Alex Danchev - Cezanne: A Life

Copyright 2012 by Alex Danchev

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

Pantheon Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Danchev, Alex.
Czanne : a life / Alex Danchev.
pagescm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
eISBN: 978-0-307-90779-0
1.Czanne, Paul, 18391906. 2.PaintersFranceBiography. I.Title.
ND553.C33D34 2012
759.4dc23 [B] 2012007182

www.pantheonbooks.com

Cover image: Self-Portrait by Paul Czanne,1879.
Oil on canvas. Oskar Reinhart Collection,
Winterthur, Switzerland.SuperStock
Cover design by Peter Mendelsund

v3.1

For D

Man perceives in the world only what already lies within him; but to perceive what lies within him man needs the world; for this, however, activity and suffering are indispensable.

Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Book of Friends (1922)

The point is to give value to the man, just as he is, whatever he may be.

Paul Valry, Analects (1926)

All images are by Czanne unless otherwise specified. Titles and dates as per his catalogue raisonn (controversies over these matters are raised in the notes).

ILLUSTRATIONS SECTION

. Portrait of Paul Czanne (186264). Oil on canvas, 44 37 cm, Private Collection. Image courtesy of ESKart, LLC, New York. Self-Portrait 1 in this book.

. Self-Portrait (c. 1866). Oil on canvas, 45 41 cm, Private Collection. Image courtesy of Acquavella Galleries, Inc., New York. Self-Portrait 2 in this book.

. Self-Portrait with Rose Background (c. 1875). Oil on canvas, 66 55 cm, Muse dOrsay, Paris/Art Resource, New York. Self-Portrait 3 in this book.

. Self-Portrait in a White Bonnet (188182). Oil on canvas, 55.5 46 cm, Bayerische Staatsgemldesammlungen, Munich/The Bridgeman Art Library. Self-Portrait 4 in this book.

. Self-Portrait in a Beret (18981900). Oil on canvas, 64 53.5 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Charles H. Bayley Picture and Painting Fund and Partial Gift of Elizabeth Paine Metcalf/The Bridgeman Art Library. Self-Portrait 5 in this book.

. Self-Portrait with a Landscape Background (c. 1875). Oil on canvas, 64 52 cm, Muse dOrsay, Paris/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library.

. Self-Portrait (c. 1877). Oil on canvas, 26 15 cm, Muse dOrsay, Paris/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library. Once owned by Pissarro.

. Self-Portrait with Palette (c. 1890). Oil on canvas, 92 73 cm, Stiftung Sammlung Bhrle, Zrich/The Bridgeman Art Library.

. Still Life with Bread and Eggs (1865). Oil on canvas, 59 76 cm, Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio/The Bridgeman Art Library.

. The Black Clock (186769). Oil on canvas, 54 74 cm, Private Collection/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library.

. Portrait of Louis-Auguste Czanne, Father of the Artist (c. 1865). Mural transferred to canvas, 167.6 114.3 cm, National Gallery, London/Art Resource, New York.

. Louis-Auguste Czanne, Father of the Artist, Reading Lvnement (c. 1866). Oil on canvas, 200 120 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art.

. Marie Czanne (The Artists Sister) (186667). Oil on canvas, 55.9 39.4 cm, Saint Louis Art Museum, Museum Purchase 34: 1934. Courtesy of the Saint Louis Art Museum.

. Portrait of the Artists Mother (186970). Oil on canvas, 55.9 39.4 cm, Saint Louis Art Museum, Museum Purchase 34: 1934. Courtesy of the Saint Louis Art Museum.

. Sugar Bowl, Pears and Blue Cup (186566). Oil on canvas, 30 41 cm, Muse Granet, Aix-en-Provence/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library.

. Portrait of Antony Valabrgue (1866). Oil on canvas, 116 98 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art.

. Marion and Valabrgue Setting Out for the Motif (1866). Oil on canvas, 39 31 cm, Private Collection/Photo Christies Images/The Bridgeman Art Library.

. The Lawyer (Uncle Dominique) (1866). Oil on canvas, 62 52 cm, Muse dOrsay, Paris/The Bridgeman Art Library.

. The Negro Scipio (c. 1867). Oil on canvas, 107 83 cm, Museu de Arte, So Paulo/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library.

. The Abduction (1867). Oil on canvas, 90.5 117 cm, on loan to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Courtesy of the Provost and Fellows of Kings College, Cambridge, and the Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum.

. The Orgy (c. 1867). Oil on canvas, 130 81 cm, Private Collection/The Bridgeman Art Library.

. Album Stock (1870). Muse Carnavalet, Paris. Roger-Viollet/Topfoto.

. Camille Pissarro, Portrait of Paul Czanne (c. 1874). Oil on canvas, 73 59.7 cm, on loan to the National Gallery, London. Courtesy of Graff Diamonds and the National Gallery.

. douard Manet, Portrait of mile Zola (1868). Oil on canvas, 146.5 114 cm, Muse dOrsay, Paris/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library.

. Jean-Simon Chardin, Self-Portrait (1775). Pastel, 46 38 cm, Muse du Louvre, Paris/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library.

. Camille Pissarro, Self-Portrait (1873). Oil on canvas, 56 46.7 cm, Muse dOrsay, Paris/The Bridgeman Art Library.

. Portrait of Victor Chocquet (187677). Oil on canvas, 46 36 cm, Private Collection/The Bridgeman Art Library.

. The Apotheosis of Delacroix (189094). Oil on canvas, 27 35 cm, Muse Granet, Aix-en-Provence/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library.

. Paul Alexis Reading to mile Zola (186970). Oil on canvas, 130 160 cm, Museu de Arte, So Paulo/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library. Once owned by Zola.

. Still Life with Soup Tureen (1877). Oil on canvas, 65 83 cm, Muse dOrsay, Paris/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library. Once owned by Pissarro.

. Madame Czanne in Striped Skirt (c. 1877). Oil on canvas, 72.5 56 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Bequest of Robert Treat Paine II/The Bridgeman Art Library.

. Madame Czanne in a Yellow Armchair (188890). Oil on canvas, 116 89 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ittleson Jr. Purchase Fund 1962 (62.45)/Art Resource, New York.

. Madame Czanne with Hortensias (c. 1885). Pencil and watercolor on white paper, 30.5 46 cm, Private Collection.

. Madame Czanne (c. 1885). Oil on canvas, 46 38 cm, Nationalgalerie, Museum Berggruen, Staatliche Museen, Berlin/Art Resource, New York.

. Portrait of Madame Czanne (188890). Oil on canvas, 90 71.7 cm, Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia/The Bridgeman Art Library.

. Madame Czanne with Hair Down (189092). Oil on canvas, 62 51 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art/The Bridgeman Art Library.

. Elizabeth Murray, Madame Czanne in a Rocking Chair (1972). Oil on canvas, 89.5 90.2 2.9 cm, Collection of Katy Homans and Patterson Sims. Image courtesy of Katherine Sachs, the Philadelphia Museum of Art.