Busacca Gallery

Nude Bathers, Still Life These works are from a portfolio of watercolor-based lithographic prints after original compositions by Paul Cézanne (French, 1839–1906). The imagery is drawn from Cézanne’s late 19th-century studies, originally executed in watercolor and pencil on paper between 1885 and 1890. Artist: Paul Cézanne (French, 1839–1906) Title: Les Baigneuses Year: 1947 (posthumous edition) Medium: Lithograph on paper Edition: 194 of 500 Category: Works on Paper / Montage The contribution of Paul Cézanne to the history of 20th-century art is unparalleled. His work was pivotal, profoundly influencing major artistic movements such as Cubism, Fauvism, and Abstraction. By treating every element of his compositions with equal importance and refusing to impose a traditional hierarchy of subject matter, Cézanne introduced a radical new approach to perspective and form. His exploration of structure and volume opened the door to Modern Art, as he moved steadily toward the abstraction of natural forms. These works are recognized as key masterpieces—among the most challenging to access, yet also among the most powerful in the history of early 20th-century art. Cézanne undertook numerous studies and drafts of women bathing beneath trees in open landscapes, a subject that is known to have deeply preoccupied him. Many of these studies exist only as pencil sketches that remained stored in drawers in his bedroom or studio, underscoring both his persistence and his determination to fully resolve the theme. Only a limited number of these studies are currently catalogued, with approximately seven closely reflecting the compositions found in the final works. In addition to these drawings, Cézanne produced several watercolor studies, the majority of which are now held in public institutional collections. Beginning with male bathers in the 1870s and turning to female bathers in the following decade, Cézanne positioned himself within the long classical tradition of the 17th and 18th centuries. Like Titian and Poussin, he placed the nude figure within an outdoor setting rooted in mythology and classical idealism. Yet despite these classical references, Cézanne’s interpretation is entirely personal and modern. In these prints, he sought a perfect harmony between figures and nature, achieved through subtle shifts in tone and form. The landscape is given equal importance to the human figure, with careful attention to the modulation of water, sky, and foliage. Depth is suggested with remarkable economy, creating a sense of space through minimal means—a hallmark of Cézanne’s mature style. Much of this body of work remained largely unknown to the general public for many years, further enhancing its historical and artistic significance.

Paul Cézanne fundamentally reshaped modern painting by breaking away from traditional perspective and representation, laying the groundwork for abstraction and structural analysis in art. Rather than imitating nature, Cézanne sought to understand and reconstruct it through simplified geometric forms, deliberate brushwork, and shifting viewpoints. He treated every element of a composition—figure, landscape, and object—with equal importance, dissolving the hierarchy that had defined academic painting for centuries. This approach directly influenced the development of Cubism, particularly in the work of Picasso and Braque, and opened the door to Fauvism and abstraction by emphasizing form, color, and structure over illusionistic realism. Cézanne’s vision transformed painting from a window onto the world into a constructed, intellectual process, making him widely regarded as the bridge between 19th-century Impressionism and 20th-century Modern Art.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_C%C3%A9zanne

Paul Cézanne French: [pɔl sezan]; 1839–1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century. Cézanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th century Impressionism and the early 20th century's new line of artistic enquiry, Cubism. The line attributed to both Matisse and Picasso that Cézanne "is the father of us all" cannot be easily dismissed.

Cézanne's often repetitive, sensitive and exploratory brushstrokes are highly characteristic and clearly recognizable. He used planes of colour and small brushstrokes that build up to form complex fields, at once both a direct expression of the sensations of the observing eye and an abstraction from observed nature. The paintings convey Cézanne's intense study of his subjects, a searching gaze and a dogged struggle to deal with the complexity of human visual perception.

Cézanne's paintings were not well received among the petty bourgeoisie of Aix. In 1903 Henri Rochefort visited the auction of paintings that had been in Zola's possession and published on 9 March 1903 in L'Intransigeant a highly critical article entitled “Love for the Ugly”. Rochefort describes how spectators had supposedly experienced laughing fits, when seeing the paintings of “an ultra-impressionist named Cézanne”. Erroneously believing that Cézanne's paintings in fact represented “the art dear to Zola” (Rochefort's Dreyfusard arch-enemy), he drew connections between “Dreyfusard snobs”, the French officer who was accused but innocent of having sold defense plans to the fatherland and Zola's supposedly cherished artist, Cézanne. The public in Aix was overwhelmed with joy, and for many days, copies of L'Intransigeant appeared on Cézanne's door-mat with messages asking him to leave the town “he was dishonouring”.



One day, Cézanne was caught in a storm while working in the field. Only after working for two hours under a downpour did he decide to go home; but on the way he collapsed. He was taken home by a passing driver. His old housekeeper rubbed his arms and legs to restore the circulation; as a result, he regained consciousness. On the following day, he intended to continue working, but later on he fainted; the model with whom he was working called for help; he was put to bed, and he never left it again. He died a few days later, on 22nd October 1906. He died of pneumonia and was buried at the old cemetery in his beloved hometown of Aix-en-Provence.