Connect with the Art Masters
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Still Life with Straw Vase, Oil on Canvas by Paul Cezanne, ca 1895, image in the public domain
Earlier this week, my friend and I went to see the exhibit Cézanne and American Modernism at the Phoenix Art Museum. Apart from being a great way to spend a hot, Arizona day (inside a cool air conditioned building surrounded by great art!), it was an opportunity to get to know Cezanne and other artists better.
“Keep good company – that is go to the Louvre.” ~ Paul Cézanne
The exhibit featured approximately fourteen paintings by Cézanne, and the rest of the work was paintings by American artists, contemporaries of Cézanne. It highlighted how his work influenced other artists and paved the way for abstraction and the birth of modern art.
Cézanne: A True Visionary
“Treat nature by means of the cylinder, the sphere, the cone, everything brought into proper perspective …“ ~ Paul Cézanne
Although Cézanne’s art is not classified as Visionary art, he himself was a true visionary and his innovative work bridged the art (post-impressionism) of the end of the 19th century, with a new type of art (abstraction) in the 20th century. Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse are two names that probably pop into most people’s minds when you mention art, especially 20th century art. Both these monumental figures credit Cézanne as their guide and inspiration. Picasso described Cézanne as “My one and only master”, and Matisse stated “He [Cézanne] is the father of us all.” This shows the importance of Cézanne and his far reaching influence in the history of art.
“Optics, developing in us through study, teach us to see.” ~ Paul Cézanne
Cézanne’s experiments with geometric simplification and optical illusions inspired many artists, particularly Picasso, Braque, and Gris to explore different ways to fracture the picture plane and play with perspective and space in painting. Cézanne triggered one of the most radical and innovative artistic developments of the 20th Century (abstraction), and subsequently this had a profound effect on the development of modern art. Cézanne is widely known as the father of modern art.
A Personal Connection
“The truth is in nature and I shall prove it.” “With an apple, I will astonish Paris.” ~ Paul Cézanne
Cézanne has always been one of my favorite painters, partly due to the influence of my teacher/mentor at the beginning of my artistic career at community college in San Diego. Cézanne was a master of composition, one of the most important aspects of a successful piece of art. I also admire the way he played with perspective and optics, and distorted our sense of perception. He also loved nature, and his favorite subject to paint in later years was his beloved mountain, Mont Saint Victoire.
However, Cézanne is best known for his use of simplified geometric shapes in his work. I love the way he broke subject matter down into the essential essence of simple, elementary shapes. It is like he was trying to get through to the core of the object or person. By observing nature, he noticed the essential patterns and geometric forms and translated this into his painting.
If you observe nature closely, you begin to see beautiful patterns everywhere. Think of a flower, it is a natural mandala with a central point, and the petals radiating out from the center. All of nature combines different patterns, designs and structures to form everything from simple cells to complex life forms. These are also symbolic of the basic principles of the relationship of parts to the whole, and how everything is interconnected.
The basic primal geometric shapes are psychological symbols corresponding to inner states of human consciousness. Perhaps that is why Cézanne’s work is so powerful and influenced so many other artists. The balanced compositions, along with the emphasis on geometric shapes and unusual brushwork resonated with others on a deeper spiritual level.
Connect and Learn with the Masters
“The Louvre is the book in which we learn to read.” ~ Paul Cézanne
A great way to learn about art and connect with the art masters is to visit a museum. Artists throughout history have done this to study closely the way master artists handled light, shadow, brushwork etc. They have done many studies of paintings of their favorite artists. The exhibition that I saw last week was also a fine example of how artists learn from other artists by looking at their art and copying their style. Of course you need to take this information, and use it to express your own unique artistic voice, and not just try to imitate another artist.
I think the most important thing about the museum experience is that you get to experience the artwork in person and feel the energy of the art. It is one thing to look at a photo in a book or online, but it is quite another to stand in front of a painting and follow the brushstrokes of the master and let the energy of the work soak into your being.
On the way home from the museum there were beautiful storm clouds in the sky due to the monsoons against the backdrop of a sacred mountain. It was an amazing scene, and I literally wanted to stop the car on the freeway and get out and paint the landscape. That is the power of experiencing art live and imbibing the energy of the master artists!
When is the last time you visited a museum?
How do you learn from the masters?
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