Biography

LÉLIA PISSARRO

Contemporary Impressionist

Lélia was born in Paris on the 27th of July 1963, third child of the painter Hughes Claude Pissarro and Katia, an art-dealer. From the very start, she was entrusted to the care of her grand-father and grand-mother, Paulemile Pissarro and “Mamie Cherie” who cared for her and brought her up until she was eleven. It is at Clecy in Normandy that Paulémile Pissarro awakened her interest in drawing and painting, with particular reference to impressionist techniques. This was the source of her love for figurative art. She was only four years old when she sold her first canvas to Wally Findlay, a New York art dealer. Before his death, Paulémile made Lélia promise to retain her surname provided she followed the family tradition of painting with the aim of making it her profession.

At age eleven she returned to Paris to live with her parents. It was then, for the first time, that she exhibited at the “Salon de la Jeune Peinture”, where she was in all probability the youngest exhibitor. Hughes Claude, whose teaching veered toward conceptual art, then took over for Paulémile and consequently Lélia practiced drawing on a daily basis.

At fifteen she participated in an exhibition at the Luxembourg Museum in Paris. One year later, she excelled in a special examination, with the result that she enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Tours at this very early age. Her parents, artists on the move, divided their time between France and California, and Lélia divided hers between Tours, Paris and San Francisco.

Her work in conceptual art during this period eventually led to dissatisfaction and to a reversion to the family’s traditional creative roots which distanced her from her avant-garde teachers. Only subsequently, in the late 1980’s as figurative styles re-emerged, did Lélia suddenly find herself at the very heart of this major movement of the art world.

In Paris, Lélia taught art at the Moria School and studied restoration of oil paintings with Madame de Pangalleria from the Laboratory of the Louvre Museum. She also had a solo exhibition at the “Galerie du Marais”. Other exhibitions during this period were held at Lyon, Mulhouse and Rennes.

After her marriage to David Stern, the London art dealer, they made London their home where her studio has become a meeting place for artists and friends. Here conversation and tuition generate an exchange of opinion on drawings, pastels, watercolors, oil paintings and engravings.

Since 1988 Lélia Pissarro’s work has been exhibited not only in London but also all over the world, in Japan, South Africa, France, Switzerland and Israel. In America Lelia’s work has been shown in New York, Boston, Washington D.C., San Francisco and Connecticut.

Following the tradition of her great grand-father Camille Pissarro, her grand-father Paulémile and her father Hughes Claude, this fourth generation artist has played an important role in the history of art.

Gallerie Je Reviens is proud and privileged to present the work of Lélia Pissarro for your viewing pleasure and consideration.