Paul Cezanne's Painting 'Still Life With Plaster Cast'
Look carefully at Plate 1.3.32, Paul Cezanne’s painting Still Life with Plaster Cast, c. 1894. How do the form and content of this painting contribute to our understanding of it as a modern work?
According to art critic Clive Wilson, writing in 1914, Cézanne was ‘the Christopher Columbus of a new continent of form (Harrison, C, 2008, p.63). Considered a revolutionist, Cézanne helped pave the way for other modern artists and his abstract tendencies contributed to the Cubist Movement. Robert Cumming (The Courtald Institute of Art, 2011) said Cézanne ‘was so influential as to play a key role in changing the face of art.’ This essay will examine whether Still Life with Plaster Cast (Plate 1.3.32) – with its narrow tonal values and a limited …show more content…
There are light shades of blue and an off-white giving the cupid a dirty appearance.
Clive Wilson and Robert Cumming were both lavish in their praise. Cézanne’s work, however, continues to polarise opinion. The ‘public laughed at his paintings’ (Rousseau, JR, 1953, p.2) and there was an outcry from sections of the British press ‘who ridiculed the later painting of Bathers’ (Harrison, C, 2008, p.63).
Should Still Life with Plaster Cast be considered a modern work? One can argue that Cézanne instilled foundations and crossed boundaries. By painting this way, Cézanne was toying with the complex nature of art and reality, expanding true images. He helped overturn preconceptions about the rules of painting; his influence helped shape modern art. Further evidence of this niche can be seen in Steven Campbell’s 1987 painting, Three Men of Exactly the Same Size in an Unequal Room (Composition, 2010). Just like Cézanne’s Cupid, Campbell deliberately plays with Linear perspective.’ This adds weight to the argument that Cézanne’s painting - inherited by the Courtauld Gallery in 1948 – should be considered a modern
According to art critic Clive Wilson, writing in 1914, Cézanne was ‘the Christopher Columbus of a new continent of form (Harrison, C, 2008, p.63). Considered a revolutionist, Cézanne helped pave the way for other modern artists and his abstract tendencies contributed to the Cubist Movement. Robert Cumming (The Courtald Institute of Art, 2011) said Cézanne ‘was so influential as to play a key role in changing the face of art.’ This essay will examine whether Still Life with Plaster Cast (Plate 1.3.32) – with its narrow tonal values and a limited …show more content…
There are light shades of blue and an off-white giving the cupid a dirty appearance.
Clive Wilson and Robert Cumming were both lavish in their praise. Cézanne’s work, however, continues to polarise opinion. The ‘public laughed at his paintings’ (Rousseau, JR, 1953, p.2) and there was an outcry from sections of the British press ‘who ridiculed the later painting of Bathers’ (Harrison, C, 2008, p.63).
Should Still Life with Plaster Cast be considered a modern work? One can argue that Cézanne instilled foundations and crossed boundaries. By painting this way, Cézanne was toying with the complex nature of art and reality, expanding true images. He helped overturn preconceptions about the rules of painting; his influence helped shape modern art. Further evidence of this niche can be seen in Steven Campbell’s 1987 painting, Three Men of Exactly the Same Size in an Unequal Room (Composition, 2010). Just like Cézanne’s Cupid, Campbell deliberately plays with Linear perspective.’ This adds weight to the argument that Cézanne’s painting - inherited by the Courtauld Gallery in 1948 – should be considered a modern