Paul Cézanne

M. Foinard, Paris
Leonhard Tietz, Cologne (1912)
Josse & Gaston Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (1919-1934)
Galerie Etienne Bignou, Paris
Joseph Brochier, Lyon (acquired by 1939)
Private Collection (acquired from the above in 1987)
Galerie Cazeau-Béraudière, Paris
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2002

Cologne, Städtische Ausstellungshalle, Sonderbund, 1912, no. 126
New York, Valentine Dudensing Gallery, Since Cézanne, 1931-32, no. 1
Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, Essai d'une collection de tableaux modernes, 1932, no. 5, illustrated in the catalogue
London, Lefevre Gallery (Alex Reid & Lefevre), Renoir, Cézanne and their Contemporaries, 1934, no. 2 (titled Nature morte au verre de vin)
Glasgow, French Painting of the 19th Century, 1934
Lyon, Musée de Lyon, Centenaire de Paul Cézanne, 1939, no. 25 (as dating from circa 1879-82)
London, Wildenstein & Co., Ltd., Hommage to Paul Cézanne, 1939, no. 21

Josse & Gaston Bernheim-Jeune (eds.), L'Art moderne et quelques aspects de l'art d'autrefois, Paris, 1919, vol. I, illustrated pl. 22
Georges Rivière, Le Maître Paul Cézanne, Paris, 1923, illustrated p. 125
Roger Fry, 'Cézanne Udvikling', in Samleren, Copenhagen, July 1929, illustrated p. 97
Thomas Carl Whitmer, 'A Composer Looks at Paintings', in Art News, New York, December 1931, illustrated p. 13
Creative Art, New York, February 1932, illustrated p. 117
The Studio, London, September 1934, illustrated p. 123
Roger Fry, 'An Exhibition of French Painting', in Burlington Magazine, London, July 1934, listed pp. 30-31
Christian Zervos, Cahiers d'Art, Paris, 1934, illustrated p. 126 (as dating from circa 1882)
Lionello Venturi, Cézanne, son art - son œuvre, Paris, 1936, vol. I, no. 351, catalogued pp. 141-142; vol. II, no. 351, illustrated pl. 97 (as dating from 1879-82)
Artist, London, August 1937, illustrated p. 67
Alfonso Gatto & Sandra Orienti, L'opera completa di Cézanne, Milan, 1970, no. 459, illustrated p. 107 (as dating from 1879-82)
John Rewald, The Paintings of Paul Cézanne. A Catalogue Raisonné, New York, 1996, vol. I, no. 422, catalogued p. 284; vol. II, no. 422, illustrated p. 134

The canvas has an old lining, which could be contemporary with the work. Apart from some spots and areas of retouching around all four edges, visible under ultra-violet light, this work is in good condition. Colours: Overall richer, fresher and more vibrant in the original.
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Painted around 1879-80, Verre et poires is an intimate still-life that encapsulates the essence of Cézanne's vision during this period, and displays a boldness of composition that characterised his œuvre. In the late 1870s Cézanne executed several small scale canvases on the subject of still-life of fruit, some of them depicted on a table-top, others arranged on a plate. In the present work, several pears are arranged on plate, with another pear and a glass, possibly of wine, next to the plate, on a simple, unadorned surface. The economy of the arrangement allows the artist to explore the volume of the objects, built up through his masterful modulations of colour. The contrast between the rounded shapes of the pears on one side, and the straight-lined glass and the pronounced horizontal of the background, results in a dynamic composition. Although using a simple subject-matter, during the 1870s Cézanne's still-lifes became increasingly complex, and would culminate in celebrated paintings such as Pichet et fruits (fig. 1). 

 

The genre of still-life preoccupied Cézanne since the earliest days of his career, and the stylistic changes visible in his still-lifes reflect the overall development of his art. During the first decade of his artistic production, he executed a number of still-lifes, romantic in feeling, but based on his close observation of the reality. In the 1870s, his pictorial language became more sophisticated and his compositions more complex. Richard Kendall wrote about Cézanne's paintings from this period: 'By this stage in his career, the still-life had taken on a special significance for [Cézanne], and he was to become one of the most original and dedicated exponents of the form. Far from being just a pretext for picture-making, the groups of apples, pears, cherries or flowers were for Cézanne as much a part of nature's extravagant beauty as the trees and hillsides of Provence, and  as likely to produce his 'vibrating sensations' as the landscape itself. According to Joachim Gasquet, who was admittedly given to rather fanciful recollections, Cézanne once claimed to overhear conversations between the fruit he was painting, and approached each item in a group as he would a human portrait' (R. Kendall, Cézanne by Himself, London, 1988, p. 11).

 

Cézanne's still-lifes have long been recognised as being among his greatest achievements, the works which demonstrate most clearly the innovations that led to the stylistic developments of early twentieth-century art. Both art historians and artists have argued that Cézanne reached the very pinnacle of his genius within the discipline of the still-life, as this genre – unlike portrait or plein air painting – allowed him the greatest time in which to capture his subject. The young painter Louis le Bail described how Cézanne composed a still-life, reflecting the great care and deliberation with which he approached the process: 'Cézanne arranged the fruits, contrasting the tones one against the other, making the complementaries vibrate, balancing the fruits as he wanted them to be, using coins of one or two sous for the purpose. He brought to this task the greatest care and many precautions; one guessed it was a feast for him. When he finished, Cézanne explained to his young colleague, "The main thing is the modeling; one should not even say modeling, but modulating"' (quoted in John Rewald, Cézanne: A Biography, New York, 1986, p. 228).

 

 

 

Fig. 1, Paul Cézanne, Pichet et fruits, 1893-94, oil on canvas, The National Gallery, London

Fig. 2, A still-life recreated in Cézanne's studio