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[ART JOURNAL] Get a closer look at Pissarro

By Ian Bartholomew
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Jun 11, 2008, Page 15

View From My Window, Eragny-sur-Epte by Camille Pissarro, above, and Landscape With Trees by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, below, are on display at the National Palace Museum. PHOTO COURTESY OF NATIONAL PALACE MUSEUM

The Impressionists are celebrating in Taiwan at the moment: the French Impressionists that is, with two major shows taking place contemporaneously: Millet and His Masterpieces from the Musee d’Orsay, which opened at the National Museum of History on May 31 and will run through Sept. 5, and Camille Pissarro: Family and Friends at the National Palace Museum, which opened on May 30 and will run through Aug. 17.

With its emphasis on “Family and Friends,” the latter exhibition, which draws on the collection of the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology at the University of Oxford in England, is a wonderful introduction to an artistic movement that profoundly influenced ways of seeing and expression in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The exhibition’s arrangement is commendably simple. It opens with works of artists such as Georges Michel and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, who represented a trend toward a new way of looking at nature, that we can now, with hindsight, call “impressionistic.” It then moves on to the works of Pissarro himself, and for the purposes of comparison, the exhibition also includes works by a number of his contemporaries, including some sketches by Millet, which highlight the ideological differences between these artists.

PHOTO COURTESY OF NATIONAL PALACE MUSEUM

The works on display are mostly small in size, and those with a serious interest in enjoying the paintings are highly recommended to visit the show on a weekday, when there is an opportunity to really appreciate the detail and brushwork. The National Palace Museum has given the show plenty of space, an excellent decision that allows each individual work to be appreciated in an intimate atmosphere.

EXHIBITION INFORMATION What: Camille Pissarro: Family and Friends Where: National Palace Museum, 221, Zhishan Rd Sec 2, Shilin Dist, Taipei City (台北市士林區至善路二段221號) When: Until Aug. 17 Admission: NT$250

One of the main attractions is the historical context, and the substantial number of works by Pissarro’s children, especially Lucien Pissarro, give an indication of how this vibrant tradition of perception was passed on and altered in the hands of a new generation. It achieves the aim of making the viewer want to know more about the people who made these paintings and their relation to each other.

Three computer terminals are situated in the gallery allowing visitors to take a look at the paintings “under the microscope,” a built in zoom function providing 2x, 4x and 6x enlargements, providing wonderful insight into how these paintings were built up, and the enormous skill and subtlety that went into their creation.

An attempt is made to emphasize the link with the Ashmolean Museum, but this is largely unsuccessful. No information is given as to why this British museum should have such a fine collection of works from the French Impressionists, or what or who lay behind creating the collection. This doesn’t really make much difference to the enjoyment of the show, but hangs rather like a loose end in the otherwise commendable arrangement of the pictures.
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