Cezanne and the End of Impressionism

University of Chicago | 1984 | ISBN 0226753050 | Eng | 346 pages | PDF | 37.5 MB


The paintings of Paul Cezanne, famous as they are, nonetheless remain enigmatic to critics and historians. His works have been subject, to a wide array of formalistic and psychological interpretations; indeed, his earliest critics often stated that this genius created unconsciously, not even recognizing his own achievements. Richard Shiff here rebuilds the interpretation of Cezanne's painting upon a broad foundation in the history of nineteenth-century French art. He shows how Cezanne's work was related to both symbolism (a view pressed on an historians, Shiff holds, by their own interpretations) and impressionism (a revisionist view argued b/ Shiff and increasingly accepted)