Page 72 - Contemporary Art and Old Masters

CÉZANNE DRAWING

The Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art presents a major exhibition
offering a new look at the celebrated modern artist Paul
Cézanne (1839–1906) through close attention to his
process in pencil and watercolor and fresh insights into
this profoundly original yet lesser-known body of work.
Cézanne Drawing, on view at MoMA from June 6 through
September 25, 2021, is the first major effort in the United
States to unite drawings from across the artist’s entire
career, tracing the development of his practice on paper Paul Cézanne. Bathers. c. 1890. Pencil and watercolor on wove paper. The
and exploring his working methods. More than 250 works Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift of Mrs. Mabel Rossbach
on paper - including drawings, sketchbooks, and rarely
seen watercolors - are shown alongside a selection of Drawing was foundational to Cézanne’s practice from
related oil paintings, all drawn from MoMA’s collection the late 1850s until his death in 1906. Making daily use of
as well as public and private collections from around the loose sheets and sketchbook pages, the artist produced
world. Presented together, these works reveal how this over 2,100 works on paper over the course of his career.
fundamental figure of modern art - more often recognized Cézanne preferred standard materials that were easily
as a painter - produced his most radical works on paper. prepared, widely available, and relatively inexpensive:
Cézanne has long been recognized as a crucial artistic industrially produced pencils, watercolors, and papers,
link between the 19th and 20th centuries. Cézanne purchased from art suppliers in Aix-en-Provence and
Drawing returns works on paper to their central position Paris.
within the artist’s oeuvre, demonstrating the extent to
which this medium facilitated his legendary innovations For Cézanne, drawing was an activity of interest
and emphasizing how he used particular materials and and importance in its own right - one that facilitated
techniques to generate meaning. diligent, daring investigations of surface and depth, line
and color, vision and touch, and finish and un-finish.
Paul Cézanne. The Apotheosis of Delacroix. 1878-80 (completed later).
Elaborated over the course of days, weeks, and even
Pencil, ink, and watercolor on wove paper, with a strip added at the
bottom, 7 7/8 × 9 3/16″ (20 × 23.3 cm). The British Museum, London © The years, Cézanne’s works on paper were paramount to his
Trustees of the British Museum
development of a resolutely modern artistic idiom.

Paul Cézanne. Bathers (Baigneurs). 1885–90. Watercolor and pencil on
wove paper, 5 × 8 1/8″ (12.7 × 20.6 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New
York. Lillie P. Bliss Collection. Photo © 2021 MoMA, NY

72 WORLD of ART