Paul Cezanne was born on January 19, 1839 in Aix-en-Provence, a small town in southern France, 15 miles north of Marseille. The father of the future artist, Louis-Auguste Cezanne, was engaged in the production and sale of felt hats, and in 1848 he became a co-owner of the only bank in the city. With Paul's mother, Elisabeth Aubert, he married only in 1844, when little Paul was five years old. Paul had two sisters, Marie (born 1841) and Rose (born 1854).
Paul grew up as a very well-mannered child, studied well. One of his closest school friends was named Emile Zola - he was to become a famous writer. In 1858, Cezanne began attending a local drawing school. However, Louis-Auguste, who did not want to see his son as an artist, insisted that Paul study law.
Seeing how reluctantly he obeyed his will, his father nevertheless let him go to Paris to study painting and even assigned him a modest allowance. This happened in 1861. In Paris, Cezanne began to study at the Academy of Suisse (named after the name of the founder), where everyone could enter by paying a small fee for kind and overhead. At that time, Cezanne's drawings were as energetic as they were clumsy - they are more than once became the object of ridicule by other emerging artists.
Paul behaved very shyly and did not make a close acquaintance with anyone. Fortunately, Camille Pissarro, one of the "fathers" of impressionism, managed to consider his talent. Another person who supported the young man in Paris was his friend Emile Zola, who moved there back in 1858. And yet, a few months later, Cezanne, tormented by fears and doubts, left Paris and returned to his native Aix to enter the service of his father's bank.
Languishing in the banking service, our hero soon returned to his dream - to become an artist. In November 1862, he was again in Paris. To reassure his father, Paul made an attempt to enter the prestigious School of Fine Arts, but, having failed, he returned to the Academy of Suisse. A year later, he offered several of his paintings for an official exhibition at the Salon - they were all rejected. This situation was repeated with sad constancy until 1882, when one of Cezanne's paintings still "broke through" to the Salon.
In 1869, Cezanne met Marie-Hortens Fiquet. Soon the young people began to live together. The girl moonlighted by posing, which was the reason for the acquaintance. Hortens was barely 19 years old, she was pretty. Cezanne hid his connection with her from his pragmatic father. Knowing full well that this novel will not please him. In 1872, Hortens gave birth to Cezanne's son, also named Paay.
Soon the artist decided to leave Paris. He followed Pissarro's advice and moved with his family to Pontoise, a picturesque town 15 miles northwest of the capital. Shortly before this, Pissarro himself settled in Pontoise. The following year, the Cezanne family moved to Auvers, and a year later they returned to Paris. With this short period of wandering is connected the moment of Cezanne's self-determination as an artist. He (not without the influence of Pissarro) began to write in an impressionistic manner. Cezanne took part in the first (1874) and third (1877) exhibitions of the Impressionists. The artist has first fans, among them the passionate collector Victor Choquet, who eventually collected 32 paintings by the artist in his collection.
Often visiting his parents in Aix, Cezanne continued to hide the truth about Hortens and Paul Jr. from his father. The mother knew about everything from the very beginning and more than once secretly came to her adored grandson. Everything was revealed in 1878, when Louis-Auguste opened a letter from his wife addressed to her son. At first, he demanded that Paul leave his family, but he categorically refused to do this - even at the threat of losing financial support. Poverty set in. At this difficult time, Cezanne was supported by the friendly shoulder of Zola, who had already become a famous novelist.
In 1886 this friendship ended abruptly. Zola published the novel "Creativity", the main character of which, a failed artist, was copied from Cezanne. Since then, Cezanne and Zola never spoke or saw each other again. In the same year, Cezanne formalized his marriage to Hortens. The marriage ceremony took place in Aix, and the artist's father was present, which meant their reconciliation. And in the fall, Louis-Auguste died, leaving his son a large inheritance. Forty-seven-year-old Cezanne finally got the opportunity, not caring about his daily bread, surrender undividedly to painting.
The last 20 years of Cezanne's life is, first of all, an artist. Nothing else distracted him from art. Even family. Marriage with Hortens soon became nominal - for the most part, the spouses now lived apart: Paul in the large estate of his father Jas de Bouffan (which means "shelter of the winds") on the western outskirts of Aix, and Hortens with his son - in Paris. However, Cezanne always remained a loving and gentle father. He often “dropped in” to Paris, but he never traveled beyond the borders of France, except for a short trip to Switzerland in 1890.
Of old friends, Cezanne retained strong ties with Claude Monet. In the autumn of 1894, he visited Monet at his home in Giverny, where he met, among others, the sculptor Auguste Rodin and the American artist Mary Cassatt. In one of her letters, she called the artist "a bear with a tender heart." Cassatt wrote that at first she was afraid of Cezanne, but soon realized that “his appearance is deceptive, and he is not at all as ferocious as it seems at first glance ... In fact,” we continue to quote Cassatt, “this is the noblest person, which is not often you will meet in our time ... He sets an example of attitude towards others and treats himself with respect even to the local idiot maid ... "
Cezanne's works were exhibited from time to time in Paris and other cities, but the true recognition he deserved did not come until 1895, when the collector Ambroise Vollard organized a large solo exhibition of Cezanne (about 150 works) in his Paris gallery. This exhibition did not make much impression on the general public, but what they saw shocked several young artists. Among them, Cezanne immediately became a cult figure. His rather secluded life made this image even more mysterious, almost legendary. The young people called trips to Cezanne among themselves “a pilgrimage to Aix” - it must be said that Cezanne himself treated his new fans much warmer than most artists of his generation.
In 1897, Cezanne's mother died, and in 1899 he was forced to sell Jas de Bouffan to pay off her debts. After that, he rented an apartment on Rue Boulgon in Aix. In 1901, the artist bought a plot of land on the northern outskirts of Aix and set up a studio there. Now it is a museum, in which, however, there is not a single painting by Cezanne. After 60 years of his diseases began to follow and he rarely left Aix.
In 1906, Cezanne wrote to the famous painter Emile Bernard: "I am old, ill, and I vowed to die at work." Everything happened as written. On October 15 of the same year, while working in the open air, in the vicinity of Aix, he fell under heavy rain. Returning with heavy equipment over hilly terrain, and even in a thunderstorm, turned out to be beyond his strength - the old master fell on the road and was taken home unconscious. A week later, on October 22, 1906, Cezanne died of pneumonia. By this time, his scale as an artist was completely clear to his contemporaries, and the Paris exhibition of 1907 dedicated to the memory of Cezanne only confirmed this.
Cezanne left more than 800 canvases, about 350 watercolors and the same number of drawings. In the catalog of Cezanne's works, compiled by Lionelo Venturi, the author refers 130 canvases to the beginning of the artist's activity (since 1871), 160 to the so-called impressionistic period (1872-1877), 260 to the so-called constructive period (1878-1887). gg.), 260 - a period called synthetic (1888-1906).
The content of the article
CESANNE, PAUL(Cézanne, Paul) (1839-1906) - French painter of the post-impressionist period. Most of the life of Cezanne, who was born and died in Aix-en-Provence, falls on the 19th century, but his work remains practically unnoticed until the 90s, when young artists begin to show interest in him, first, then the most competent collectors and art lovers.
After 1900, world fame quickly comes to him; he becomes the most influential artist in the history of art, giving, in the words of one of the French art historians, "the direction of all painting in the first half of the 20th century."
“His work,” notes M.K. Zhalard, “is not associated with any of the trends of the 19th century. Its real place is in the history of art of the 20th century.”
Cezanne fails when trying to enter the Paris School of Fine Arts (1861 and 1862), but painting becomes the main business of his life. Early works are associated with the passion of Caravaggio, El Greco, Delacroix (1860–1872); the next, seven-year period, Cezanne actively collaborates with impressionist artists - Monet, Renoir. Participates in the First Impressionist Exhibition, refuses to participate in the Second (1876) and gives seventeen paintings to be shown at the Third (1877). After 1879 departs from Impressionism. In the years that followed, his paintings were systematically rejected by the most representative art forum in Paris, the Salon d'Automne.
His special gift manifests itself at the moment when, not finding satisfaction in impressionism, he finds his own method. Formation takes place in the 80s, when Cezanne finally overcomes the most fruitful for his creative maturation - the transition period.
At this time, his attention is attracted by those who can be called realists: Poussin, Daumier, Courbet. At the same time, the powerful influence of Pizarro was decisive for his development, about whose teaching talent one of his students said: “He was such a teacher who could teach even a stone an accurate drawing.”
After Pontoise, where Cezanne worked in 1872–1873 together with Pizarro, his painting changed. In the picture 1873 hanged man's house objects illuminated by the oblique rays of the sun, as if shrouded in a light haze. Here, there are still no characteristic Cezanne elongated strokes, but verticals marked with color spots already appear, building a perspective, creating depth of the picture. Allegorical and literary plots of the early period disappear. A careful study of Pizarro's technique, his special manner of applying paint in small planes, gives Cezanne the impetus to discover his own way of modeling form with color.
At the end of 1873, Cezanne settled near Pontoise, in Auvers, in the house of Dr. Gachet, an etcher, friend of Pizarro and other artists, in particular Van Gogh, who made his portrait. Gachet becomes one of the first buyers of Cezanne's work.
Taking the lessons of impressionism, Cezanne remains himself. “Monet is only an eye,” he says, and adds: “But what an eye!” Building a composition of the landscape in front of him, he reconstructs reality: deforms objects, enhances the tone, achieving weight, volume, depth and harmony of the whole. He is not embarrassed by the disproportions and asymmetries that the general structure of the composition requires; the plasticity of the depicted figure or object is always accurately molded. He says: "You need to go in the direction of the classics, but through nature, that is, through sensation." This “but” is a tribute to impressionism and, at the same time, to the order of nature, into which he sought to penetrate and which he never replaces with external resemblance.
Scenery Poplars, written around 1879-1882 in Provence, allows you to see how Cezanne finds his own style of writing. Instead of a spot that gently outlines the volume and organizes the composition, clear, almost embossed vertical, oblique and horizontal strokes appear here, modeling the space of the picture and the shape of objects. The essence of the new method is in depicting the plastic richness of nature through its coloristic richness, which must not only be seen, but also understood. “There is no painting either light or dark, but only this or that combination of tones. The more diverse and richer it is, the stronger, more accurate and more pleasing to the eye the transmitted sensations ... Contrasts and connections between them - that's the whole secret of drawing and model, ”he says.
Departing from impressionism, which makes the world ephemeral, dissolving objects in the atmosphere, in a changeable play of light and shadow, Cezanne considers it necessary to return to the classical foundations of painting, he calls for the creation of "thorough art, like the one we see in museums."
He proposes to use what has been achieved without destroying the classical pictorial system, speaks of the need to reconcile the fleeting and the permanent, the vagaries of light and shade and the structure of objects, space and volume with the richness of colors. Attention to the structure, to the volumetric "sculptural" modeling of objects - mountains and rocks, houses and tree trunks - will be brought to its logical conclusion by cubism with its not even sculptural, but "architectural" modeling principle.
In the formation of a new manner - Cezanne's own style - a well-known role was played by his stay in the south, where he returned in 1878 and where he remained until the end of his life. Dry transparent air, sharp boundaries of light and shadow here reveal the plasticity of objects, make their outlines clear. The bright sun clearly outlines the form, highlights the essential, destroying everything ephemeral, unstable.
He works in the neighborhood of Aix, in Gardenna-Estac. In his striving for monumentality, stability, he gives a stable weighty form even to such changeable things as the sea, grass, tree crowns. The same desire is manifested in relation to color. The coloring of objects in his paintings is always subject to a certain general color and at the same time is accurate in its own way, comes from the knowledge of things - whether it be a human face, fruits, flowers or landscape elements. He says that in order to paint a landscape, he needs to know its geology. The peculiarity of his method is that with all the scrupulous elaboration of color, composition, drawing, something remains in the picture. teasing unfinished. This imaginary incompleteness reveals the depth of the method he discovered, about which he says that he is only at its very initial stage. The possibility of developing and improving this method in the way he found to overcome the contradiction between the desire for self-expression and fidelity to nature, between the ideal harmony of art and reality with its own order. The derivative of these relationships is specific deformation nature - and there is what is commonly called style. Cezanne is unique in this respect. Until the last days, he continued his search and, even admitting his own discovery, saying that he had found a new path in painting, he repeated: “I am a primitive savage in relation to the method I found”, “I am only a milestone on this path - others will come ".
He remains primarily an artist for artists for the reason that, with all the splendor of his painting, the goal that he set for himself remained beyond what was achieved. His discovery is seen as a universal method, as a common property, and his painting looks like an invitation to continue what has been started. In the early 1900s, he was recognized earlier than others by young artists, for whom the problem of synthesis of the internal subjective state and the external world - objective reality - is always alive and relevant. During the formation of the artist, the conflict between a fresh direct perception of the world and the desire to structure it, streamline it, based on theoretical premises, is especially acute. Sometimes it seems that in Cezanne's later years, theory takes precedence over a direct vision of nature.
Naturally, it is precisely this tilt towards abstract design: the geometrization of form, the construction of composition, the transformation of the color of the picture into an independent value - first of all, it becomes the subject of attention of artists of different directions - from the Nabis and Fauvists to the Impressionists and Cubists.
And yet it seems unfair, essentially wrong to believe that Cezanne, in his passion for the problems of color and volume, goes into pure form creation, that he distinguishes in the depicted objects “only the richness of tones, the purity of form and its fullness, which turn still life objects into breathtakingly convincing plastic symbols. ". Drawing attention to the fact that the still life, which occupies a large place in Cezanne's work, is, in principle, the most convenient object for formal experiments, the author of the article on Cezanne, J.E. landscape, in the spirit of still life. Perhaps the characterization of the person being portrayed was not the goal of the artist, but Cezanne's painting, which did not neglect a single detail, transforms nature into an artistic image in the process of scrupulous study of it, nature. The result of such an installation is the penetration into the deep essence of the depicted object. In comparing a portrait with a still life, it is only true that in both cases the result is achieved by the same method of "reading" and interpreting the model through penetration into the most complex relations of tones, color combinations - not copied mechanically, but not replacing the order of reality. artificial order. (Such "substitutions", including invented psychological characteristics, are typical of contemporary naturalistic painting.)
His portraits are, as it were, cleansed of the insignificant, changeable, those superficial, annoying characteristics that salon portrait painters usually impose on us.
This tendency to penetrate into the structural foundations of the depicted and the neglect of the changeable - however effective it may be - is exacerbated in the last years of his life. His famous series of paintings and studies Mount Sainte Victoire- this is an artistic study of a chosen subject - almost an anatomy of natural harmony: a combination of masses and plans, space and light - exclusively by means of painting.
After the death of his father, a local banker (1886), the artist lives in Aix-en-Provence, devoting himself entirely to painting, only briefly leaving for Switzerland (1841), Giverny (1894), where he stays for some time with Monet. Between 1882 and 1895 Cezanne painted a number of portraits: Madame Cezanne, Gustave Geffroy, Young man and others. 1892 turned out to be especially fruitful for him, when five versions of the famous card players, numerous options Sainte-Victoire mountains and a number of paintings on the theme bathers.
The rapidly growing fame of Cezanne begins after his first solo exhibition, organized in 1895 by Ambroise Vollard. Since that time, his authority among artists is difficult to overestimate. In 1900, Maurice Denis created a large painting in honor of Cezanne, depicting a group of famous French artists. In the center of the picture, which is called Praise to Cezanne, on an easel a still life of Cezanne; around him, except for Denis himself and his wife O. Redon, E. Vuillard, P. Serusier, as well as Vollard and others. In the same year, at the passing in Paris Exhibition of the century three paintings by Cezanne are placed in a place of honor. In 1904, at the exhibition of the Autumn Salon, he was already given a separate room. At this time, the Parisian press writes: “Cezanne, humiliated and despised throughout his life, stoned by street boys in his hometown, reaps belated laurels at the Autumn Salon Exhibition ... All young painters, led by Picasso, fled to the Grand Palais ... time the old master from Aix does not favor the enthusiasts who come to his workshop. He endured ridicule for a long time and now believes that they were sent by ill-wishers to laugh at him.
“Maybe I came too early,” he told his young admirers. “I am more of an artist of yours than of my generation.”
In September 1906, Cezanne wrote to his friend E. Bernard: "I am old, ill and have decided to die at the easel." His wish came true a month later, on October 22. His last sketch Gardener written as freshly and energetically as the rest of his mature period.
After the death of Cezanne, his influence on world art reaches incomparable proportions. It becomes a kind of absolute standard of painting, against which such various artistic movements as neoclassicism and abstractionism are compared. His painting inspires Braque to fauvist studies, and under his influence, he moves on to cubism. In his Parisian apartment, as a shrine, Braque kept Cezanne's still life until the end of his life. “Manet,” he explained, “is a flower and a root. In Cezanne's painting, all the way from the root to the flower, here is all life.
Dates of life and creativity.
1839, January 6 - Born in Aix-en-Provence.
1855 - Studying at Aix College. Friends with Zola.
1858-1860 - Studying at the municipal art school in Aix.
1861-1862 - Tries to enter the art school of fine arts in Paris.
1864 Cezanne's work rejected by the Salon.
1865 - Studying at the Academie Suisse in Paris.
1886-1889 and beyond - Cezanne's works are regularly rejected by the Salon.
1872 - Works in Pontoise with Pizarro.
1873 - Works in Auvers.
1874 - Participates in the First Impressionist Exhibition.
1876 - Refuses to participate in the Second Impressionist Exhibition.
1877 - Works with Pizarro in Pontoise, as well as in Auvers and Issy-les-Moulineaux.
1878 - Works in Aix. Rejected by the Salon.
1879 - Works in Estaca.
1881 - Works with Pizarro and Gauguin in Pontoise.
1882 Works with Renoir at Estaque.
1883 - Meets Monticelli, Monet and Renoir.
1884 - Works in the vicinity of Aix. Signac buys Cezanne's landscape.
1885 Works in Estaque and Aix.
1886 - Cezanne's father dies. Break with Zola after the publication of the novel Creation, in which Cezanne recognizes himself as a failed artist.
1888 - Huysmans' first article on Cezanne in La Cravache.
1889-1890 - Exhibits his work in Brussels with the Group of Twenty.
1891 - Bernard and Anquetin admire the work of Cezanne in an interview published in a Parisian weekly.
1892 - Creates a series of paintings: card players, bathers, Mount Sainte Victoire.
1895 - The first personal exhibition in the gallery of Ambroise Vollard.
1900 - Paintings by Cezanne are presented at the World Exhibition in Paris. The beginning of his wide popularity. M. Denis paints a picture Praise to Cezanne.
1901 - Builds a large workshop in Aix.
1904 - Options Sainte-Victoire mountains. The Parisian press writes about the growing fame of Cezanne.
1906, October 22 - Dies in Aix-en-Provence.
Vil Mirimanov
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Throwing youth
The future artist was born on January 19, 1839 in a small town in the south of France - Aix. Paul was the firstborn in the family of the banker Louis - Auguste Cezanne. The father, who started with the production and sale of hats, and then opened his own bank, was a very powerful man, the whole family strictly obeyed his will. The artist's mother, Anna - Elizabeth, gave birth to two more daughters - Maria and Rose, but she adored her first child - Paul, and always tried to support him. The painter himself idolized and feared his father all his life.
From childhood, having a craving for drawing, Paul Cezanne painted the walls in the house with charcoal from the age of five, already then creating very believable images. But only his mother was proud of his success, the father dreamed of seeing his successor in his son. By the will of his father, Paul in 1849 enters one of the best city schools - the Saint-Joseph school, from where, in 1852, he moves to the sixth grade of the prestigious closed Bourbon College.
In college, the future famous artist Paul Cezanne met the future famous writer - Emile Zola. Their friendship, in the end, played a significant role in the fate of the painter. And then, in his youth, it was Zola who opened the magical world of books and poetry to Paul. Friends often walked, going far from Aix, full of dreams of a wonderful future and pure love.
In 1855, sixteen-year-old Paul graduated from college, having distinguished himself in writing poetry in French and Latin, and did not realize himself as an artist. After graduating from college, Cezanne enters the Faculty of Law, on which his father categorically insisted. In parallel, in the evenings, Paul begins to study at the Aix school of painting by Joseph Gibert. To the joy of the young man, the father did not see anything reprehensible in this desire of his son.
The newly opened city museum, where paintings were exhibited, became the favorite place of the novice artist. Here, and in the classes at the Gibert school, Paul felt truly happy, he had a dream of becoming an artist. But his father did not want to hear about such a turn in the fate of his only son, he still insisted on the study of young men of law that was completely uninteresting to him. The soul of the young Cezanne dreamed of Paris, where he was actively invited by his college friend, Emile Zola, who had moved to the French capital by that time and tried his hand at literary work. In the end, Paul Cezanne still abandoned his studies in law and obtained permission from his father to leave for Paris, where Zola urged him to start seriously studying painting.
In 1861, the young painter moved to the capital of France and was preparing to enter the Academy of Arts. Cezanne begins to attend classes in the studio of Lewis, where he meets the future impressionists Camille Pissarro and Claude Monet, who studied drawing, but already had their own formed vision of the development of pictorial art.
Pissarro immediately believed in Cezanne and predicted success for him in the future. But the young artist from the provinces felt like a stranger in the atmosphere of the capital's workshop. The only friend he made there was his fellow countryman, the dwarf Achille Amperera, who later enthusiastically painted nude women. Paul Cezanne was very unsure of his abilities and his talent. At times it seemed to him that all his studies were meaningless and that he needed to return to Aix in order to become his father's successor. Probably, the artist was tormented by remorse and guilt before the parent, whose hopes he did not justify. These mental torments and doubts eventually led to the fact that the artist abandoned his favorite painting and returned to his native city in the same 1861.
In Aix, Paul began working in the bank of Cezanne, the elder, who was incredibly pleased with the "return of the prodigal son." But the joy of both was short-lived. Paul could not live long without painting, and soon, from longing, he again began to attend Gibert's school. After a year spent at home and endless conversations with his father, the young man again goes to Paris, this time having decided to go to school at the Academy of Arts by all means.
True, while preparing for the exams, Cezanne suddenly discovered that the art that he set out to study was completely alien to him. Salon painting seemed to him unnecessary and empty. Plus, Paul again began to doubt his own talent. He worked hard, but his dissatisfaction with himself only intensified. The result was another failure - the artist was never able to enter the school of painting.
In 1863, he visited the Salon, where he saw the scandalous work of Edouard Manet, Luncheon on the Grass, rejected by the public. This landmark work, thanks to which a real revolution took place in the art of that time, also changed Cezanne's vision of the world. It was this that introduced the young artist, like many of his peers, to a new understanding of art.
Fateful for Cezanne was the acquaintance with Frederic Basil, which happened in the same year. Basile brought him to the workshop of Gleyre, from where Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and Auguste Renoir came out. Natural timidity, at the same time absurdity of character, did not allow Cezanne to join the circle of future impressionists. As a result, the artist always kept to himself, tried not to enter into discussions and conversations and did not participate in their meetings.
In 1864, having received the refusal of the Salon to accept his new works, Cezanne again quit painting and returned to Aix again. True, even there he continues to write, unable to give up art. As a result, six months later, Cezanne again comes to Paris to offer his work to participate in the Salon, and is again refused. Upset, almost lost faith in himself, the artist once again goes home with nothing.
In Aix, Paul devotes himself to portraiture. He works hard, but the next year the artist's works were not accepted by the Salon. Cezanne was completely desperate. He decided that his work would never be understood, but he did not want to write differently. Arriving again at the Salon and exhibiting his works, he receives a mocking ovation, the public openly laughs at the painter.
But something good is also happening at the Salon - someone introduces the artist to Edouard Manet, who speaks warmly about the creative searches of the young talent. Finally, having received positive feedback, and even from his idol, Cezanne gains confidence in the right choice of a creative path. Returning to Aix, the painter becomes a kind of celebrity. He is beginning to be recognized on the street, local artists even try to copy his work, but the curiosity of the public still remained rather hostile.
Temptation of Saint Anthony
The work "The Temptation of St. Anthony" (1867-1869, E. Buerle Foundation, Zurich) refers to the early works of Cezanne. Using a classic religious story, the artist depicts naked female bodies against the backdrop of nature. Actually, the plot was just an excuse for openly writing nudity. Saint Anthony himself, who, in theory, was supposed to be the central character of the picture, is given a modest place at the left edge of the canvas, and even there, his figure practically merges with the background.
Neither in the face nor in the posture of St. Anthony can one read the inner struggle of human flesh and spirit. If the artist's goal was to depict a Christian saint struggling with sinful obsession, then one could say that Cezanne's work failed. But the painter did not aspire to this at all, he was only interested in female bodies.
Sharp contrasts of chiaroscuro mold the volume with the help of powerful monumental forms. The classical pyramidal composition of the central part of the work itself seems to have nothing to do with the plot: the girls, who form a vicious circle with their figures, do not at all turn to St. Anthony. They exist independently of him. And only a skillfully arranged figurative group, located at the very edge of the canvas - St. Anthony and the temptress, who appeared before him in an exaggeratedly frank pose, corresponds to the title of the work. This pair is built according to the classical principle of symmetry. The open pose of a woman showing her body is contrasted with the closed pose of Anthony, hastily wrapping his coarse clothes.
It is noteworthy that Cezanne did not depict beauties, he truthfully paints imperfect female bodies. By the way, they can be called beauties with a big stretch: Cezanne is far from idealizing images, he writes simply - women. The influence of the Impressionists is felt in the contrasting color shadows and reflections of the surrounding greenery on the women's bodies. However, Cezanne uses the discovery of impressionism excessively, almost bringing it to the point of absurdity, which brings his work closer to the work of the Fauvists, who have yet to enter the world art scene.
Personal life
A year later, in 1870, the artist met Hortense Fike, who became his permanent model. The war with Prussia that began in the same year, Cezanne, together with Fike, was waiting in Estaque (Provence). The painter carefully concealed his relationship with the model from the family, otherwise the angry father could leave him without maintenance, which was already barely enough to live on. Only thanks to the meager help of his father, the artist, not understood and not accepted by the public, managed to survive, therefore, even when Grotensia's son Paul was born in 1872, this most important event remained a mystery to all Cezanne's relatives.
Soon the artist moved to Pontoise, where Camille Pissarro lived - one of the few who believed in Cezanne's potential. The support of a friend was very helpful. The impressionist Pissarro taught that one must renounce one's ego and paint what one sees, transferring the real state of nature to the canvas and not interpreting the world around.
Here, Cezanne is introduced to Dr. Ferdinand Gachet, who was fond of painting and appreciated the "new" art. Gachet immediately stated that he considered Cezanne a great artist and persuaded him to move into his house in Auvers. Gachet's enthusiastic perception of Cezanne's work inspired hope in the painter. No one has ever before been interested in his work and did not take them seriously. Here the artist felt the genuine interest of the entire Gachet family in his work and began to paint numerous landscapes, carried away by the impressionistic method of painting.
Bright personality
The painting "House of the Hanged Man" (1873, Musee d'Orsay, Paris), despite its gloomy name, is a sunny landscape. The masterful and unusual compositional construction of the canvas is like a collage and is based on the combination of different plans.
The foreground introduces the viewer into the space of the picture. On it we see an unremarkable sandy slope, with tree stumps in the lower left corner, placed here as a "starting point" for gradually moving deeper. The second plan is occupied by a building with a dark roof and a hill overgrown with grass, behind which an unsightly “house of the hanged man” opens, as if protruding from the hill and representing the third plane of the picture. Behind it you can see the roof of a house located just below - the fourth plan, behind which buildings with bright red brick walls are depicted.
Following the artist, the viewer's gaze from the lower left corner of the canvas descends the hillside, winding among the walls of buildings and uneven terrain and thus revealing the entire depth of space. And the more you look into this space, the more complex it seems. Cezanne conveyed the landscape exactly as he saw it in nature, without rebuilding it with the help of perspective, so the orange houses seem to be standing right on the roof of a nearby building, and the sprawling trees in the upper left corner of the composition absurdly pile up right above the "house of the hanged man."
It was precisely such compositional absurdities, unthinkable for classical art, that made it possible for the artist to truly depict the world as he saw it. The painting “The House and the Tree” (1873-1874, private collection) in its compositional structure resembles a fragment of the previous work: the same unfilled foreground, the white-stone building still grows right out of the hill, against which a branchy tree flaunts. The winding trunk of which, as if, crosses out the plane of the wall, “spreading” along it, like a giant crack. Such a motif gives strangely exciting dramatic chords to the whole work, creating the impression of a secret that the house keeps in itself, as if hidden behind the trunk and branches of a tree.
The canvas “The House of Dr. Gachet in Auvers” (1873, Musee d’Orsay, Paris) is distinguished by the alternation of the first, empty, and the second, overfilled plans. So Cezanne creates a harmonious composition. The depicted houses, which the artist tightly sculpts one to the other, seem to be cramped on this provincial street. When looking closely at the lines of their walls, it becomes obvious that they are far from even. Cezanne does not pursue the clarity of lines, on the contrary, he deliberately distorts them, just like sunlight, which illuminates surfaces unevenly, depending on their texture and proximity to other objects.
Paul Cezanne writes only what he sees, without ennobling the environment, as a “correct” artist should do. Already here, the artist's attraction to simple monumental forms is manifested, which will become a hallmark of the master's individual style. Under the patronage of Camille Pissarro, Cezanne, in 1874, participates in the first exhibition of the Impressionists. Once again, his work is ridiculed, however, his work "House of the Hanged Man" is bought by a very large collector, which gives hope to the artist, tormented by misunderstanding.
The difficult life of Cezanne is well read on the “Self-Portrait” written in 1875 (Musee d’Orsay, Paris). On it we see a noticeably balding artist with an inquisitive and incredulous look. Paul Cezanne intuitively searched for his own path in art, which he walked alone, without meeting either approval or glory. The master's works remained misunderstood, and he himself suffered from lack of demand. Only natural stubbornness and willfulness helped the artist to move forward, but constant ridicule and loneliness sometimes made him doubt his own vision of art. This is what caused the distrust of oneself and others, which is seen in the painter's gaze.
In the work "Love Struggle" ("Bacchanalia", 1875, Collection of A. Harriman, New York), the artist turns to the mythological theme, which allows a free image of the arrangement in space of naked intertwining bodies. The expressive canvas gives the impression of a study due to the underlined lack of elaboration of the figures themselves.
A number of compositional techniques exacerbate the slightly oppressive impression of the violent struggle of fiercely passionately grappling lovers: trees hang menacingly, the low horizon emphasizes the huge sky, as if pressing on the heroes, even swirling clouds with unusually sharply defined contours seem aggressive. The picture is built on the principle of theatrical scenery: bank cliffs with trees growing on them serve as backstage. The lack of depth in the canvas only emphasizes this effect.
An important meeting for Cezanne took place in 1875, when Auguste Renoir introduced him to the avid collector Victor Choquet, who bought one of the artist's paintings. From that moment began their long friendship. In 1877, the painter creates a “Portrait of a Seated Victor Choquet” (Fine Arts Gallery, Columbus), in which we see a friend of the artist sitting on a magnificent armchair of the Louis XVI era, in a relaxed home environment.
On the walls are works of art from the Choquet collection. True, they are not included in the "frame" as a whole, but are given in fragments or are only indicated by gilded frames. The artist does not seek to carefully reproduce the furnishings of the room or photographically accurately convey the features of the hero. He creates a generalized image of a collector as an attentive and thoughtful person who is able to intuitively appreciate the artistic value of a work. The tall figure of Victor Choquet looks somewhat comical on an old low chair, the upper edge of the canvas cuts off his gray hair, and the legs of the model and the legs of the chair are written almost close to the bottom edge of the canvas. This creates the impression that the collector is cramped within the framework of the picture allotted to him.
One of the many portraits of Hortense - "Madame Cezanne in a red chair" (1877, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), which, by the way, has not yet become the official wife of the artist, is unusually effective in terms of color. The red upholstery of the chair contrasts with the greenish-olive and blue colors of Hortense's clothes and the wall behind her, and also perfectly highlights the figure of the heroine. The work makes a monumental impression due to the maximum proximity of the young woman to the viewer. The top edge of the canvas cuts off part of her hairstyle, and the bottom edge cuts off the hem of her skirt. Life partner Cezanne looks away, and her hands with crossed fingers build a psychological barrier between the model and the viewer.
We see a very generalized transfer of terrain features in the landscape “Mountains in French Provence” (1878, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff). Cezanne mentally disassembles objects into their individual constituent forms, and then builds his own reality out of them. This technique would later be a characteristic feature of the constructivists.
Even more "constructive" are the works "Houses in Provence near Estac" (1879, National Gallery, Washington), "Mount Saint Victoria" (1886, National Gallery, Washington) and "House in Provence" (1885, Museum of Art Herron, Indianapolis). Stones, hills, walls of dwellings appear before us in the form of generalized forms, passing through the prism of Cezanne's analytical vision, which cuts off everything superfluous from them, leaving only the very essence. All the outlines of mountains and fields on the canvas "Mountains in Provence" (1886-1890, Tate Gallery, London) are emphatically correct and geometric.
The artist is actively working, but the Salon still rejects his works. Cezanne is again ridiculed at the third Impressionist exhibition. True, there is one connoisseur of the artist's art who regularly buys his work - a young petty official working on the stock exchange, named Paul Gauguin.
Having gone through a solid creative path, Paul Cezanne never became an impressionist. His fascination with the impressionistic transmission of the image of nature and the light-air environment was replaced by an awareness of the need for a speculative ordering of the surrounding reality. It was not enough for the artist to see and reproduce, he needed to see and convey the hidden structure of the world.
Life ups and downs
In 1886, a number of events took place in the personal life of the painter. Firstly, Cezanne, almost against his will (since he was very much infatuated with a young servant in his father's house), is married to Hortense, who, at the insistence of family members, moves to the Cezanne estate in Provence. By this time, the artist's son Paul was already fourteen years old. Secondly, a friend of Cezanne's youth, the already famous writer Emile Zola, publishes the novel "Creativity", in which the artist acted as the prototype of the protagonist. The novel perfectly demonstrated Zola's attitude towards Cezanne himself and his art, ending the hero's life with suicide. The painter took this gesture as a loud announcement that the old friend did not believe in either the artist himself or his art. Thus ended the friendship between the two geniuses of the era - a great writer and a great artist. Thirdly, the despotic father of the painter died, leaving him a solid inheritance.
Two years later, Cezanne creates a wonderful double portrait of his son Paul, dressed in a Harlequin costume, and his friend, dressed in a Pierrot costume. The painting “Pierrot and Harlequin” (1888, the State Museum of Fine Arts named after A. S. Pushkin, Moscow) depicts a scene from the Maslenitsa carnival festival, which takes place right before Lent (in connection with which the second name of the painting is “Mardigra”, that is "Maslenitsa"). On the canvas, the father openly admires his son. We see the majestically haughty handsome Paul, importantly emerging from behind the scenes, looking down on the viewer. Against its background, the detached Pierrot, bent over in a rather ridiculous pose, seems like an obliging page.
At the request of Hortense, in 1888 the Cezannes moved to Paris. A year later, the painting by the painter "The House of the Hanged Man", thanks to the projection of the collector Victor Choquet, was presented at the World Exhibition. But the work went unnoticed by the public, as it was placed too high.
Once again, the works of Cezanne were not seen and did not want to see, and his talent again remained without recognition. The painter was already over sixty, health problems forced him to constantly change his place of residence, but he continued to paint and even fulfilled his youthful dream - he created his own work in the spirit of the work “Card Players” by Louis Lenain, which made a great impression on him in his youth.
The painting "Card Players" (1892, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) is a genre work depicting three young men at their favorite pastime. The figure of the observer in the background is cut to the shoulders by the top edge of the painting, thanks to which the canvas seems unfinished in compositional terms. Striving for a clear and precise expression of the idea, Cezanne wrote several versions of this work. The final version of the canvas of the same name, created around the same time, is striking in its completeness, conciseness and symmetry, to overcome the excessive influence of which, Cezanne cuts off the back of the right player.
The compositional and semantic centers of the picture coincide - these are the hands of two seated men, who seem to frame a proudly standing bottle of wine. The work is devoid of the strict genre inherent in the previous version. There is nothing superfluous here, everything is very strict and extremely expressive. The players are completely absorbed in their occupation, time seems to have stopped for them, the whole world is concentrated within two figures inclined towards each other. Here and now, the layout of the cards contains the most important meaning, the game for them becomes a kind of sacred act, thanks to which the picture itself acquires a certain sacred meaning. Perhaps the bottle of wine on the red tablecloth has the traditional symbolic meaning of blood and redemption.
The portrait "Guy in a Red Waistcoat" (1888-1890, Museum of Modern Art, New York) is especially expressive due to the masterful use of color. The solemn combination of red and white colors is enhanced by the abundance of black, which makes the profile of the hero of the canvas extremely clear and contrasting. Cezanne does not avoid black, as many impressionists, but on the contrary, introduces it into the picture as a form-building element. The young man's hair merges with the black background of the drapery, with this technique, the master seems to “instill” the model into the space of the canvas, at the same time giving it a certain tragic sound. The image of the person being portrayed is complete and complete, even though there are no specifics in the picture - no designation of time or place, no hint of the type of activity of a young man in a red vest.
Subject compositions and landscapes
All Paul Cezanne's still lifes are recognizable: with the simplest minimum set of objects (a few fruits, porcelain vases, plates and cups), deliberately careless draperies with kinks and numerous folds thrown over the table give the composition a decorative effect and unique expressiveness.
The painting "Still Life with a Sugar Bowl" (circa 1888-1890, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg) is one of Cezanne's most famous works. Here the painter refuses linear perspective, we do not see on the canvas a common vanishing point of the planes.
We see a rectangular tabletop with a white drapery carelessly thrown over it, laden with porcelain dishes and fruits, from two points of view at once: from above and from the front, which is impossible for traditional art, which, since the Renaissance, has been working on the correct transfer on the two-dimensional plane of the three-dimensional canvas space.
Paul Cezanne builds his still life contrary to the main law of painting - perspective. Due to the incorrect construction of space and the distortion of perspective, it becomes impossible to determine the distance from the wall to the table, or to the carved wooden legs visible in the background, apparently, jardinières. The relationship between parallel and perpendicular planes of walls, table, floor and drawers also becomes implicit. The space, devoid of depth and perspective, built with relative observance of geometry, makes still life related to religious painting, the style of which was created and approved before perspective, and often ignored it.
Cezanne creates his own coordinate system, in which each object acquires self-sufficiency and in itself can be a "model" for the artist. The “superfluous”, at first glance, section of the legs of the jardinière was introduced for a reason: it is this detail, firstly, that “holds” the entire composition in the upper right corner of the canvas and, secondly, serves as a powerful coloristic accent in the general cold color background of the upper part of the picture , its brownish hues are in harmony with the brown countertop and the warm tones of ripe fruit. It is no coincidence that the artist freely arranges objects on the plane of the table, without combining them into groups - if we mentally remove any of them, the integrity of the composition will not be violated in any way.
The same features are also characteristic of "Still Life with Apples and Oranges" (1895, Musee d'Orsay, Paris), "Still Life with Drapery" (1899, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg) and "Still Life with Eggplants" (1893- 1894, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). In the first work, the role of fabrics, shaping the space with their picturesque folds, is especially obvious. It is luxurious fabrics that fill the entire surface of the canvas. They make perspective unnecessary; in the absence of a familiar coordinate system, space loses its three-dimensionality. A chaotic, at first glance, heap of folds hides the furnishings of the furniture and rooms. It is not at all clear what the objects are located on. Thanks to this effect, the impression of emphasized decorativeness, and even theatricality, is even more enhanced by the planar interpretation of space.
In this still life, the master works extremely expressively with color. Bright oriental fabrics, reminiscent of the exotic draperies of the paintings of the great romantic painter Eugene Delacroix, who was an idol for Cezanne, create a backdrop for a carelessly thrown snow-white tablecloth and a porcelain vase, covered with folds. The viewer's attention is first attracted to this dazzling, intricately constructed spot, in order to enjoy the masterful transfer of fabric, then to concentrate on bright fruits, as if glowing against a white background. It is the white color that skillfully organizes the whole composition. It does not allow the eye to get lost in the festive colors and wander around the canvas, introducing rigor into the color scheme and “gathering” the composition to the center.
With the help of color, the unity of the composition is also achieved in the Still Life with Eggplants. Thanks to the cold blue-lilac scale, the canvas looks amazingly solid, while having a bright contrast in the form of orange-red apples. The general tonality of the work smooths out, as if the random arrangement of objects in a still life. If not for the color, ceramic vases, a plate and a bottle, too close to each other, would look like an absurd heap of random things.
One of the testimonies of inner depression to the artists will be "Still Life with Skulls" (1898-1900, private collection). Such works appeared in the world art of the Dutch and belonged to the works of "vanitas" ("vanity of vanities"), symbolizing the frailty of everything earthly. The mortal remains stacked on top of each other are given in close-up and occupy most of the surface of the canvas. The absence of other objects in the picture and the empty eye sockets, riveting the viewer's gaze to themselves, give rise to blasphemous associations with a portrait, and not with a still life.
Although Cezanne was the main heir to his father, his beloved estate in Aix was sold by his relatives without his knowledge. The personal belongings of Cezanne Sr. and even the furniture that the artist remembered from childhood were also destroyed.
Upset by the loss of his home, the painter decides to purchase a manor for himself, with the gloomy name of the Black Castle. Despite the fact that this intention was never realized, Cezanne dedicates several of his landscapes to this place - “The forest near the rocky caves above the Black Castle” (1900-1904, National Gallery, London), as well as “The Mill on the River” ( 1900-1906, Marlborough Art Gallery, London). In them, the artist, as before, decomposes all forms into their constituent parts, but goes further - in general, the style of the works is closer not to post-impressionism, but already to abstraction.
Mount Saint Victoria became a favorite place for Paul Cezanne to create his landscapes. He admired her majestic beauty even in her youth. In the late period of his work, the master repeatedly painted views of this mountain, conveying its beauty in different atmospheric conditions and under different lighting conditions.
Already at the end of his life, Cezanne conceived a large-format, multi-figure composition of naked bathers in the bosom of nature. The artist has long dreamed of painting this canvas and there are several versions of it created at different times. Due to natural timidity and lack of funds, Cezanne never used the services of models. Therefore, to create his composition from several naked female bodies, he even asked one of his friends to get photographs of female nudes. Perhaps this explains a certain angularity of all the figures created by the artist without relying on nature.
On the canvas “Large Bathers” (circa 1906, Art Museum, Philadelphia), the painter worked a lot and hard, carefully considering the arrangement of naked figures in space, meticulously adjusting the rhythm of the lines of the body and outstretched arms, which, together with the bowed tree trunks, form a harmonious semicircle. The work was to become a masterpiece, a kind of apogee of Cezanne's work. The artist hoped to find himself through the harmony of "the roundness of the female chest and the shoulders of the hills." Unfortunately, we will never know what kind of work the artist would like to see in the end, since death interrupted his work.
World fame that came too late
Paul Cezanne was a loner, he walked his own unbeaten path, understood by almost no one and ridiculed by too many. The artist did not want a simple reproduction of nature, he sought to know its inner essence and convey this fundamental structure on the plane of the canvas. The master's work anticipated the art of cubism and abstraction, depicting reality refracted by the consciousness of a particular person. Cezanne opened the world to a "new art", completely constructed in his mind, and therefore deeply original and individual.
Only towards the end of his life, recognition gradually began to come to the artist. In the late 1880s, the Parisian art dealer Ambroise Vollard became interested in Cezanne's work. At first he studied the works of the master, looked closely at them, and was interested in the opinions of other artists. After much deliberation, Vollard decides to find Cezanne in order to organize his first solo exhibition.
The exhibition, which opened in 1895, covered all periods of the painter's work, showing the evolution of his creative vision and revealing the unknown Cezanne to everyone. Those who came to support the artist Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Pierre Auguste Renoir and Camille Pissarro were amazed. Monet and Degas immediately bought several works of an old acquaintance, and the Parisian public was already ready to accept the art of Cezanne.
The first exhibition was followed by the second. Vollard, though inexpensive, but steadily bought the artist's works. Two of his paintings were acquired by the National Gallery of Berlin. But, only in 1900, the painter finally gained recognition in his homeland, in Aix, putting an end to bullying and ridicule.
Gradually, thanks to participation in the Paris International Exhibition and other events dedicated to art, Cezanne became known throughout the world, the artist's name turned into a legend. However, unfortunately, this well-deserved recognition came to the painter very late. October 22, 1906 Paul Cezanne died. Only after the death of the artist, his paintings truly found their audience.
- Anniversary exhibition of the seaside artist Ekaterina Arkhipova in the gallery "Arka"
- Lecture “Post-Impressionism. In search of individuality
Childhood and youth
Paul Cezanne was born in Aix-en-Provence in France in the family of a hatter and moneylender, who treated everyone around him coldly and arrogantly. The boy had no friends due to the fact that his father had a bad reputation as a person. Although the business was going well and there was enough money in the family, Paul grew up deprived of love and care. He often had to stay alone on the estate and study the sciences or various arts. The boy had a good education, which covered most of the subjects popular at the time, but he was still sent to St. Joseph's School. At school, he became an outcast, no one wanted to be friends or play with him, so the boy tried to be the best in everything in order to complete his studies as soon as possible. After completing his school education, the young man entered the Bourbon College.
Choice of life path
Considering the fact that Paul was completely devoted to his studies, he was awarded many awards for good progress. The choice of his direction was typical for those times, the obligatory presence of religious objects did not bother the young man, but did not cause much interest either. He was able to memorize complex texts in different languages in a short time, which he used as his trump card more than once in the future. The world of painting attracted Paul from an early age, but he did not have access to the very process of creating paintings. It was only after graduating from college that he was able to try his hand at painting. The young man's father saw that the soul of his son was drawn to the world of art and, going against his desires, allowed him to go to Paris.
The beginning of the creative path
In Paris, the young man studied the works of contemporary artists and the great masters of the past, but did not try to enter the Academy of Arts. In the first works of Paul as an artist, one can notice gloom and restraint. He worked clumsily and it was too noticeable the lack of basic knowledge necessary to work on canvas. But this did not stop Cezanne and he decided to develop his style by numerous samples of various subjects. Paul openly showed his character and his emotions in each canvas. The palette of colors was not predetermined in advance, each time the colors changed depending on the state of mind of the draftsman. The real breakthrough came after Paul met Pizarro. He opened many different techniques for the young artist and helped to rebuild the technique for a more separate stroke. After changing the social circle and getting to know the world of artists, Cezanne began to be dominated by more cheerful and sunny colors and subjects.
Unappreciated Talent
However, despite the changes, society still did not accept the young artist. His paintings were devoid of a planned composition and always merged into one solid color spot. Despite strong support from other post-impressionists who were more successful with the public, the artist remained in the background. Despite the unusual manner of execution, vaguely reminiscent of realism, Cezanne was a fierce opponent of the decorative image of real objects. He absolutely completely denied Van Gogh and Gauguin as artists, considering their work to be childish. Cezanne's manner of presenting the landscape was unique in its kind; one could see the first sprouts of cubism in it. In the future, in the works of artists working in cubism, although there was a similarity with his manner of execution, there was no that bright and picturesquely classical transfer of form and feelings.
Recognition of talent by followers
In 1895, after a large exhibition organized purely for Cezanne's work, he was noticed by several young draftsmen who wanted to be his students. This event can be called the first big enough breakthrough in the recognition of the artist by society. The audience still did not perceive his painting as a product of the highest quality, which at least to some extent deserves admiration. In 1897, the artist lost his mother, although they were not close, he mourned for her and did not pick up a brush for some time. After the easy and carefree lifestyle that she led, a long train of various debts trailed behind her. To pay off all debts, the artist had to sell one of the most popular paintings at that time, “Jas de Bouffan”.
The last years of creativity and death
In an attempt to put his life in order, the artist purchased a small house in Aix, which he used as a studio and school where he taught his students. Many, although at first they considered him rude and unfriendly, having got to know him closer, fell in love with his kindness. Many of his students spoke of him as a patient and attentive mentor. Drawing became everything for Paul. From a young age to old age, he gave his all to prove to himself and the world that he had talent. It was the painting that he loved him so much and ruined, after he fell under a thunderstorm during the plein air, he fell ill. The elderly body could not cope with the disease, and the artist died in 1906.
- "Card Players" during an exhibition in Paris in 1961 was stolen directly from the museum with some other paintings. Details regarding their return are unclear: some sources say the paintings were returned a few months later after a ransom was paid, while others claim that all the paintings were found a year later in Marseille in an abandoned car.
- In the history of art, it was the fruitfulness of Cezanne's attempts to create a new great style, and not Cezanne's style itself as an artistic canon, that made him famous. This is all the more true because one can draw a variety of artistic conclusions from Cezanne's works. They are multidimensional, which in itself is characteristic of many outstanding works of different eras, but multidimensionality in the era of free artistic searches acquires a special meaning.
- Cezanne began to limit himself to three colors: green, blue and ocher, mixed, of course, with the white color of the canvas itself. Cezanne needed this approach to choosing colors in order to achieve the most meaningful artistic result with a minimum of funds. During this period, the modeling of forms on canvas, as well as their generalization, become more concise.
- In his work, the artist tried, at the cost of titanic efforts, to reconcile classics and modernity, Poussin and nature, the laws of grand style and the right to individual choice.
