Alex Danchev. The Letters of Paul Cezanne

Here is the long-awaited and much needed new translation of the correspondence of Paul Cézanne, known as the ‘father of modern art’. The existing collection in English, produced in the 1930s, is dated, inaccurate and incomplete; for this book, Alex Danchev has gone back to the original manuscript letters, clearing up decades of questionable scholarship and producing a fresh, honest and accurate translation. In his introduction Danchev paints a picture of Cézanne as a singular thinker and an uncompromising seeker after artistic truth – qualities that shine through in the letters, but that many of his contemporaries failed to appreciate or comprehend. Danchev fills in the gaps here and in his many notes, revealing the man’s very human hopes and fears as he strove to harness his sensations and artistic passion. The result is a collection of over 250 letters, written to family, friends, fellow artists and dealers, and encompassing major cultural figures of the late nineteenth century.