id: 155626 accession number: 1990.7 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1990.7 updated: 2022-06-24 09:01:02.759000 The Lock at Pontoise, 1872. Camille Pissarro (French, 1830-1903). Oil on fabric; framed: 76.8 x 105.7 x 11.4 cm (30 1/4 x 41 5/8 x 4 1/2 in.); unframed: 53 x 83 cm (20 7/8 x 32 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1990.7 title: The Lock at Pontoise title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1872 creation date earliest: 1872 creation date latest: 1872 current location: creditline: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund copyright: --- culture: France, 19th century technique: oil on fabric department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960 type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Camille Pissarro (French, 1830-1903) - artist Camille Pissarro's parents ran a general merchandise business on St. Thomas. After attending boarding school in Paris, Pissarro returned to the West Indies to work for his father from 1847 until 1852. As an artist he was largely self-taught, receiving some instruction from Fritz Melbye (1826-1896), a Danish artist with whom he traveled to Venezuela in 1852. When Pissarro returned to Paris in 1855, he shared a studio with Anton Melbye (1818-1875), Fritz's brother, and with David Jacobsen (1821-1871). He took classes at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1856 and three years later attended the Académie Suisse, where he befriended artists such as Cézanne (q.v.), Monet (q.v.), and Guillaumin (q.v.). Corot (q.v.) encouraged him to paint landscapes around Paris, and he was listed as Corot's pupil in the catalogues of the Salons of 1864 and 1865. He had met Julie Vellay in 1860, with whom he would have eight children; they married in 1871. Pissarro exhibited regularly at the Salons from 1859 to 1870, although his work received little attention and he sold hardly anything. In 1866 he settled in Pontoise, often returning to Paris where he kept a studio. He frequented Émile Zola's "Thursdays" (weekly literary gatherings) and associated with Manet's (q.v.) artistic circle that gathered in the Café Guerbois. During the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) Pissarro fled with his family, first to Montfoucault and then to London, where he worked with Monet and Daubigny (q.v.) and was introduced to the dealer Durand-Ruel. In 1872 he returned to Pontoise, where he painted with Cézanne. Around 1869 Pissarro began painting in a purely impressionist style, and in 1874 he helped organize the first impressionist exhibition. He moved to Éragny-sur-Epte in 1884, where he came into contact with Seurat (q.v.) and Paul Signac (1863-1935) and subsequently began to work in a pointillist style. He eventually found this technique too limiting, and returned to an impressionist mode, often working in series. By the end of his career his landscapes and depictions of city life sold well, and in 1892 he was given a retrospective exhibition at Durand-Ruel. By now, the artist had developed strongly anarchist convictions. Pissarro not only painted and made drawings, he also experimented with etching and lithography. --- measurements: Framed: 76.8 x 105.7 x 11.4 cm (30 1/4 x 41 5/8 x 4 1/2 in.); Unframed: 53 x 83 cm (20 7/8 x 32 11/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Signed lower left: C. Pissarro 1872 translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Notable Acquisitions opening date: 1991-06-07T04:00:00 Notable Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 15, 1991). title: Masters of Impressionism opening date: 1998-11-17T00:00:00 Masters of Impressionism. Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico (November 17, 1998-February 28, 1999). title: Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2006-05-27T00:00:00 Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Beijing World Art Museum, China (May 26-August 27, 2006); Mori Art Center (September 16-November 26, 2006); Seoul Art Center, South Korea (December 22, 2006-March 28, 2007); Seoul Olympic Museum of Art, South Korea (April 7-May 20, 2007); Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (June 9-September 16, 2007); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 15-June 1, 2008); Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT (June 22-September 21, 2008); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (October 12, 2008-January 18, 2009). title: Paul Durand-Ruel and Impressionism opening date: 2014-10-15T00:00:00 Paul Durand-Ruel and Impressionism. Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, France (October 15, 2014-February 8, 2015); National Gallery, London, London WC2N 5DN (March 4-May 31, 2015); Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA (June 18-September 13, 2015). title: Camille Pissarro - The First Among the Impressionists opening date: 2017-02-23T00:00:00 Camille Pissarro - The First Among the Impressionists. Musée Marmottan Monet, 75016, Paris, France (organizer) (February 23-July 16, 2017). title: Stories From Storage opening date: 2021-02-07T05:00:00 Stories From Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Tableaux par Camille Pissarro. Galeries Durand-Ruel, Paris, France (1928). * Exposition d'oeuvres importantes de grands maîtres du dix-neuvième siècle. Paul Rosenberg, Paris, France (1931). * Connecticut Collects-An Exhibition of Privately Owned Works of Art in Connecticut. Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford,CT (1957). * Pissarro. Hayward Gallery, London, United Kingdom; Grand Palais, Paris, France; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1980-81). --- PROVENANCE Charles Guasco date: Until 1900 footnotes: * Prior to Guasco, the Wildenstein catalogue raisonné says that Durand-Ruel, London purchased the painting from Pissarro on May 25, 1872 and then sold it to Tissot on November 17, 1873. In spite of the specificity of these dates, the catalogue raisonné precedes each transaction with a question mark, suggesting some degree of uncertainty. Additionally, several handwritten notations found throughout CMA’s file on the painting indicate that the Durand-Ruel reference is erroneous. Unfortunately, Durand-Ruel’s archives do not provide an answer: Caroline Durand-Ruel Godfroy wrote in 1996 that they cannot say with certainty that the CMA painting was handled by the gallery prior to its ownership by Charles Guasco. Durand-Ruel could confirm, however, that Guasco does not seem to have been a client of the gallery, indicating that it was not from Durand-Ruel that Guasco purchased the painting. citations: (Guasco sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, June 11, 1900 (no. 60), sold to Louis date: 1900 footnotes: citations: Louis Schoengrün, Paris date: 1900-1901 footnotes: citations: (Schoengrün sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, Feb. 7, 1901 (no. 27), sold to Max Behrendt) date: 1901 footnotes: citations: Max Behrendt, Paris date: 1901-at least 1939 footnotes: * Behrendt is listed as the owner of the painting in the 1939 Pissarro catalogue raisonné, and he lent it to exhibitions in 1928 (Durand-Ruel) and 1931 (Paul Rosenberg). Durand-Ruel’s records show that Behrendt, who lived at 11 rue de Maréchal Maunoury, Paris, deposited the painting with the gallery on January 31, 1928 for the exhibition, Tableaux de Camille Pissarro, and retrieved it on March 19 of that year. Beyond his address, few details are known about Behrendt’s identity. A Max Behrendt – or possibly two, a father and son - and his art collection is mentioned frequently in the diary of Paul Landowski. In the list of “Noms des personnes” in the diary, there is a Max Behrendt listed with the life dates 1894-1962 and described as “a Swiss actor, dancer, scriptwriter and producer.” However, Landowksi’s entry for August 15, 1928 refers to Behrendt’s 70th birthday, suggesting a birth year of 1858. Other diary entries discuss Behrendt in connection with banking and finance, suggesting that perhaps he – or at least one of the Behrendts – was involved in banking/finance rather than theatre. citations: Possibly Gouin collection, Paris date: ? footnotes: * The information provided to CMA by David Carritt, Ltd. includes the Gouin collection in the provenance with a question mark; a 1980/1981 Hayward exhibition lists “Paris(?), Gouin Collection,” suggesting that while Gouin certainly owned the painting, the location of the collection was uncertain; and in 1991, Burlington Magazine listed “Gowin collection” in the provenance. A painting by Monet offered at Christie’s, New York on November 5, 2013 has a Madame Gouin (c. 1952) in its provenance, while a “Madame Gouin” is connected to one Félix Gouin in the provenance of a drawing by Renan in the Louvre (RF 29476). The Wildenstein Pissarro catalogue raisonné does not include Gouin in the painting's provenance. citations: Mrs. Carmona, sold to Wildenstein date: Until 1951 footnotes: * Details about the identity of “Mrs. Carmona” are unknown. It is possible she was related to one “Jacques Carmona” of Paris who is listed in the 2005 Pissarro catalogue raisonné as having owned two other Pissarro paintings. citations: (Wildenstein & Co., New York, sold to Eleanor Allen Cunningham) date: 1951-1955 footnotes: citations: Eleanor Allen (Lamont) Cunningham [1910-1961], Hartford, CT, by descent to her son, Charles Cunningham, Jr date: 1955-196 footnotes: * Eleanor Cunningham’s husband, Charles C. Cunningham (d. 1979) was the director of the Wadsworth Athenaeum from 1946-1966. citations: Charles Cunningham, Jr. date: 1961- footnotes: citations: (Artemis Fine Arts/David Carritt, Ltd., London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: Until 1990 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1990- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: The river portrayed here is 212 miles (341 km) long. digital description: Pissarro was instrumental in developing the radically new Impressionist technique of painting quickly outdoors to capture fleeting effects of light and atmosphere. The rushing water and overcast sky in this view of a river lock near the artist’s home at Pontoise, a rural commune about 17 miles northwest of Paris, are rendered with rapid, broken brushstrokes of pure color. Painting directly on canvas without preliminary drawing, Pissarro may have executed this work in a single session. The shimmering surface of broken color conveys the sensation of natural, outdoor light. wall description: This depiction of a lock on the river Oise is one of four such compositions inspired by the area of Pontoise, a village north of Paris. Pissarro moved to Pontoise after he returned from England following the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). The ten years he stayed there were not only his most prolific, but also saw the height of his artistic talents. It was also in Pontoise that Pissarro worked with Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Mary Cassatt (1845-1926), and Paul Cézanne (1839-1906). Pissarro's influence on Cézanne was especially important, as Pissarro encouraged him to paint en plein air, or outdoors. As a painter, Pissarro pursued many of the same goals as the Impressionists and exhibited with them from 1874 onward. However, the group is far from being unified stylistically, and there were many differences among its members. In contrast to other Impressionists, Pissarro was interested in darker tonalities, especially blues, greens, and browns. The more sober colors of his paintings suggest his debt to the earlier French artist Gustave Courbet (1819-1877). --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Durand-Ruel Snollaerts, Claire. Camille Pissarro, le premier des impressionnistes. Paris: Hazan Editions, 2017. page number: Referenced: cat. no. 15, p. 44-45 url:
Galerie Georges Petit. Tableaux modernes, pastels, aquarelles, dessins.  June 11, 1900.
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Caroline Durand-Ruel Godfroy, letter to Louise d’Argencourt, May 22, 1996, in CMA curatorial file.
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Pissarro, Joachim, and Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts. Pissarro: critical catalogue of paintings. Paris: Wildenstein Institute Publications, 2005.
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Galerie Georges Petit. Tableaux modernes, pastels, aquarelles, dessins.  June 11, 1900.
 
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Hôtel Drouot. Tableaux par Boudin, Forain, Guillaumin, Isabey, Jongkind, Lebourg, Lépine, Lhermitte, Pissarro, Sisley, Stevens, Thaulow, Thornley, Troyon, Ziem. Feb. 7, 1901.
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Hôtel Drouot. Tableaux par Boudin, Forain, Guillaumin, Isabey, Jongkind, Lebourg, Lépine, Lhermitte, Pissarro, Sisley, Stevens, Thaulow, Thornley, Troyon, Ziem. Feb. 7, 1901.
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Paul Rosenberg (Firm : Paris, France). Exposition d'œuvres importantes de grands maitres du dix-neuvième siècle: prêtées au profit de la Cité Universitaire de l'Université de Paris, 18 mai-27 juin 1931. Paris: Chez Paul Rosenberg, 1931.
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Pissarro, Joachim, and Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts. Pissarro: critical catalogue of paintings. Paris: Wildenstein Institute Publications, 2005.
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Pissarro, Ludovico Rodo. Camille Pissarro. Son Art-Son Œuvre. 1632 Illustrations. [A Catalogue-Raisonné. With an Introductory Essay by Lionello Venturi.]. 1939.
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David Carritt, Ltd., painting information sheet, in CMA curatorial file.
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David Carritt, Ltd., painting information sheet, in CMA curatorial file
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Camille Pissarro, 1830-1903 : Hayward Gallery, London, 30 October 1980-11 January 1981, Grand Palais, Paris, 30 January-27 April 1981, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 19 May-9 August 1981. London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1980.
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Pissarro, Joachim, and Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts. Pissarro: critical catalogue of paintings. Paris: Wildenstein Institute Publications, 2005.
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Pissarro, Joachim, and Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts. Pissarro: critical catalogue of paintings. Paris: Wildenstein Institute Publications, 2005.
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Pissarro, Joachim, and Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts. Pissarro: critical catalogue of paintings. Paris: Wildenstein Institute Publications, 2005.
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Pissarro, Joachim, and Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts. Pissarro: critical catalogue of paintings. Paris: Wildenstein Institute Publications, 2005.
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David Carritt, Ltd., painting information sheet, in CMA curatorial file.

page number: url: Snollaerts, Claire Durand-Ruel. Camille Pissarro: Le premier des impressionnistes = the First among the Impressionists. 2017. Cat. no. 15 page number: p, 44-45 url: Rodo,Ludovico, and Lionello Venturi. Camille Pissarro; son art--son œuvre. Paris, France: P. Rosenberg, 1939. page number: Reproduced: no. 156, vol. I; vol. II, pl. 32 url: Pissarro: Camille Pissarro, 1830-1903 : Hayward Gallery, London, 30 October 1980-11 January 1981, Grand Palais, Paris, 30 January-27 April 1981, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 19 May-9 August 1981. London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1980. page number: url: Brettell, Richard R. Pissarro and Pontoise: The Painter in a Landscape. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990. page number: Reproduced: p. 19, fig. 13 url: "Consolidated Audited Annual Report." Artemis 89-90 (1991). page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 32-33 url: Hinson, Tom E. "Notable Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 3 (June 1991): 63-147. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 86 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161319 Chong, Alan. European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993. page number: Reproduced: p. 183 url: Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico). Maestros del impresionismo. México, D.F.: Istituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, 1998. page number: Reproduced: p. 136-137 url: D' Argencourt, Louise, and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 4. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: v. 2, p. 491-495, no. 171 url: Patry, Sylvie. Paul Durand-Ruel: le pari de l'impressionnisme. Paris, France: Réunion des musées nationaux,2014. page number: Reproduced: p. 96, fig. 65; Mentioned: p. 261 url: Patry, Sylvie, Anne Robbins, Christopher Riopelle, Joseph J. Rishel, and Jennifer A. Thompson. Inventing Impressionism: Paul Durand-Ruel and the Modern Art Market. London, United Kingdom: National Gallery Company, 2015. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 261, no. 64 url: Snollaerts, Claire Durand-Ruel and Christophe Duvivier. Camille Pissarro: le premier des impressionnistes = the first among the impressionists. Vanves: Éditions Hazan, [2017]; Paris: Musée Marmottan Monet, 2017. page number: Reproduced: P. 14-15, cat. 15 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1990.7/1990.7_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1990.7/1990.7_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1990.7/1990.7_full.tif