representing the artist’s experimentation with the use of varied
and multiple perspective within
the still life genre. “I want to astonish Paris with an apple,” he
famously declared, and this quotation at the entrance to the exhibit sets the stage for a small but
carefully constructed collection
of 23 works that span the artist’s
career. Cézanne is considered to
be the bridge between impressionism and modernism, and was
a key influence on the work of
avant-garde artists like Picasso
and Matisse. This exhibit of his still
life work illustrates his movement
from impressionism to a more
modernist use of color to flatten
shapes and alter perspective by
focusing upon key thematic elements: apples, a vase, a tablecloth
or drape. Foreground and background begin to advance and
recede in the viewer’s eye; threedimensional effects become onedimensional, setting the stage
for abstraction and cubism of Cézanne’s successors.
In amassing and arranging his
vast collection, Barnes’ emphasis
on visual instruction and thematic
appeal over formal presentation
of the works resulted in installations that mix genre, form, period, size and shape; each wall
is its own collection within the
collection, and includes not just
paintings, but furniture, sculpture,
pottery and metalwork. These
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