BOB KIRSCH
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wished. References in his work to the chiaroscuro of older art are
frequent, particularly in the portraits, the still lifes, and oils like
the
Mardis Gras,
1888. He said, ''With color I wish to make black
and white." Recasting the chiaroscuro of Titian, Tintoretto,
Carvaggio, Rubens, Zurbaran, Rembrandt, Chardin, Daumier,
Delacroix and Courbet into the terms of a color that is wholly
modern, he brought into being a modern form that possesses the
depth, sonority and weighted structure of the painting of the mu–
seums. Roger Fry has called Cezanne's works "dramas deprived
of all dramatic incident."
Although he exhibited in several of the Impressionist shows
and regularly submitted works to the official Salons, Cezanne
had little real "public." This was particularly so prior to the exhi–
bition of his work at Vollard's gallery in 1895. But even before
this there were those he showed his work to and who admired it:
Pissarro, Monet, Renoir, Guillaumin, Caillebotte, Monticelli,
Gauguin, Van Gogh, Seurat, Signac, Riviere, Corday, Zola,
Cabaner, Dr. Cachet, Chocquet, Duret, Murer, Tanguy, and Count
Doria. Such men knew the Louvre and would have noticed how
individual figures or whole compositions-as well as the tone of
voice with which theyse are enunciated-are linked to the can–
vases of the Louvre. They would have recognized as well the af–
filiations, both specific and general with the work of the mod–
erns. Referring to Impressionism in general, Pissarro wrote,
"The base of our art is evidently of French tradition, our masters
are Clouet, Nicolas Poussin, Claude Lorrain, the eighteenth cen–
tury with Chardin, and 1830 with Corot." However, Cezanne
went beyond this. He did so not only in his study of a greater
number of painters but also in how he went about linking his art
to the past. He "called his compositions souvenirs of the muse–
ums." This remark, made to Renoir, reflects his ability to play
with the viewer's perceptions in terms of the latter's knowledge of
earlier art. Certainly, some of the writers and artists Cezanne
most admired-Virgil, Baudelaire, Michelangelo, Rubens,
Poussin, Delacroix, Manet-had each in his own way done the
same. Yet Cezanne's way of reworking certain themes, his ex–
traordinary skill in condensation, adds something particularly
challenging to how the incorporation of his connection to the art
of the past is infused into the process of the viewer's coming to
terms with his work. The three, late large Bathers paintings, for
