International studio (60.1916/1917)

The Paintings of Lucien Pissarro

The criticism has been made, in connection
with Impressionist painting, that a transcript of
Nature, however true it may be, does not satisfy
the claims of Art, but such a criticism seems to
be based on a misconception of the nature of Art;
for a work of art may be a transcript of Nature in
the sense that the painter has found all he wants
in a natural scene as it stands. The quality of his
painting, as a work of art, depends on what the
painter has got out of his subject and what he has
given to it; in short, the essence of the thing is
the feeling displayed in the artist’s work. The
failure of a picture to be a work of art is not due
to its subject, whether that be a transcript of
Nature or the most ingenious arrangement of it:
it is due to lack of feeling or inability to express
feeling. Pissarro’s paintings are not only works of
art but intimate personal documents which form
a sort of autobiography in paint; for always they
represent states of feeling, however much they,
for a multitude of reasons, may vary.
A complete appreciation of Lucien Pissarro’s

work would involve, inevitably, an examination
of the principles of Impressionism and some
notice of the practice of them in England—-
a movement which owes so much to Pissarro’s
influence and example. Impressionism, were it
only in the direction of colour, has permeated the
more vital part of modern art expression. Even
those sections which cannot be said to be essen-
tially Impressionist in character owe much to its
influence, particularly in regard to the artist’s
relations to Nature.
To the general public and to the picture-mongers
of Burlington House the name of Pissarro is
naturally not familiar, and would be anathema if
it were. Official art is a contradiction in terms,
and Pissarro has avoided rather than sought
popularity, for popularity has nothing to do with
Art except as a measure of its badness. A lack
of appreciation of Pissarro’s work exists, it is
true, among some people of notable taste and
intelligence; this, however, is not a remarkable
phenomenon in the history of Art. It is due