Interpretation
This watercolor shows a detail of the ancient Bibémus quarry near Aix-en-Provence. Abandoned in the nineteenth century, the quarry offered a sprawling complex of cut and weathered rocks that bore both the recent marks of human industry and the gradual effects of wind and rain. One of Cézanne’s favorite boyhood haunts, this remote site became a favorite motif in the 1880s and ’90s. While his oil paintings of the site tend to define the massive rock formations, this work presents an immaterial close-up view that hesitates between the emergence and dissolution of form.
Information
- Title
- Rocks at Bibémus (Rochers de Bibémus)
- Object Number
- L.1988.62.35
- Maker
- Paul Cézanne
- Medium
- Watercolor and graphite on cream laid paper
- Dates
- ca. 1887–90
- Dimensions
- 45.9 x 31.8 cm. (18 1/16 x 12 1/2 in.) Chain Lines (vertical): 2.7 cm (1 1/16 in.)
- Catalog Raisonné
- Rewald (1983) 306 Venturi (1936) 1046
- Credit Line
- The Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation on loan since 1976 to the Princeton University Art Museum
- Culture
- European
- Marks/Labels/Seals
- Watermark: Scrolled lines in monogram format (Canson Ingres)
- Lionello Venturi, Cézanne: son art, son oeuvre, (Paris: Rosenberg éditeur, 1936)., No. 1046 (illus.)
- Linda Ferber and Leonore Sundberg, An exhibition of paintings, watercolors, sculpture and drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pearlman and Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, (New York: Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1974)., Cat. 35 (illus.)
- Rachael Z. DeLue et al., Cézanne and the Modern: masterworks of European art from the Pearlman Collection, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum; New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2014)., Cat. 6, fig. 107
- Cézanne and the Modern: Masterpieces of European Art from the Pearlman Collection (September 19, 2015–January 03, 2016)
- Cézanne and American Modernism (September 12, 2009 – January 3, 2010)
- Cézanne in Provence (January 29, 2006 - September 17, 2006)
- Cézanne in Focus: Watercolors from the Henry and Rose Pearlman Collection (Saturday, October 19, 2002 - Sunday, January 12, 2003)
- Paul Cézanne Watercolors (Oct 18 - Nov 24 1999)
- Cézanne: The Collections of the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation and Mrs. Rose Pearlman (February 01 - April 05, 1992)
- Art of Cézanne from the Henry & Rose Pearlman Foundation (May 02–July 14, 1986)
- Cézanne: Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings, and Prints from the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation and the Collection of Mrs. Rose Pearlman (Saturday, September 22, 1984 - Sunday, November 04, 1984)
- Paul Cézanne: The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pearlman (June 26–August 29, 1982)
- Cézanne Watercolors from the Pearlman Collection (Tuesday, April 21, 1981 - Wednesday, June 24, 1981)
- Cézanne Watercolors and Drawings in the Pearlman Collection (February 05 - April 17, 1980)
- Cézanne Watercolors and Prints (September 25 - October 16, 1977)
- An Exhibition of Paintings, Watercolors, Sculpture and Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pearlman and the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation (Wednesday, May 22, 1974 - Sunday, September 29, 1974)
- Sixteen Watercolors by Cézanne from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rose Pearlman (October 16 - November 16, 1973)
- Cézanne Watercolors from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pearlman (April 14 - September 30, 1972)
- Cézanne Watercolors (Pasadena) (November 10 - December 10, 1967)
- Summer Loan Exhibition, 1966 (July 8 - September 6, 1966)
- Exposition Cézanne, Pavillion de Vendome (July 1 - August 15, 1961)
- Paul Cézanne, Osterreichische Galerie (April 14 - June 18, 1961)
- Loan Exhibition: Cézanne (November 5 - December 5, 1959)
- Paul Cézanne 1956 (October–November 1956)
- Exposition pour commemorer le cinquantenaire de la mort de Cézanne (July 21- August 15, 1956)
- Cézanne Watercolors (January 30 - February 18, 1956)
- Cézanne 1916 (January 1916)
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