Alex Danchev: "Cezanne: A Life"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-11-05/alex-danchev-cezanne-life
The mid-19th century art world was transformed by a group of French impressionist painters. These men revolutionized the conventional Paris salon, which was slow to recognize their collective genius. Among them was Paul Cezanne, who grew up in southern France. An artistic late bloomer, Cezanne didn’t decide to become a painter until age 21. He was tormented by self-doubt and an obsessive drive to paint what he called “truth.” Rejected by the Paris salon for 40 years, Cézanne is now considered one of the greatest painters who ever lived. A new biography on the life and art of Paul Cézanne.
Guests
Alex Danchev
professor of international relations at University of Nottingham and author of "On Art and War and Terror" and "100 Artists' Manifestos."
Related Items
Photo Gallery: Paul Cezanne Through The Years
Read An Excerpt
Excerpted from "Cezanne" by Alex Danchev. Copyright © 2012 by Alex Danchev. Excerpted by permission of Pantheon, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Comments
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Would Cezanne have welcomed the fame/attention while he was alive if it had come sooner or would he have shunned the attention?
- Ken in Dallas
This period of art, Impressionism, has been so exhaustively reviewed in our society that I cant bring myself to read this book. Haven't we sufficiently driven this into the ground already? It's on TV, in gift shops, on posters, on greetings cards and stationary and on every coffee table and it has been for the last 30 years. Can someone please call out a Fatwa on this stuff?
Can we pick another movement to trumpet into banality? We killed this a long long time ago.
I truly enjoyed the show today (Nov. 5). I vacationed in Cezanne's part of the world in 2002, and saw much of the scenery he painted. You brought it all back in a glorious rush of memory. Thanks. Nancy Pfaff, Reno, NV
Well, Peter, I'd say that the fascination with Impressionists is never going to die. It's just like how there's 16,000 books on Abraham Lincoln; there's so many ways to see and interpret his life that books about him will never stop being written. I know that every time I see some of my favorite Impressionist paintings my breath gets taken away once again because the great ones have that immortal air to them. Something deep inside the painting always touches me once again. That's just my opinion though, and maybe some clarity as to why people continue to talk about impressionists :)
What art movement would you like to see discussed more? So many great ones to choose from after all! :D
Just listened to the rebroadcast on the 23rd twice. Teach beginning art at a community college and I use Cezanne in talking about color.
If you want to know more about color there is an interesting chapter in a book by Jonah Lehrer titled Proust Was a Neuroscientist. The chapter is about how we see color, what our brain goes through and how Cezanne painted colors.