Cezanne: Landscape into Art [Hardcover]

Professor Pavel Machotka (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 27, 1996

This book presents a new perspective on Paul Cezanne, one of the towering figures of 19th-century art. Pavel Machotka has photographed the sites of Cezanne's landscape paintings - whenever possibe from the same spot and at the same time of day that Cezanne painted the scenes. Juxtaposing these colour photographs with reproductions of the paintings, he offers a range of evidence to investigate how the painter transformed nature into works of art. Machotka, himself an artist, moves from painting to painting, examining textures and surfaces, pictorial rhythms, and inflections of tone. As he analyzes Cezanne's treatment of individual sites, their transposition into forms and colours, and the artist's responsiveness to the demands of each composition, we begin to see Cezanne as he saw himself: not as an early Cubist but as a painter who explored his motif for its compositional potential and presented a parallel and faithful conception of it. Using colour to define form, while retaining hues that are anchored in reality, Cezanne achieved reconstructions rather than intellectual depictions like those of the Cubists.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

For most of this century, artists and scholars have been amazed by the richness of Cezanne's work. Painter and photographer Machotka (psychology and art, Univ. of California, Santa Cruz) builds upon past scholarship to illuminate the individual landscape sites and their relationship to Cezanne's paintings through the use of early black-and-white photographs and new color photos that he took himself. He wants to see how Cezanne interpreted what he saw and explores the artist's interest in observing nature and creating a painting using the structure of the flat surface to draw a parallel to nature. Like Cezanne, Machotka observes and uses nature, and he stresses Cezanne's intent as an artist rather than analyzing the elements of his paintings. The 144 illustrations include photographs, color reproductions of the paintings, and full-page details showing brushstrokes, color, and texture. This book about a painter written by a painter will appeal to painters as well as students and scholars of modern art.?Ellen Bates, New York
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 172 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; First Edition edition (March 27, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300067011
• ISBN-13: 978-0300067019
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 10.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,198,218 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have book for the plein air painter, June 17, 2007

By 

H. Mccartor (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Cezanne: Landscape into Art (Hardcover)

Although this is a great book for any art lover it is a must for the plein air (outdoor) painter. It demonstrates how Cezanne transformed his "motif", the scene he has selected, into a painting by showing photos of the motif side by side with his paintings. Machotka, an artist himself, discusses the artistic problems presented by each scene and Cezanne's various solutions as they vary over his development as an artist. Machotka is knowledgeable, thoughtful and writes well. This book will certainly extend your appreciation of Cezanne and if you paint plein air, will likely make you a much more observant and better painter. As a painter this is one of the few books on composition and technique that I recommend to other painters.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars looking, July 29, 2000

By 

marzipan "panchild" (Greenwich, CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cezanne: Landscape into Art (Hardcover)

Cezanne's influence on Cubism and later abstract styles can make the viewer forget just how important looking at his native landscape was to the painter. This wonderful book helps us see the fascinating ways Cezanne succeeded in "realizing his sensations" in front of nature and landscape. A book to return to again and again.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GREAT BOOK, July 20, 2000

By 

NYC Reader (New York CIty) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cezanne: Landscape into Art (Hardcover)

This is by far one of the best books I have ever read and had. Machotka details Cezanne in a great way. I was never a great fan of Cezanne before purchasing this book, now I'm a devoted fan! Cezanne would be proud to have someone like Machotka writing about his work.