Cezanne and the End of Impressionism: A Study of the Theory, Technique, and Critical Evaluation of Modern Art

Rating:
Summary: you've never known cezanne...and you never will.
Review: The title of my review may cause you to think that I didn't like this book...on the contrary, Shiff provides such a sophisticated argument about evolution of Cézanne's painting through his development of the concepts "maker and finder". Maker is the artist that "discovers" a style and develops that style in his/her work. Finder is the artist looking for a style. (Obviously an incredibly reductive summary of the two terms). Shiff compellingly argues that Cézanne exists as both maker and finder. This book isn't a quick read...but anyone attempting to tackle such a complex artist as Cézanne, couldn't possibly write a simple, one-dimensional book. I will be using this book in my impressionism class this winter. Hats off to Professor Shiff...I've never seen anything better written on Cézanne.