A London commemorative plaque for every day in 2016. The plaques are selected from all walks of life, and all points of the London compass – and I'm taking requests too!
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French Impressionist Painter Camille Pissarro, Westow Hill SE26
What is it with Impressionist painters and South London. Van Gogh spent a period in Brixton in 1873 – the subject of a National Theatre and Broadway play by Nicholas Wright (2002). Meanwhile over in Crystal Palace, Camille Pissarro could be found in exile during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71.
Suburban south London and a French Impressionist painter may seem like strange bedfellows today. At the time, of course, this semi-rural idyll would have been the perfect spot for a creative in which to find inspiration.
And find it he most certainly did. One of his most famous London paintings is a view of St. Bartholomew's Church at Lawrie Park Avenue, then commonly known as The Avenue, Sydenham, which is in the collection at the National Gallery. On a later visit to London, Pissarro also captured scenes at Kew and Kew Gardens.
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