PAUL CEZANNE French, 1839-1906 Portrait of Guillaumin with the Hanged Man (also known as Guillaumin au Pendu), circa 1873 Etching Etching on laid paper, 1873, is likely a posthumous impression. Framed. Not examined out of frame. Plate: 5.75 x 4.25 inches; frame: 14.5 x 11.5 inches $200-300
ARTIST PROFILE: Paul Cézanne was a seminal French Post-Impressionist painter whose innovative approach to structure and color provided the essential "bridge" between 19th-century Impressionism and 20th-century Cubism. Born into a wealthy banking family in Aix-en-Provence, he initially studied law to please his father before moving to Paris to pursue art, where he formed a lifelong, though eventually strained, friendship with novelist Émile Zola. His early career was marked by consistent rejection from the official Paris Salon and ridicule from critics who struggled with his unconventional perspective and heavy, exploratory brushstrokes. However, through a collaborative relationship with Camille Pissarro, Cézanne transitioned from dark, romantic themes to a more disciplined examination of nature, famously striving to "make of Impressionism something solid and durable." Though he spent much of his later life in reclusive study in Provence—battling diabetes and depression—his work eventually gained massive acclaim, leading Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso to reverently call him "the father of us all."
