?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 15,000 - $ 20,000
CAMILLE PISSARRO Le Pont de Pierre, à Rouen.
Etching and drypoint printed in black on cream laid paper, 1887. 149x198 mm; 5<7/8>x7 3/4 inches, full margins. Second state (of 2). Edition of approximately 30. Signed, titled, annotated and inscribed "No. 4" in pencil, lower margin. A superb, richly-inked impression of this extremely scarce etching.
There are approximately only 32 lifetime impressions (and no posthumous impressions cited) in both states. We have found only 8 other impressions at auction in the past 25 years.
Pissarro (1830-1903) was among the most significant players in the Impressionist movement, solidifying the birth of Impressionism in 1873 with Edgar Degas and Claude Monet by co-writing the manifesto for the formation of Société Anonyme des Artistes, Peintres, Sculpteurs et Graveurs. There were 8 exhibitions of the Impressionists from 1874 to 1886--Pissarro was the only artist included in all 8 exhibitions.
Of the Impressionists, Pissarro was the most prolific printmaker and produced around 200 etchings and lithographs from 1863 to 1902. Technically he pushed the medium to its limits through his manipulation of the etching plates--in fact, he became so enthusiastic about the medium that he purchased his own printing press in 1894. He experimented with Degas to produce prints with impressionistic effects and Degas also printed color proofs of some of Pissarro's etchings.
In 1883, following the advice of Monet, Pissarro visited Rouen for the first time. The capital city of Normandy charmed the artist and he returned three more times before his death. During this first trip, Pissarro produced several etchings and drawings of the Seine, including serial views of the quays (inspired by Monet's Rouen Cathedral series). He worked primarily en plein air during his initial visit to Rouen, before an eye condition worsened in 1893, leaving him unable to paint outdoors. In 1895, 1896, and 1989, during his three subsequent trips to Rouen, Pissarro adopted the practice of painting indoors in front of the windows of his hotel, where he had panoramic views and could capture the changing light and atmosphere of the city. Delteil 66.
