In two weeks, the Priorhouse blog will be taking a little bit of a summer break. So as the month of June winds down, I HAD to include a post which highlights Paul Cézanne.
– I synced some of his paintings with a song that was special this month, which is “Always” by Kristian Stanfill.
I apologize, but the video has been deleted – (updated 12-2016), however, you can hear Stanfill’s “Always” song is HERE.
The paintings I chose for the slideshow were selected to celebrate Cézanne’s variety (landscape, still life, portraits, etc.) – and to also highlight his rich use of color.
To find out the names for the works or to see more than 700 Cézanne pieces – go HERE.
Cézanne was a French Post-Impressionist painter from the late 1800’s who brought to the art world an original style of painting that appealed to some while it irritated and upset many others. Many believe that Cézanne’s “energized” work paved the way for movements like Cubism, Expressionism, Fauvism and modern abstraction.
When I taught elementary art, Cezanne was the artist we studied for still life lessons (sample HERE).
Matisse and Picasso said that Cézanne was “the father of us all” and as noted last week, Modigliani carried around a copy of “Boy in Red Vest” for his inspiration as Modigliani broke free of his earlier academic training. Also, in 1926, Arshile Gorky summed it up well as he referred to Cézanne “as a rule-breaker who had reformulated the art of painting” and concluded that Cézanne “is the greatest artist, shall I say, that has lived.”
Gorky also noted that “the old masters were bound by convention and rule to painting certain subjects/topics – like saints, the Madonna, the crucifixion. Modern art has gone ahead widely and developed as it never had a chance to in the hands of the old masters.'” (more here)
Later, in 1962, the artist Lichtenstein defended Cézanne’s art style by challenging an art critic named Loran.
Loran made a thickly lined diagram (left) that was made to try and teach about Cézanne’s art style. However, Lichtenstein, and other artists, viewed this diagram as an insult to Cézanne’s work because the “diagram highlighted body part positioning without studying the painted surface.” So Lichtenstein made the painting on the right to fill in the gap with the paint and texture that was missing from the diagram- and a lively little debate ensued….
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Oh – and my boys are at a South Carolina camp right now where Kristian Stanfill is the musician for the week:
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And okay, I guess I will share a tad bit more about why Stanfill’s “Always” song is special right now.
This past spring, I was driving through the back roads of Mechanicsville.
It was a time when I was “fighting something off” physically and it was taking some serious detective work to figure out what the heck I had! We finally resolved it (to be shared another time- and was nothing major) – but that day- when this Always song came on – well I cannot even describe what it felt like – to hear the potent and powerful words from this song – “My help is on the way” “My God will come through -always….” and to feel the reassuring, comforting presence of God – well it is one of the best feelings ever – so strengthening – whew.
The lyrics in this song are powerful for those of us who not only believe that there is a God, but for those of us who also believe that it is “in” and through Him that we succeed. I know that may sound weak to some people – and it even seems to be a bit of paradox – but you see, it’s a spiritual thing and it is something that you have to live and experience to really “get” – and when you experience it – well you are never the same. Okay, enough of that….
Have a great Wednesday!
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Here are the lyrics to Stanfill’s song from K-love:
Always
My foes are many, they rise against me
But I will hold my ground
I will not fear the war, I will not fear the storm
My help is on the way, my help is on the way
Oh, my God, He will not delay
My refuge and strength always
I will not fear, His promise is true
My God will come through always, always
Troubles surround me, chaos abounding
My soul will rest in You
I will not fear the war, I will not fear the storm
My help is on the way, my help is on the way
Oh, my God, He will not delay
My refuge and strength always
I will not fear, His promise is true
My God will come through always, always
I lift my eyes up, my help comes from the Lord
I lift my eyes up, my help comes from the Lord
I lift my eyes up, my help comes from the Lord
I lift my eyes up, my help comes from the Lord
From You Lord, from You Lord
Oh, my God, He will not delay
My refuge and strength always
I will not fear, His promise is true
My God will come through always, always
Oh, my God, He will not delay
My refuge and strength always, always
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priorhouse blog 
Wishing you a wonderful summer Y. Two wonderful artists you have high lighted. So glad the health issues have been sorted out. Be well.
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thanks Sue – and now I see I should have called you with all your medical background – ha! but I did have good care- and plus, we will save your aide for when you are doing your sports and serendipitously get to help the injured on the trails! ha!
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These paintings are so lifelike, I hope painting will never fade into something of the past 🙂
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I agree – and I do wonder how the digital art and modern things of “today” will look 100 years from now….
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Hopefully still admired 🙂
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I’m coming back because I want to listen to your song.
Your last paragraph made me smile so big on what’s been a bit of a dismal day. Thank you for that. Today, you are MY mama-joy and I just had to tell you before I darted off someplace else.
(I’ll be later tonight or tomorrow to read again, listen and look at Cezanne’s works)
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thanks for that mama-mick ❤ and see you mañana
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Oh! I went to a Cézanne exhibition in Madrid (Thyssen Museum) a few weeks ago. Nice! I have a thing for his bowls of fruit. Cherries in particular.
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hahahah = when I read that you went to the exhibition – my very first thought was “was there any cake” but then as I read you mentioned food – of course you did because after all – you are the lady of the cakes…. but also so much mas….
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There was food afterwards… Ethiopian! Yum 🙂
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mmm
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The song is moving… A beautiful post for a great artist!
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Thanks so much Amy –
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Cezanne is one of my favorites too, thanks for the gallery tonight. 🙂
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de nada – ❤
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Thank you for both Modigliani and Cézanne. Interesting readings and wonderful paintings. Like them being så colorful!
Have a nice day!
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yeah, you are right about both being so colorful – very rich, eh?
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I enjoy Cezanne also. I hope that you have a nice break from blogging 🙂
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Thanks Amy – I will still be around, but on July 2nd it is one my one year anniversary (well I set up the blog way before then, but only really started to write last summer….) and so I just want to pause and assess my next blogging phase –
and the teacher side of me likes summer change… 🙂 TTYL
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I thoroughly enjoyed that slide show and the music. It was good to sit back for a few minutes and chill, before Friday gets too hectic! Thanks Yvette
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I love Cezanne for his whites. A random thought – the artists of that time who became most popular (after they died – that is one of my questions to God – why? Was it to keep them humble, or true to their work/approach of painting – anyway, he hasn’t given me an answer yet) all showed so much of every day life. Playing cards, reading the paper, etc.
One sentence of the song you posted spoke to me “You will not be late” – I needed that reminder (thanks for posting!), because I wanted our condo to be sold “yesterday.”
Have a great 2 weeks of vacation with many memorable times:)
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Hi jesh! well I do not follow many painters in my blogging network – not sure why – but it seems like I gravitate to photographers – which I know you are one as well – but I do look forward to your paintings – as well as your reflections on artists – and I like the question you put out here…
And I wanted to reply to your comment as to “why” some artists do not become more popular.
Sometimes – “fame can funk a person up” – and sometimes – the fame and limelight success that comes with popularity is not a good thing at all – especially for an artist. That kind of social stuff can get inside someone’s head which can then have many negative rippling effects – of course it can have some positive boosts to ego and affirmations as being recognized is huge, but usually short term fulfilling. And if money came from the success – that can have some short-lived some perks too – but too often – in my experience – it seems that fame, money, and popularity recognition are not the satisfying elixir or gift that people assume it will be – and sometimes the best outcomes result from the angst and from the climb.
However, there are also other “funks” that can come from too hard of a climb or constantly depressive life circumstances – like from being parched financially for too long, or from not getting/reaching any of the goals one has an artist or person; but more often, the REAL gift is to not be in the limelight and any posthumous acclaim is not being shortchanged – it is just the way it had to be.
~ I think that Cezanne is good example of this very thing. I had a short season where I soaked up all I could find about him – and while much of it has faded – the one word I had for Cezanne was “original” = but this was part of the struggle for him – and do you know what one of his artistic issues related to? It was his inability to duplicate precisely.
I could go on and on about Realism in art and how so many people think of talent in realism is the most talented, when in fact, it is a “skill” and sometimes the best realistic artists lack originality and creativity – they can just duplicate well!!!
As I am sure you know with your art background, Realism has to do with a brain connection — between the eye and the hand– which allows the person to duplicate (Mona Brooks explains it so well) and Cezanne was actually quite frustrated with his inability to duplicate as painter – and he said that painting is so “hard” – but we also see that it is because he painted from memory too much – (which was not too much for what the world needed from him) but when Cezanne painted – he was looking at the canvas and painting from within – which is good – but not good for duplication – and so as he pulled from within and from his mind – he was not developing/reinforcing the brain-eye-to-hand connection that improves duplicating…. he even said that painting comes from the mind (as he pointed to his head)- and he even made many of his nudes and figure art from memory – and the problem with that is lack of exactness -however……
this habit of his then allowed him to keep doing his own thing.
And so while he was frustrated with some of his outcomes – his art became an original gift to the world.
A gift to a world that often resists the needed freshness and resists the needed change to keep healthy flow. And while he could not exactly duplicate still life settings the way he maybe wanted to – we end up with his flare – his style. I once read a huge piece about the “rhythm” found in just one of Cezanne’s tea cups and saucers – still shake my head to think about the way that writer loved that wavy tea cup so much -ha! – but that was (is) what the art world needed. We did not need an exact representation of cup and saucer on some cloth – we needed Cezanne’s interpretation and movement – And many times we do NOT EVEN KNOW we need something until it is after the fact -(such is life) and so in Cezanne’s case – his posthumous success was just the circumstance of the way it “had” to be.
Now I know you love Van Gogh – and this reply is too long already – so I will try and keep it short
– but I think it is similar with Van Gogh’s work – while very few people liked his work early on – society was just not able to realize the wonder he was bringing and so fame could NOT come – it was a timing thing.
Also, I do think that there is an “anointing” on Starry Night. And I use that term very rarely – and not even sure if I know that term means – ha! But I feel as if there is a spiritual energy to Starry Night – and when you read about when it was painted – the location, life stage, and circumstance – sometimes I picture God looking down – that May day in 1889- and with love he looked down on this wounded artist and said something like ‘Vincent, my child…. I know your struggles down there have been many – and I know it has been difficult – and I know each of your scars from the social whiplashes – and I know how the paint fumes and STDs have impacted your body – and well – I have also been with you every second of every day – I know the number of hairs on your head – I even inspired (and financially enabled) your bother to support your art – and so tonight – dear Vincent beloved one – as your time down there winds down – when you paint that blob outside of the window of asylum at Saint-Remy- and as the meds make the stars halo a bit – well this painting will be your SWAN SONG my son – and it will be a gift to millions – because you had the path of struggle for many reasons – but it has not been in vain – oh, and I also made all that blue paint available for you so it could be a part of your work – and okay – not pick up that brush and so get to paintin….”
– 🙂
but you see – we also cannot overlook that Van Gogh’s sister-n-law is really what allowed van Gogh’s posthumous success to blossom – she gathered his works, filed them, worked with care to share them, etc. And the same thing with Emily Dickinson’s poetry – as her unconventional style was not affirmed – and they made her change the poems that were published – so it seems that fame for her may have robbed the world of her originality – poems that had to be scratched out while lying low. And then it took the right person to not only find the poetry – but to see the value and work to share them….
So in closing, getting back to Monsieur Cezanne -well Jesh Stg, I think you said it perfectly – the appointed path for these artists was likely to keep them “true to their work/approach of painting” –
and here are two quotes from Cezanne to add to the flavor:
“Painting is damned difficult … you always think you’ve got it, but you haven’t.”
“I could paint for a hundred years, a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing.”
Final message –
artists need to keep doing what they do – have goals and aims – sure, but they need to not lust for fame or big money because it is NOT what fills the soul – and it could even pull from their artistic essence – which the world needs…..
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Wow, that was not a comment, that was a letter (back in the time when every girl had a few pen pals:) ) Just wanted you to know I read it, and am chewing on it, and will eventually get back to reply, because you make me think and haven’t had to do that for a while, lol! I can imagine you have great discussions with your own “kids!”
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you are sweet – ***thx*** and I forgot to say that I hope all works out well with the condo sale – so you fully get on over to that small town way of life – and do all that you do…..
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mille merci et un bonus: 🙂
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fait ma semaine!! you rock Melanie!
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English lyrics to Cezanne peint by France Gall (1985)
Silence crickets
Motionless on branches
Trees are rays
And subtle shadows
Silence in the house
Silence on the hill
These fragrances we guess
It’s the smell of the season
But voil man
Under his straw hat
Of her blouse open spots
And his scraggly beard
painted czanne
He allows himself to perform magic from his hands
painted czanne
And clear the world for our eyes n’voient nothing
If happiness is
This is an artist proof
Czanne knows
Vibrates the light
Sing colors
He puts his life
The sound of his heart
And like a boat
Port his sailing
Gently brush
Slip on canvas
And voil man
Intersecting with his eyes
Time for a clear
The eyes of the gods
painted czanne
He allows himself to accomplish the miracle of his hands
painted czanne
And clear the world for our eyes n’voient nothing
If happiness is
This is an artist proof
Czanne knows
When painted Czanne
cezanne paint
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French:
Silence les grillons
Sur les branches immobiles
Les arbres font des rayons
Et des ombres subtiles
Silence dans la maison
Silence sur la colline
Parfums qu’on devine
C’est l’odeur de saison
Mais voilà l’homme
Sous son chapeau de paille
Des taches plein sa blouse
Et sa barbe en bataille
Cézanne peint
Il laisse s’accomplir la magie de ses mains
Cézanne peint
Et il éclaire le monde pour nos yeux qui n’voient rien
Si le bonheur existe
C’est une épreuve d’artiste
Cézanne le sait bien
Vibre la lumière !
Chantez les couleurs !
Il y met sa vie
Le bruit de son cœur
Et comme un bateau
Porté par sa voile
Doucement le pinceau
Glisse sur la toile
Et voilà l’homme
Qui croise avec ses yeux
Le temps d’un éclair
Le regard des dieux
Cézanne peint
Il laisse s’accomplir le prodige de ses mains
Cézanne peint
Et il éclaire le Monde pour nos yeux qui n’voient rien
Si le bonheur existe
C’est une épreuve d’artiste
Cézanne le sait bien
Quand Cézanne peint
Cézanne peint
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Such a variety of work, Yvette. Are you going somewhere nice, or devoting time to a project? 🙂
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Hi Jo – well we are not traveling again until August, but I just feel like a summer pause is in order -to reflect and decide what I want my next “phase” of blogging to be… Even though I know it won’t be easy to pause!
However, I am still going to try and visit different blogs weekly – have to do that….. thanks for asking… ❤
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I know just what you mean! I find myself inextricably caught up in the tap dance of blogging 🙂
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What a great discussion in the post and in the comments, Yvette, feels like an art and philosophy and theology cafe – if we could get Lady of the cakes to set up a table, and get some awesome spanish coffee bar in here, we’d really be cooking! I hope you have a very nice “vacation” and peaceful contemplations of your blogging, I enjoy your writing and your friendship and your presence here very much! ♥♥♥ ;^)
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well said Aisha – that would be fun – and I know you’ll be bringing the fresh water – 🙂 ❤ and you'd bring tidbits from your globally seasoned outlook –
and thanks for the awesome words my friend – have a nice day!!
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♥♥♥ ;^)
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