Pissarro was born on 20 February 1863 in Paris. He was the
oldest of seven children; the son of Impressionist painter Camille
Pissarro and his wife Julie (née Vellay). He studied with his father
and—like his siblings Georges and Félix—he spent his formative
years surrounded by his father's fellow artists such as Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste
Renoir who frequented the Pissarro home. He was influenced by Georges
Seurat and Paul Signac.
In 1886, he exhibited at the last of the Impressionist exhibitions. From
1886 to 1894 he exhibited with the Salon des Independents.He first visited
Britain in 1870–71 during the Franco-Prussian War. He returned in 1883–84, and
in 1890 settled permanently in London. On 10 August 1892 he married Esther
Levi Bensusan in Richmond. While renting a cottage at Epping,
Essex on 8 October 1893 their daughter and only child, Orovida Camille
Pissarro, was born. Orovida also became an artist. He met Charles
Ricketts and Charles Shannon, and contributed woodcuts to their Dial.
In 1894 he founded the Eragny Press and with his wife and illustrated and
printed books until the press was closed in 1914. In 1897 the family moved to
62 Bath Road in Stamford Brook, Chiswick. In 1903 he designed
the typeface Brook Type.
Pissarro associated with Walter Sickert in Fitzroy Street, and in
1906 became a member of the New English Art Club. From 1913 to 1919 he
painted landscapes of Dorset, Westmorland, Devon, Essex, Surrey and Sussex.
In 1916 Pissarro became a British citizen. While in Britain he was one of the
founders of the Camden Town Group of artists. In 1919, he formed the
Monarro Group with J.B. Manson as the London Secretary and Théo
van Rysselberghe as the Paris secretary, aiming to show artists inspired
by Impressionist painters, Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro.
The group ceased three years later.
From 1922 to 1937 he painted regularly in the south of France, interspersed
with painting expeditions to Derbyshire, south Wales and Essex. From 1934 to
1944 he exhibited at the Royal Academy in London. He died on 10 July
1944, in Hewood, Dorset.
In February 1926 Lucien went to Bormes les Mimosa which is on a hill overlooking Le Lavandou on the south coast of France. He painted many oils here and stayed until May when his mother, Julie Vellay passed away.
