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Lot Essay
La sieste aux champs was specially painted by Pissarro as a wedding gift for Jeanne Durand-Ruel who married Albert Dureau in Paris on 6 September 1893. In a letter to his dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel, Pissarro congratulates him upon the future marriage of his daughter: 'Je vous envoie ce jour un ventail que j'ai fait Mademoiselle Jeanne l'occasion de son prochain marriage ; prsentez lui, je vous prie mes hommages et recevez, cher Monsieur Durand-Ruel, mes flicitations et amicales salutations' (letter 17 August 1893, Correspondance de Camille Pissarro, vol. III, Paris, 1988, p. 358).
Between 1878 and 1895, Pissarro produced approximately seventy paintings in fan shapes, ranging from crayon sketches on paper to elaborate gouaches on silk. Fans became widely popular as the fashion for Japanese objects increased tremendously after the Japanese exhibit at the 1867 Exposition Universelle. Further exhibitions during the Exposition Universelle of 1878 and the Japanese Pavillion on the Rue des Nations in the Champs de Mars, ensured a continuing taste for Japanese objects, particularly fans. Pissarro, along with several of the other leading Impressionist painters, seized upon this new vogue and Pissarro in particular was fascinated by the artistic challenge of constructing a pleasing composition within this difficult arc-shaped format.
At the Fourth Groupe d'Artistes Indpendants in 1879, Pissarro included twelve fans amongst the thirty-eight works presented. Other artists such as Degas or Forain also included several fans in the exhibition since, being lower in price and extremely fashionable, they found buyers readily. Indeed, in 1882, when Pissarro was experiencing financial difficulties, Durand-Ruel recommended that Pissarro 'make some small gouache paintings on taffeta and some fans: they sell well and have been very successful' (L. Venturi, Les archives de l'Impressionnisme, 1939, vol. II, p. 248).
Today, many of Pissarro's fans are in important museum collections around the world, including the artist's Fermire et dindes of 1885 (Brooklyn Museum, New York), Hiver, environs de Lower Norwood, Londres (Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield), and the artist's celebrated Rameuses de pois (P.&V. 1652, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) of 1890.
Between 1878 and 1895, Pissarro produced approximately seventy paintings in fan shapes, ranging from crayon sketches on paper to elaborate gouaches on silk. Fans became widely popular as the fashion for Japanese objects increased tremendously after the Japanese exhibit at the 1867 Exposition Universelle. Further exhibitions during the Exposition Universelle of 1878 and the Japanese Pavillion on the Rue des Nations in the Champs de Mars, ensured a continuing taste for Japanese objects, particularly fans. Pissarro, along with several of the other leading Impressionist painters, seized upon this new vogue and Pissarro in particular was fascinated by the artistic challenge of constructing a pleasing composition within this difficult arc-shaped format.
At the Fourth Groupe d'Artistes Indpendants in 1879, Pissarro included twelve fans amongst the thirty-eight works presented. Other artists such as Degas or Forain also included several fans in the exhibition since, being lower in price and extremely fashionable, they found buyers readily. Indeed, in 1882, when Pissarro was experiencing financial difficulties, Durand-Ruel recommended that Pissarro 'make some small gouache paintings on taffeta and some fans: they sell well and have been very successful' (L. Venturi, Les archives de l'Impressionnisme, 1939, vol. II, p. 248).
Today, many of Pissarro's fans are in important museum collections around the world, including the artist's Fermire et dindes of 1885 (Brooklyn Museum, New York), Hiver, environs de Lower Norwood, Londres (Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield), and the artist's celebrated Rameuses de pois (P.&V. 1652, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) of 1890.