拍品專文
Degas was the prime mover behind plans for the fourth Impressionist exhibition to be held in April-May 1879 at 28, Avenue de L'Opera, Paris. As part of the exhibition he envisioned a room devoted entirely to fans painted by himself, Pissarro, Morisot, Forain, and Felix and Marie Braquemond. In the end the room did not materialize, and only Pissarro and Forain exhibited fans alongside Degas. Pissarro contributed a dozen (uncluding the present work) Forain four, and Degas five.
These artists were attracted to the japonisme of fan painting and to the challenge it posed in composing their subjects. The curved, elongated format creates the effect of distant receeding space, and lends itself to a panoramic or 'widescreen' view. Because the foreground appears at the edges of the composition rather than in the center, the artist must anchor his composition by in some way by emphasing the sides. Pissarro does this in the present work by placing a figure on the left side. Pissarro allows the curvature of the fan to exert this pull on his horizon lines; he ingeniously constructs his composition by crossing two diagonals just beyond the center of the fan, one created by the rise just beyond the haystack and the other defined by the receding road, which is continued by the more distant horizon line on the right side.
Pissarro probably executed the present work and the other fans in the exhibition in the few months previous, probably under the influence of Degas. The fans in fact form a small retrospective of Pissarro's early work; in some he reused drawn and painted compositions going back to his London period, 1870-1871. Charles Moffet (op. cit., p. 260) speculates that Pissarro was hoping to attracts sales with the fans, and notes that in 1879 seven of the twelve in the exhibition were already in private hands.
These artists were attracted to the japonisme of fan painting and to the challenge it posed in composing their subjects. The curved, elongated format creates the effect of distant receeding space, and lends itself to a panoramic or 'widescreen' view. Because the foreground appears at the edges of the composition rather than in the center, the artist must anchor his composition by in some way by emphasing the sides. Pissarro does this in the present work by placing a figure on the left side. Pissarro allows the curvature of the fan to exert this pull on his horizon lines; he ingeniously constructs his composition by crossing two diagonals just beyond the center of the fan, one created by the rise just beyond the haystack and the other defined by the receding road, which is continued by the more distant horizon line on the right side.
Pissarro probably executed the present work and the other fans in the exhibition in the few months previous, probably under the influence of Degas. The fans in fact form a small retrospective of Pissarro's early work; in some he reused drawn and painted compositions going back to his London period, 1870-1871. Charles Moffet (op. cit., p. 260) speculates that Pissarro was hoping to attracts sales with the fans, and notes that in 1879 seven of the twelve in the exhibition were already in private hands.