Luxembourg & Dayan, London
2 October - 7 December 2019
Luxembourg & Dayan, London, is pleased to announce Reconstructing Cezanne: Sequence and Process in Paul Cezanne’s Works on Paper,
opening 2 October 2019. The exhibition brings to light new,
ground-breaking research into the work of one of Modernism’s greatest
masters, based on close examination of the DNA makeup that constitutes
the papers he used for his watercolours and drawings.
Reconstructing Cezanne is
organised in collaboration with scholar and curator Fabienne Ruppen from
the University of Zurich. Ruppen’s innovative research methods into
paper affinities paint a new picture of Cezanne’s working process, his
choice of subjects, the development of his style and the distribution of
his oeuvre into genres.
Cezanne produced approximately 2,100
works on paper and Ruppen has studied 1,400 of these works. Her research
reveals previously unnoticed materials connections that link certain
works to one another and fosters a new approach to looking at Cezanne’s
works on paper. Serving as a case study for her argument and bringing
together these works to be seen side by side for the first time ever,
this focused exhibition at Luxembourg & Dayan demonstrates the
visual links which this research reveals. The show includes loans from
significant public collections, including the Courtauld Institute of
Art, London, the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, the Fondation Beyeler, Basel
and Musée Granet, Aix-en-Provence, alongside some out- standing private
collections of the artist’s work.
At the centre of the exhibition are two
watercolours that Cezanne produced from a large sheet of paper, which he
divided in two sections for the purpose of capturing different
landscapes,
These two watercolors are at the center of the exhibition “Reconstructing Cézanne,” on view October 2 through December 7 at Luxembourg & Dayan in London. One of them, La Montagne Sainte-Victoire is on loan from London’s Courtauld Institute of Art, and the other, Paysage en Provence, comes from a private collection. The Courtauld’s curator of drawings, Kelly Gottardo, said in a statement that she is “thrilled” about finding the perfect match to its watercolor.
“Because they don’t show the exact same view, there has never been a direct comparison between them,” Ruppen says. “It is important to look at them closely as a pair and see if there are parallels we have overlooked so far.”
Her research has also established another previously unknown connection between these two landscapes and studies Cézanne made for a series of card players. “At first glance you wouldn’t think they were related but now, looking with this new information, you can figure out parallels in the palette, as well as other formal questions.”
and a Paysage en Provence, 1885-86.
Two Parts of the Same Puzzle
The eureka moment came when Ruppen noticed the similarity between the torn edges of the two works, which were like two puzzle pieces waiting to be reunited. “It was that characteristic shape that made me connect the two of them,” Ruppen explains.These two watercolors are at the center of the exhibition “Reconstructing Cézanne,” on view October 2 through December 7 at Luxembourg & Dayan in London. One of them, La Montagne Sainte-Victoire is on loan from London’s Courtauld Institute of Art, and the other, Paysage en Provence, comes from a private collection. The Courtauld’s curator of drawings, Kelly Gottardo, said in a statement that she is “thrilled” about finding the perfect match to its watercolor.
“Because they don’t show the exact same view, there has never been a direct comparison between them,” Ruppen says. “It is important to look at them closely as a pair and see if there are parallels we have overlooked so far.”
Her research has also established another previously unknown connection between these two landscapes and studies Cézanne made for a series of card players. “At first glance you wouldn’t think they were related but now, looking with this new information, you can figure out parallels in the palette, as well as other formal questions.”
and a Paysage en Provence, 1885-86.
Speaking about this reunion, Ketty Gottardo, Martin Halusa Curator of
Drawings at the Courtauld says “I could not believe the chance to have
found the perfect match to the Courtauld Gallery’s watercolour of La
Montagne Sainte Victoire! I am thrilled that this exhibition will bring
them together for the first time”.
These works were likely to have been
painted shortly after one another, during a single, or two consecutive
sessions. Reunited for the first time in history, these two parts of the
same sheet exemplify Ruppen’s research methods and the way these enable
us to reconsider Cezanne’s practice based on forensic evidence.
Paul Cezanne, Route avec arbres sur une pente, c. 1904. Watercolour and pencil on paper, 18 7/8 x 12 1/2 in. (47.8 x 31.7 cm.) Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, Beyeler Collection. Photo: Robert Bayer.
The
various pairings and groupings of works presented in Reconstructing
Cezanne thus undermine existing misconceptions, particularly the dating
of Cezanne’s works. Cezanne famously avoided dating his works, leaving
the task of sorting more than two thousand drawings and watercolours to
future generations of scholars, collectors, curators and conservators.
Speaking about the exhibition, Fabienne
Ruppen said: “The show at Luxembourg & Dayan provides a unique
opportunity to explore a concise selection of Cezanne’s works on paper
in their original context, thus enabling unexpected glimpses into the
artist’s creative process. I am excited to see together side by side
works which until now I have studied individually”.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a
new catalogue, published in collaboration with Ridinghouse, including
in-depth analyses of the works in the show by Fabienne Ruppen, as well
as extensive commentary on new horizons in Cezanne scholarship by expert
Walter Feilchenfeldt (co-author of the artist’s new online catalogue
raisonné - www.cezannecatalogue.com).