'Cézanne Portraits' star in the U.S. only at the National Gallery of Art

Paul Cézanne, Seated Man, 1905–1906, Musco Thyssen- Bornemisza, Madrid, gift of the Pellerin family.  This is an anonymous man from Aix-en-Provence, one of Cézanne's last paintings, finished the year Cézanne died.



Ladies and Gentlemen, we have before us once again another treasured and rare exhibition, only to be seen at one venue in the U.S., the National Gallery of Art now through July 8, 2018.

The show is by Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), the revolutionary who eschewed established practices and set the stage for other artists, "the father of us all," according to Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.

Cézanne was one of "the most influential artists in the history of modern painting," an inspiration to generations of artists, according to an essay by a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
 
Paul Cézanne, Uncle Dominique in a Turban, 1866-1867, private collection, one of ten portraits Cézanne made of his maternal uncle. 

 Paul Cézanne, The Artist's Father, Reading "L'Événement," 1866, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

This is a large painting, approximately 78 x 47 inches unframed, which shows Cézanne's father reading an unconventional newspaper (for him) with a touch of his son's artistry included, according to the National Gallery wall label. One of Cézanne's art works hangs on the wall (unseen in this photograph of the painting) and the dark right corner opens to Cézanne's studio. 

The National Gallery of Art strategically placed the painting to dominate the show's second room where smaller paintings of Cézanne's friend, Antony Valabrègue, seem to pay homage to Cézanne's dad, from their placement on both sides of The Artist's Father. (See * below.)  

As with many fathers and sons, Cézanne's relationship with his dad was complex.  His father owned a bank and wanted his son to be comfortable like he was, but Cézanne was dreamy and fond of "arty" things.  To satisfy his father, Cézanne attended law school for a while but abandoned it to keep up with his passion. 

In the third room at the exhibition, visitors admire three of Cézanne's portraits of his wife, Marie-Hortense Fiquet, (1850-1922) four which show her in the same dress, and all in the show. It is estimated that her husband made 27 portraits of her between 1869 and the late 1890s, although the couple was estranged much of the time. For years Cézanne kept his relationship with his wife secret from his father, afraid his dad would end financial support. His and Hortense's son, Paul, was born in 1872, and the couple married in 1886 in front of his parents, but by that time, Cézanne had separated himself from his wife and they did not live together consistently.  

Although she remained one of his subjects, he depicted her like a piece of wood, void of joy and enthusiasm. He excluded her from his will and left everything to Paul who supported his mother who, Wikipedia reports, used the money for gambling.  Hortense lived for 16 years after her husband died.

A book about that relationship would be a hot seller, I would think, and perhaps one has been written.  They met at art school in 1869 when Hortense was a model. 

Paul Cézanne, Madame Cézanne in a Red Dress, 1888–1890,
Fondation Beyeler, Richen/Basel Beyeler Collection

Paul Cézanne, Madame Cézanne in a Red Dress, 1888–1890, The Art Institute of Chicago, Wilson L. Mead Fund

Note Mrs. Cézanne's solemnity, lack of warmth, hands clasped, and stiff pose.  By this time the Cézannes were not happy lovers.  Her expression suggests she would rather be anywhere but here.

The exhibition represents 60 of his approximately 200 portraits gathered from around the world, including some seen publicly for the the first time in the U.S., and on display in seven rooms at the National Gallery of Art.

Twenty-six of Cézanne's total portraiture output are of the artist, and 27 are portraits of his wife, as well as paintings of their son, other relatives, friends, and critics, many which are in the show.

Paul Cézanne, Self-Portrait, 1880–1881, The National Gallery, London. Bought, Courtauld Fund, 1925

 

Paul Cézanne, Self-Portrait with Bowler Hat, 1885–1886, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen

Cézanne started his art career with portraits, and he ended his career with portraits.

The self-portraits show his appearance as he aged and his changing style.  Most of the other portraits were never intended for the subjects and he accepted no commissions for them.  His best subjects were family and friends, those who could tolerate his slow style.  They were lifelike, mostly drawn according to Cézanne's style of lines, colors, and geometric angles.

Paul Cézanne, Gustave Geffroy, 1895–1896, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, gift of the Pellerin family
   
This was a "thank you" portrait of the critic, Gustave Geffroy, begun a year after Geffroy defended Cézanne in a well-known article in 1894. Cézanne worked on the painting for three months, becoming weary and never finishing the face, the label says. Still, Geffroy called it "one of Cézanne's most beautiful works."

Paul Cézanne, Old Woman with a Rosary, 1895–1896, The National Gallery, London

The lady above was a former servant and resident of Aix-en-Provence, Cézanne's home for most of his life.  Her demeanor, clothing, and grimace suggest a rough life.  (Tempus fugit.) "Hard-hearted critics," says the catalog, "found it to be explicitly sentimental, too much an image of a character and a conventionally touching one at that."

Paul Cézanne, Still Life with Skull, c. 1885, The White House Collection
 
The label copy says skulls appears in many of Cézanne's later works, perhaps as a reminder that life is finite. As he aged, Cézanne painted the reality that death approaches every day. Still Life with Skull, however, was made 21 years before he died.

In the second room at the exhibition, Cézanne's The Artist's Father, Reading "L'Événement," 1866, is flanked by Antony Valabrègue, 1869-1870, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, on the left (with a National Gallery guard) and Antony Valabrègue, 1866, from the National Gallery of Art, on the right.

Valabrègue was Cézanne's close friend who thought Cézanne would be rejected by the Salon for the 1866 portrait (above) since a jury member "exclaimed on seeing my portrait that it was not only painted with a knife but with a pistol as well." It took 16 more years before Cézanne was admitted to the Salon.

In 1863 Napoleon III created the Salon des Refusés for paintings rejected by the Salon of the Académie des Beaux-Arts. Des Refusés was a gallery for some of Cézanne's works, but in 1882 Cézanne's first and last painting was accepted at the Salon which was probably the portrait in the show, Portrait of Louis-Auguste Cézanne, The Artist's Father, Reading "L'Événement," 1866.

Cézanne grew up in a wealthy family in southeastern France which was his home most of his life.  Financially supported by his father, Cézanne trained in Paris and sold few works until late in life.

His"thick applications of paint, coarse brushwork, and lack of detail" exemplified "an utter disregard for the conventional niceties of the genre," according to a wall description, and they drew ridicule and scorn. Cézanne wanted to separate himself from "the urban sophisticates of the French capital whom he so disdained," and make
"a harmony parallel with nature," in the Impressionists' style.

Many of his subjects were the workers and residents of Aix, in southern France where he admired and respected the working people, unlike his feelings for wealthy admirers whose paintings he often left unfinished. 

From The Art Story:  In retrospect, his work constitutes the most powerful and essential link between the ephemeral aspects of Impressionism and the more materialist, artistic movements of Fauvism, Cubism, Expressionism, and even complete abstraction.

The exhibition is the last of three stops after appearances at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, in 2017 and the National Portrait Gallery, London, in 2017 and 2018. Cézanne Portraits was organized by the National Gallery, London's National Portrait Gallery, and the Musee d'Orsay in Paris.

It is curated by John Elderfield, chief curator emeritus of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Mary Morton, curator and head of the department of French paintings at the National Gallery of Art; and Xavier Rey, director of the Musées de Marseille.

What: Cézanne Portraits
 
When: The National Gallery of Art is open 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sunday. The exhibition closes Sunday, July 8, 2018.

Where: West Building, the National Gallery of Art, between Third and Ninth streets at Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. On the Mall.

Admission charge: It's always free at the National Gallery of Art.

Free introductory slide lectures:  12 p.m., June 28, 2018, and 1 p.m., June 29, 2018 in the West Building Lecture Hall by David Gariff (50 minutes)
 
Metro stations for the National Gallery of Art:
Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information: 202-737-4215

Catalog: 257 pages with 180 full color illustrations, organized by date and subject. Available in softcover ($28) or hardcover ($45).

patricialesli@gmail.com