Cezanne: A Life

When reading Cezanne’s letters, I enjoyed the notes and learned that they were written by the same author as Cezanne’s biography, so I dove in. Among the things I enjoyed most:* The legends, myths, exaggerations, and fabrications about Cezanne’s character, personality, habits, and behavior are dispelled. Adequate proof and reasoning support the biographer’s claims.* Cezanne’s significance in the history of Western art is expressed in multiple ways from a variety of significant points of view (Pissarro’s, Monet’s, Picasso’s, Matisse’s, Stein’s, Ginsberg’s, Marden’s, Heidegger’s, etc.)* Plenty of material from Cezanne’s correspondence with Zola is included, along with a thorough examination of how and why the two had been growing apart prior to the publication of Zola’s L’Oeuvre.* Rilke’s reflections on Cezanne’s work after his death add dimension to the biography in surprising and beautiful ways.* I already loved Cezanne’s life and work, but had never read a complete biography. Now I wonder what took me so long. This book is truly inspirational and tries like heck to honor the Cezanne’s profundity.* A good number of color plates and b/w reproductions of photos is included.As for criticisms:* The author at several points seems to try SO hard to be as profound or as poetic as Cezanne, Rilke, or whomever he’s quoting. It seems unnecessary or futile or both.* I’m not sure about the way the author addresses the psychoanalytical interpretations of Cezanne’s late work, particularly the Bathers. He basically labels them all fruitless, but nevertheless goes into quite a bit of detail about the phallic symbols, hermaphroditism, homoerotic undercurrents, etc. It makes sense that the biographer wants to sweep away that which is groundless in Cezanne’s life and work; still, the Freudian-style analysis seems dismissed too easily, somehow.* Sometimes it’s a bit of an obstacle to keep track of who is being quoted or cited, especially in the last chapters and epilogue.

As an artist I am often leery of biographies of artists as they tend to glamorize the more salacious aspects of an artists life.-This did not- perhaps because Cezanne was more monk-like in his dedication to his art. I learned a great deal about his extraordinary work methods- his insistence, in trooping out day after day painting and experiencing his landscapes. This is contrary to much current practice of landscape copiers- I can't even call them painters, who snap photos and retire to the studio to finish them up. I was teaching a figurative workshop in Scottsdale, Arizona- a place of breathtaking vistas when I passed a 'landscape class'. The students were all inside, lined up on long tables, while the instructor showed them how to copy the small pictures taped next to their canvasses. Cezanne was one with his landscapes. He felt them and it it extaordinarily evident in the originality of his painting of them- they are not mere renderings.He painted his apples and portraits with the same intense scrutiny, strangely he painted his nudes from his head or old school drawings.There are some wonderful descriptions of his methodology and the artist matierials he used. Danchev describes the colors and pigment Cezanne used- useful to any painter. I would have loved a bit more of that.The only quibble I have with this book is a lay person trying to get inside a head of a painter- Danchev did a fair job, but I wish art writers or critics would like Adam Gopnik take drawing lessons from Jacob Collins just to see what a struggle it is to learn how to draw. Maybe then we would have better art critics and biographers who are more in tune with their subjects.The picture reference could be better- they are small- but this should impel a visit to a museum so see them- well worth the trip.All in all it is a wonderful book and a good read. It leads to a greater appreciation and understanding of the enormous impact Cezanne had on art.

This is the first biography that I've read about Cézanne, so I have nothing to compare it to, but it certainly equals the best artists' biographies ( Jackson Pollock: An American Saga  is always my perfect example against which others are judged) that I've read in the past. Presenting not only a rather complete take on Cézanne's life but a nexus of relationships across literary, visual, and social forces and influences that were both direct and indirect, Danchev does an excellent job of not only portraying the man but the time he lived in. That being said, even though the main text is less than 400 words (not counting the bibliography, notes, index, etc.), this is a wordy and dense text in a rather old fashion way; that's not to say it isn't good, but to say that there is nothing of critical or literary theory herein (perhaps that's a relief) and there's nothing superficial anywhere (everything is important). To put it another way, if you're not looking up unfamiliar names (and there were enough for me, and I'm pretty well versed in the art historical time period) then you're going to do yourself, the author, and the book an injustice when you start skimming through pages. Don't do this- look stuff up, learn, and be amazed at the level of detailed research Danchev has conducted- and definitely don't expect this to be a one-night read.

This is a great biography. Danchev has really done his homework. This gives the timeline of the life of Cezanne, lots of little explanations of the time in general as context, as well as insights into the thinking that steered the course of Cezanne’s artistic philosophy. There is an extensive bibliography and footnotes for further reading - and the subject of writings on Cezanne seems unlimited ! I have bought more books by Danchev - sad he passed away.

Not as easy a read as I thought it was going to be. Cezanne's life was not filled with fascinating incident. He lived almost exclusively an inner life, unlike some of those who followed him such as Picasso or Matisse. A biographer is obliged to flesh out the story with the lives of those who meant most to his subject. So what we have is a lot of Emil Zola, Cezanne's great childhood friend, in existential musings. This is not uninteresting but Danchev does draw it out a little too much. Where the author scores heavily is in his writing about Cezanne's progress as a painter and in discussing the paintings themselves. despite the longueurs, this is a worthwhile read.

At times I seemed to lose my way in this book. That might have been due to my lack of attention, but some sections read like little discrete essays and these sometimes seemed to derail the narrative of Cezanne's life. The section on pages 328 to 330, for example, is like a small essay on Cezanne's relationship with trees. However, this is a small criticism. As W.H. Auden observed, a shilling life will give you the facts and Alex Danchev's marvellous biography will give you far more than that. His motivation for writing the book appears to have been a burning desire to understand Cezanne's genius, and I doubt that there is a better reason for doing so. Towards the end of the book, and following a fascinating account of a meeting between two young artists and Cezanne in 1906, at the end of his life - a meeting that resulted in a remarkable series of photographs of Cezanne painting the Mont Saint-Victoire and which are reproduced in the book - he gets to the heart of the matter:'At the core of the Cezannian revolution is a decisive shift in the emphasis of observation, from a description of the thing apprehended to the process of apprehension itself. Cezanne insisted that he painted things as they are, for what they are, as he saw them. The issue is what he saw - how he saw.'Drawing extensively on the reactions of Cezanne's contemporaries and those who have ever since tried to understand his significance, Alex Danchev has, to my mind, written a profound and moving biography, and one that is worthy of its subject.

Not suitable for me, colour plates in this book were very dark and not suitable for me as an art book.Returned and very good service, was reimbursed immediately

Arrived safely and on time exactly as described - excellent purchase.

I learnt an awful lot about this great artist, especially interested in his lifelong friendship with Zola.. Wonderfully illustrated unlike so many biographies of artists nowadays.