The Woods at L'Hermitage, Pontoise

Camille Pissarro

1879 · Softground etching, aquatint, and drypoint on china paper; sixth state (per Shapiro) · Drawings and Prints

Of all the Impressionist painters, Camille Pissarro was the most consistently devoted to printmaking, thanks in no small part to the encouragement of Degas. It was Degas' project to found a journal (Le Jour et la Nuit) illustrated with artists' prints that prompted Pissarro to realize this technically complex work, which reproduces in a surprisingly effective manner both the tremulous surface and densely packed composition of a then-recent painting. Its vigorous texture of monochromatic tones and accents compensates for the absence of color.

Artist

Camille Pissarro

Date

1879

Medium

Softground etching, aquatint, and drypoint on china paper; sixth state (per Shapiro)

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1921