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Cézanne to Picasso:
The Art Institute of Chicago
The supple, unforgettable art of the postimpressionists, and the critical importance of the role of art dealer in finding and even cultivating an audience for it, are the beautifully integrated focus of this exhibition running through May 12, 2007. Centering on the five-decade career of influential Parisian art dealer Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939), Cézanne to Picasso is a treasure trove of important, beautiful and well-known works of late 19th and early 20th century modern art. Paintings and prints, ceramics, rare artist's books and sculpture, each piece in this exhibition was bought, sold, commissioned or promoted by the dealer Vollard. That so many of these works are not only well-known but universally known illustrates one man's astonishing centrality in the story of modern art. Cézanne to Picasso is a study of tastes, of aesthetic value, of canniness in holding back works for a favorable market, or selling them quickly for a small profit. Most of all it shows the deeply integral relationship between artists' objects of beauty, the need for an appreciative audience to sustain them, and the risks assumed by the dealer who stands in a central role between the two. Over two hundred works are on exhibit. In emphasizing Vollard's activities as dealer, Cézanne to Picasso weaves into its explorations the mesmerizing backstory of these paintings different from the usual aesthetic studies common to art history. Nearly every work here includes notations on its purchase, sale or commission by the house of Vollard drawn from the dealer's actual archives and correspondence. This is art explored in a living sense -- not in its making, but in its movements from artist to dealer to client, and in the dealer's active relationship with the artists whose work provided his livelihood and whose reputations, assiduously cultivated, enlarged his own as well. Vollard may not have been the creative engine itself, but he was the one willing to take on the risk by representing the art and being its promotional agent. Vollard came to Paris in 1887 to study law, a vocation he quickly abandoned in favor of art dealing. After an apprenticeship in a Parisian gallery he struck out on a shoestring, dealing art from his own apartment. By 1895 he had saved enough to open his own gallery, Galerie Vollard, in the heart of Paris's art district. He inaugurated it with a solo exhibition of the paintings of Vincent van Gogh that June. His fall schedule featured a solo exhibition of Paul Cézanne. Both the van Gogh and Cézanne exhibitions were world premieres, the first solo exhibitions devoted anywhere to these artists and their work. Our own hindsight and the subsequent valuation and fame of these paintings make it seem remarkable that in these early days of Vollard's dealing, these were unknown works by unknown artists, purchased by the dealer not only for the aesthetic value he perceived in them, but because he was an entrepreneur who had to make the most of his capital and these were inexpensively priced. Van Gogh had died in 1890 and even several years later there was still little market for his work. Julien Tanguy's color shop had been the place to see van Gogh in Paris; at Tanguy's estate sale in 1894 Vollard was able to pick up the van Gogh oil sketch, A Pair of Boots (oil on canvas: 13-1/2 x 16-1/4 in.: 1887), for a mere 30 francs. (A dealer is a dealer: true to form, he sold it several months later for 50 francs.) Cézanne, at the time Vollard met him, was an unknown with no dealer at all, and Vollard's solo exhibition of Cézanne in 1895 heralded the artist's debut. Both the van Gogh and the Cézanne exhibitions aroused mixed interest, critically and among Vollard's clientele. The artists would become rising stock over the next several years, but at the time, they represented only the dealer's willingness to assume a calculated risk, to bank on the accuracy of his tastes and prescience over and above what was then popular with the public; and, furthermore, his tenacity in its promotion. Art must have an audience to support it, a thriving constituency with ongoing interest in seeing and purchasing new works. Vollard's critical importance was in being the conduit for such promotion. On the one hand he selected artists to represent; on the other, provided a venue whereby interesting things might always be seen, actively cultivating the interest of prospective clients. At the same time Cézanne to Picasso is the story of Vollard's relationship with his artists. This is, indeed, how the paintings are organized, with each room devoted fully to its artist and detailing Vollard's interaction with them as patron and dealer. It was a relationship far more complex than a monetary transaction. Vollard was not only buyer and seller, but financier, catalyst, supporter. His keen broker's eye sought new ways to expand the repertoires of those he represented through projects and commissions. Pierre Bonnard he encouraged to sculpt in bronze when he witnessed the artist kneading a small figure out of bread. To Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Edouard Vuillard, and many more, primarily painters, he extended the commission to create original, limited-edition print albums, with subject and images to be left to the imagination of the artist. The results, known collectively as the Vollard Albums, represent some of their most important work. The prints from Maurice Denis's Amour (Love) (1898), one of several of the Vollard Albums featured in the exhibition, show the delicacy and atmospheric effect of this type of color lithograph. Despite the artistic significance now attached to them, at the time Vollard took a financial loss on these due to slow sales and the costs of production. Vollard's support also extended to financial assistance, granting commissions to help artists through threadbare times or serving as go-between in facilitating the artist's continued production. When the aged Renoir could no longer paint due to advanced arthritis, Vollard suggested sculpture in wax models as more pliable for his crippled hands, and ultimately drafted a skilled assistant from the atelier of Maillol to work under the old painter's direction in executing the sculpture full-size. The result, Venus Victorious (bronze: 71-7/8 x 43-3/4 x 32 in.: ca. 1914-16), shows Renoir's fondness for softly rounded female form, translated into a life-size, free-standing bronze sculpture. Between dealer and artist, all was not always roses. Vollard's tempestuous relationship with Gauguin is illuminating as to the personalities of both parties, the temperamental Gauguin, with one eye always on the till, and the imperious dealer who knew what he wanted -- or didn't want. Gauguin blamed Vollard for slow sales of his work. When a work did sell, he resented the dealer's profit. The disgruntled artist tried circumventing the dealer system by leaving his paintings with friends to sell, with instructions to forward the money to him in Tahiti. Most ended up in the hands of Vollard anyway, some for even lower than he would have given Gauguin had the painter sold them to him directly. Vollard for his part requested from the painter specific commissions to meet the market, paintings or prints, things he knew he could sell. They were requests which for the most part Gauguin rejected. The story behind Gauguin's large-scale masterpiece, Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (oil on canvas: 54-3/4 x 147-1/2 in.: 1897-98), briefly described in the exhibition and detailed in the catalogue, gives a glimpse of the tensions between the two and the rivalries involved. A canny businessman, Vollard could also be rapacious in forging a deal. He ended up obtaining the picture for 1,500 francs, a price, paradoxically, which Gauguin had initially set but then changed his mind; Vollard's profit on the sale of the large-scale work is not known but was no doubt considerable. That Ambroise Vollard's influence could and indeed did direct the course of art history is apparent. Cézanne to Picasso is an offering of great richness, rooms filled with works of Cézanne, van Gogh, Les Nabis, Les Fauves, Gauguin, Degas, Picasso and more, all of which passed through Vollard's atelier. Many are among the quintessential works for which the artist is known. Celebrated works include: Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night over the Rhone (Starry Night, Arles) (1888), L'Arlesienne: Madame Joseph-Michel Ginoux (Marie Julien, 1848-1911) (1888 or 1889), and La Berceuse (Woman Rocking a Cradle) (1889); Paul Cézanne's The Abduction (1867), The Basket of Apples (ca. 1893) and several of his Bathers; Paul Gauguin's Manao Tupapau (Spirit of the Dead Watching) (1892) and, as noted, Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (1897-98); Edgar Degas's Racehorses (ca. 1895-99); and Pablo Picasso's The Old Guitarist (1903/4), as well as twenty-one selections of numerous well-known prints executed by Picasso for Vollard, including Winged Bull Watched by Four Children (1934). These are only highlights, and many more favorites make their appearance on these walls. Rounding these out are treasures of greater rarity. For many of the artists, this includes less well-known works, often of varied style or earlier attribution, giving a feel for the depth and breadth of the artist's endeavors. A preparatory sketch by Gauguin entitled Breton Bather (charcoal and pastel: 1886-87) is a stunning rare example of Gauguin's formal capabilities. Touched up with colored pastel, the piece features the figure of a young boy, supple in contour and with limbs and face sensitively modeled. Its realism is a departure from the artist's usual stylization. Maurice Denis's oil paintings The Cook (1893) and Pines at Loctudy (1894) are two beautiful excursions into Japonisme. Degas's monotypes of prostitutes, done ca. 1878-80, are a rarely-seen example from the artist's oeuvre. Be sure also to note the many portraits of Vollard throughout the exhibition, with each artist representing the dealer with his own signature style. Works created outside the artist's usual media include four sculptures by Gauguin, and a series of ceramic vases adorned by Bonnard, Cassatt, Denis, Dufy, Maillol, Matisse, part of a project by Vollard experimenting with painters applying their techniques under the direction of an experienced ceramist. The exhibition also includes a section devoted to Vollard's love of commissioning expensive livres d'artiste, or artist's books, illustrated by his stable of artists. Ranging from the classical to the scandalously erotic, among them are such titles as L'Odyssée (The Odyssey) (1930, illustrated by Émile Bernard), Dingo (1924, illus. by Bonnard), La Belle-Enfant, ou L'Amour a quarante ans (1930, illus. Dufy), The Reincarnation of Pere Ubu, (1932, illus. by Georges Rouault, in return for a deal that Vollard would publish his print series Miserere et Guerre) and Le Jardin des supplices (1902, illus. Rodin). Vollard is credited with reawakening interest in fine art books, and his experiments in this area show the integration of art, type, and text into an all-over, aesthetically stimulating experience. Print lovers will appreciate a look at preparatory material for the print Douce Amère (Bittersweet), from George's Rouault's Cirque d l'étoile filante (1934), including the copper plate and five states of the print showing its progress from initial proof to completion. Cézanne to Picasso is the story of the inseparable twining of art and its promotion. It illuminates the dynamics of dealership, the relationships Vollard cultivated with his artists, and his astonishingly central position to the great works of early 20th-century art. At the same time its art is never overshadowed; its beauty, its brilliance, its richness are all fully offered for appreciation. Vollard's contribution to modern art cannot be underestimated. It takes time and patience to cultivate an audience. They must be offered choices over time, and plenty of them, to develop the habit of returning for more. It also takes the willingness to assume risks, to test the waters, to back or bankroll an unknown. Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant Garde teases, intrigues and satisfies with the story of its brilliant art, and the dynamism of the dealer who promoted it. With over 200 items, this is an extensive exhibition. Allow ample time to savor it fully. A 450-page catalogue (hardcover, $65.00) accompanies the exhibition. Illustrated throughout in full color, it includes twenty-two essays on the celebrated dealer, a detailed chronology of his exhibitions, and a catalogue of the exhibited works annotated with information on provenance and narrative discussing Vollard's involvement with the item. The catalogue is available at the Art Institute's bookshop or through Amazon.com. --Katherine R. Lieber Katherine R. Lieber has edited ArtScope.net's Visual Arts reviews since 1998. Ms. Lieber is Editor and Associate Producer for ArtScope.net.
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