PAUL CEZANNE
(1839-1906)
Lithograph
This work was made by Cézanne for the publisher and dealer Ambrose Vollard (1867-1939) who had bought a lithographic press in 1896 and had appealed to artists to make prints for him. Cézanne was one of the artists who agreed, others including BONNARD, DENIS, and FANTIN-LATOUR. However, not having made lithographs before, Cézanne relied heavily on the technical expertise of the printer Auguste Clot. This was one of three lithographs he made including Small Bathers and a self-portrait (see P.855).
The print is based on the painting Bathers at Rest, c.1876-7 (Barnes Foundation), and was originally drawn on transfer paper so that it would not reverse when printed. The first state to be printed was a black ‘key’ image which Cézanne then hand-coloured for the printer to copy when making the colour stones; this study is probably the hand-coloured print in the National Gallery of Canada (there are also two other known versions). The finished lithograph was published in two editions; the first, intended for Vollard’s third portfolio, is numbered and inscribed, and is printed with six colour stones. The second edition was printed without the orange stone, which gives the print a blue ‘cast’ as opposed to the first edition that has a green ‘cast’. There are various suggestions as to why a second edition was made, including the possibility that the first edition had a rather 'obtrusive' inscription (which collectors didn't like), or it may have been published by Vollard after Cézanne's death.
Copyright © Trustees of Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford.
Extract taken from Prints, Cecil Higgins Art Gallery .