Few artists have exerted as much influence on modern art as Paul C zanne. Picasso, Braque, and Matisse all acknowledged a profound debt to his painting, and many historians regard him as the father of modernism. This new biography reexamines C zanne's life and art, discussing the key events and people who shaped his work and placing his oeuvre in the context of nineteenth and early twentieth-century art and culture. Jon Kear begins with C zanne's formative years in Provence, highlighting the deep and abiding impressions the landscapes of the region would have on his paintings. He follows him through his turbulent years as a young artist in Paris, where he would create the larger-than-life artistic persona--through a rugged painting style detailing explicit subjects--that would become a lasting mythology for him throughout all of his phases. He looks closely at C zanne's relationships with Edouard Manet--whom he both emulated and critiqued--and the writer mile Zola, as well as his close collaboration with Camille Pissarro. Above all, he tells the story of his life as a part of the pivotal shift toward the twentieth century, illuminating how much his work and ideas helped to usher it in.
