LA MONTAGNE SAINTE VICTOIRE PEINTE PAR PABLO PICASSO

PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973)
Montagne Sainte Victoire / Mont Venturi (1011m)
France (Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur) 

 In Le Village de Vauvenargues, 29–30 Avril 1959, Collection privée

La montagne
La montagne Sainte-Victoire, en provençal Mont Venturi est un massif calcaire du sud de la France, dans la région Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Située à l'est d'Aix-en-Provence, elle a connu une notoriété internationale en partie grâce aux 87 œuvres du peintre Paul Cézanne dont elle est le sujet. Elle accueille de nombreux randonneurs, grimpeurs et amoureux de la nature, et elle est un élément majeur du paysage aixois. Le massif de la Sainte-Victoire s'étend sur 18 kilomètres de long et sur 5 kilomètres de large, suivant une stricte orientation ouest-est. Il se situe principalement dans le département des Bouches-du-Rhône et en partie dans celui du Var, et, avec ses abords, sur les communes de Puyloubier, Saint-Antonin-sur-Bayon, Rousset, Châteauneuf-le-Rouge, Beaurecueil, Le Tholonet, Vauvenargues, Saint-Marc-Jaumegarde, Pourrières, Artigues et Rians. Les D 10 et D 17 (Route Cézanne) sont les principales routes qui permettent de longer le massif. Sur le versant septentrional, la D10 franchit le col de Claps (530 m) et le col des Portes (631 m). Sur le versant méridional, la D 17 chemine sur le plateau du Cengle et franchit le collet Blanc du Subéroque (505 m). Le massif culmine au pic des Mouches (1 011 m pour l'IGN), près de l'extrémité est de la chaîne, et non pas à la Croix de Provence (946 m pour l'IGN) proche de l'extrémité ouest et visible d'Aix. Le pic des Mouches est l'un des plus hauts sommets du département des Bouches-du-Rhône, après le pic de Bertagne qui atteint l'altitude de 1 042 mètres et qui se situe sur le massif de la Sainte-Baume.

Le peintre
Pablo Ruiz Picasso,  est un peintre, dessinateur, sculpteur et graveur espagnol ayant passé l'essentiel de sa vie en France. Artiste utilisant tous les supports pour son travail, il est considéré comme l'un des fondateurs du cubisme avec Georges Braque et un compagnon d'art du surréalisme. Il est l'un des plus importants artistes du xxe siècle, tant par ses apports techniques et formels que par ses prises de positions politiques. Il a produit près de 50 000 œuvres dont 1 885 tableaux, 1 228 sculptures, 2 880 céramiques, 7 089 dessins, 342 tapisseries, 150 carnets de croquis et 30 000 estampes (gravures, lithographies, etc.) Picasso vécut à Vauvenargues dans le château qu'il y avait acquis, entre 1958 et 1961.

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2024 - Gravir les montagnes en peinture
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

 

 

MONTAGNE SAINTE VICTOIRE PEINTE PAR ANDRÉ DERAIN

 

ANDRÉ DERAIN (1880-1954)
Montagne Sainte Victoire (1, 011m - 2, 216 ft)
France (Provence Alpes Côte d'azur)

In "Les Cyprés " 1907, Huile sur toile, 24 x 33 cm. Collection Privée (Suisse)

La montagne
La  montagne Sainte-Victoire (1, 011m ) en provençal Mont Venturi selon la norme classique ou Mount Ventùriselon la norme mistralienne, est un massif calcaire  dans la région Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Située à l'est d'Aix-en-Provence, elle a connu une notoriété internationale en partie grâce aux 87 œuvres du peintre Paul Cézanne dont elle est le sujet. Elle accueille de nombreux randonneurs, grimpeurs et amoureux de la nature, et elle est un élément majeur du paysage aixois.
Le massif de la Sainte-Victoire s'étend sur 18 kilomètres de long et sur 5 kilomètres de large, suivant une stricte orientation ouest-est. Il se situe principalement dans le département des Bouches-du-Rhône et en partie dans celui du Var, et, avec ses abords, sur les communes de Puyloubier, Saint-Antonin-sur-Bayon, Rousset, Châteauneuf-le-Rouge, Beaurecueil, Le Tholonet, Vauvenargues, Saint-Marc-Jaumegarde, Pourrières, Artigues et Rians. Les D 10 et D 17 (Route Cézanne) sont les principales routes qui permettent de longer le massif. Sur le versant septentrional, la D10 franchit le col de Claps (530 m) et le col des Portes (631 m). Sur le versant méridional, la D 17 chemine sur le plateau du Cengle et franchit le collet Blanc du Subéroque (505 m).  Le massif culmine au pic des Mouches (1 011 m pour l'IGN), près de l'extrémité est de la chaîne, et non pas à la Croix de Provence (946 m pour l'IGN) proche de l'extrémité ouest et visible d'Aix. Le pic des Mouches est l'un des plus hauts sommets du département des Bouches-du-Rhône, après le pic de Bertagne qui atteint l'altitude de 1 042 mètres et qui se situe sur le massif de la Sainte-Baume. 6 525 ha du massif de la Sainte-Victoire sont classés depuis 1983.

L'artiste
André Derain est un peintre français, l'un des fondateurs du fauvisme. Il est également peintre de décors et costumes de ballets et de théâtre, graveur, illustrateur, sculpteur et écrivain. Salué comme le pionnier d'un nouvel art, le fauvisme, avant la guerre de 1914, il s'oriente après 1918 vers un réalisme au classicisme renouvelé où s'exprime son goût du théâtre et des lettres qui en fait l’une des figures majeures de l'entre-deux-guerres. Mis en cause à la Libération comme collaborateur, il est blâmé et apparaît ensuite comme le survivant d'un ancien monde pour « qui la violence a donné l'illusion de la force »En 1906-1907, il est bouleversé par la découverte des arts « primitifs » à Londres et commence avec Vlaminck à collectionner ce que l'on appelle, alors, l’« art nègre ». Il achète un masque Fang. En étroite relation avec Matisse, il poursuit sa réflexion sur les liens entre décoration et expression. Il s'intéresse aux arts décoratifs : céramique, bas-reliefs en bois, sculpture qu'il pratique sur pierre. Il réalise de grands panneaux sur le thème de l'âge d'or, de la danse ou des baigneuses. Après 1906, l'influence de Paul Gauguin décroit sur sa peinture, sa palette change. Puis l'année suivante, il déménage à Montmartre pour se rapprocher de ses amis Pablo Picasso, Braque, Apollinaire, Kees van Dongen et Max Jacob… Il fréquente le Bateau-Lavoir, est influencé par Picasso. Avant la Première Guerre mondiale, Derain pratique un art pictural d'avant-garde, post-impressionniste et fauve, fait de couleurs pures, franches et juxtaposées. Par la suite, son œuvre réaliste se concentre sur des sujets et thèmes classiques qui font écho aux œuvres des musées, dans une volonté de prolongement ou de retour à une tradition classique. Ce mouvement, également appelé par Jean Cocteau le « retour à l'ordre », caractérise l'art néo-classique figuratif des années 1920 aux années 1940.

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2024 - 13e année de publication -  Gravir les montagnes en peinture
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

LE MASSIF DU TAILLEFER PEINT PAR PAUL CEZANNE (1839-1906)

PAUL CÉZANNE (1839-1906)
Le Taillefer (2,857m)
France

In " Le Lac d’Annecy " 1896, Huile sur toile 79 x 64 cm,  Courtauld Institute of Art, London 

 La montagne
Le Taillefer (2,857m) est le point culminant du massif du Taillefer, au sud-est de Grenoble, dans les Alpes françaises.Son plateau sommital arrondi et rocailleux, teinté de rouge lui aussi, contraste avec les pentes raides de son versant Nord, souvent enneigé à la fin du printemps. La situation géographique du Taillefer en fait un magnifique belvédère sur l'Oisans, les Grandes Rousses, la chaîne de Belledonne et le massif du Vercors et offre un panorama très large, du mont Blanc au mont Ventoux. Il existe plusieurs voies d'escalade au Taillefer dont celle du Petit Taillefer surnommée Dudu la Faillite. Le massif est formé de trois chaînons parallèles orientés nord-sud et se succédant d'est en ouest.Le Taollefer est visible de Doingt au bord du Lac d'Annecy.

Le peintre
Paul Cézanne est un peintre français provençal, membre un temps du mouvement impressionniste et considéré comme le précurseur du post-impressionnisme et du cubisme. Par sa volonté de faire « du Poussin sur nature », il apparaît comme un continuateur de l'esprit classique français autant qu'un innovateur radical par l'utilisation de la géométrie dans les portraits, natures mortes et les nombreux paysages qu'il peint, d'Île-de-France et de Provence, particulièrement de la campagne d'Aix-en-Provence. Il a notamment réalisé une série de toiles ayant pour motif la montagne Sainte-Victoire. Il est considéré comme le « père de l'art moderne». Parmi ceux des peintres du XIXe siècle rangés sous l’étiquette « impressionnistes », Cézanne, dont l’œuvre est au-delà de l'impressionnisme — et donc probablement la plus difficile —, est celui qui fut, et reste encore aujourd'hui, le plus mal compris, voire le plus controversé. Dans une interview donnée à Denise Glaser, Salvador Dalí toujours provocateur dit de Cézanne : « Le peintre le plus mauvais de la France s'appelle Paul Cézanne, c'est le plus maladroit, le plus catastrophique, celui qui a plongé l'art moderne dans la merde qui est en train de nous engloutir… » À la mort de Cézanne, certains peintres voulant créer de nouveaux mouvements se réclamèrent de lui. Le cas le plus notoire est celui des cubistes. Malgré tout ce qu’on a pu dire et écrire, il reste douteux que Cézanne eût reconnu cette paternité. Il n’est plus là pour répondre, mais sa correspondance conserve quelques phrases que l’on peut méditer, par exemple, celle-ci : « Il faut se méfier de l’esprit littérateur qui fait si souvent le peintre s’écarter de sa vraie voie — l’étude concrète de la nature — pour se perdre trop longtemps dans des spéculations intangibles. »

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2024 - 13e année de publication -  Gravir les montagnes en peinture
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

 

 

LA COLLINE DES PAUVRES PEINTE PAR PAUL CÉZANNE

 

 

 

PAUL CÉZANNE (1839-1906)
La Colline des Pauvres (?)

France (Provence Alpes Côte d'azur)

In Vue du Domaine Saint-Joseph ou plus précisément La Colline des Pauvres près du Château Noir, avec vue sur Saint-Joseph, 1880, huile sur toile, 65,1 × 81,3 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art à New York


A propos de l'œuvre et de la colline
La composition picturale expose une vue collinaire comportant la dite « Colline des Pauvres », ou Colline du Tholonet rendant visible le domaine jésuite de Saint-Joseph (la grande maison jaune au centre de la composition,) entre Aix-en-Provence et le village du Tholonet, un quartier parcouru par l'artiste depuis sa jeunesse, aux abords immédiats dela Montagne Sainte Victoire.

Le peintre
Paul Cézanne est un peintre français provençal, membre un temps du mouvement impressionniste et considéré comme le précurseur du post-impressionnisme et du cubisme. Sa volonté de faire « du Poussin sur nature », le fait apparaître comme un continuateur de l'esprit classique français autant qu'un innovateur radical par l'utilisation de la géométrie dans les portraits, natures mortes et les nombreux paysages qu'il peint, d'Île-de-France et de Provence, particulièrement de la campagne d'Aix-en-Provence. Il a notamment réalisé une série de toiles ayant pour motif la montagne Sainte-Victoire. Il est considéré comme le « père de l'art moderne». Cézanne a peint environ neuf cents tableaux et quatre cents aquarelles qui nous restent aujourd'hui, dont certains sont inachevés. Il a également détruit une partie de son œuvre. Ce sont ses amis peintres, notamment Pissarro, Renoir et Degas qui surent, les premiers, déceler ses intentions et reconnaître ses qualités.

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2023 - Gravir les montagnes en peinture
Un blog de Francis Rousseau   

LA SAINTE VICTOIRE DERRIÈRE LES BIBEMUS PEINTE PAR ANDRÉ MASSON

ANDRÉ MASSON (1896-1987)
La Sainte Victoire (1, 011mètres au Pic des Mouches)
France (Bouches-du-Rhône)

In Les Carrieres de Bibemus, huile sur toile1948, Musée Toulouse Lautrec, Albi

A propos de cette toile
La Sainte Victoire peut être ent'raperçue ici dans le fond supérieur de la toile, le premier plan étant occupé par les Carrieres de Bibemus à partir desquelles Cézanne peignit souvent lui-même la Sainte Victoire.

La montagne
La Sainte-Victoire (1,011m au Pic des Mouches) en provençal Mont Venturi est un massif calcaire dans la région Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, en France. Située à l'est d'Aix-en-Provence, elle a connu une notoriété internationale en partie grâce aux 87 œuvres du peintre Paul Cézanne dont elle est le sujet. Elle accueille de nombreux randonneurs, grimpeurs et amoureux de la nature, et elle est un élément majeur du paysage aixois. Le massif de la Sainte-Victoire s'étend sur 18 kilomètres de long et sur 5 kilomètres de large suivant une stricte orientation ouest-est. Il se situe principalement dans le département des Bouches-du-Rhône et en partie dans celui du Var, et, avec ses abords, sur les communes de Puyloubier, Saint-Antonin-sur-Bayon, Rousset, Châteauneuf-le-Rouge, Beaurecueil, Le Tholonet, Vauvenargues, Saint-Marc-Jaumegarde, Pourrières, Artigues et Rians. Les D 10 et D 17 (Route Cézanne) sont les principales routes qui permettent de longer le massif. Sur le versant septentrional, la D10 franchit le col de Claps (530 m) et le col des Portes (631 m). Sur le versant méridional, la D 17 chemine sur le plateau du Cengle et franchit le collet Blanc du Subéroque (505 m). Le massif culmine au Pic des Mouches (1 011 m pour l'IGN), près de l'extrémité est de la chaîne, et non pas à la Croix de Provence (946 m pour l'IGN) proche de l'extrémité ouest et visible d'Aix. Le pic des Mouches est l'un des plus hauts sommets du département des Bouches-du-Rhône, après le pic de Bertagne qui atteint l'altitude de 1 042 mètres et qui se situe sur le massif de la Sainte-Baume. 6 525 ha du massif de la Sainte-Victoire sont classés depuis 1983.

Les carrières de Bibémus sont d'anciennes carrières d'extraction de blocs de pierre à ciel ouvert, à 5 km à l'est d'Aix-en-Provence, où étaient extraites, de l'antiquité romaine jusqu'au 19e siècle, des pierres caractéristiques (ou molasse) dites « de Bibémus », pour la construction de nombreux bâtiments de la ville. Les carrières, d'une superficie de 7 ha, seront abandonnées à la fin du19e siècle. Le peintre aixois Paul Cézanne y a peint une partie de son œuvre entre 1895 à 1904. Un espace muséographique lui est ici consacré, autour de son cabanon, le cabanon de Cézanne des carrières de Bibémus. Il a été aménagé en 2006 par la municipalité d'Aix pour la commémoration du centenaire de sa disparition.

 

Le peintre
André Masson, est un peintre, graveur, illustrateur et décorateur de théâtre français.Il participa au mouvement surréaliste durant les années 1920 et en conserva l'esprit jusque 1945. De façon plus marginale, il a également pratiqué la sculpture. Célèbre pour ses « dessins automatiques » et ses « tableaux de sable », il est marqué — sur un plan esthétique — par « l'esprit de métamorphose » et « l'invention mythique » et plus encore - sur un plan éthique - par un anticonformisme viscéra, y compris au sein du groupe surréaliste dont il s'éloigne à peine il y est entré et qu'il dénonce comme « orthodoxe » ; y apparaissant du coup comme un « rebelle » ou un « dissident ». Ayant échappé de peu à la mort pendant la Première Guerre mondiale et sensible aux écrits de Sade et de son ami Georges Bataille, son œuvre peut être interprétée comme un questionnement sans concession de la barbarie humaine et des comportements pervers. Cette préoccupation primant chez lui sur toute considération esthétique, la critique explique le rôle marginal qu'il joue dans l'art moderne par le fait qu'« il ne s'est jamais soucié de plaire ». Son influence est principalement notable à New York pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, où il séjourne alors, fuyant l'Allemagne nazie. Ses tableaux rompant en effet avec le schéma classique de figures se détachant sur un fond (afin de symboliser au mieux l'état de confusion mentale qui - selon lui - régit son siècle), ils servent de références aux peintres Jackson Pollock et Arshile Gorky, fondateurs de l'expressionnisme abstrait. En revanche, les quarante dernières années de sa carrière (à partir de son retour des États-Unis) sont généralement boudées par la critique.

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2023 - Wandering Vertexes ....
Gravir les montagnes en peinture...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau 

 

LE MASSIF DU MERCANTOUR -ARGENTERA PEINT PAR BERNARD BUFFET

 

 

BERNARD BUFFET (1928-1999),
Le Mont Bégo (2,872 m) - Massif du Mercantour -Argentera
France (Alpes Maritimes) 

In  Promenade Provençale - Saorges.- 1993, Galerie Maurice Garnier, Paris 
 

A propos de cette œuvre
Bernard Buffet a peint cette œuvre pour une exposition intitulée Promenade Provençale qui eut lieu à la Galerie Maurice Garnier à Paris du 7 Octobre au 27 Novembre 1993. Cette toile qui représente ,comme un village provençal typique, le village de Saorges dans le massif du Mercantour-Argentera a aussi servi de couverture au catalogue de l'exposition et d'illustration à son affiche. La montagne que l'on aperçoit et font la paroi abrupte rappelle la silhouette de la Montagne Sainte Victoire, pourrait être le Mont Bego l"uns des nombreux sommets du Massif du Mercantour côté français, le point culminant du massif se trouvant en Italie.

La montagne
Le mont Bégo (2872 m) est un sommet situé dans la chaîne des Alpes, dans le massif du Mercantour-Argentera, dans les Alpes-Maritimes (France), proche de la vallée de la Roya.Ce sommet est à l'intérieur du parc national du Mercantour, et occupe une position centrale de la vallée des Merveilles (incluant la vallée de Fontanalbe). Il se trouve néanmoins en limite extérieure de la zone réglementée. Le nom provient d'une racine indo-européenne Beg, qui signifie seigneur divin. Les bergers, à l'origine des gravures dans la vallée des Merveilles il y a 4 000 ans, vénéraient ce sommet, lieu d'une intense activité orageuse en raison de son altitude et de la proximité de la Méditerranée, ainsi que de forts gisements de fer, d’uranium et autres minerais à forte attractivité électrique. Le mont Bégo est composé de conglomérats permiens. De sa position isolée en limite Sud du parc, il constitue avec la cime du Diable un sommet facilement observable depuis la côte. La voie normale d'accès utilise les éboulis du versant Sud au départ du refuge des Merveilles. Elle requiert une attention particulière pour l'orientation. L'arête terminale devient rocheuse sur quelques mètres, sans pour autant nécessiter des pas d'escalade. Au sommet, on observe un panorama privilégié sur les nombreux lacs des vallées qui l'entourent, sur la côte et en particulier Nice. Son ascension ne peut se faire qu'en présence d'un professionnel de montagne accrédité « parc national du Mercantour » en raison du passage en zone réglementée.

L'artiste
Bernard Buffet, est un peintre français expressionniste, peignant aussi bien des personnages que des figures, animaux, nus, paysages, intérieurs, natures mortes, fleurs. Aquarelliste, il fut également peintre de décors et illustrateur. En juin 1948, Buffet concourt avec Deux hommes dans une chambre pour le Prix de la critique (première édition), récemment fondé par Augustin Rumeau et son épouse, propriétaires de la galerie Saint-Placide. Il en sort lauréat ex-aequo avec Bernard Lorjou, de vingt ans son aîné. Le succès est immense. En juillet, une exposition de ses œuvres aura lieu dans cette Galerie. Il expose La Ravaudeuse de filet au Salon d'automne, où il fait la connaissance d'André Minaux. Avec ce dernier, Jean Couty et Simone Dat, il rejoint Bernard Lorjou,  au sein du groupe de L'homme témoin. En 1949 Pierre Descargues publie Bernard Buffet aux Presses littéraires de France. Un amateur d'art met un pavillon à Garches à sa disposition. Comme loyer, Bernard Buffet lui donne un tableau par trimestre.Bernard Buffet rencontre Pierre Bergé en 1950, « dans un café de la rue de la Seine [sic], aujourd'hui disparu, chez Constant » Pierre Bergé devient son compagnon, il gère sa carrière jusqu'à leur rupture en 1958. En mai 1958, le photographe Luc Fournol lui présente Annabel Schwob à Saint-Tropez, alors qu'il est déjà installé dans le succès. C'est le coup de foudre. Le 12 décembre 1958, il épouse Annabel Schwob à Ramatuelle.  Bernard Buffet peint Annabel Schwob inlassablement ; en 1961, l'une de ses expositions s'intitule « Trente fois Annabel Schwob ».
Bernard Buffet se revendiquait de peintres tels que David, Géricault ou Courbet. Il a marqué a contrario un dédain, parfois mordant, pour la peinture abstraite18 et rejette l'impressionnisme. Seuls quelques peintres font exception comme Manet qu'il qualifiera comme ne faisant pas vraiment partie du mouvement impressionniste. « Je n'ai rien contre la peinture abstraite, mais je me demande pourquoi ceux qui l'aiment tant ne la font pas eux-mêmes. Ce serait aussi bien et leur coûterait moins cher. » ( cité par Michel Droit dans Les Feux du crépuscule.)
Diminué par la maladie de Parkinson, Bernard Buffet se suicide par asphyxie le 4 octobre 1999 dans son atelier du Domaine de la Baume près de Tourtour (Var), étouffé dans un sac en plastique noir sur la surface duquel son nom était imprimé avec sa calligraphie particulière.

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2023 - Gravir les montagnes en peinture
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

 

LA MONTAGNE SAINTE VICTOIRE PEINTE PAR NICOLAS DE STAËL

 

 

NICOLAS DE STAËL (1914-1955),
Montagne Sainte Victoire  (1, 011m )
France Provence)

 In ciel de Vaucluse,  huile sur toile, 16 x 24 cm,  1953, Collection privée  

A propos de cette toile
Titré "Ciel de Vaucluse" on a supposé qu'il s'agissait d'une évocation de la Montagne Sainte-Victoire, hommage à Cézanne que Stael admirait beaucoup,  bien que cette montagne ne se trouve pas dans le Vaucluse mais dans les Bouches du Rhône.  La logique voudrait qu'il s 'agisse du Mont Ventoux, mais la silhouette de montagne évoquée ici rappelle définitiveent plus la Sainte Victoire que le Ventoux ! 

La montagne
La montagne Sainte-Victoire (1, 011m ) en provençal Mont Venturi selon la norme classique ou Mount Ventùriselon la norme mistralienne, est un massif calcaire  dans la région Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Située à l'est d'Aix-en-Provence, elle a connu une notoriété internationale en partie grâce aux 87 œuvres du peintre Paul Cézanne dont elle est le sujet. Elle accueille de nombreux randonneurs, grimpeurs et amoureux de la nature, et elle est un élément majeur du paysage aixois.
Le massif de la Sainte-Victoire s'étend sur 18 kilomètres de long et sur 5 kilomètres de large10, suivant une stricte orientation ouest-est. Il se situe principalement dans le département des Bouches-du-Rhône et en partie dans celui du Var, et, avec ses abords, sur les communes de Puyloubier, Saint-Antonin-sur-Bayon, Rousset, Châteauneuf-le-Rouge, Beaurecueil, Le Tholonet, Vauvenargues, Saint-Marc-Jaumegarde, Pourrières, Artigues et Rians. Les D 10 et D 17 (Route Cézanne) sont les principales routes qui permettent de longer le massif. Sur le versant septentrional, la D10 franchit le col de Claps (530 m) et le col des Portes (631 m). Sur le versant méridional, la D 17 chemine sur le plateau du Cengle et franchit le collet Blanc du Subéroque (505 m).  Le massif culmine au pic des Mouches (1 011 m pour l'IGN), près de l'extrémité est de la chaîne, et non pas à la Croix de Provence (946 m pour l'IGN) proche de l'extrémité ouest et visible d'Aix. Le pic des Mouches est l'un des plus hauts sommets du département des Bouches-du-Rhône, après le pic de Bertagne qui atteint l'altitude de 1 042 mètres13 et qui se situe sur le massif de la Sainte-Baume. 6 525 ha du massif de la Sainte-Victoire sont classés depuis 1983.

Le Peintre
Nicolas de Staël (prononcé [stal) baron Nikolaï Vladimirovitch Staël von Holstein (Николай Владимирович Шталь фон Гольштейн), est un peintre français originaire de Russie, issu d'une branche cadette de la famille Staël von Holstein. La carrière de Nicolas de Staël s'étale sur quinze ans, de 1940 à sa mort. Artiste prolifique, il réalise au cours de sa carrière 1120 tableaux aux influences diverses — Cézanne, Matisse, Van Gogh, Braque, Soutine et les fauves, mais aussi les maîtres néerlandais Rembrandt, Vermeer et Seghers. Sa peinture est en constante évolution. Des couleurs sombres de ses débuts (Porte sans porte, 1946 ou Ressentiment, 1947), elle aboutit à l'exaltation de la couleur comme dans le Grand Nu orange (1953). Ses toiles se caractérisent par d'épaisses couches de peinture superposées et un important jeu de matières, passant des empâtements au couteau (Compositions, 1945-1949) à une peinture plus fluide (Agrigente, 1954, Chemin de fer au bord de la mer, soleil couchant, 1955). Refusant les étiquettes et les courants, tout comme Georges Braque qu'il admire, il travaille avec acharnement, détruisant autant d’œuvres qu'il en réalise.  Nicolas de Staël meurt à 41 ans en se jetant de la terrasse de la maison où il avait son atelier à Antibes. Cette maison fut classée monument historique en mars 2014. Il est enterré au cimetière de Montrouge. Par son style évolutif, qu'il a lui-même qualifié d'« évolution continue », il reste une énigme pour les historiens d'art qui le classent aussi bien dans la catégorie de l'École de Paris, que dans les abstraits ayant inspiré les jeunes peintres à partir des années 1970, ou encore dans la catégorie de l'art informel. Il a maintes fois créé la surprise notamment avec la série Les Footballeurs, entraînant derrière lui des artistes d'un nouveau mouvement d'abstraction et les artistes du néo-formalisme new-yorkais, ou de l'expressionnisme abstrait de l'École de New York, parmi lesquels se trouve notamment Joan Mitchell.

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2023 - Wandering Vertexes ....
Errant au-dessus des Sommets Silencieux...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau 

LE PILON DU ROI - MASSIF DE L'ÉTOILE PAINTED BY PAUL CÉZANNE

PAUL CÉZANNE (1839-1906)
The Pilon du Roi - Massif de l'Etoile (710 m - 2,200 ft)
France 

                     La Chaîne de l'Etoile avec le Pilon du Roi, 1885–1886,  Barnes Foundation


The mountain
The Massif de l'Etoile (Range of the Star) is a small mountain range located north of Marseille. Covering an area of ​​10,000 hectares, it culminates at 779 meters at Grand-Puech. Its other highest points are: to the west, the summit of Grande-Étoile (590 metres) and l'Étoile (652 metres, the highest point in the municipality of Marseilles), to the east, besides the Tête du Grand-Puech, the Mont Julien (647 meters), while the center of the massif is dominated by the Pilon du Roi (710 meters) whose name is a deformation of the Provençal Pieloun dóu Roure, or the “peak of the oak”.
With the Garlaban massif, it forms a chain of mountains in coastal limestone Lower Provence in the south of Bouches-du-Rhône. They constitute a vast natural space of approximately 20,000 hectares which emerge at the heart of an urban complex of more than one million inhabitants with the agglomerations of Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Aubagne and Gardanne.
The massif crosses 18 communes of the Bouches-du-Rhône.
On the northern edge of the Marseille agglomeration, this massif offers a beautiful image of the non-coastal hills of limestone Basse-Provence with typical flora, including endemic and rare species, including one from Appendix II of the plant protection system. (Arenaria provincialis), a typical vegetation of coppice, scrubland, lawns and rock habitats belonging to the Meso-Mediterranean level with even, thanks to a clear shade, an outline of a supra-Mediterranean level (coppice - high oak forest pubescent holly and pine forests of Scots pine) and a Mediterranean fauna whose current studies show for the moment typicality and originality.


The Painter
If mount Sainte-Victoire appears to have been the subject of a true love story with the painter Paul Cezanne, it is not the only one mountain he painted.
Aix-en Provence (France) painter Paul Cezanne still remains closely linked to his hometown. His studio in Les Lauves remains a place to visit, as if the painter was coming back from one second to the other. But the eternal bond is undoubtedly the series of paintings he did of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire. A hobby, a passion, a thread in the painter's work that took place in the latter part of his life, between 1882 and 1906 when he died in Aix. History says that the painter had contracted a nasty pneumonia during a working session on the mountain. This is what can be called 'die on stage'.
Cézanne had a considerable influence on the art of the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century. Acknowledged master of his time, he attended during stays in Paris between 1862 and 1882, the Impressionist band: Camille Pissarro, Auguste Renoir (who also ended his life in the Provencal brightness), Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and others. He participated in the Impressionist adventure while keeping his personality: it is the time of the shock of the en plein air, easels in the grass, looking for natural light and emotion.
The influence of the Aix painter is recognized in the history of art since it would be the cause of the Cubist movement embodied in 1906 by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. The first historically so called Cubist painting ' Les Demoiselles d'Avignon' would, a true artistic shock shown by Picasso in 1907 (one year after the death of Cézanne) is today one of the masterpieces of the MoMA in New York.
It is the search of volumes around which leads to the appearance of geometry in landscapes or still lifes of Cézanne.In 20 years, Cézanne pushes his style to express the emotion of the landscape, suggesting the wind, involving movement just like if we can breathe the air of the scene. In his first paintings pf the Sainte Victoire,(in the 1880’s) he expresses the giant aspect of the mountain that dominates the area with his characteristic e way of painting at the time, with a juxtaposition of linear brushstrokes and a range of soft, natural colors. In the last paintings of the Sainte Victoire, view from Les Lauves, between 1904 and 1906, he shows shots less accurate brushes allowing the shape of the mountain emerge from the canvas like an apparition. That is the whole intention of the artist, show nature as it is without fail to convey emotion.

_______________________________
2022 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

DEDO DE DEUS (2) PAINTED BY ELISEU VISCONTI

 

ELISEU VISCONTI (1866-1944)
Dedo de Deus (1,682m - 5,551ft)
Brazil

About this mainting
Eliseu Visconti painted a lot of times,the Dedo De Deus mountain in the Serra de Orgaos, in any season and in all possible light, at any time of day. It is THE  repetitive motif in his work, a bit like the Montagne Sainte-Victoire for Paul Cézanne or  the volcano Chimborazo for Frederic Edwin Church or Mount Everest for Nicholas Roerich.

The mountain
Dedo de Deus (The Finger of God) (1,682m - 5,551ft) is a peck whose outline resembles a hand pointing the index finger to the sky. It is one of the several geological monuments of Serra dos Órgãos which is located in Serra do Mar, between the cities of Petrópolis, Guapimirim and Teresópolis, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. The mountaineering in Brazil is closely linked to the achievement of the Dedo de deus. The peak is a state symbol Rio de Janeiro, appearing on its flag and coat of arms. As for the coat of arms of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the first section, occupying the upper half, is blue, representing the sky and symbolizing justice, truth and loyalty, with the silhouette of the Serra dos Órgãos, highlighting the Dedo de Deus. The symbol was created by the 1892 State Constitution and made official under the government of José Tomás da Porciúncula, with small differences over time. In 1912, José Guimarães Teixeira, Raul Carneiro and the brothers Américo, Alexandre and Acácio de Oliveira, all from Teresópolis, were the first to step on top of the rock formation.


The artist
Eliseu Visconti, born Eliseo d'Angelo Visconti was an Italian-born Brazilian painter, cartoonist, and teacher. He is considered one of the very few impressionist painters of Brazil. He is considered the initiator of the art nouveau in Brazil.
Thanks to a prize received in 1892, Visconti travelled to Paris, where he attended the École des Beaux Arts the following year. He also took classes at the Académie Julian and the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs, where he was a pupil of art nouveau master Eugène Grasset. He was accepted at the Salon de la Nationale des Beaux Arts and at the Salon of the Société of des Artistes Français. As one of the Brazilian representatives to the Exposition Universelle 1900 he exhibited the paintings Gioventú and Oréadas, for which he received a silver medal. Back in Brazil, Visconti exhibited in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, and obtained the first place in a contest for the drawing of postal stamps for the Brazilian Casa da Moeda. He traveled again to Europe, where he exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1905 the portrait of the artist Nicolina Vaz de Assis now at the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes. In this same year, he was invited to paint the stage curtain for the Teatro Municipal of Rio de Janeiro which he completed in his studio in Paris.
Decorative schemes executed for the National Library or Biblioteca Nacional in (Rio de Janeiro) date from this period as does another gold medal he received at the International Exhibition of Saint-Louis (Louisiana Purchase Exposition), in 1904, for the painting Recompensa de São Sebastião (see external links). The museum of Santiago of the Chile acquired his Sonho Místico (Mystical Dream) in 1912. In 1913, Visconti returned to Europe in order to paint large scale panels for the "foyer" of the Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro. His plans to return were interrupted by the First World War so he stayed in France until 1920. The resulting paintings for the "foyer" were sent to Brazil during the war, in 1915. In 1922 his triptych "Lar" gained him the Medal of Honor in a large exhibition created in Rio de Janeiro to commemorate the first centennial of Brazilian Independence, the Exposição do Centenário. The following year Visconti painted the mural decoration of Rio de Janeiro's municipal council hall. In 1924, he painted the panel depicting the signature of the first Republican Constitution, for the old federal court, also in Rio de Janeiro.
_______________________________

2022 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MONTAGNE SAINTE-VICTOIRE ( 2) SKETCHED BY JEAN-BAPTISTE NÉE

 

JEAN-BAPTISTE NÉE (b.1986)
The Montagne Sainte Victoire (1, 011m - 2, 216 ft)
France (Provence Alpes Côte d'azur)

 In  La Sainte-Victoire (2), Fusain, 29, 7 x 42 cm,  2008

About this drawing
Jean Baptiste Née made several charcoal drawings of the Sainte Victoire of which a first one has already been published in this blog. 

 
The artist
Jean-Baptiste Née, born in 1986. is a french painter, scenographer and visual artist, graduated from Arts-Décoratifs of Paris in 2012. Jean-Baptiste Née works in the mountains and high mountains, always in situ, in direct confrontation with the movements of the earth and water and wind. He gives a growing place for the action of the elements on the work in progress (rain, snow, frost, etc.). He established his "large workshop" in the Swiss Alps or in the Vercors massif - especially in winter -, as well as during long hikes in the Italian Alps. In the winter of 2018, he worked in the massifs of Wudangshan and Lushan, in China, and became interested in the Taoist notion of "Sky". Since 2016, Jean-Baptiste Née exhibits regularly in galleries in France and Switzerland. His workshop is in Montreuil, France. Exhibited in Galerie Camera
Obscura in Paris. A book was recently published about his work "Le monde nu" Éditions Hartpon.
Contact @jeanbaptiste.nee.
Jean Basptiste Née website

The mountain
Mont Sainte-Victoire (1,011 m-3,316ft) also called Mont Venturi is a limestone massif in the South of France, in the region Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Located east of Aix-en-Provence, it has experienced international fame, due to the more than 80 works Paul Cézanne did on it. It hosts many hikers, climbers and nature lovers, and is a major element of Aix landscape.
The range of the Sainte-Victoire is 18 kilometers long and 5 kilometers from large, following a strict east-west orientation. It is located on the Bouches-du-Rhône and Var, and in the towns of Puyloubier, Saint-Antonin-sur-Bayon, Rousset, Châteauneuf-le-Rouge, Beaurecueil, Le Tholonet Vauvenargues, Saint-Marc-Jaumegarde, Pourrières, Artigues and Rians.
D 10 and D 17 (Route Cézanne) are the main roads to skirt the mountains. On the northern side, the D10 crosses the Col de Claps (530 m) and the Col des Portes (631 m). On the southern side, the D 17 walks on the Plateau de Cengle and crossed the Collet blanc de Subéroque (505 m).
The southern side is characterized by the presence of significant high limestone cliffs 500 to 700 m with the white appearance added to the sun gives the appearance of a high muraille. At the foot of the cliffs, there is more massive brush, oak, kermes oak, Aleppo pine (population greatly reduced after the fire of 1989) but also cultures (olive trees).
On the northern side among the many species present, the Crocus is fairly well represented in the hills and the wild iris and daffodil. One can also see various varieties and boxwood shrubs.
The massif rises to the Pic des Mouches (Peak of the Flies) (1011 m) near the eastern end of the chain, and not at the Croix de Provence (946 m) near the west end and visible from Aix. The Pic des Mouches is one of the highest peaks of the department of Bouches-du-Rhône, behind the peak Bertagne which reached an altitude of 1042 mètres and which is located on the massif of Sainte-Baume.
Sainte-Victoire, as the range of the Sainte Baume, can be considered a special case among the Alpine ranges for the various stages of the formation of its relief associated geological history as well as that of the old Pyrenean-Provençal chain than that of the Western Alps (which have succeeded it).
Indeed, from the former Sainte-Victoire mountain, contemporary of the dinosaurs of the Cretaceous, it remains today only the fold Bimont, said Chaînon des Costes Chaudes, the last vestige resulting from tectonic movements and characteristics of the stacks of Pyreneo-Provençal phase during the Eocene. Later during the Oligocene, breaking of the anticlinal fold of Sainte-Victoire, which resulted from the uplift of the first great Alpine reliefs, is causing a surge that help explain the current form of the mountain, which appeared 15 million years BCE.
Sainte-Victoire, whose calcareous sediments date back to the Jurassic, thus consists of both a Pyrenean-Provencal vestige and of an alpine geology. This singularity and this ambivalence help explain why, although a massive western Alps, the problem of this connection remains complexe.
According to a recent study, the Sainte-Victoire is still growing ! The company ME2i has indeed conducted a satellite survey between 1993 and 2003 providing evidence that during this period the western end of the Sainte-Victoire was uplift of 7 mm per year.
The massif is a ensemble of 6525 ha classified since 1983.
The massive hosts several world-famous dinosaur eggs deposits including the Roques-Hautes / Les Grands-Creux on the town Beaurecueil.
_______________________________

2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MONTAGNE SAINTE VICTOIRE BY JEAN-BAPTISTE NÉE

 

JEAN-BAPTISTE NÉE (b.1986)
The Montagne Sainte Victoire (1, 011m - 2, 216 ft)
France (Provence Alpes Côte d'azur)

 In  La  Sainte Victoire  Fusain, 29,  x 42cm,  2008.

The artist
Jean-Baptiste Née, born in 1986. is a french painter, scenographer and visual artist, graduated from Arts-Décoratifs of Paris in 2012.  Jean-Baptiste Née works in the mountains and high mountains, always in situ, in direct confrontation with the movements of the earth and water and wind.  He gives a growing place for the action of the elements on the work in progress (rain, snow, frost, etc.).  He established his "large workshop" in the Swiss Alps or in the Vercors massif - especially in winter -, as well as during long hikes in the Italian Alps. In the winter of 2018, he worked in the massifs of Wudangshan and Lushan, in China, and became interested in the Taoist notion of "Sky".  Since 2016, Jean-Baptiste Née exhibits regularly in galleries in France and Switzerland. His workshop is in Montreuil, France. Exhibited  in Galerie Camera Obscura in Paris. A book was recently published about his work "Le monde nu" Éditions Hartpon. Contact @jeanbaptiste.nee. His new website

The mountain
Mont Sainte-Victoire (1,011 m-3,316ft) also called Mont Venturi is a limestone massif in the South of France, in the region Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Located east of Aix-en-Provence, it has experienced international fame, due to the more than 80 works Paul Cézanne did on it. It hosts many hikers, climbers and nature lovers, and is a major element of Aix landscape.
The range of the Sainte-Victoire is 18 kilometers long and 5 kilometers from large, following a strict east-west orientation. It is located on the Bouches-du-Rhône and Var, and in the towns of Puyloubier, Saint-Antonin-sur-Bayon, Rousset, Châteauneuf-le-Rouge, Beaurecueil, Le Tholonet Vauvenargues, Saint-Marc-Jaumegarde, Pourrières, Artigues and Rians.
D 10 and D 17 (Route Cézanne) are the main roads to skirt the mountains. On the northern side, the D10 crosses the Col de Claps (530 m) and the Col des Portes (631 m). On the southern side, the D 17 walks on the Plateau de Cengle and crossed the Collet blanc de Subéroque (505 m).
The southern side is characterized by the presence of significant high limestone cliffs 500 to 700 m with the white appearance added to the sun gives the appearance of a high muraille. At the foot of the cliffs, there is more massive brush, oak, kermes oak, Aleppo pine (population greatly reduced after the fire of 1989) but also cultures (olive trees).
On the northern side among the many species present, the Crocus is fairly well represented in the hills and the wild iris and daffodil. One can also see various varieties and boxwood shrubs.
The massif rises to the Pic des Mouches (Peak of the Flies) (1011 m) near the eastern end of the chain, and not at the Croix de Provence (946 m) near the west end and visible from Aix. The Pic des Mouches is one of the highest peaks of the department of Bouches-du-Rhône, behind the peak Bertagne which reached an altitude of 1042 mètres and which is located on the massif of Sainte-Baume.
Sainte-Victoire, as the range of the Sainte Baume, can be considered a special case among the Alpine ranges for the various stages of the formation of its relief associated geological history as well as that of the old Pyrenean-Provençal chain than that of the Western Alps (which have succeeded it).
Indeed, from the former Sainte-Victoire mountain, contemporary of the dinosaurs of the Cretaceous, it remains today only the fold Bimont, said Chaînon des Costes Chaudes, the last vestige resulting from tectonic movements and characteristics of the stacks of Pyreneo-Provençal phase during the Eocene. Later during the Oligocene, breaking of the anticlinal fold of Sainte-Victoire, which resulted from the uplift of the first great Alpine reliefs, is causing a surge that help explain the current form of the mountain, which appeared 15 million years BCE.
Sainte-Victoire, whose calcareous sediments date back to the Jurassic, thus consists of both a Pyrenean-Provencal vestige and of an alpine geology. This singularity and this ambivalence help explain why, although a massive western Alps, the problem of this connection remains complexe.
According to a recent study, the Sainte-Victoire is still growing ! The company ME2i has indeed conducted a satellite survey between 1993 and 2003 providing evidence that during this period the western end of the Sainte-Victoire was uplift of 7 mm per year.
The massif is a ensemble of 6525 ha classified since 1983.
The massive hosts several world-famous dinosaur eggs deposits including the Roques-Hautes / Les Grands-Creux on the town Beaurecueil.

_______________________________

2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

LA TETE D'AUGUSTE PAINTED BY PAUL CEZANNE

PAUL CEZANNE (1839-1906)

La Tête d'Auguste (278m
 - 912ft)
France (Bouche du Rhône)


In Au fond du ravin, L’Estaque, 1882 Huile sur toile, 73 x 54 cm, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

 

The Hill
The Tête d'Auguste (278m - ) is the highest point of the Chaîne de l'Estaque or the Nerthe chain, a massif of white limestone hills around 28 kilometers long which extends from L'Estaque to Martigues. The Estaque chain is part of the Pyrenean-Provençal chain, a former massif which stretched continuously before the Oligocene, from the Pyrenees to the Estaque massif, in place of the current Gulf of Lion. Nowadays, it forms a sort of isthmus about 8 kilometers wide between the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Etang de Berre to the north.
The coastline of the Estaque range forms the Côte Bleue with its steep shores cut into deep creeks. The railway line from Miramas to Estaque runs along the coast clinging to the side of the massif. The Estaque range is also home to several gray limestone quarries, two of which are exploited for the manufacture of lime, the others for the general and aggregates and other quarry products (Lafarge).



The painter

The mount Sainte-Victoire appears to have been the subject of a true love story with the painter (Paul Cézanne). He painted this subject more than 80 times, in oil paintings, watercolors and drawings ! but he diddn't painted only the Sainte Victoire... others landscape and mountains of Provence were in his mind too... 
Cézanne had a considerable influence on the art of the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century. Acknowledged master of his time, he attended during stays in Paris between 1862 and 1882, the Impressionist band: Camille Pissarro, Auguste Renoir (who also ended his life in the Provencal brightness), Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and others. He participated in the Impressionist adventure while keeping his personality: it is the time of the shock of the en plein air, easels in the grass, looking for natural light and emotion. 
The influence of the Aix painter is recognized in the history of art since it would be the cause of the Cubist movement embodied in 1906 by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. The first historically so called Cubist painting ' Les Demoiselles d'Avignon' would, a true artistic shock shown by Picasso in 1907 (one year after the death of Cézanne) is today one of the masterpieces of the MoMA in New York. 
It is the search of volumes around which leads to the appearance of geometry in landscapes or still lifes of Cézanne.In 20 years, Cézanne pushes his style to express the emotion of the landscape, suggesting the wind, involving movement just like if we can breathe the air of the scene.


 
__________________________________________
2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT SAINTE VICTOIRE BY PAUL CEZANNE

 

PAUL CÉZANNE (1839-1906)
Montagne Sainte-Victoire (1, 011m - 2, 216 ft)
France (Provences-Alpes-Côte d'Azur)

In Le Mont Sainte-Victoire, c. 1897. watercolor  on paper, Prvate collection

The mountain
Mont Sainte-Victoire (1,011 m-3,316ft) also called Mont Venturi is a limestone massif in the South of France, in the region Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Located east of Aix-en-Provence, it has experienced international fame, due to the more than 80 works Paul Cézanne did on it. It hosts many hikers, climbers and nature lovers, and is a major element of Aix landscape.
The range of the Sainte-Victoire is located on the Bouches-du-Rhône and Var, and in the towns of Puyloubier, Saint-Antonin-sur-Bayon, Rousset, Châteauneuf-le-Rouge, Beaurecueil, Le Tholonet Vauvenargues, Saint-Marc-Jaumegarde, Pourrières, Artigues and Rians. On the northern side, the D10 crosses the Col de Claps (530 m) and the Col des Portes (631 m). On the southern side, the D 17 walks on the Plateau de Cengle and crossed the Collet blanc de Subéroque (505 m).
The massif rises to the Pic des Mouches (Peak of the Flies) (1,011 m) near the eastern end of the chain, and not at the Croix de Provence (946 m) near the west end and visible from Aix. The Pic des Mouches is one of the highest peaks of the department of Bouches-du-Rhône, behind the peak Bertagne which reached an altitude of 1,042 mètres and which is located on the massif of Sainte-Baume.
Sainte-Victoire, as the range of the Sainte Baume, can be considered a special case among the Alpine ranges for the various stages of the formation of its relief associated geological history as well as that of the old Pyrenean-Provençal chain than that of the Western Alps (which have succeeded it).
Indeed, from the former Sainte-Victoire mountain, contemporary of the dinosaurs of the Cretaceous, appeared 15 million years BCE.
Sainte-Victoire, whose calcareous sediments date back to the Jurassic, thus consists of both a Pyrenean-Provencal vestige and of an alpine geology.
The massif is a ensemble of 6525 ha classified since 1983.
The massive hosts several world-famous dinosaur eggs deposits including the Roques-Hautes / Les Grands-Creux on the town Beaurecueil.

The painter
The mount Sainte-Victoire appears to have been the subject of a true love story with the painter (Paul Cézanne). He painted this subject more than 80 times, in oil paintings, watercolors and drawings !
Aix-en Provence (France) painter Paul Cezanne still remains closely linked to his hometown. His studio in Les Lauves remains a place to visit, as if the painter was coming back from one second to the other. But the eternal bond is undoubtedly the series of paintings he did of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire. A hobby, a passion, a thread in the painter's work that took place in the latter part of his life, between 1882 and 1906 when he died in Aix. History says that the painter had contracted a nasty pneumonia during a working session on the mountain. This is what can be called 'die on stage'.
Cézanne had a considerable influence on the art of the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century. Acknowledged master of his time, he attended during stays in Paris between 1862 and 1882, the Impressionist band: Camille Pissarro, Auguste Renoir (who also ended his life in the Provencal brightness), Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and others. He participated in the Impressionist adventure while keeping his personality: it is the time of the shock of the en plein air, easels in the grass, looking for natural light and emotion.
The influence of the Aix painter is recognized in the history of art since it would be the cause of the Cubist movement embodied in 1906 by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. The first historically so called Cubist painting ' Les Demoiselles d'Avignon' would, a true artistic shock shown by Picasso in 1907 (one year after the death of Cézanne) is today one of the masterpieces of the MoMA in New York.
It is the search of volumes around which leads to the appearance of geometry in landscapes or still lifes of Cézanne.In 20 years, Cézanne pushes his style to express the emotion of the landscape, suggesting the wind, involving movement just like if we can breathe the air of the scene. In his first paintings pf the Sainte Victoire,(in the 1880’s) he expresses the giant aspect of the mountain that dominates the area with his characteristic e way of painting at the time, with a juxtaposition of linear brushstrokes and a range of soft, natural colors. IN the last paintings of the Sainte Victoire, view from Les Lauves, between 1904 and 1906, he shows shots less accurate brushes allowing the shape of the mountain emerge from the canvas like an apparition. That is the whole intention of the artist, show nature as it is without fail to convey emotion.
A true love story…
________________________________
2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

THE MOUNT SAINTE-VICTOIRE PAINTED BY PAUL CÉZANNE

 PAUL CÉZANNE (1839-1906)

Montagne Sainte Victoire (1, 011m - 2, 216 ft)

France (Provence Alpes Côte d'azur) 

 In Plaine près de la Montagne Sainte-Victoire, c. 1882-85   oil on canvas, 58 x 72 cm. Musée Pushkin, Moscou

The mountain
Mont Sainte-Victoire (1,011 m-3,316ft) also called Mont Venturi is a limestone massif in the South of France, in the region Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Located east of Aix-en-Provence, it has experienced international fame, due to the more than 80 works Paul Cézanne did on it.
It hosts many hikers, climbers and nature lovers, and is a major element of Aix landscape.
The range of the Sainte-Victoire is 18 kilometers long and 5 kilometers from large, following a strict east-west orientation. It is located on the Bouches-du-Rhône and Var, and in the towns of Puyloubier, Saint-Antonin-sur-Bayon, Rousset, Châteauneuf-le-Rouge, Beaurecueil, Le Tholonet Vauvenargues, Saint-Marc-Jaumegarde, Pourrières, Artigues and Rians.
The Sainte-Victoire, as the range of the Sainte Baume, can be considered a special case among the Alpine ranges for the various stages of the formation of its relief associated geological history as well as that of the old Pyrenean-Provençal chain than that of the Western Alps (which have succeeded it).
Indeed, from the former Sainte-Victoire mountain, contemporary of the dinosaurs of the Cretaceous, it remains today only the fold Bimont, said Chaînon des Costes Chaudes, the last vestige resulting from tectonic movements and characteristics of the stacks of Pyreneo-Provençal phase during the Eocene. Later during the Oligocene, breaking of the anticlinal fold of Sainte-Victoire, which resulted from the uplift of the first great Alpine reliefs, is causing a surge that help explain the current form of the mountain, which appeared 15 million years BCE.
According to a recent study, the Sainte-Victoire is still growing ! The company ME2i has indeed conducted a satellite survey between 1993 and 2003 providing evidence that during this period the western end of the Sainte-Victoire was uplift of 7 mm per year.
The massif is a ensemble of 6525 ha classified since 1983.

The painter
The mount Sainte-Victoire appears to have been the subject of a true love story with the painter Paul Cezanne. He painted this subject more than 80 times, in oil paintings, watercolors and drawings!
Aix-en Provence (France) painter Paul Cezanne still remains closely linked to his hometown. His studio in Les Lauves remains a place to visit, as if the painter was coming back from one second to the other. But the eternal bond is undoubtedly the series of paintings he did of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire. A hobby, a passion, a thread in the painter's work that took place in the latter part of his life, between 1882 and 1906 when he died in Aix. History says that the painter had contracted a nasty pneumonia during a working session on the mountain. This is what can be called 'die on stage'.
Cézanne had a considerable influence on the art of the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century. Acknowledged master of his time, he attended during stays in Paris between 1862 and 1882, the Impressionist band: Camille Pissarro, Auguste Renoir (who also ended his life in the Provencal brightness), Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and others. He participated in the Impressionist adventure while keeping his personality: it is the time of the shock of the en plein air, easels in the grass, looking for natural light and emotion.
The influence of the Aix painter is recognized in the history of art since it would be the cause of the Cubist movement embodied in 1906 by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. The first historically so called Cubist painting ' Les Demoiselles d'Avignon' would, a true artistic shock shown by Picasso in 1907 (one year after the death of Cézanne) is today one of the masterpieces of the MoMA in New York.
It is the search of volumes around which leads to the appearance of geometry in landscapes or still lifes of Cézanne.In 20 years, Cézanne pushes his style to express the emotion of the landscape, suggesting the wind, involving movement just like if we can breathe the air of the scene. In his first paintings pf the Sainte Victoire,(in the 1880’s) he expresses the giant aspect of the mountain that dominates the area with his characteristic e way of painting at the time, with a juxtaposition of linear brushstrokes and a range of soft, natural colors. In the last paintings of the Sainte Victoire, view from Les Lauves, between 1904 and 1906, he shows shots less accurate brushes allowing the shape of the mountain emerge from the canvas like an apparition. That is the whole intention of the artist, show nature as it is without fail to convey emotion.

_______________________________
2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

SUGAR LOAF MOUNTAIN PAINTED BY FRANCIS CROPSEY

 

JASPER FRANCIS CROPSEY (1823-1900)

Sugar Loaf mountain (347 meters - 1,138 ft)

United States of America  (New York State)

 In Autumn Landscape, Sugar Loaf Mountain, Orange County, New York,  ca. 1870–75,

 oil on canvas  90,2x72,4 cm)  The MET Museum (not on view)

About this painting and the mountain Extract from an article by  Kenneth W. Maddox, Art Historian, The Newington-Cropsey Foundation
Jasper F. Cropsey's paintings of Sugar Loaf Mountain are among the most problematic of his
works. The subject of many of these paintings has often been incorrectly identified because the geographic area is unfamiliar to both art historians and dealers; only three paintings with "Sugar Loaf' in the title are documented through exhibition or auction records.'An even more important factor, however, is that the artist took great liberties with his subject. Cropsey's portrayals of the mountain appear much more similar to one another than to the actual topography of the site: certainly, in terms of scale and contour, the prominent peak in his works does not closely resemble the one that rises in the Warwick Valley, Orange County, New York. Small wonder, then, that the title and subject of Cropsey's fall scene in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, known as Autumn Landscape, Mount Chocorua, New Hampshire, has not been challenged since the Museum acquired he painting in 1961(...)
In his paintings of Sugar Loaf (above), Cropsey transformed a mountain of fairly modest proportions and shape into a monumental form, which, like Mount Chocorua, majestically rises above the surrounding errain. It is a profound transformation-one that does not occur to this degree in any of the painter's other works-from the physical realities of the landscape to the mental creation of the artist. One may well ask, as with Cezanne's views of Mont Sainte-Victoire, what personal meaning the peak might have had for the artist. Although it is not mentioned in any of Cropsey's extant writings, this was a motif to which he was repeatedly drawn. Ironically, because of the liberties
Cropsey took in his portrayals of the mountain, Sugar Loaf has gone unrecognized-until now-as
the subject of numerous paintings.

 The painter
Jasper Francis Cropsey (February 18, 1823 – June 22, 1900) was an important American landscape artist of the Hudson River School. Trained as an architect, he set up his own office in 1843. Cropsey studied watercolor and life drawing at the National Academy of Design under the instruction of Edward Maury and first exhibited there in 1844. A year later he was elected an associate member and turned exclusively to landscape painting; shortly after he was featured in an exhibition entitled "Italian Compositions".
Cropsey traveled in Europe from 1847–1849, visiting England, France, Switzerland, and Italy. He was elected a full member of the Academy in 1851. Cropsey was a personal friend of Henry Tappan, the president of the University of Michigan from 1852 to 1863. At Tappan's invitation, he traveled to Ann Arbor in 1855 and produced two paintings, one of the Detroit Observatory, and a landscape of the campus.  He went abroad again in 1856, and resided seven years in London, sending his pictures to the Royal Academy and to the International exhibition of 1862.
Returning home, he opened a studio in New York and specialized in autumnal landscape paintings of the northeastern United States, often idealized and with vivid colors. Cropsey co-founded, with ten fellow artists, the American Society of Painters in Water Colors in 1866.
Cropsey's interest in architecture continued throughout his life and was a strong influence in his painting, most evident in his precise arrangement and outline of forms. But Cropsey was best known for his lavish use of color and, as a first-generation member from the Hudson River School, painted autumn landscapes that startled viewers with their boldness and brilliance. As an artist, he believed landscapes were the highest art form and that nature was a direct manifestation of God. He also felt a patriotic affiliation with nature and saw his paintings as depicting the rugged and unspoiled qualities of America.

______________________________

2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

THE MONTAGNE SAINTE VICTOIRE PAINTED BY PAUL CEZANNE

PAUL CÉZANNE (1839-1906) 

Montagne Sainte-Victoire (1, 011m - 2, 216 ft)

France (Provences-Alpes-Côte d'Azur)

In  Sainte-Victoire vue à travers l’allée des marronniers du Jas de Bouffan,  oil on canvas, 1885

 Minneapolis Museum of Fine Arts 

The mountain
Mont Sainte-Victoire (1,011 m-3,316ft) also called Mont Venturi is a limestone massif in the South of France, in the region Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Located east of Aix-en-Provence, it has experienced international fame, due to the more than 80 works Paul Cézanne did on it. It hosts many hikers, climbers and nature lovers, and is a major element of Aix landscape.
The range of the Sainte-Victoire is located on the Bouches-du-Rhône and Var, and in the towns of Puyloubier, Saint-Antonin-sur-Bayon, Rousset, Châteauneuf-le-Rouge, Beaurecueil, Le Tholonet Vauvenargues, Saint-Marc-Jaumegarde, Pourrières, Artigues and Rians. On the northern side, the D10 crosses the Col de Claps (530 m) and the Col des Portes (631 m). On the southern side, the D 17 walks on the Plateau de Cengle and crossed the Collet blanc de Subéroque (505 m).
The massif rises to the Pic des Mouches (Peak of the Flies) (1,011 m) near the eastern end of the chain, and not at the Croix de Provence (946 m) near the west end and visible from Aix. The Pic des Mouches is one of the highest peaks of the department of Bouches-du-Rhône, behind the peak Bertagne which reached an altitude of 1,042 mètres and which is located on the massif of Sainte-Baume.
Sainte-Victoire, as the range of the Sainte Baume, can be considered a special case among the Alpine ranges for the various stages of the formation of its relief associated geological history as well as that of the old Pyrenean-Provençal chain than that of the Western Alps (which have succeeded it).
Indeed, from the former Sainte-Victoire mountain, contemporary of the dinosaurs of the Cretaceous, appeared 15 million years BCE.
Sainte-Victoire, whose calcareous sediments date back to the Jurassic, thus consists of both a Pyrenean-Provencal vestige and of an alpine geology.
The massif is a ensemble of 6525 ha classified since 1983.
The massive hosts several world-famous dinosaur eggs deposits including the Roques-Hautes / Les Grands-Creux on the town Beaurecueil.

The painter
The mount Sainte-Victoire appears to have been the subject of a true love story with the painter (Paul Cézanne). He painted this subject more than 80 times, in oil paintings, watercolors and drawings !
Aix-en Provence (France) painter Paul Cezanne still remains closely linked to his hometown. His studio in Les Lauves remains a place to visit, as if the painter was coming back from one second to the other. But the eternal bond is undoubtedly the series of paintings he did of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire. A hobby, a passion, a thread in the painter's work that took place in the latter part of his life, between 1882 and 1906 when he died in Aix. History says that the painter had contracted a nasty pneumonia during a working session on the mountain. This is what can be called 'die on stage'.
Cézanne had a considerable influence on the art of the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century. Acknowledged master of his time, he attended during stays in Paris between 1862 and 1882, the Impressionist band: Camille Pissarro, Auguste Renoir (who also ended his life in the Provencal brightness), Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and others. He participated in the Impressionist adventure while keeping his personality: it is the time of the shock of the en plein air, easels in the grass, looking for natural light and emotion.
The influence of the Aix painter is recognized in the history of art since it would be the cause of the Cubist movement embodied in 1906 by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. The first historically so called Cubist painting ' Les Demoiselles d'Avignon' would, a true artistic shock shown by Picasso in 1907 (one year after the death of Cézanne) is today one of the masterpieces of the MoMA in New York.
It is the search of volumes around which leads to the appearance of geometry in landscapes or still lifes of Cézanne.In 20 years, Cézanne pushes his style to express the emotion of the landscape, suggesting the wind, involving movement just like if we can breathe the air of the scene. In his first paintings pf the Sainte Victoire,(in the 1880’s) he expresses the giant aspect of the mountain that dominates the area with his characteristic e way of painting at the time, with a juxtaposition of linear brushstrokes and a range of soft, natural colors. IN the last paintings of the Sainte Victoire, view from Les Lauves, between 1904 and 1906, he shows shots less accurate brushes allowing the shape of the mountain emerge from the canvas like an apparition. That is the whole intention of the artist, show nature as it is without fail to convey emotion.
A true love story…

_____________________________________________
2019- Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

PIC SAINT LOUP PAINTED BY EUGÈNE CASTELNAU

EUGÈNE CASTELNAU (1827–1894)
Pic Saint Loup (658 m - 2,159ft)
France (Occitanie)

In  Les Garrigues du Pic Saint Loup, oil on canvas, 1859- Musée Fabre, Montpellier, France 

The mountain

 Pic Saint Loup   (658 m - ) is a mountain in the Occitanie region of France located on the edge of the municipalities of Valflaunes and Cazevieille.Located about 20 km north of Montpellier, the peak is visible from a large part of the department of Hérault, the coast and the Gard, hence its profile evokes a point rushing to the sky. It is one of the most beautiful natural and hiking sites in the Garrigues region, the Cévennes outpost. The mountain is also considered the "Sainte-Victoire" of Languedoc. It forms, with the mountain of Hortus facing it to the north, a protected natural site and hosts a number of birds of prey..
From the top of its sharp ridge, the peak Saint-Loup stands against the elements. A large iron cross is erected, an observation post and the chapel of an old hermitage.

The painter
Eugene Castelnau belongs to a family of the Protestant bourgeoisie of Montpellier. and the cousin of the painter Frédéric Bazille. He followed Charles Matet's drawing classes at the Montpellier School of Fine Arts, and in 1841 he left his hometown for Switzerland.  He then studied in Paris, in the workshops of Alexandre Calame and Charles Gleyre.
In 1853, Eugene Castelnau stayed in Italy. In Rome, he attended the painter Ernest Hébert, he traveled for four months the campaign of Rome and the Bay of Naples. Édouard-Auguste Imer noted day after day the details of the trip. His first painting, Les Marais pontins, is presented at the 1855 World's Fair in Paris.
Eugene Castelnau participated in the political and artistic life of Montpellier. He was deputy mayor from September 1870 to April 1871. In 1873, he became president of the Artistic Society of Herault.

___________________________________________

2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT VESUVIUS PAINTED BY AUGUSTE RENOIR

PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR (1841-1919)

Mount Vesuvius (1, 281m - 4,203 ft current)

Italy

In The Bay of Naples (1881), Oil on canvas, 59.7 x 81.3 cm. 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The mountain
Mount Vesuvius (1,281 meters- 4,203 ft current) is one of those legendary and mythic mountains the Earth paid regularly tribute. Monte Vesuvio in Italian modern langage or Mons Vesuvius in antique Latin langage is a stratovolcano in the Gulf of Naples (Italy) about 9 km (5.6 mi) east of Naples and a short distance from the shore.
It is one of several volcanoes which form the Campanian volcanic arc. Vesuvius consists of a large cone partially encircled by the steep rim of a summit caldera caused by the collapse of an earlier and originally much higher structure.
Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in AD 79 that led to the burying and destruction of the Roman antique cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and several other settlements. That eruption ejected a cloud of stones, ash, and fumes to a height of 33 km (20.5 mi), spewing molten rock and pulverized pumice at the rate of 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing a hundred thousand times the thermal energy released by the Hiroshima bombing. At least 1,000 people died in the eruption. The only surviving eyewitness account of the event consists of two letters by Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus.
Vesuvius has erupted many times since and is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years. Nowadays, it is regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because of the population of 3,000,000 people living nearby and its tendency towards explosive eruptions (said Plinian eruptions). It is the most densely populated volcanic region in the world.

The painter
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, commonly known as Auguste Renoir was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. Renoir's paintings are notable for their vibrant light and saturated color, most often focusing on people in intimate and candid compositions. The female nude was one of his primary subjects. In characteristic Impressionist style, Renoir suggested the details of a scene through freely brushed touches of color, so that his figures softly fuse with one another and their surroundings.
His initial paintings show the influence of the colorism of Eugène Delacroix and the luminosity of Camille Corot. He also admired the realism of Gustave Courbet and Édouard Manet, and his early work resembles theirs in his use of black as a color. Renoir admired Edgar Degas' sense of movement. Another painter Renoir greatly admired was the 18th-century master François Boucher.
In the late 1860s, through the practice of painting light and water en plein air (outdoors), he and his friend Claude Monet discovered that the color of shadows is not brown or black, but the reflected color of the objects surrounding them, an effect known today as diffuse reflection. Several pairs of paintings exist in which Renoir and Monet worked side-by-side, depicting the same scenes (La Grenouillère, 1869).

 He very rarely painted mountains landscapes like the Mount Sainte Victoire ( a tribute to Cezanne) or the Mount Vesuvius (above).
The works of his early maturity were typically Impressionist snapshots of real life, full of sparkling color and light. By the mid-1880s, however, he had broken with the movement to apply a more disciplined formal technique to portraits and figure paintings, particularly of women. It was a trip to Italy in 1881 when he saw works by Raphael and other Renaissance masters, that convinced him that he was on the wrong path, and for the next several years he painted in a more severe style in an attempt to return to classicism.
After 1890 he changed direction again. To dissolve outlines, as in his earlier work, he returned to thinly brushed color. From this period onward he concentrated on monumental nudes and domestic scenes, fine examples of which are Girls at the Piano, 1892, and Grandes Baigneuses, 1887. The latter painting is the most typical and successful of Renoir's late, abundantly fleshed nudes.
A prolific artist, he created several thousand paintings. The warm sensuality of Renoir's style made his paintings some of the most well-known and frequently reproduced works in the history of art. The single largest collection of his works—181 paintings in all—is at the Barnes Foundation, in Philadelphia.
He was the father of actor Pierre Renoir (1885–1952), filmmaker Jean Renoir (1894–1979) and ceramic artist Claude Renoir (1901–1969). He was the grandfather of the filmmaker Claude Renoir (1913–1993), son of Pierre.

___________________________________________

2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau