A comparison of Still Lifes by Paul Cezanne and Francisco de Zurbran - Essay Example

A comparison of Still Lifes by Paul Cezanne and Francisco de Zurbáran Cezanne , Curtain ,Jug and Fruit 1893/4 This picture, at present in a private collection, although an indoor still life, is typical of Cezanne’s Impressionist style. He would have been more interested in the impression he was creating than in the actual items depicted. In the way the drapery of the curtain and the way in which tablecloth hangs in many folds for instance or the way in which he has been able to reveal the round shapes of the various fruit and of the jug. It uses the new technique of applying pigment in small touches of pure color rather than the broad, mixed strokes of earlier artists. The idea was to create an image that someone might see even if they only caught the briefest glimpse of a scene. Most impressionist paintings were done out of doors, many depicting scenes from everyday life, often with several figures and using bright, vibrant colors, and without any emphasis upon exact details. This is more unusually is an indoor scene and a still life, but there are still the bright colors and the lack of exact detail. It is exactly what it was meant to be – an impression of a kitchen scene. The items are very casually laid out, on what appears to be a kitchen table, almost with the appearance of being thrown down, and the background looks as if the artist has used it to clean his brushes, including as it does tiny amounts of many different colors, yet at the same time the viewer is able to distinguish exactly just what is being depicted as clearly as in the much more formal and realistic work earlier work by Zurbáran. Impressionism was not abstract art. Zurbarán, Still life with lemons, oranges and a rose.1633 Francisco de Zurbaráns "Still Life With Lemons, Oranges and a Rose" is the only work which the Spaniard ever signed and dated. It is normally to be found in one of the smaller galleries of the Norton Simon Museum of Art in Pasadena, U.S.A. Although superficially a similar subject –fruit on a table- it is a very different painting. First of all it is much more formal and representational and follows the styles of the 17th century whereas Cezanne’s piece was much more innovative at the time and represents, at least to some extent, a departure from the conventional. Whereas his work was meant to be only an impression of fruit on a table these seems so real you can almost smell the lemons. The work is usually hung on the back wall of the gallery, and although the artist is relatively unknown when compared to Cezanne it has been described by Orin Judd as ‘Like a large black magnet’ because of the way the eyes of the viewer are drawn deep into its mysteries. It depiction is at first sight simple – a table set against a dark background on which there are several objects arranged in three groups. To the left there is a silver saucer with four lemons. The center is filled by a basket filled with orange blossom and oranges and on the left another saucer, this time with a rose and a china cup of water. Each group of objects has been very carefully placed upon the gleaming, highly polished surface of the table. It is not Zurbáran’s usual subject matter, these being more often starkly lit paintings of saints, angels and scenes from the life of Christ, strongly influenced by the exact realism of works by Caravaggio and his school according to the National Gallery web page Francisco de Zurbáran. He was also a friend of Valázquez, another painter of formal scenes. But this too is a religious painting, even if not obviously so. The objects he has painted are each symbols, symbolic offerings to the Virgin Mary. The rose and the clear water are representative of her purity and chastity of love as well as love. The fruit, both lemons and oranges and the blossoms, represent renewed life, the lemons in particular being considered to be Easter fruit. Even the table is in this instance a symbolic altar. Not only has this work been very carefully painted with the objects depicted shining against the dark backdrop, but much time and thought, as well as a great deal of religious devotion has obviously been taken in choosing and placing them. On the other hand Cezanne’s work, however attractive, has the appearance of being somewhat rushed and slightly careless in its execution and it would not really have mattered if he had painted eggplants or pineapples instead of apples and pears, and the jug and curtain are just that. Zurbáran on the other hand is inviting viewers to partake in a religious experience. Cezanne’s work is almost bordering upon the abstract , because of its lack of exact detail and it is not surprising to learn that both cubism and abstract art are said to have developed as a result of his innovative style, all a far cry from the way he had been taught at the École des Beaux-Arts in Aix. The invention of pigments in tubes in the1840’s meant that for the first time art could be immediate rather than a carefully considered matter. Also because the work of the Impressionists was non-religious it did not rely upon the sponsorship of the church, unlike Zurbáran who mainly worked for various religious houses in his native Spain. He did however become the official artist of Seville towards the end of his life. Because of the techniques used by the Impressionists, especially the way they applied color directly on to the canvas, their work can have a rather flat appearance. Perhaps by choosing such obviously rounded subjects Cezanne was trying to overcome this tendency. Nevertheless this is definitely a painting and would never be mistaken for an exact representation of whatever was before the artist. The impressionist movement had only begun in 1867. It was part of a new age, a thrusting industrial age, where railways could take artists rapidly to new sites far away from the studio conditions in which Zurbáran would have worked only two centuries earlier. Times had changed and art and artist would never be quite the same again. References Electronic Sources, Francisco de Zurbáran, The National Gallery, 4th November 2009 http://nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/francisco-de-zurbaran Judd, O., Were lemons native to the Savannah? Brothersjudd.com March 2009, 4th November 2009 http://brothersjuddblog.com/archives/2009/03/were_lemons_native_to_the_sava.html Paul Cezanne, Curtain , Jug and Fruit, Paul Cezanne, the Complete Works, 2009, 4th November 2009 http://www.paul-cezanne.org/Curtain--Jug-And-Fruit.html Read More