Esther Bensusan Pissarro (12 November 1870 – 20 November 1951) was a British

wood-engraver Wood engraving is a printmaking technique, in which an artist works an image or ''matrix'' of images into a block of wood. Functionally a variety of woodcut, it uses relief printing, where the artist applies ink to the face of the block and pr ...

, designer, and printer.

Biography

Pissarro née Bensusan was born on 12 November 1870, the sister of Samuel L. Bensusan. Her parents were Jacob Samuel Levy Bensusan (1846–1917), an ostrich feather merchant, and his wife Miriam Levy Bensusan (1848–1926). She studied at the

Crystal Palace School Crystal Palace School of Art, Science, and Literature, also known as Crystal Palace Company's School of Art, (1854–1936) was opened in 1854 by the Crystal Palace Company as a new enterprise, to occupy part of its buildings when it re-erected t ...

of Art. On 10 August 1892 she married fellow artist Lucien Pissarro (1863–1944) with whom she had one daughter, the artist

Orovida Camille Pissarro Orovida Pissarro (8 October 1893 – 8 August 1968), known for most of her life as Orovida, was a British painter and etcher. For most of her career she distanced herself from the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist styles of her father, Lucie ...

(1893–1968). In 1894, inspired by

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

's Kelmscott Press, Esther and Lucien Pissarro established the Eragny Press. The Eragny Press produced books illustrated with colour wood-engravings. Genz, Marcella D.(2004). ''A History of the Eragny Press, 1894–1914.'' New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press and London: British Library, 2004. Esther assisted with creating the wood engravings from Lucien's designs. Pissarro died on 20 November 1951. Work by Esther and Lucien Pissarro are in the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

and the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pissarro, Esther 1870 births 1951 deaths 20th-century British women artists 19th-century British women artists English women painters 19th-century English women 19th-century English people 20th-century English women 20th-century English people