1882
oil
canvas
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
Dominant colour
Woman and Child at the Well is a 1882 oil by Camille Pissarro, a Impressionism work, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
This painting shows a woman and a child standing at a well. The woman is bending down, and the child is looking up at her. This work is interesting because it's part of a series where Pissarro focused on figures, not landscapes, which was a change for him. To learn more about the artist's use of light and shadow, look into the technique of chiaroscuro.
By the 1880s, Camille Pissarro, like most of his Impressionist colleagues, sought an alternative to the style he had employed over the previous decade, deciding to focus on figures rather than landscapes. Of the 36 paintings he showed at the seventh Impressionist exhibition, in the spring of 1882, 27 were figural. Woman and Child at the Well is one of a series of works depicting peasant girls taking a break from their chores, their poses and gestures suggesting narratives that remain ambiguous. As the model for the boy in this composition, Pissarro used his fourth son, Ludovic-Rodolphe, who…
The artist (d. 1903); sold to Durand-Ruel, Paris, August 5, 1882 [this and the five following per Pissarro and Snollaerts 2005]. Durand-Ruel, New York, by August 5, 1882; sold to William Loring Andrews, New York, February 27, 1888; sold back to Durand-Ruel, New York, May 21, 1891; sold to Cyrus J. Lawrence, New York, December 19, 1891; sold back to Durand-Ruel, New York, January 2, 1892; sold to Potter Palmer (d. 1902), Chicago, March 2, 1892, for $750 [per Durand-Ruel Archives, New York stock book 1888-1892, no. 860, as Femme au puits, as confirmed by Caroline Durand-Ruel Godfroy,…
Tours, Société des Amis des Arts de la Touraine, [paintings lent by Durand-Ruel], [Sept.–Oct.], 1882, no cat. found. Paris, 9, boulevard de la Madeleine, Oeuvres de C. Pissarro, May 1–25, 1883, cat. 10, as Le Puits. Possibly New York, American Art Galleries, Works in Oil and Pastel by the Impressionists of Paris, Apr. 10–28, 1886, cat. 145; New York, National Academy of Design, May 25–June 30, 1886, as Woman and Child. New York, National Academy of Design, Celebrated Paintings by Great French Masters, May 25–June 30, 1887, cat. 171, as Women at a Well. Art Institute of Chicago, “A Century of…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( piss-AR-oh; French: ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of Saint Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies).
See the richer artist page
