If Cezanne met Coldstream!
Last Tuesday, while on a rare visit to London, I took the afternoon off and visited the Cezanne exhibition at the Tate Modern. I have known the works of Cezanne since childhood and recollect as a ten-year-old writing an essay based on the picture The Card Players (currently exhibited in the Courtauld Institute). My essay, the plot now long forgotten was a very infantile story, but I distinctly recall my primitive analysis of the painting and the recognition of Cezanne’s style; identifying at an early age his peculiar and distinctive hand, displayed in his inexact and freedom in painting style.
I have always liked Cezanne’s work: the very French landscapes, his articulate still lifes, particularly of fruit, but unfortunately remain slightly less so enthusiastic about his figurative work. I have been aware of his work for over half a century and seen many examples both here and abroad. It is human nature that over time one forgives the irritating idiosyncrasies of one’s friends; it is the same with artists as one has become accustomed to their works over a lifetime. I have now become more cynical about Cezanne’s work and came to a minor realisation at the exhibition.
I am no Brian Sewell, but I realised as I wandered through the eleven large rooms, packed with the art intelligentsia all listening intently to the art historians espousing “art talk” through their headsets, that actually I was looking through a closed window in the continuum of artistic development. It seemed to me that I was watching a classic 1940s film, brilliantly constructed for its time with the technology available, attendant to the morals and standards of that age, further enhancing the fashions and the style of acting. The Cezanne exhibition seemed no different to that classic 1940s film.
It occurred to me that perhaps Cezanne had enjoyed limited training. I enjoy his colour palette but realised that his dependence on viridian green, particularly in his landscapes suggested that perhaps his true observational skills were somewhat incomplete. With respect to his still lifes, I enjoy his obsession with apples and oranges, actually any fruit but over the last century the understanding and development of still life painting has moved on so far that certain aspects of Cezanne’s work now appear to be relatively primitive. Yes, he was ground-breaking in his time but on reflection does he merit still to have this Messianic status. His measuring was poor and inaccurate, suggesting his handling of perspective was also limited. The most frustrating aspect of his still life works was his inability to create an accurate ellipse when painting a bowl or compotier. Accuracy is important, but when perspective is impaired then the painting is incorrect and it meets with my disapproval: he was not trying to abstract or render a flat perspective… he just got it wrong!
I also take issue with his figurative paintings: yes, they are instantly recognisable but technically they come across to me as inept. His basic understanding of human anatomy is questionable and although it might be sacrilegious to question this giant of his era, if I drew or painted figures such is his paintings of his various “Bathers”, I would expect to be heavily criticised. I take on board the sculptural aspect of his work but as I said before, he has his time and place and with our level of visual knowledge and understanding now, I felt his work is somewhat passé. No doubt I will be cancelled by the artistic fraternity for daring to suggest that a great master was perhaps much more naïve and unsophisticated painter then he is recognised as.
I don’t want be negative about Cezanne, and considering what I saw and expanding my thinking on his work, I thought it might be an interesting exercise to extend one of his classic still lifes (“Fruit dish with fruit” currently on display in the MOMA) and applying the traditional Slade School approach with accurate measuring as extolled by Sir William Coldstream. I have the security and knowledge that the composition of the picture is totally sound. Furthermore, it is not difficult to find a selection of green and red apples, a fruit dish, tablecloth and a spare wine glass. I set up the composition as similar as possible to the original picture with a grey/blue background. I subsequently measured, drew and painted several pictures: one from Cezanne’s own original viewpoint and a two more from other positions. I would be very arrogant to suggest I could capture Cezanne’s dynamic style but the exercise led me to a much greater understanding of the interrelationship of objects within the composition. The beauty of the exercise is that I am not copying a Cezanne masterpiece but taking his template of a still life and reinterpreting it in my own hand or style. My work could no way be considered accomplished but its value to me has been to follow his journey in painting the assemblage which gave me a greater understanding and hopefully develop on my journey to become a painter.
It is important not to forget the metaphor: “We stand on the shoulders of giants”. (Nanos gigantum humeris insidentes)
