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CAMILLE PISSARRO
Apple Picking at Eragny-sur-Epte/La Cueillette de pommes, Eragny-sur-Epte (1888)
. Oil on white primed canvas
60cm X 73cm/23 1/2in X 28 3/4in

In 1884, Pissarro moved further from Paris to Eragny-sur-Epte, north-west of the city and a few
miles east of Giverny, where Monet had settled the previous year. Unlike Renoir, who at this time turned back to inspiration from classical art, Pissarro always remained open to the new ideas of younger artists, and soon adopted the novel Neo-Impressionist style which was emerging in the mid 1880s. He met Seurat and Paul Signac (1863-1935) in autumn 1885, and, acknowledging the import-ance of the scientific theories evolved by Seurat. began to use the pointillist technique. Pissarro's friendship and allegiance were invaluable to these younger artists, for he argued strongly for their inclusion in the Impressionist group shows, which many of the older members resisted. Apart from their style, they were dis-liked by some of the group for their commit-ment to anarchist political principles, which had grown in popularity in France, and which Pissarro himself espoused from the mid 1880s.

Any association with radical politics was felt by some of the artists to threaten the cautious acceptance which the Impressionist style had so recently gained among Parisian collectors. Thus at the last group show in 1886, Monet and Renoir were absent because works by Seurat and Signac were included. However, this disagreement did not sour the relations between Pissarro, Monet and Renoir, who at this time were meeting regularly at monthly Impressionist dinners at the Cafe Riche in Paris.

Pissarro explained the Neo-Impressionist theories to his dealer Durand-Ruel in a letter written towards the end of 1886. He stressed the importance of Seurat's role as inventor of the theory, and described the new function of color, which replaced mechanical mixtures of pigments with optical mixtures, where colors partially fused in the spectator's eye. The com-ponent parts of each optical color mixture were to be painted in separate touches so that they retained their color purity. When colors were mixed on the palette, they could only be combined with close neighbors on the color circle, so as to avoid excessive dulling of the hues. Pissarro noted that the great color theorists who had influenced Seurat's thinking were Chevreui, the Scot Maxwell, and the American Ogden Rood. Optical color mixtures. they argued, were more luminous than mixed pigments.

Execution or brushwork was considered un-important by the Neo-Impressionists, as Pis-sarro explained: 'originality consists solely in the character of the drawing and the vision of each artist.' The descriptive, individualistic style of touch, associated with Impression-ism, was dubbed 'romantic' by the Neo- Impressionists, who sought a more impersonal, mechanical touch to eliminate such gestural individualism from their work. Thus personal originality, which had for so long been linked with a personally distinctive style in brushwork, was rejected in favor of a more restrained and anonymous handling. This aim was in keeping with the cooperative ideals of anarchist politics, and yet, ironically, in practice it caused Seurat much distress. He felt that his 'anonymous' touch - his distinctive handling in effect - was under threat of genuine anonymity, as the numbers of his followers or imitators grew.

The Pointillist dot was considered the ideal vehicle for placing individual myriad touches of bright pigment on the canvas, to obtain the component elements of color without excessive mechanical mixing. Although the dots were too large to be invisible and create full optical fusion of the components on the retina, partial fusion was intended to take place, resulting in a shimmering illusion of atmospheric color. Despite the theory, few of the actual 'dots' are completely round. Frequently, as can be seen in Pissarro's Apple Picking, the uniform-sized touches of color are the shape of small brushes, tiny rectangular blocks which build up to form a dense mosaic on the picture sur-face. They also do not completely avoid a des-criptive function. For example, in this picture, and even in Seurat's first major painting in the technique, Sunday Afternoon on the lie de la Grande ]atte (1884-1886), the brushmarks vary in direction, following form and indicating changes of plane, even showing slight vari-ations which echo changes in the texture of surfaces. Thus, the tree trunk in Apple Picking is executed with long vertical strokes of color, by contrast to the tiny criss-cross hatching which describes the grass. On Pissarro's figures, too. direction of touch, often curved to follow the form, gives substance to his figures and helps to separate them from their background.

The Neo-Impressionist method was very slow and laborious, for each layer of touches had to dry thoroughly before more dots were added. This was to avoid wet-in-wet slurring, which detracted from the purity of the individual touches of color. The white ground commonly used on Neo-Impressionist canvases provided the most brilliant and light-scattering base possible, enhancing the luminosity of the colors laid on top, and showing through in places with its own stark brightness. Palette colors were more limited than those of the Impressionists, in that no earth colors were used, but more of the brightest tube colors, particularly greens, were added instead. The pervasive effects of outdoor light, especially sunlight, were recorded by the Pointillist tech-nique. Among the shadows on grass, for example, could be found the true greens of the grass, the darker blue and violet colors - the complementary color of the warm sunlight with additional blue reflected from the sky -and also the orange-yellow tinges of sunlight scattered into the shadows. Each of these features of light and color were recorded in separate dots of the different hues, to result in an overall effect of brilliantly colored atmospheric light.
During the latter half of the 1880s Pissarro adhered to these theories, but, in the end, finding them too slow and inhibiting in terms both of personal expression and of financial necessity, he abandoned Pointillism. The period had caused him even more economic hardship than he experienced previously, for neither his' ' dealer Durand-Ruel, nor the public at large, appreciated his new style. Having begun to establish himself in the early 1880s. many of his most loyal collectors were unable to follow his Pointillist departure, leaving him in quite dire circumstances.

Pissarro's relative naturalism of the 1870s has given way to a grea ter degree of formal stylizationinthe composition, handling and treatment of forms. However, compared to the work of Seurat, whose Pointillist method Pissarro had adopted by this date, Apple Picking remains essentially naturalistic.
Although his color mixtures are now purer, they still reflect the colors observed in nature. The canvas is a standard format portrait 20.

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