Reconstructing Cezanne: Sequence and Process in Paul Cezanne’s Works on Paper

Luxembourg & Dayan, London

2 October - 7 December 2019

Luxembourg & Dayan, London, is pleased to announce Reconstructing Cezanne: Sequence and Process in Paul Cezanne’s Works on Paper, opening 2 October 2019. The exhibition brings to light new, ground-breaking research into the work of one of Modernism’s greatest masters, based on close examination of the DNA makeup that constitutes the papers he used for his watercolours and drawings.

Reconstructing Cezanne is organised in collaboration with scholar and curator Fabienne Ruppen from the University of Zurich. Ruppen’s innovative research methods into paper affinities paint a new picture of Cezanne’s working process, his choice of subjects, the development of his style and the distribution of his oeuvre into genres.

Cezanne produced approximately 2,100 works on paper and Ruppen has studied 1,400 of these works. Her research reveals previously unnoticed materials connections that link certain works to one another and fosters a new approach to looking at Cezanne’s works on paper. Serving as a case study for her argument and bringing together these works to be seen side by side for the first time ever, this focused exhibition at Luxembourg & Dayan demonstrates the visual links which this research reveals. The show includes loans from significant public collections, including the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, the Fondation Beyeler, Basel and Musée Granet, Aix-en-Provence, alongside some out- standing private collections of the artist’s work.

At the centre of the exhibition are two watercolours that Cezanne produced from a large sheet of paper, which he divided in two sections for the purpose of capturing different landscapes,

Two Parts of the Same Puzzle

The eureka moment came when Ruppen noticed the similarity between the torn edges of the two works, which were like two puzzle pieces waiting to be reunited. “It was that characteristic shape that made me connect the two of them,” Ruppen explains.
These two watercolors are at the center of the exhibition “Reconstructing Cézanne,” on view October 2 through December 7 at Luxembourg & Dayan in London. One of them, La Montagne Sainte-Victoire is on loan from London’s Courtauld Institute of Art, and the other, Paysage en Provence, comes from a private collection. The Courtauld’s curator of drawings, Kelly Gottardo, said in a statement that she is “thrilled” about finding the perfect match to its watercolor.
“Because they don’t show the exact same view, there has never been a direct comparison between them,” Ruppen says. “It is important to look at them closely as a pair and see if there are parallels we have overlooked so far.”  
Her research has also established another previously unknown connection between these two landscapes and studies Cézanne made for a series of card players. “At first glance you wouldn’t think they were related but now, looking with this new information, you can figure out parallels in the palette, as well as other formal questions.”

Paul Cézanne, La Montagne Sainte-Victoire (c.1885-87). The Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust).

Paul Cézanne, Paysage en Provence (1885-86). Private Collection. Photo by Elmer de Haas.

and a Paysage en Provence, 1885-86. 

Speaking about this reunion, Ketty Gottardo, Martin Halusa Curator of Drawings at the Courtauld says “I could not believe the chance to have found the perfect match to the Courtauld Gallery’s watercolour of La Montagne Sainte Victoire! I am thrilled that this exhibition will bring them together for the first time”. 

These works were likely to have been painted shortly after one another, during a single, or two consecutive sessions. Reunited for the first time in history, these two parts of the same sheet exemplify Ruppen’s research methods and the way these enable us to reconsider Cezanne’s practice based on forensic evidence. 

Paul Cezanne, Le Jardin des Lauves: vue sur Aix et la Cathédrale de Saint-Sauveur, 1902–06 Graphite and watercolor on wove paper 15 3/4 x 22 in. (40 x 54 cm.) Private Collection.

Paul Cezanne, Route avec arbres sur une pente, c. 1904. Watercolour and pencil on paper, 18 7/8 x 12 1/2 in. (47.8 x 31.7 cm.) Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, Beyeler Collection. Photo: Robert Bayer.

The various pairings and groupings of works presented in Reconstructing Cezanne thus undermine existing misconceptions, particularly the dating of Cezanne’s works. Cezanne famously avoided dating his works, leaving the task of sorting more than two thousand drawings and watercolours to future generations of scholars, collectors, curators and conservators.

Speaking about the exhibition, Fabienne Ruppen said: “The show at Luxembourg & Dayan provides a unique opportunity to explore a concise selection of Cezanne’s works on paper in their original context, thus enabling unexpected glimpses into the artist’s creative process. I am excited to see together side by side works which until now I have studied individually”.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a new catalogue, published in collaboration with Ridinghouse, including in-depth analyses of the works in the show by Fabienne Ruppen, as well as extensive commentary on new horizons in Cezanne scholarship by expert Walter Feilchenfeldt (co-author of the artist’s new online catalogue raisonné - www.cezannecatalogue.com).