Paul Cézanne

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Paul Cézanne

1839-1906

The Bathers. Verso: head of a boy and a male nude

ca. 1900

Watercolor over graphite; verso: Graphite.

7 15/16 x 10 13/16 inches (201 x 274 mm)

Thaw Collection.

2017.29

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Notes:

Watermark: none.
Cézanne's reverence for old masters led him to reinvent the genre of nude figures in a landscape, a theme he explored over the course of his career. This sheet is among the latest examples. Here seven bathers interact in a way--and in a space--that remains ambiguous: the drawing is both a bathing scene and a patterned surface of curvilinear strokes of watercolor. The subject may have also held a certain nostalgia for Cézanne, who linked swimming with time spent during his youth with his friends, including Émile Zola. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection"

Inscription:

Numbered, at left beneath large composition, in pencil, "2 1".

Provenance:

Paul Cézanne, fils, Paris; Maurice Renou, Paris; private collection, Zurich; Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw, New York.

Associated names:

Cézanne, Paul, 1872-1947, former owner.
Renou, Maurice, former owner.
Thaw, Eugene Victor, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.

Bibliography:

The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY, "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection", 2017. Exh. cat., no. 44, repr.
Denison, Cara D. et al. The Thaw Collection : Master Drawings and New Acquisitions. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1994, no. 83.
New York Collects: Drawings and Watercolors, 1900-1950. New York: The Pierpont Morgan Library, 1999, cat. no. 1.

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Exhibitions:

Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection

Department:

Drawings and Prints