The sun., 1906-12-20

and man OF stubborn force and individu-
atty. His passing away was hardly no
ticed outside OF France. for ho exhibited
but little of late years, and his accession as
| chief OF a school was Of such recent date
that II had hardly time 10 crystalline in the
public mind before the man himself was
| dead. The SUNS report OF the autumn
Salon at Paris, November, 1904, contained
condensed account of Cezanne's glorif-
cation by the more unruly element Of the
younger painters. Cezanne had the honor
accorded him of a special room In which
hung a few OF his principal works-but
only few, for he began TO paint industri-
ously in 1883 and he had accumulated an
enormous number OF canvases during his
long life. Even after the sterile eccentric
tiles OF the 0dilon Redon room, after the
violence displayed by many young fellows
| like Plot and others, the Cezanne exhibit
was startling to the eye not accustomed to
1 his drastic and unmodulated tonalities.
But he was worshipped more than Carriere
or Renoir both Of whom had special salons.
The tide had set in toward Cezanne-the
despised and rejected Cezanne-in a manner
most unmstakable. At the time The Sun
remarked that in few seasons another
god might supplant Cezanne, which lightly
hazarded opinion has since come true.
Young paint, like young blood, is very apt
to be tickle.
Cezanne has another claim on our interest
In addition to being one Of Manet's band Of
ridiculed impressionists, He was a friend
OF Zola, indeed, one OF his closest, be-
| ginning with their college days in 1883 at
AK, where Zola had gone 10 be near his
"a uhn waa diu0ipu tho canal that
proved so disastrous an undertaking. Paul
was born in 1899. II he had lived until
January 10, 1907, he would have been es
years old. His father was a rich bourgeois,
and while he was disappointed when his son
refused TO prosecute further his law studies,
he, being a sensible parent and justly esti-
mating Paurs steadiness OF character,
allowed him to go to Paris in 1862, giving
him an income of $50 francs a month, which
was shortly after doubled. With $50 a
month, SIS a week. an art student of twenty
three could in those days live comfort
ably study at leisure and also see the
world. Cezanne from the start was dead
In earnest. Instinctively he realized that
for him was not the rapid ascent OF the
rocky path that leads 10 Parnassus. He
mistrusted his own talent. though not his
| powers OF dppllJdllOu' AZ IIst liO-
! quented the Academic Suisse, where he
encountered as fellow workers Pissaro and
! Guillaumin. He soon transferred his easel
| to the Beaux-Arts and became a rabid
admirer of Delacroix and Courbet. 1t
seems strange in the presence Of Cezanne
| picture TO realize that he, too, suffered his
! little term of lyric madness and wrestled
with huge mythologio themes-giant men
carrying of monstrous women. Connois-
seurs at the sale OF Zolas art treasures were
( astonished by the sight of a canvas signed
| Paul Cezanne. the subject OF which was
"LEnlevement, a romantic subject and not
! lacking in the spirit OF Delaeroix. The
| Courbet influence we may understand;
! it still persisted long despite the develop
ment Of the younger painter in other schools.
| Cezanne can claim Courbet and the Dutch
men as artistic ancestors.
When Zola published his most finished
novel, "L'Euvre' lin English called His
Masterpiece") there were many who recog-
nized in Claude Lantier-that is, in his ar
| tisto aims-the parallel ideals Of Cezanne.
! When Cezanne arrived in Paris the first
comrade 10 greet him was Zola. The pair
| became inseparabe Back TO back they
! fought their fight for naturalism, and it was
| 70 C6zanne that Zola dedicated his Salons
which are now 70 be found in a volume OF
essays on art and literature bearing the
soothing title of Mes IIaines." Naturally
Cezanne personally was not at all like
Claude Lanter; the portrait is composite
Of Manet, Cezanne, the engraver Dcs-
| boutins and a young man who pottered
about Manets studio and later hanged him.
self, as did the unhappy Claude Lsntier.
| Zola also borrowed his chief plot from
Balzacs THE Unknown Masterpiece" not
| TO mention his indebtedness TO Goncourt' s
-Manette Salomon," one of tho best fictions
! ever written about painters and painting.
! Zola pitching overheard any valuable
! friends he made, wrote his famous eulogy
I Of Manet in the Ersnement, and the row he
raised was so fierce that he was forced TO
resign as art critic from that journal. The
fight then began in earnest. The story is
a thrice told one. II may be read In
| Theodore Duret's study Of Manet and, as
regards Cezanne, in the same critics
volume on impressionism. Cezanne ex-
hibited in 1874 with Manet and the rest at
the impressionsts salon, held at Nadar
| the photographers studio. He had earlier
submitted at once to Manets magic method
! Of painting, but in 1873, at Auvers- Disc,
he began painting in the plein air style
and with certain notifications adhered to
| that manner until the time Of his death
| The amazing part OF IL all is that he pro-
duced for more than thirty years and sell
dom sold a canvas, seldom exhibited. His
! solitary appearance at an official salon W as
| in 1882, and he would not have succeeded
then IL it had not been for his friend Gull
laumin, a member OF the selecting jury
who claimed his rights and passed in, amid
execrations, both mock and real, a portrait
| by Cezanne. All of which is related by
| Zola in His Masterpiece"
Called a conmundrd in 1874, Cezanne was
saluted with the title OF anarchist in 1904
when his vogue had begun; these titles
being a species Of official nomenclature FOR
| all rebels. Theirs, once President OF the
French Republic, made his unique mo,
when he exclaimed: "A Romantic-that
is % say, Communist During his entire
career this mild, reserved gentleman from
AK came under the ban Of tho critics and
the authorities, for he had shouldered his
nusket in 1871, as did Manet, az did Bazile
who, like Henri Regnault was killed in q
! skirTnish.