The sun., 1906-12-20

be in the imperial ire II the Cezanne pictuis
appeared. So he hid It,. As II was his
Majesty nodded in emphatic disapproval
OF the imported purchases. II he had
viewed the Cezanne!
At first blush, for those whose schooling
has been academic, the Cezanns produc-
tiOns are shocking. Yet his is personal
vision, though a heavy one. he mas not
a facile brush; he Is not great painter; ne
lacks imagination, invention, fantasy Dut
his palette Ia his own. He is master OF
gray tones, and his scale is, as Duret justly
observes, a very intense one. he avoids
with relentless care the anecdote' historic
or domestic. He detests design, prear-
ranged composition. His studio Is an open
field, light the chief actor OF his palette
He is never decorative, unless you can
call his own particular scheme OF patterns
decorative. He paints what he sees with
out hattery, without finching from any.
ugliness. Compared with him Courbet Is
as sensuous as Correggio. He does not seek
for the correspondence Of light with sur
rounding objects or the atmosphere In
which Eugene Carriere bathes his por-
traits, Rodin his marbles. The Cezanne
picture does aot modulate, does not now;
Is too often hard, though always veracious
-Cezanneish veracity, be It understood
But it Is an inescapable veracity. There
is, too, great vitality and peculiar reserved
passion, like that OF a Delacroix rebouTs.
and in his still life he is the great master OF
his century, greater even than Manet. He
never paints a pretty picture. The diner
ence between an onion painted by Chardin
and one painted by Cezanne is this: Char
din's onion is beautiful. but you can smell
Cezannes.
His landscapes are real, without the
subtle poetry Of Corot or the blazing lyri-
cism of Monet. He halls directly from the
Dutch: Van der Neer, in his night pieces.
Yet no Dutchman ever painted 30 uncom-
promisingly, 50 close to the border line that
divides the rigid definitions OF old fashioned
photography-the new photography hugs
closely the mellow mezzotint-and the
vision Of the painter. An eye-nothing
more Ia Cesanne. But an abnormal eye Is
his He refuses 20 see in nature either a
symbol or a sermon. Withal his land
scapes are poignant in their reality. They
are like the grillage one notes in ancient
French country houses-lttle oasemates
cut in the windows through which you may
see in vivid outline a little section Of the
landscape. Cezanne marvellously renders
certain surfaces, china, fruit. tapestry.
Slowly grew his fame as a sober, sincere,
unaffected workman OF art. Disciples raj
lied around him. He accepted changing
fortunes with his accustomed equanimity.
Maurice Denis painted for the Champs de
Mars Salon Of 1901 picture entitled HON.
mage Cezanne," after the we'll known
hommdges Of Fantin-Latour This hom-
mage had it's uses. The disciples became
a swelling, noisy chorus, and in 1904 the
Cezanne room was thronged by overheated
enthusiasts who would have offered vio-
lenoe to the first critical dissident. The
older men, the followers Of Monet, Manet,
Degas and Whistler, whispered as II the
end OF the world had arrived. Art is a
serious affair in Paris. However, since
Cezanne, appeared the paintings OF that
half crazy. unlucky genius, Vincent van
Gogh, and OF the gifted but brutal Gau-
gum. And in the face of such offerings
Cezanne may yet, by reason of his modera-
ton, achieve the unhappy fate OF becoming
a classic! He is certainly as far removed
from Van Gogh and Gauguin on the one side
as he is from Manet and Courbet on the
other. Huysmans does not hesitate 10
assert that Cezanne contributed more to
accelerate the impressionist movement than
Manet.
His paintings one could have bought few
years ago for eight, ten and twenty dollars
apiece. Nowadays their price is high and
is mounting higher. There is a Cezanne in
New York in the gallery of H. o. Havemeyer.
You may see specimens Of his strong charm
less work from time TO time at the galleries
of Durand-Ruel That he will ever become
popular in America is doubtful, though his
still life will always be sought for ALWAYS
and rightfully admired