Lelia Pissarro 1963 -

Lélia was born in Paris on the 27th July, 1963, third child of the painter Hugues-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 Clécy 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 4 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. Aged 11 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. Hugues-Claude, whose teaching veered towards conceptual art, then took over from Paulémile and consequently Lelia practised drawing on a daily basis.

At 15 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 École 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.

Since 1988 Lélia Pissarro’s work has been exhibited not only in London but all over the world, in Japan, South Africa, France, Switzerland and Israel. In America Lélia's work has been shown in New York, Boston, Washington DC, Dallas, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Following the tradition of her great grand-father Camille Pissarro, her grand-father Paulémile and her father Hugues-Claude, this fourth generation artist has played an important role by participating in the recent series of exhibitions entitled: "Pissarro - The 4 Generations".