Georges Henri Manzana Pissarro

Georges Henri Manzana Pissarro (1871-1961) was a French artist. He was born in Louveciennes as the third child of Impressionist artist Camille Pissarro. Initially, he painted at his father's side, where he learned not only to handle brush and pencil but also to observe and to love nature. Like his brother Lucien Pissarro 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.

As a young man he painted a series of landscapes around Pontoise and Eragny in Impressionist style which he adopted from his father. Around 1906 Manzana started to search for other means of expression via the design of decorative objects and furniture. The influence of Gauguin’s exotic native scenes from Tahiti and Martinique contributed to the development of his Orientalism, which at that time began to manifest itself in some of his works by his experimenting with gold, silver and copper paint.

At the beginning of the XX century Georges regularly exhibited his Impressionist works at the ‘Salon d’Automne’ and the ‘Salon des Indépendents’, as well as Durand Ruel and Druet in Paris. In 1907 exhibited for the firs time his decorative works at Vollard. His most important exhibition during his career was in 1914 at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs where he exhibited 311 works including tapestries, carpets, furniture, glassware, decorative paintings, etchings and lithographs.

The Artist continued to exhibit his work regularly until the late 1930’s, splitting his time between Les Andelys and Paris, although spending several summers at Pont-Aven in Brittany, where the local costume and lifestyle inspired a series of paintings in the 1930’s. At the declaration of war in 1939, he moved together with his family to Casablanca where he stayed until 1947.

Manzana’s youngest son, Félix, also became an accomplished artist. Manzana spent the last years of his life with him in Menton, returning to his Impressionist roots and painting the local landscape.