Cézanne: Site/Non-Site

In 1969, the artist Robert Smithson proposed a new interpretation of the work of Paul Cézanne (1839-1906). In Smithson's view, Cézanne's painting had been distorted by the Cubists, reduced to an almost abstract play of forms. In contrast to this formalist simplification, Smithson underlined the need to recover the physical reference in Cézanne's work, his strong link to certain places in Provence. Published on the occasion of a major exhibition on Cézanne, Site/Non-Site celebrates the work of a foundational figure in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century painting who is widely regarded as the father of modern art. The term "site/non-site" evokes a pair of concepts that were coined by Smithson in connection with his own oeuvre and explores the dialectic between outdoor and studio practice, which Cézanne cultivated throughout his career. Landscape is the dominant genre in Cézanne's work, identified with the practice of plein-air painting. But unlike his Impressionist contemporaries, he also attaches decisive importance to a genre characteristic of the studio: still life. This publication includes a chronology of Cézanne's life as well as a text from Guillermo Solana in which he traces the development of Cézanne's style and motifs throughout the artist's career.