Still life with Plaster Cupid

Maker

(Artists)
1839-1906

Title

Still life with Plaster Cupid

Date of Production

c. 1894

Medium

oil on paper on board

Dimensions

Height: 70.6 cm (panel)
Width: 57.3 cm (panel)

Accession Number

P.1948.SC.59

Mode of Acquisition

Samuel Courtauld, bequest, 1948

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

On display

Keywords


plaster








Label Text

This work depicts a still life set up in Paul Cézanne’s studio, including a plaster cast of a small 17th-century sculpture surrounded by fruit and vegetables. A few canvases are propped up against the wall. Cézanne used this seemingly simple arrangement to create one of his most complex and disorientating paintings.

The spatial arrangement of the studio is difficult to grasp and the impression of depth is unsettling. The green apple in the far corner seems too large and the floor itself appears tilted. The blue drapery in the painting propped against the wall on the left blends with the hem of the fabric on the table. The position of the sprouting onion blurs the distinction between the ‘real’ fruits and vegetables on the table and the ones depicted in the canvas.

This work challenged the traditional view that still life was a limited and unadventurous genre. Rather than creating straightforward representations, Cézanne used still life to liberate himself from conventional ways of seeing.

Provenance

Bernheim-Jeune, Paris; Dr G Jebsen, Oslo; Paul Rosenberg; Paris; Alex Reid, Glasgow; purchased by Samuel Courtauld, May 1923; Courtauld Bequest, 1948

Exhibition History

Paul Cezanne, Art Institute of Chicago, 15/05/2022-05/09/2022; Tate Modern, London, 05/10/2022-26/02/2023

Cezanne. Masterpieces from the Courtauld Gallery, KODE, Bergen, Norway, 16/07/2021-10/10/2021

Masterpieces of Impressionism from The Courtauld Gallery, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan, 10/09/2019-15/12/2019; Aichi Prefectural Museum, Nagoya, Japan, 03/01/2020-15/03/2020; Kobe City Museum, Kobe, Japan, 28/03/2020-21/06/2020 ...More

The Courtauld Collection. A Vision for Impressionism, Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris, 20/02/2019-17/06/2019

Courtauld Impressionists: From Manet to Cezanne, National Gallery, London, 17/09/2018-20/01/2019

Cezanne's Still Life with Plaster Cupid, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 16/03/2015-07/05/2015

The Courtauld Cézannes, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 26/06/2008-05/10/2008

Into the 20th century - New Displays at the Courtauld, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 10/10/2002

Paul Cézanne, Stockholm & Sweden, 16/10/1997-11/01/1998

National Gallery (to be displayed with permanent collection), National Gallery, London, 01/09/1997-01/06/1998

Paul Cézanne, Leicester Galleries, London, 1925 (Jun.-Jul.) ...Less

Literature

The Courtauld Cézannes, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 2008
cat. no. 8

Aidin, Rose, 'Back to Life' review of 'Second Nature', 25 August 2000
p. 48

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