Cezanne (Phoenix Art Museum)

This was interesting and fun - the Phoenix Art Museum had a show with a number of works by Cezanne, exhibited alongside works by a group of North American artists who admired Cezanne and used elements of his style in their own work.

So PJ and I went.

Art history is pretty confusing to me. This may have helped a bit. We learned that Cezanne did exhibit some works with the Impressionists in his early days. But he was moving in a different direction - as the exhibit put it, his work is sometimes labeled "post-Impressionism", or even "Modernism" (certainly a gateway to Modernism, even I can see how his stuff might lead to Cubism). He lived in the countryside (mostly Provence), avoided Paris, gained some favorable attention, but was dead before being widely recognized.

Still life works (preferring fruit over flowers because the fruit lasted longer); landscapes (especially Monte Sainte-Victoire), portraits (impassive subjects), water colors. It was interesting to stick your face right up to the still life items in particular to see the layering.

The items from the North American influencees were also interesting, in part because so many of them were southwest (read: Santa Fe) based.

This was followed by a delightful early dinner at Postino's in Arcadia. I even liked the Dogfish Punkin Ale.

Photos top-to-bottom: 1) Cezanne late-in-life self-portrait; 2) "Five Apples;" 3) Willard Nash landscape - Santa Fe area - emulating Cezanne landscape touches, we're told.