURATOR JOACHIM PISSARRO HUNTER COLLEGE". The City University of New York. Archived from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  34. "Artists in 60 Seconds: Camille Pissarro". About. Archived from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  35. Bade, Patrick (2003). "Monet and the Impressionists". Fog City Press. p. 81.
  36. Brooks, Katherine (28 October 2013). "7 Wild Artworks That Make The Established Art World Look Tame". Huffington Post. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  37. "Wild Art". David Carrier. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  38. "JEFFREY DEITCH with David Carrier and Joachim Pissarro". The Brooklyn Rail. 3 October 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  39. "Way Out There". We Heart. 14 October 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  40. "Wild Art Book Launch". Huck Magazine. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  41. Almendrala, Anna (17 April 2011). "MOCA's 'Art In The Streets' Exhibit Invites Unwanted Graffiti". Huffington Post Los Angeles Culture. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  42. "Art in the Streets". The Curve. Archived from the original on 22 June 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2014.