Paul Cezanne as the 'Father of Modernism'

Paul Cezanne, a French painter born 1839 and passed 1906, was given the name as the 'Father of Modernism’. His work and ideas influenced many artists in the 20th century, especially Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Fernand Leger who were amongst those that painted during the Cubism Art Movement. Cezanne’s art was misunderstood for a large portion of his life, and he wanted to challenge what was known as the idealistic ways of painting and break away from Impressionism. He was successful in doing so, his art defied the values of the 19th century due to his personal expression through abstract art and what came of this is the successful start of what we know as Cubism.

During 1870-1890 Cezanne painted landscapes, over time developing his mature style and as the 19th century approached his art was filled with richness in color, depth and skill in composition. Between the years of 1870-1905 he created many masterpieces, a few being: ‘The House of the Hanged Man’, ‘The Bridge at Maincy’ and ‘Still Life with Plaster Cupid’. Cezanne formed the bridge which joined late 19th century Impressionism to early 20th century Cubism, mastering tone, design, color and composition throughout his works. The idea of painting like Impressionists wasn’t thought of, as their style was too loose and chaotic, and he also didn’t want to paint structurally like the Renaissance as it didn’t appeal much to him, so Cezanne found a balance between the two where he succeeded greatly. He created solid shapes and figures whilst using bold, lifelike colors of the Impressionists. He was willing to sacrifice accurate depictions of reality, and in turn he believed strongly that it strengthened his works. Cezanne’s aim for each of his works was to ensure that the subject was kept true to its original form, two dimensional, and in doing so it allowed him to be more free with his geometric structures and linear perspectives, skewing what was deemed real. He developed his own method to imply a three-dimensional artwork, shifting the viewpoint of the observer so it would appear that the object could be seen from more than one angle (Murphy 1979).

‘The House of the Hanged Man’ and Mont Sainte-Victoire Seen from Bibemus Quarry’ are two of Cezanne’s most famous works, quite distorting upon first glance, but both painting’s light and color reflect on one another. He painted with harsh brushstrokes and movement, his color choices developed to suit each subject matter, emphasized depth through overlapping forms, succeeding in flatness which is one of his greatest principles (Murphy 1979). He conveyed his own version of reality through his flat structured strokes, appointing the right geometric layout where he deemed so and in doing this, he created both seamless and effortless artworks that broke away from what was typically seen as Impressionism, leading him into the abstract world which influenced Pablo Picasso and George Braque greatly.

Pablo Picasso born 1881 and died 1973 had a significant influence on 20th century art, being one of the most innovative artists to date. Picasso deconstructed what were known as the conventions of perspective which dominated paintings, ultimately revolutionizing his attitude through the depiction of form through space. Another artist who was seen to bounce off Picasso’s artistry is Georges Braque, born 1882 and died 1963, also a French man who was a painter, printmaker, sculptor and draftsman. Both men worked closely together between the years 1908-1912, defining the first phase of Cubism where they strove towards representing objects in an unconventional way. Both Picasso and Braque were highly influenced by the memorial exhibition at the Salon d’Automne and the Galerie Bernheim-Juene, which was held for Cezanne (Murphy 1979). The difference between the three being Picasso and Braque combined various viewpoints into a single form through representing shapes in abstract forms, developing icons. In doing so, the icons are ultimately suggesting something else, being unrecognizable to the viewers but leaving them in awe finding meaning within their abstract works. Their use of geometric shapes and obscure form was drawn from Cezanne, paving their way in the development of Cubism. Picasso and Braque worked so closely together that at times it was difficult to tell their works apart due to bouncing off one another so often.

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Their distorting figures and forms, and use of monochromatic color palettes which consisted of browns, grey and black, the pair then went on to simplify objects into structured geometrical elements, and just like Cezanne they produced various viewpoints around the subject allowing the artwork to remain two dimensional. Cezanne’s ‘need for objectivity’ (Jaffe 1983) allowed both artists to share the same end goal as Cezanne and abandon traditional forms and paint what they really saw in the world, allowing creativity and non-figurative subject matters to take over.

Although Picasso and Braque founded Cubism, they drew their inspiration from Cezanne, idolizing his methods and work. ‘Still Life with Plaster Cupid’, painted by Cezanne is an example of how he broke away from the traditional means of painting through his method of walking around the subject matter and painting what he saw in a flat way from more than one angle, much like in ‘Le Gouter’ (Woman with a Teaspoon). He ignored the reality of physical space and created a dynamically interesting masterpiece. Braque then went on to paint ‘Viaduct at L’Estaque’, which is highly influenced by Cezanne’s ‘Bibemus Quarry’, the characteristics and similarities so evident between the two paintings. Cezanne’s color palette, consisting of earthy greens, browns and a light blue whilst Braque’s consisted of earthy greens, a lighter brown and subtle blue. What is most similar about the two artworks is the geometry and composition, almost having an identical layout, completely flat and two dimensional, creating emphasis on the shape, which is a key feature of Cubism. The influence Cezanne had on Picasso was seen prominently in ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’, an artwork by Picasso in 1907 which has similar qualities to Cezanne’s bather paintings. Picasso followed the techniques that Cezanne used to produce his bather paintings, carefully viewing the structures and composition in which Cezanne painted and in turn this guided Picasso in painting his artwork from many viewpoints (Murphy 1979).

Cezanne’s incomparable approach to painting was admired and imitated, his heavy-handed technique deemed remarkable by artists from the 20th century, Fernand Leger was also one of the many. Born 1881 and died 1955 he was a French painter who was highly influenced by Cubism and modern industrial technology, developing his own personal style as machine art. He saw Cezanne’s work at the Paris Salon D’Automne in 1907, and just like Picasso and Braque, it motivated Leger in his works. During the movement he became quite good friends with Picasso and Braque, abandoning what he knew as Impressionism and Fauvism and moving forward into Cubism where he went on to blossom. He adapted some of their techniques but instead would break down their forms into tubular shapes which he represented figures as tubes, he also represented people as robots and automotives as this is something he loved. This was dubbed as Tubism, objects taking on a cylindrical form that were influenced by robot like human forms, ultimately allowing for harmony between machines and the human body. Leger’s work synchronized with not only Picasso and Braque’s, but Cezanne’s too, expressing abstraction through a heightened reality of depicting subjects into geometric planes.

“We are all descended from Cezanne”, declared Braque and Leger (Murphy 1979) a statement holding true in relation to Modernism. He has shaped the way Picasso, Braque and Leger viewed reality and in turn it has allowed them to paint abstractly and use geometrical structures to portray their subject matter, immersing themselves by the idea of lines and structure. Cezanne believed that in order to create the perfect composition the arrangement of the artwork didn’t have to be perfect, but arranged in a way that would challenge viewers to look at art in a new and exciting way. Ensuring paintings has perspectival sense, Cezanne pushed himself into a new way of painting, and this inspired so many others to do the same by following in his footsteps and showing that you can be unconventional yet successful.

Paul Cezanne’s avant-garde approach to perspective is what ultimately led him to be dubbed as the ‘Father of Modernism’, his unique methodology to perspective influenced Picasso and Braque to found Cubism and Leger to follow in their footsteps in creating a movement so influenced by his approach to a newfound art. His principle of distortion and rejection of realistic portrayals of space led these artists to flourish and continue in the work he started, launching a trend that would then go on for years to come. Cezanne’s method of geometric perspectives and flat surfaces was a principle of distortion, paired with analytical brushstrokes and rich colors, was the killer combination that led Cezanne to be dubbed as the ‘Father of Modernism’.