Cezanne: The Early Years, 1859-71

April 16, 2008 | By Doug In Cezanne |

The Great Artists chronicles the lives, times and works of the men whose genius has captivated the art world for generations. Informative and entertaining, the series highlights important events in each artist’s life, explores their stylistic trademarks, and provides detailed explanations of their techniques. The Great Artists also features expert commentary and analyses from leading authorities, art historians and scholars, and new location footage. This fascinating program includes all new location footage, re-creations and reconstructions, studies of the great works, commentary and analyses from leading authorities, art historians and scholars. Included in the series: Gauguin, Munch, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, Rousseau, Cezanne. Paul C?zanne sought a method of capturing the underlying structure of any subject matter. His eventual triumph derived from a revolutionary new approach to color and to perspective. His paintings were often derided by the critics, but by the end of his life, his genius was beginning to be appreciated. C?zanne’s influence on 20th century artists was so great that he is now referred to as the “Father of Modern Painting.” This fascinating program includes all new location footage, re-creations and reconstructions, studies of the great works, commentary and analyses from leading authorities, art historians and scholars. Paul Gauguin was thirty-five when he made the momentous decision to abandon his lucrative career as a Paris stockbroker and devote himself full-time to painting. Gauguin’s bold use of flat, unmixed color gave his paintings a strong sense of personal expression, but his work struggled to find acceptance at the time. Poverty and obscurity dominated Gauguin’s years as an artist. Not even a move to Tahiti could bring him happiness. Yet the paintings tha the created there are now recognized as masterpieces of the Post-Impressionist age. This fascinating program includes all new location footage, re-creations and reconstructions, studies of the great works, commentary and analyses from leading authorities, art historians and scholars. Vincent Van Gogh remains the ultimate example of the tortured artistic genius. His whole life was a struggle against poverty, loneliness and mental disorder. In a feverish spell of painting prior to his death, Vincent Van Gogh proved himself a great artist. The hundreds of canvases that he painted in the South of France are now recognized as masterpieces of the Post-Impressionist age. His use of thick, swirling color was a conscious attempt to express his own tortured state of mind through his work. In his landscapes, still-lifes and portraits, he succeeded. Though he sold just one painting in his lifetime, works such as Sunflowers now sell for tens of millions of dollars. Henri Toulouse-Lautrec was ultimately, a tragic figure in the history of art. Crippled by an ill-proportioned body, he lived for just 36 years before the effects of alcoholism and syphilis took their final toll. His dissolute life spent in the brothels and nightclubs of late 19th century Paris provided the subject matter for his finest work. His radical, boldly colored paintings and posters of the famous Moulin Rouge nightclub succeeded in conveying the unique feeling and energy of contemporary Parisian nightlife. In 1893, a Norwegian artist created a masterpiece which became a defining image of the 20th Century. The Scream is a picture whose sense of anguish reveals much about our own lives, as well as the life of its creator. All his life, Edvard Munch suffered the consequences of a childhood surrounded by madness and death. By middle-age, his own being broke down completely. But by then, his pictures and prints had gained him fame across Europe. As a young man, Munch left Norway to live the Bohemian life. He developed a passion for the greatest contemporary art of the Post-Impressionist age, and his own mature work reflected the influence of Seurat, Gauguin and Van Gogh, amongst others. Henri Rousseau was a true amateur. His professional life was spent working as a customs official. But in his spare time, he painted and was utterly convinced of the greatness of his art, despite his complete lack of formal training. Although he was heavily criticized by many for his use of brightly colored images and child-like techniques, he did bring a sense of vitality, charm and innocence to his painting. This fascinating program includes all new location footage, re-creations and reconstructions, studies of the great works, commentary and analyses from leading authorities, art historians and scholars.
Customer Review: A pleasure to watch…
I really enjoyed this set along with a bunch of friends of mine. it had a lot of information to learn from and the packaging was attractive. I also gave this set as a gift to someone in my family and they loved it. i can admit it’s not perfect, no program ever is. and nobody else offers such great and diverse content. Kultur, I’m glad I found you.
Customer Review: Production Values SHOULD be a whole lot better
Kultur has a whole lot of fine titles in their collections. Content wise - they give a good though superficial survey of their subjects, but their production values are in the sewer. I keep ordering and I keep getting stung. The NYC Tabloids have a better printing production record than that which is issued in Kultur’s ART SERIES. Come on DVD is supposed to be sharp and crisp. The Post-impressionists follows the poor reproduction in The Impressionists which follows the poor reproduction in The Dutch Masters, which follows The Landmarks of Western Art. Do you get the picture? I wish Kultur would GET THE PICTURE and then give us a quality DVD reproduction of the world great art.
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C?zanne revolutionized the way we see and transcribe the essence of the material world. His position is pivotal: his style is part of the canon of early modernism and his iconic images, his still lifes, and landscapes are associated with a unique analytical approach that changed the face of modern art. But how did C?zanne see and portray himself? His self-portraits are a surprisingly neglected area of study and there has been no extended and in-depth analysis of how C?zanne’s signature style was used to fashion his self-image. Steven Platzman’s accessible and richly illustrated book fills this gap by examining the stylistic development of C?zanne’s self-portraits in an effort to understand how the artist saw himself and others, and how he positioned himself in the art world and French society. Platzman’s detailed analysis of the paintings offers new explanations and assessments of significant aspects of C?zanne’s career and oeuvre. Abundant and exquisitely reproduced illustrations, including crucial details, make C?zanne: The Self-Portraits an essential resource for anyone interested in this French master.
Platzman demonstrates that the expectation of a self- portrait from a master artist goes beyond color and structural analysis. He questions whether a C?zanne self-portrait reveals something of the artist’s emotions, or whether it obscures the feelings of the man whose celebrated and groundbreaking style altered the course of the history of art. The author also thoroughly and clearly fleshes out the historical and artistic contexts of mid-nineteenth century France and investigates C?zanne’s complex relationship with the avant-garde in the 1860s and early 1870s. He provides a new explanation for C?zanne’s flirtation with impressionism and his subsequent adoption of a more personal, idiosyncratic style. He also takes a new and radically different view of C?zanne’s so-called “narrative self-portraits,” exploring for the first time his relationship with the icon of the femme fatale. Through these close visual analyses, readers will come to a greater understanding of the concerns, ambitions, and relationships that shaped C?zanne’s oeuvre.
Customer Review: With 111 black-and-white, and 82 full color illustrations
Especially acclaimed for his memorable images, still lifes, and landscapes, Paul Cezanne was one of the most influential of the European artists in the early modernism movement. In Cezanne: The Self-Portraits, independent art historian Steven Platzman carefully and meticulously analyzes the stylistic development of Cezanne’s self-portraits as a means of understanding how the artist saw himself, how he perceived others, and how he positions himself both in art communities and avant-garde society of mid-nineteenth century France. Platzman provides a new and compelling explanation for Cezanne’s experiments with impressionism and the creation of his own far more personal and idiosyncratic style. With Platzman’s informative, challenging, accessible text superbly being superbly presented and enhanced with 111 black-and-white, and 82 full color illustrations, Cezanne: The Self-Portraits is a welcome and invaluable contribution to personal, professional, and academic Art History collections in general, and Cezanne enthusiasts in particular.
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Customer Review: Beautiful book
Rewald’s biography of Cezanne is a very fine piece of work. It is beautifully written with substantial information about the artist & his work. As for all reputable art books, the paper quality is very good to render lovely reproductions of the paintings. It is very nicely presented & a pleasure to read. . . or just look at the paintings.
Customer Review: Well-Worth The Hefty Price
I have read many books on Cezanne over the past 10 years and in my opinion this is the best. For a combination of well-written text and excellent reproductions of the paintings this book cannot be beat. The text is jargon free. Mr. Rewald was a wonderful writer and he gives you a warm and sympathetic biography of a great artist and complex and difficult man. Cezanne was very neurotic. He had a fear of women and would not use nude models. His famous bather series was worked up from photographs and plaster casts, etc. He could be very anti-social: he sometimes would cross the street to avoid meeting someone he knew. He was very emotional and struggled to keep his emotions under control. This was reflected in his work. His early work was full of violence and shadows and you feel as though he barely was able to keep himself in check as he coated the canvas in a thick impasto. The later, carefully controlled and beautifully harmonized works are the more familiar to the general public. The cover gives you some indication of the beautiful reproductions which are inside this book. This is a great addition and in my opinion a must have for anyone’s art library.
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