Cézanne Portraits

I saw the excellent exhibit in Paris and this book is a great reminder.

A beautifully written and produced book. I ordered it after seeing the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London, and this catalog extended the learning and pleasure of my visit. The essays discuss the gradual development of Cezanne's approach to portraiture, the relationships he had with his sitters, and the significant influences on his life. Unlike many artists, Cezanne rarely used professional models and did not make portraits for paying clients. He did paint his family (his father, uncle, wife and son); friends (the writer Emile Zola, his dealer Ambroise Vollard, his major patron Victor Chocquet); and the men, women and children he knew in his native Aix-en-Provence. He also made a number of self-portraits, and we see the early versions in which he portrays himself as an uncouth almost sinister bohemian, the midlife versions where he looks more bourgeois, and the late versions which pitilessly track his physical decline. Art critics attacked Cezanne early in his career. Curator John Elderfield quotes some of them, and they sound much like the attacks that would later rain down on such Impressionists as Monet, Manet, and Renoir. Most surprising are the attacks on Hortense Fiquet, Cezzanne's wife and primary model. She is accused of not being beautiful, not smiling, and worse. Elderfield calls them "one of the more startling strains of misogyny in art history." They have no redeeming value, and it's too bad that, as Elderfield says, "the dehumanization and vilification of Hortense is generic to the Cezanne literature." The attacks on both Cezanne and Hortense demonstrate how artistic taste (and indeed all concepts of beauty) can be shaped by a herd mentality tied to a particular time in history. Today the Impressionists are almost universally admired, even loved. Cezanne is celebrated; his rigid, backward-looking critics are mere footnoted examples of folly. I would recommend this book as an enhancement of (not a substitute for) the actual exhibition. The show has closed in London and is now on at the National Gallery of Art in Washington (until July 1, 2018). Go see it, then buy and read the book.

This is a lavishly illustrated art book and an engaging written piece of scholarship. It gave me many insights into the artist’s prickly personality and what he was striving for in his art. There were many surprises: like the contention that Cézanne had a traditional idea of portraiture, even though his portraits were unlike anything that had been done. The text follows Cezanne’s portraits from the early aggressive impasto through his famous constructive brushstrokes to his thinly painted, subtly nuanced surfaces. In addition to the great numbers of vibrant reproductions, there are dramatic close-ups of seminal portraits that invite the reader to examine Cézanne ‘s brushwork. The chapters are mostly organized around Cezanne’s subjects. This becomes very interesting. We get a more objective view of Madame Cezanne, who has been unjustly vilified for being a sourpuss. We explore the drama that ensued when Cezanne painted Parisian intellectuals (he was far more comfortable painting family members and country people). We meet his favorite people, like the gardener who did so much more for Cezanne than garden. And we hear about the challenges of modeling for Cezanne, who required absolute stillness and sometimes over a hundred sittings. There are short biographical sketches of Cezanne’s subjects, including himself. There’s a good chronology, and even this section is rich in reproductions. The text is seeded with fun quotes from Cezanne that bring his complex character to life. I can’t get to the London exhibit of these portraits, so I’m grateful to have the book.

As always Cezanne masters the colors in all of his paintings some of these paintings are put of this world,enjoy the book like I have!

As of this writing this book sells for less than thirty dollars. It could easily sell for twice that. Beautiful book production and art reproductions make this a great addition to any Cezanne fan’s library, especially at this price.

Thank you.

Such a thorough book. It arrived quickly and I am totally pleased with not only the book but this service

Outstanding book on the premier modern portrait painter.

3月25日から始まったセザンヌの肖像画を集めた企画展の冊子。コンパクトで、一般書ながら持ち運びしやすい。印象派の作品を比較的多く収蔵する美術館が、プリンストン大学の専門家に委嘱して作成された企画展の解説書。流石に意外な指摘もあり、一読の価値あり。

Very good print quality, arrived very quickly, I just loved it .

Many of Cezanne's portraits, beautifully presented. Not one for focussing heavily on text, but this seems to be very well written and informative. The quality of printing is very pleasing, the portraits are generally full page, so you get a good look at this masters work. Very happy with this edition. Also check out Cezanne: Rocks and Quarries - outstanding.

Cezanne war ein Sonderling. Er mochte die Menschen nicht sonderlich, und doch! Immer wieder hat er die Präsenz dieser seltsamen Personen seiner näheren Umgebung, einschließlich seiner selbst, untersucht und in seinen Kosmos der Gegenwärtigkeit eingeordnet. Nichts wird beschönigt. Er schmeichelt nie. Und doch spürt man seine Anteilnahme und, so will mir scheinen, seine gewaltigen Emotionen, denen er beim Malen Ausdruck verleiht.

Beautiful book with beautiful pictures but there was a binding/publishing error that puts the first page as page 16 which continues to page 48 which then moves backwards to the beginning of the book and the first 15 pages and then moves on to page 49. So if you don’t mind reading things in a helter-skelter manner it’s still a very good book.