“A photograph of the site of a well-known painting arouses our curiosity right away: it breaks open the sealed world of the landscape canvas, situated the artist in a place and a moment, and reminds us that an artist searches, gazes, at times disassembles, and recombines.”
Pavel Machotka, “Cézanne. Landscape into Art”, p ix
Cézanne is an artist I have grown to like more and more, yet has never moved much on my “learn more about to understand better” list. But finding the book today’s quote comes from in a second-hand bookshop in York felt like it might be just what I need. Photos of Cézanne’s paintings juxtaposed with photos of the locations, enabling you to see what he decided to include, emphasise, omit. I haven’t read much of it yet, just gazed at the pictures, but it feels like a big step closer.
Who’s on your list? Post a comment on my blog and let me know…
I am very interested right now in Isaac Ilich Levitan, a Russian landscape artist. You can see his work and read his bio on Wikipedia or on pinterest. I’ve looked for books about him but the ones I’ve managed to find are in Russian. I love his landscapes, they evoke a feeling which I love. To me, any artist who can rouse emotions with their paintings is a master of their work.
Looked him up and what a beautiful sense of light he has! It’s a pity we miss out on the many fabulous Russian artists (and other nationalities) because of language, though if a book has enough images do we visual artists really need the words?