Judith Wechsler - Cézanne in Perspective

CZANNE in Perspective

edited by Judith Wechsler

edited by Judith Wechsler

THE ARTISTS IN PERSPECTIVE SERIES

H. W. Janson General Editor

... an excellent series.John Canaday, The New York Times

an excellent series.John Canaday, The New York Times

THE ARTISTS IN PERSPECTIVE SERIES

H. W. Janson, general editor

The artists in perspective series presents individual illustrated volumes of interpretive essays on the most significant painters, sculptors, architects, and genres of world art.

Each volume provides an understanding of art and artists through both esthetic and cultural evaluations.

Judith Wechsler is Associate Professor of Art History at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has published articles and reviews of contemporary art and a study of the Song of Songs in twelfth- and thirteenth-century Latin Bibles. Currently she is at work on Daumiers use of gesture and the physiognomy of the spectator, and on aesthetic perspectives in science and technology associated with her work at M.I.T.

CZANNE

in Perspective

Edited by

JUDITH WECHSLER

A SPECTRUM BOOK

Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey

1975 by P rentice -H all , I nc .
E nglewood C liffs , N ew J ersey

A SPECTRUM BOOK

All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

cover : Mme. Czanne in the Conservatory, Czanne.

L ibrary of C ongress C ataloging in P ublication D ata
Wechsler, Judith comp.
Czanne in perspective.
(The Artists in perspective series)
(A Spectrum Book)
Bibliography: p.
1. Czanne, Paul, 1839-1906.I. Title.
ND553.C33W42759.474-13479
ISBN 0-13-123356-4
ISBN 0-13-123349-1 (pbk.)

Printed in the United States of America

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P rentice -H all I nternational , I nc . (L ondon )
P rentice -H all of A ustralia , P ty . L td . (S ydney )
P rentice -H all of C anada , L td . (T oronto )
P rentice -H all of I ndia P rivate L imited (N ew D elhi )
P rentice -H all of J apan , I nc . (T okyo )

To my parents

Nahum and Anne Glatzer

with love

Judith Wechsler

PART I

From The Exhibition of the Boulevard des Capucines ( 1874 )

Marc de Montifaud

From The Exhibition of the Boulevard des Capucines ( 1874 )

Jean Prouvaire

From Fine Arts ( 1877 )

A. P. (Alexandre Pothey)

From Parisian Notes. An Exhibition: The Impressionist Painters

Georges Rivire

From The Semaphore of Marseille ( 1877 )

Emile Zola

From Naturalism at the Salon ( 1880 )

Emile Zola

To Camille Pissarro ( 1881 )

Paul Gauguin

From a Letter to Emile Schuffenecker ( 1885 )

Paul Gauguin

To J. K. Huysmans ( 1883 )

Camille Pissarro

Response to Camille Pissarro ( 1883 )

J. K. Huysmans

From Czanne ( 1889 )

J. K. Huysmans

From Paul Czanne ( 1894 )

Gustave Geffroy

From Claude Lantier ( 1895 )

Arsne Alexandre

From Letters to His Son Lucien ( 1895 )

Camille Pissarro

From Paul Czanne ( 1895 )

Thade Natanson

From Matters of Art ( 1896 )

Camille Mauclair

From The Love of Ugliness ( 1903 )

Henri Roche fort

From a Review in La Lanterne ( 1904 )

Anonymous

From Paul Czanne ( 1904 )

Emile Bernard

From Inquiry into Current Tendencies in the Plastic Arts ( 1905 )

Charles Morice

From On Paul Czanne ( 1906 )

Jean Royre

From Paul Czanne ( 1907 )

Charles Morice

From Czanne ( 1907 )

Maurice Denis

Czannes Atelier ( 1907 )

R. P. Rivire and J. F. Schnerb

From Paul Czanne ( 1914 )

Ambroise Vollard

From Letters to Clara Rilke ( 1907 )

Rainer Maria Rilke

PART II

From Notes of a Painter ( 1908 )

Henri Matisse

From a Letter to Raymond Escholier, Director of the Petit Palais ( 1936 )

Henri Matisse

From Concerning the Spiritual in Art ( 1912 )

Wassily Kandinsky

From Cubism ( 1912 )

A. Gleizes and J. Metzinger

From The Signs of Renewal in Painting ( 1912 )

Roger Allard

From The Origins of Painting and Its Representational Value ( 1913 )

Fernand Lger

From Contemporary Achievements in Painting ( 1914 )

Fernand Lger

Statement: Juan Gris ( 1921 )

Juan Gris

Statement: Picasso

Statement: Picasso

Statement: Picasso in Antibes

From Statement by Picasso: 1935

Statement: Picasso and Co. ( 1943 )

From Paul Czanne ( 1910 )

Julius Meier-Graefe

From The Debt to Czanne ( 1914 )

Clive Bell

From Czanne: A Study of His Development ( 1927 )

Roger Fry

From Introduction to These Paintings ( 1929 )

D. H. Lawrence

From Czanne, His ArtHis Work ( 1936 )

Lionello Venturi

From Czanne and the End of Scientific Perspective ( 1938 )

Fritz Novotny

From Czannes Composition ( 1943 )

Erle Loran

From Art in Crisis, The Lost Center ( 1948 )

Hans Sedlmayr

From Czannes Doubt ( 1948 )

Maurice Merleau-Ponty

How Czanne Saw and Used Colour ( 1951 )

Gerhard J. R. Frankl

From Czanne and the Unity of Modern Art ( 1951 )

Clement Greenburg

From Paul Czanne ( 1952 )

Meyer Schapiro

From The Art of Czanne ( 1956 )

Kurt Badt

Czannes Dream of Hannibal ( 1963 )

Theodore Reff

Czanne was a revolutionary painter. The complexity of his art has led to a considerable literature in the past one hundred years. The history of these critical stands reflects most of the core intellectual and artistic concerns of the late nineteenth and twentieth century. This book is intended to give perspective to these varied interpretations of Czannes painting.

The following reviews, articles and essays were chosen to capture both the development and diversity of interpretations of Czannes work. I have given preference, where a choice obtained, to lesser known or inaccessible sources, a number of which are translated into English here for the first time. The sequence of the selections is primarily chronological, in order to give historical perspective. Exception is made when two pieces by the same author are placed consecutively, or when the views of various contemporary painters and critics are grouped together. The date of the original publication is placed in parentheses after the authors name as the date sometimes differs from that of the edition quoted. My deletions are indicated by the sign....

I am particularly grateful to Professor Linda Nochlin for her advice and support throughout the preparation of this material, first on my doctoral dissertation and then on this book. I think Professor Frederick Wight for his encouragement while I was writing my thesis. I have discussed various issues which arose in the introduction with Rosalind Krauss, Flora Natapoff, and Leo Steinberg. To Professor Meyer Schapiro I give special homage; it is because of him that I came to study art history.

I am indebted to all those who permitted me to reprint material. The new French translations were done for the most part by Miss Kathleen Pond, with a few shorter passages translated by Caroline Malcolm, and myself. Dr. Raymond Ockenden translated the Novotny selections from the German. S. B. Sutton read the introduction and was most helpful in her suggestions regarding style. Finally, my fondest appreciation goes to my constant companion, Dr. Benson Snyder, who was unfailing in his moral support and astute advice, and to my daughter, Johanna, for her loving patience and understanding.