Cezanne and Beyond, and Beyond

This past Friday was an opportunity for the press to come and see Cezanne and Beyond as a group. They were led by one of the show's curators, Joe Rishel, who offered interesting anecdotes about the artists and also offered some insight on his decisions. Perhaps prompted by the presence of all the critics at exhibition, I thought I'd contribute my own 'review.'

Let me say, without hesitation, that the show is fabulous. There are many, many gorgeous works of art; while most in the Education office raved about Picasso's large, colorful painting of a seated woman entitled The Dream, I was particularly enchanted by the very simple, pure, linear and geometric sketches of Ellsworth Kelly, and the beautiful still-lifes of Giorgio Morandi. The exhibition, in total, features close to 150 works of art by eighteen-or-so artists, including such heavyweights as Matisse, Mondrian, Marsden Hartley, Jeff Wall, Alberto Giacometti and Brice Marden.

But the virtue of this exhibition is not who is featured, but rather how things are featured. The idea -- or better, the thesis -- of the show is to demonstrate Cezanne's far reach. Picasso described the Frenchman as 'the father of us all.' Indeed, Cezanne's ability to nurture and teach becomes clearly evident. Ultimately, the show is most successfully understood in the context of conversation. More than Cezanne, the show provides a forum for dialogue by different artists, at different times.

Importantly, this is not simply art for art's sake, or worse, art as currency. The object is stripped of both its preciousness and its object-hood; what remains is a statement, or even an historical document. This is not connoisseurship, but instead, the perfect synthesis of two worlds in the museum, too often seen as distinct: the curatorial world and the educational world. Like with Dr. Albert Barnes before them, the curatorial team that hung Cezanne and Beyond was interested was in crafting a learning experience for the visitor out of placement and juxtaposition. By placing one painting of Mont Sainte-Victoire next to a map of the United States by Jasper Johns, it becomes apparent to the viewer that the particular lesson learned by Johns was the way we interact with omnipresent and ubiquitous images; by placing a Cezanne next to a Braque or Picasso, the lesson is clearly one of geometrical analysis; by placing Cezanne next to Mondrian, the lesson is one of the flatness and purity of the picture plane.

As much as the exhibition instructs, it also asks questions of the viewer, but it assumes no prior knowledge. The curators are actively engaging their audience, insisting that a connection exists among the great works. Ultimately, this is understood as the greatest dialogue.

In sum, I am aware of no other exhibit which is as interactive as this one.