Paul Cézanne - Bather Sitting near the Water

Cézanne had been exploring the theme of “bathers” since the early 1870s: his intensive examination of the subject in over 200 oil paintings, watercolors, and drawings culminated in the Baigneurs series of 1892–94, particularly in the three monumental paintings Les grandes baigneuses from his late period. In contrast to his landscapes, the bathers were not created in front of the motif in nature, but in the studio based on sketches. Cézanne drew on sketches he had made years earlier in the Atélier Suisse and studied the nude paintings of old masters in museums. However, he refrained from painting his works based on live nude models. Thus, the theme is taken less from life than from art. The posture of Baigneur assis au bord de l’eau, although reversed, is reminiscent of Rembrandt's Bathesba, painted in 1654 and now in the Louvre. In fact, Cézanne had made a free copy of this masterpiece a few years earlier.

Cézanne had created a certain number of figure types that he used repeatedly in his various paintings of bathers. The seated bather appears in many different works, always on the left side of the picture, usually leaning against a tree, with slight variations.

Among the few 19th-century paintings in the Im Obersteg Collection, it is the oldest and certainly the most significant. Karl Im Obersteg, whose collection is dominated by the leitmotif of suffering and compassion, was probably drawn to it because of the isolation of a person from his surroundings; although not intended by Cézanne, it can be seen as a symbol of exposure, loneliness, even proto-existentialist ostracism. Closely related to this painting is a drawing by Cézanne (Inv. KK 1934.210) preserved in the Basel Kupferstichkabinett.

Essay by Gian Casper Bott, PDF, 113 KB

Provenance

Auguste Pellerin, Paris
Galerie Tanner, Zurich
Paul Guillaume, Paris
Acquired between 1930 and 1936 from Paul Guillaume, Paris, by Karl Im Obersteg

Literature

Alexandre 1930
Arsène Alexandre: «L'Exposition Cézanne à la galerie du Théâtre Pigalle», in: La Renaissance, Jg. 13, Paris 1930, S. 75, Abb. S. 75

Ballas 2002
Guila Ballas: Cézanne. Baigneuses et Baigneurs. Thème et Composition, Paris 2002, S. 194, 293, Nr. 131, Abb. (Baigneur assis)

Baumgartner/von Tavel 1995
Michael Baumgartner und Hans Christoph von Tavel: Die Sammlung Karl und Jürg Im Obersteg, hrsg. von der Stiftung «Sammlung Karl und Jürg Im Obersteg», Bern, Bern: Benteli Verlag, 1995, S. 34-36, Nr. 1, Abb. (Nu en plein air)

Gatto/Orienti 1970
Alfonso Gatto und Sandra Orienti: L'opera completa di Cézanne (Classici dell'Arte), Mailand: Rizzoli Editore, 1970, Nr. 292, Abb. S. 99 (Uomo seduto)

George [1930]
Waldemar George: La Grande Peinture Contemporaine à la Collection Paul Guillaume, Paris [1930], S. 48, Abb. S. 53 (Nu assis)

Venturi 1936
Lionello Venturi: Cézanne. Son art, son oeuvre, Paris: Paul Rosenberg Editeur, 1936, S. 123 (Bd. 1), Nr. 260, Abb. (Bd. 2, Nu assis en plein air)

Raynal 1936
Maurice Raynal: Cézanne (Initiation à la Moderne), Paris: Editions de Cluny, 1936, Abb. S. 132

Rewald 1996
John Rewald: The Paintings of Paul Cézanne. A Catalogue Raisonné, 2 Bde., New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1996, S. 181 (Bd. 1), Nr. 263, Abb. S. 85 (Bd. 2)

Venturi 1936
Lionello Venturi: Cézanne. Son art, son oeuvre, Paris: Paul Rosenberg Editeur, 1936, S. 123 (Bd. 1), Nr. 260, Abb. (Bd. 2, Nu assis en plein air)

Exhibitions

Basel 2017
Der verborgene Cézanne. Vom Skizzenbuch zur Leinwand, Ausst.-Kat. Kunstmuseum Basel, 10. Juni bis 24. September 2017

Basel 2004
Die Sammlung Im Obersteg im Kunstmuseum Basel. Picasso, Chagall, Jawlensky, Soutine, Kunstmuseum Basel, 14. Febr.-2. Mai 2004

Wien 2003
Im Banne der Moderne: Picasso, Chagall, Jawlensky, BA-CA Kunstforum, Wien, 4. Sept.-30. Nov. 2003, Nr. 10

Basel 1989
Paul Cézanne: Die Badenden, Kunstmuseum Basel, 1989

Bern 1975
Sammlung Im Obersteg, 25. Juni-14. Sept. 1975, Nr. 11, Abb. (Nu assis en plein air)

Basel 1936
Paul Cézanne, Kunsthalle Basel, 30. Aug.-12. Okt. 1936

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