INTRODUCTION
EARL A. POWELL: Hello, I’m Earl Powell, Director of the National Gallery of Art. Welcome to Cézanne Portraits, the first comprehensive exhibition of this extraordinary artist’s portraiture. As you listen, please walk into the first gallery and look around.
Born in 1839, Cézanne grew up in Aix-en-Provence, near the sun-drenched Mediterranean coast, and spent much of his life there. His portraits are among his most daring works. Cézanne’s stable financial circumstances allowed him to paint portraits on his own terms. He never once took a commission, nor did he need to worry about his sitters’ reactions. He preferred to paint people with whom he felt comfortable
John Elderfield, Chief Curator Emeritus of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art and one of the exhibition’s curators.
JOHN ELDERFIELD: There is something very raw and actually very real about these pictures precisely because they are not making any concessions towards flattering people or anything of that sort. These were not works of commerce; they were works of investigation. And when they were exhibited, they produced howls of protest because they didn’t satisfy the expectations.
EARL A. POWELL: On this tour, we’ll examine Cézanne’s relentless experimentation with a range of techniques and tell you the stories behind the portraits’ creations. Also joining you is Mary Morton, the Curator of French Paintings here at the National Gallery of Art and another of the exhibition’s curators.
MARY MORTON: Cézanne’s ambition cannot be understated. He intended to completely transform French painting, which, in fact, is what he did.
EARL A. POWELL: You’ll see nearly sixty of Cézanne’s portraits brought together here. As depictions of people whom Cézanne knew personally, the portraits often reveal as much about the artist as the subjects themselves.
I hope you’ll enjoy your tour.
