By Grace Day
Finishing off November’s theme of “Gathering” we are going to highlight an artist whose still life paintings often portrayed what many of us gather for at this time of year. Paul Cézanne was a French artist born in 1839 whose incredible work laid a foundation for the transition of 19th-century art to the drastically different 20th-century art world.
Cézanne’s early work was heavily influenced by Romanticism – an art movement that glorified the past and focused on emotion and the idealization of nature. He began to break the established rules of Academic Art and gave up the use of perspective by using traditional design methods. His use of small brushstrokes and planes of color is what he became most recognized for. Other popular artists such as Matisse and Picasso were said to have commented that Cézanne “is the father of us all.”
Cézanne’s still life work often featured food as the subject, and I think these works are what makes him a great artist to highlight this month. Being from a large, Italian family myself I can understand that food brings people together and that it, more often than not, is a common ground for a lot folks. These works by Cézanne may seem simple but I think the influence that a bowl of fruit can have on a group of individuals is something to be captured. Please continue to enjoy this holiday season and as my grandmother would say, mangia!
