Path to Le Chou, Pontoise

Path to Le Chou, Pontoise is a small but telling example of Camille Pissarro’s graphic work: an etching, aquatint and drypoint executed in 1879, at the height of the artist’s involvement with the Impressionist circle ^[4]. Unlike his better-known paintings of the same motif, this print shows Pissarro working through the landscape of Pontoise in the intimate scale of a printmaker, a role that the Getty ULAN records alongside his better-documented career as a painter ^[2]. The work is held by the Harvard Art Museums, a gift of Guy Mayer to the Fogg Museum ^[3].

Artist: Pissarro’s dual career as painter and printmaker

Born on 10 July 1830 in the Danish West Indies, Camille Pissarro (1830–1903) was a Danish-French artist whose importance rests on his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism ^[1]. While he is chiefly remembered as a painter, the Getty ULAN identifies him as both “French painter and printmaker,” a dual identity that Path to Le Chou, Pontoise embodies ^[2]. Pissarro studied from great forerunners including Gustave Courbet and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, and in 1873 he helped establish a collective society of fifteen aspiring artists, becoming the pivotal figure in holding the group together ^[1]. Art historian John Rewald called Pissarro the “dean of the Impressionist painters,” not only because he was the oldest of the group, but also “by virtue of his wisdom and his balanced, kind, and warmhearted personality” ^[1].

Technique: etching, aquatint and drypoint

The print combines three intaglio techniques: etching, aquatint, and drypoint ^[4]. This combination allowed Pissarro to achieve both the fine linear structure of the path and trees and the softer tonal gradations of light and atmosphere. The aquatint process, which produces tonal areas through a resin ground, was particularly suited to rendering the dappled light of a woodland scene, while the drypoint burr added a velvety richness to the darker passages. The print’s dimensions are modest at 16.2 × 21.3 cm (6 3/8 × 8 3/8 in.), a scale consistent with the intimate, experimental character of Pissarro’s graphic work ^[3].

Provenance: the gift of Guy Mayer to the Fogg Museum

The print entered the Harvard Art Museums as the Gift of Guy Mayer to the Fogg Museum ^[3]. The credit line indicates that the work was donated rather than purchased, a common path for Impressionist prints into American institutional collections. The Harvard Art Museums catalogue dates the work to the 19th century, while the Museum of Modern Art’s records provide the more specific date of 1879 ^[3][4].

Date	Event
1879	Print executed by Camille Pissarro [4]
19th century	Work dated by Harvard Art Museums [3]
Undated	Gift of Guy Mayer to the Fogg Museum, Harvard Art Museums [3]

Subject: the landscape of Pontoise

The title Path to Le Chou, Pontoise identifies the subject as a rural path near Pontoise, the town northwest of Paris where Pissarro lived and worked during the 1870s ^[4]. The motif of a path through trees was a recurring one for Pissarro, who explored it in both painting and printmaking. The Harvard Art Museums catalogue lists a related work titled Path in the Woods at Pontoise, also by Pissarro, confirming the artist’s sustained engagement with this specific locale ^[3]. The Museum of Modern Art records a closely related print, Path through the Woods at Pontoise, also dated 1879 and executed in the same three techniques, suggesting that Pissarro produced multiple states or variants of this composition ^[4].

Movement: Impressionism and the print revival

Pissarro’s prints of the late 1870s belong to the broader Impressionist engagement with printmaking, a medium that allowed artists to circulate their work beyond the Salon system ^[1]. His importance in the movement was not limited to his own output: he mentored younger artists, and Paul Cézanne said of him, “he was a father for me. A man to consult and a little like the good Lord” ^[1]. Pierre-Auguste Renoir referred to Pissarro’s work as “revolutionary” ^[1]. At the age of 54, Pissarro would later take on the Neo-Impressionist style, studying and working alongside Georges Seurat and Paul Signac ^[1]. Path to Le Chou, Pontoise, made in 1879, predates that shift and represents Pissarro at his most characteristically Impressionist, capturing the fleeting effects of light on a rural scene through broken, spontaneous mark-making ^[4].

Collection: Harvard Art Museums

The print is part of the collection of the Harvard Art Museums, specifically the Fogg Museum, in Cambridge, Massachusetts ^[3]. The Fogg Museum has long been a significant repository of Impressionist prints, and this work forms part of that holdings. The credit line “Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Guy Mayer” confirms the institutional provenance ^[3].

Frequently asked questions

What techniques did Pissarro use in Path to Le Chou, Pontoise?

The print was executed in etching, aquatint, and drypoint, three intaglio techniques that together allowed for both linear precision and tonal variation ^[4].

Where is Path to Le Chou, Pontoise located today?

The print is held by the Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as part of the Fogg Museum’s collection, a gift of Guy Mayer ^[3].

When was the print made?

The Museum of Modern Art’s records date the work to 1879, while the Harvard Art Museums catalogue more generally places it in the 19th century ^[3][4].