Orovida Camille Pissarro facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Orovida
|
|
|---|---|
Self-portrait, age 20
Oil on canvas; 39.5 x 32 cm. |
|
| Born |
Orovida Camille Pissarro
8 October 1893 Epping, UK
|
| Died | 8 August 1968 (aged 74) |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Lucien Pissarro, Walter Sickert |
| Known for | Painting, Printmaking |
Orovida Pissarro (born October 8, 1893 – died August 8, 1968) was a talented British artist. Most people knew her simply as Orovida. She was a painter and also an etcher, which means she made art by carving designs into metal plates.
For much of her career, Orovida chose a different art style. Her father, Lucien Pissarro, and her famous grandfather, Camille Pissarro, were known for Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art. But Orovida was inspired by Chinese and other Asian art styles. Later in her life, she blended these Asian influences with the European styles of her family.
Contents
Early Life and Art Studies
Orovida Camille Pissarro was born in Epping, Essex, Britain, on October 8, 1893. She lived mostly in London throughout her life. She was the only child of French artist Lucien Pissarro, who moved to Britain in 1890, and his wife, Esther. Orovida was named after her mother's aunt.
Her family was full of artists! Her grandfather, Camille Pissarro, was a very famous Impressionist painter. Her father, Lucien, was also a painter, printmaker, and wood engraver. Many of her uncles, like Georges Henri Manzana Pissarro and Félix Pissarro, were artists too.
Orovida showed her artistic talent from a very young age. Her father said it was "in her blood." Even her famous grandfather praised drawings she made when she was just five years old. As a teenager, Orovida studied oil painting with her father. She became very good at the Impressionist style. Her Self-portrait shows that her father taught her to use only five colors.
Orovida's mother, Esther, also had some art training. However, she worried that being an artist might not be a stable job. She wanted Orovida to study music instead. But Orovida's interest in etching helped ease her mother's fears. Etching offered chances for commercial illustration, which could provide a steady income.
In 1913, Orovida briefly studied with another artist, Walter Sickert. After this short time, she decided to stop all formal art training.
Developing Her Unique Art Style
Orovida never really joined the main art groups in Britain. She became the first professional female artist in the Pissarro family. She was also the first artist of her generation in the family to become a professional.
In 1921, she had a joint art show with French artist Marie Laurencin.
A big moment for Orovida was a 1924 exhibition at the British Museum that showed Chinese painting. This exhibition greatly changed her artistic ideas. Even though her father was disappointed, Orovida, in her 20s, moved away from Impressionism. She started creating a unique decorative style. This new style was inspired by Chinese, Japanese, Persian, and Indian art.
She wanted to create her own path and not just follow her family's strong Impressionist legacy. To do this, she stopped using her last name and wanted to be known simply as Orovida for the rest of her life. (Her uncle, Georges Henri Manzana Pissarro, did something similar, signing his work with his grandmother's maiden name, Manzana.) Even though she wanted to be known for her own art, she was still very proud of the Pissarro family's artistic history.
Orovida felt that Western art was competing with photography. She believed Eastern art was a better fit for her independent spirit. She never actually visited the Far East. Her inspiration came only from the artworks she saw in museums and other places.
Orovida often painted with thin layers of gouache or tempera. She used materials like silk, linen, paper, and even gold leaf. Both her paintings and her etchings mostly showed Asian subjects. She loved to paint animals, especially tigers and horses. She drew them in a decorative, Asian-inspired, and stylish way, focusing on lines. Other favorite subjects included Mongolian horsemen hunting wild animals, Persian princes, and African dancers.
Later Years and Legacy
For the last 25 years of her life, after her father passed away in 1944, Orovida started painting with oils again. Her style changed a lot during this time. Her work became more realistic and a bit more like the Pissarro family's traditional style. She mixed her Asian influences with a more European look. The result has been compared to dry fresco painting. During this period, she painted portraits of family and friends, royalty, and especially many different kinds of cats, from house cats to wild ones.
Orovida was a very busy printmaker. She created about 8,000 prints from 107 etched plates. A book from 2001 said that her "original, craftsmanlike, modern decorative prints would have earned her a fine reputation regardless of such connections." This means her art was good on its own, but her family connections also helped her get attention.
Her mother started the Pissarro family art collection at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Orovida played a big part in adding to this important collection.
Orovida never married. She passed away on August 8, 1968. In 1969, the Ashmolean Museum held a special show to remember her, featuring her paintings, etchings, and drawings. Another show, called Three Generations of the Pissarro Family, was held at the Leicester Galleries. She had actually been part of a show with the same name back in 1943.
You can see Orovida's artwork in many important collections. In Britain, her work is in the British Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. In the United States, her art is displayed at the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the San Diego Museum of Art.
Images for kids
-
Self-portrait, age 20
See also
In Spanish: Orovida Camille Pissarro para niños
