Cezanne

Paper Summary:

This examination of Cezanne and the attempt to account for his foundational position in the history of modern art focuses on three themes that run through the literature on this remarkable yet problematic artist. It begins with the issue of form and its theoretical implications. Several contemporary critics and artists are considered in the critical debate of Cezanne's form and his concept of 'realisation', including Maurice Denis and the Nabis, Emile Bernard, Roger Fry, and D.H. Lawrence. It also addresses the question of objects, focusing on the still life's, through which many believe Cezanne reinvented the genre. The artist's technique is also examined, including his use of tone and 'modulation.' Technique is further analyzed in a section on Cezanne's landscapes.

Outline
Form and Mysticism
Objects and Object hood: Still Life
The Artist in Nature
The Artist and the Painter

From the Paper:

"Color, drawing, modelling, and structure unite in the creation of form--a central theme in Cezanne criticism which produces many types of analysis and, for some, leads beyond technique into phenomenology, metaphysics, or mysticism. The Nabis movement had already linked art with a spirituality through some members' interest in theosophy. Maurice Denis, coming from this background, saw something transcendent in Cezanne's works. He, along with Emile Bernard, spoke of the absence of 'material vision' and the representation of a different order of form."

More papers on Cezanne:

• Term Paper # 120173 : "Paul Cezanne's Primitivism"
• Term Paper # 124467 : "Paul Cezanne's Style of Painting"
• Essay # 16804 : "Art"

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