Georges-Henri Pissarro (Manzana) (Kunst)

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Georges-Henri Pissarro (1871-1961), better known as Manzana, was born in Louveciennes, the third of Camille Pissarro’s seven children. He studied with his father from a very early age and, like Lucien, he spent his formative years surrounded by distinguished artists of the Impressionist movement, such as Monet, Cézanne, Renoir and Gauguin, all of whom frequented the Pissarro home. At his father’s side he studied how to handle brush and pencil, while also learning how to observe and love nature. Thus steeped in tradition and subjected to these diverse influences, Manzana turned out to be a prolific and versatile artist, producing work in oil, pastel and watercolor.

As a young man, he adopted his father’s purely Impressionist style and produced a series of landscapes around Pontoise and Eragny. However, around 1906 he had so quickly developed that he sought more progressive means of expression via the design of furniture and decorative objects. The influence of Gauguin’s exotic native scenes from Tahiti and Martinique certainly contributed to the development of Manzana’s Orientalism, which began to manifest itself in some of his paintings, experimenting with gold, silver and copper paint.

Like all the second generation artists of his family, this young Pissarro initially worked under an assumed name. In 1894, he adopted “Manzana,” which was his maternal grandmother’s maiden name. Eventually, out of respect for his late father, he began employing his own family name when signing his work.

During the early 1900s Manzana regularly exhibited impressionist works the Salon d’Automne and the Salon des Indépendents, as well as Durand Ruel and Druet in Paris. In 1907 he had his first exhibition of decorative works at Vollard. The most important exhibition of his career was presented in 1914 at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs where he exhibited 311 works, including tapestries, carpets, furniture, glassware, decorative paintings, etchings and lithographs.

Manzana continued to exhibit his work regularly until the late 1930s, splitting his time between Les Andelys and Paris. Several summers at Pont Aven in Brittany inspired a series of paintings with the local costume and lifestyle.

At the declaration of war in 1939, he moved with his family to Casablanca where he stayed until 1947. Married and widowed three times, Manzana’s the youngest child Félix also became an accomplished artist. Manzana spent the last years of his life in Menton with his son, returning to his Impressionist roots and painting the local landscape.

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