Paul Cezanne
Still Life with Apples and Oranges, 1895 by Paul Cezanne
In Still Life with Apples and Oranges, 1895, another side of Cezanne comes into fullest play. This still life is of an imperial sumptuousness. We feel throughout the work the painter’s joy in the luxuriance and profusion of colorful things, unconstrained by his meditative habit. The old stabilizing (and detaching) construction — the rectangular framework of the table and the clear plane of the wall — has disappeared. Instead, the space as a whole is draped and richly broken; the difference between depth and surface, the vertical plane and the horizontal, is veiled. Everything comes forward; yet there is also a palpable depth, as in the succession of fruit at the left. We are reminded of the space of the quarry and the mountain in the picture of Mont Sainte-Victoire.
Cezanne seeks here a continuity of elements more complete than in his earlier work. The compotier grows out of the beautiful white cloth, and the decorated jug seems to be a fusion of that cloth with the apples and oranges and the ornamented drape behind it. The effect is dense, even crowded, like his landscapes with woods and rocks, and is enormously rich in unexpected shapes and chords of color, almost to the point of engorgement. It is not at all a «natural» still life — something we might encounter in a home — but a fantastic heaping up of things, in which we discern, however, a clear controlling taste. The complexity of this work belongs both to the pride of a well-exercised masterliness and the delight of the senses. More than most of Cezanne’s still lifes, it impresses us as an orchestrated work, because of the wealth of distinct, articulated groups of elements carried across the entire field of the canvas. The white cloth is magnificent in its curving lines, its multiplicity of contrasted directions, its great rise and fall, and in the spectrum delicately toning its brilliant white surface. Against this complication of whiteness and the subdued chords of the mottled drapes (warmer and more angular in ornament at the left, cooler and with curved ornament at the right) play the rich pure notes of the fruit. These are grouped simply, in varying rhythms, and are so disposed as to form together a still life on a horizontal axis — a secret stabilizer among the many sloping shapes. A delightful metaphoric fancy is the decoration of the jug with red and yellow flowers like the nearby fruit; it is a bridge between the fruit and the ornamented drapes, of which the patterns, broken by the folds, are a rich flicker of less intense, contrasting tones.
A characteristic theme in the larger design is a sharply pointed form, which appears in many parts: in the silhouette of the white cloth, in its angles with the table and the edges of the canvas, in the drape at the upper left in the tall, peaked fold, and elsewhere.
Painted during a period when Cezanne produced many powerful images of solitude and unrest, Still Life with Apples and Oranges has the same emotional force and masterful inventiveness in the expression of joy.
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Still Life with Apples
1898. Oil on canvas, 27 x 36 1/2″ (68.6 x 92.7 cm)
“Painting from nature is not copying the object,” Paul Cézanne wrote, “it is realizing one’s sensations.” Still Life with Apples reflects this view and the artist’s steady fascination with color, light, pictorial space, and how we see.
In Still Life with Apples and his many other paintings, CГ©zanne concentrated on the visual and physical qualities of the paint and canvas and worked to capture the full complexity of how our eyes take in the sights before us. He never aimed for mere illusionism. This is apparent, for example, in the edges of a number of the apples, which appear to be undefined, almost shifting, and in the two sides of the table, which do not align. CГ©zanne left some areas of canvas bare. Other areas, like the right drape of the bunched tablecloth, appear unfinished.
A work of art made from paint applied to canvas, wood, paper, or another support (noun).
A closely woven, sturdy cloth of hemp, cotton, linen, or a similar fiber, frequently stretched over a frame and used as a surface for painting.
A combination of pigment, binder, and solvent (noun);В the act of producing a picture using paintВ (verb, gerund).
Technique used to depict volumes and spatial relationships on a flat surface, as in a painted scene that appears to extend into the distance.
Resembling or using the simple rectilinear or curvilinear lines used in geometry.
The shape or structure of an object.
The perceived hue of an object, produced by the manner in which it reflects or emits light into the eye. Also, a substance, such as a dye, pigment, or paint, that imparts a hue.
Some Perspective
Optics fascinated CГ©zanne. He tried to distill naturally occurring forms to their geometric essentials: the cone, the cube, the sphere. He used layers of color to build up surfaces, and outlined his forms for emphasis. His deep study of geometry in painting led to his becoming a master of perspective. CГ©zanne had little public success and was repeatedly rejected by the Paris Salon. In his final years and particularly after his death, younger artists, among them Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, discovered and drew from his work.
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Paul Cezanne
Still Life with Apples, 1898 by Paul Cezanne
With Still Life with Apples 1798, Cézanne demonstrates that still life — considered the lowliest genre of its day — could be a vehicle for faithfully representing the appearance of light and space. «Painting from nature is not copying the object,» he wrote, «it is realizing one’s sensations.»
Cézanne consistently draws attention to the quality of the paint and canvas — never aiming for illusion. For example, the edges of the fruit in the bowl are undefined and appear to shift. Rules of perspective, too, are broken; the right corner of the table tilts forward, and is not aligned with the left side. Some areas of canvas are left bare, and others, like the drape of the tablecloth, appear unfinished. Still Life with Apples, 1898 is more than an imitation of life — it is an exploration of seeing and the very nature of painting.
Cézanne was fascinated by optics and tried to reduce naturally occurring forms to their geometric essentials — the cone, the cube, the sphere. He used layers of color on these shapes to build up surfaces, outlining the forms for emphasis. His deep study of geometry in painting led him to become a master in perspective. Until the end of his life, Cézanne received little public success and was repeatedly rejected by the Paris Salon. In his last years, and particularly after his death, his work began to influence many younger artists, including Picasso, Georges Braque, and Vincent van Gogh.
Источник
Paul Cezanne
Still Life with Apples, 1898 by Paul Cezanne
With Still Life with Apples 1798, Cézanne demonstrates that still life — considered the lowliest genre of its day — could be a vehicle for faithfully representing the appearance of light and space. «Painting from nature is not copying the object,» he wrote, «it is realizing one’s sensations.»
Cézanne consistently draws attention to the quality of the paint and canvas — never aiming for illusion. For example, the edges of the fruit in the bowl are undefined and appear to shift. Rules of perspective, too, are broken; the right corner of the table tilts forward, and is not aligned with the left side. Some areas of canvas are left bare, and others, like the drape of the tablecloth, appear unfinished. Still Life with Apples, 1898 is more than an imitation of life — it is an exploration of seeing and the very nature of painting.
Cézanne was fascinated by optics and tried to reduce naturally occurring forms to their geometric essentials — the cone, the cube, the sphere. He used layers of color on these shapes to build up surfaces, outlining the forms for emphasis. His deep study of geometry in painting led him to become a master in perspective. Until the end of his life, Cézanne received little public success and was repeatedly rejected by the Paris Salon. In his last years, and particularly after his death, his work began to influence many younger artists, including Picasso, Georges Braque, and Vincent van Gogh.
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