Observation I have been thinking about Paul Cézanne and his approach to art (Hajo Düchting, Cézanne, Nature into Art Taschen, 1999). Perhaps I am wrong, but I picture him wandering about Provence looking, not only at the vistas, but also at smaller objects of nature. He said, “This region is full of undiscovered treasures. There […]
I’m reading The Art of Cézanne by Albert C. Barnes and Violette de Mazia.* This is their introduction to Cézanne’s work in the first paragraph of chapter 1: “To the uninitiated, Cézanne’s paintings seem strange to the point of bizarreness, alien to all the traditions of painting; but to the student who has grasped the essential nature of […]
I’ve been having the hardest time trying to understand Cézanne’s composition. I bought Cézanne’s Composition by Erle Loran, which seems to cover exactly what I want to know. There are a couple of problems right off the bat: the book itself is an odd shape – 12″x9″, which isn’t a bad format for a painting, by a bit […]
I have been thinking about the little doodles I’ve been drawing during the past few weeks. They are not terribly satisfying. Don’t get me wrong, it is a challenge to have an idea and conjure up some way to express it visually. However, it is like coming up with one-liners. I’m pretty good with puns and […]
Depiction of personal space So much has been written about the philosophy of space, that I can’t possibly summarize the different positions in one or even a dozen postings. However, I am in the process of combing the philosophic, artistic and scientific literature to arrive at my own understanding of (physical and inner) space and […]
Process thus far My experiment with latex masking fluid is nearing an end. Although dripping can be fun, there is too much time needed for drying for the work to be spontaneous. I made some progress through The Art of Cézanne by Albert Barnes and Violette de Mazia. It seems that every few pages I want to […]
What is an outsider? What is an outsider? I suppose there are many definitions: one who is alone in a different culture; one who doesn’t speak the same language as those she is around; one who doesn’t understand what is going on around him. If I may be so bold, I suggest that everyone who […]
I’ve had some classes in drawing. I’ve read up on perspective and I’ve practiced drawing scenes in front of me. I find that I must continually check to see whether I have properly estimated the area on my two-dimensional paper to match the corresponding view of the three-dimensional scene in front of me. With practice, […]
In his book Proust was a Neuroscientist, Jonah Lehrer illustrates how the revelations of the arts and literature give us insight into the human mind with as much, and possibly more clarity than does the work of neuroscientists. The chapter about Paul Cézanne caught my interest. Cézanne’s vision The impressionists, whose work was contemporaneous with […]
Neuroanatomy Those of you who follow my blog know that my interest in the brain stems from my older brother who is autistic, profoundly retarded and has never uttered a word in his life. I had the good fortune to be able to study neuroanatomy with a colleague, Dr. Andrew Lautin, and participate in the […]
