Lucien Pissarro

Femme au bois, 1891

Gardeuse d'Oies, 1923

Liseuse, 1891

from The Queen of the Fishes, 1894

Born in Paris in 1863, died in 1944 in Epping, England. Lucien Pissarro was the son of painter, Camille Pissarro. He grew up surrounded by his father's great artist friends: Gauguin, Seurat, Signac and Felix Feneon. As a young man Lucien was inspired by the work of Kate Greenaway; one can see the influence in his designs and illustrations of children's stories. In 1886 Lucien exhibited his paintings, drawings, and prints in the 8th and final Impressionist Exhibition, then turned almost exclusively to making prints. Soon after, he moved to England permanently.

Lucien arrived in London just as the Arts and Crafts movement was gaining momentum. William Morris had just established his Kelmscott Press. Lucien saw the opportunity to combine his love of book making and illustration and founded the Eragny Press. It ran for 20 years from 1894-1914 and published 32 titles (including works of Flaubert, Francis Bacon, Christina Rossetti and Keats) with more than 300 wood-engraved illustrations, borders, and fancy capitals. The press closed when WWI broke out but its legacy is a beautiful combination of the French Impressionistic interest in color and light and the English aesthetic of Arts and Crafts design. (Lora Urbanelli)

**from The Book Art of Lucien Pissarro by Lora Urbanelli, 1997. Published by Moyer Bell.

Jean Cocteau

Menton's Marriages (Registry Hall) - A room decorated my Jean cocteau. (In the city of Menton, France)

Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) . French poet, dramatist and film director. A leading figure in European Modernism, he worked with Picasso, Diaghilev, and Stravinsky. He produced many volumes of poetry, ballets such as Le Boeuf sur le Toit (The Ox on the Roof - 1920), plays IE-Orpheus, 1926, and a mature novel of bourgeois French life, Les Enfants Terribles (Children of the Game - 1929). (Brockhampton)

I thought this piece so interesting, I wanted to share it. The lines throughout the figures and background remind me of Spanish embroidery... although can't remember the name of it! Cocteau was much more than a poet and film director he was also an artist. He created an art museum as part of his legacy in the town of Menton on the gorgeous French Riviera. Read and see more of his art here.