Cezanne: A Life

Product Description

Today we view Cezanne as a monumental figure but during his lifetime (1839-1906) many did not understand him or his work With brilliant insight drawing on a vast range of primary sources Alex Danchev tells the story of an artist who was never accepted into the official Salon he was considered a revolutionary at best & a barbarian at worst whose paintings were unfinished distorted & strange His work sold to no one outside his immediate circle until his late thirties & he maintained that 'to paint from nature is not to copy an object; it is to represent its sensations'
- a belief way ahead of his time with stunning implications that became the obsession of many other artists & writers from Matisse & Braque to Rilke & Gertrude Stein Beginning with the restless teenager from Aix who was best friends with Emile Zola at school Danchev carries us through the trials of a painter tormented by self-doubt who always remained an outsider both of society & the bustle of the art world Cezanne A life delivers not only the fascinating days & years of the visionary who would 'astonish Paris with an apple' with interludes analysing his self-portraits but also a complete assessment of Cezanne's ongoing influence through artistic imaginations in our own time He is as this life shows a cultural icon comparable to Monet or Toulouse