It is interesting to reflect on the inspiration artists take from their predecessors.
Great artists learn from those that went before them and at the same time develop their own style – that’s what makes them great. Nowhere was this better demonstrated than in the winter of 2008/09 when a large selection of Picassos were hung alongside Old Masters in an exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris. (A reduced version of the exhibition subsequently came to The National Gallery London.)
Velázquez’s 17th century Las Meninas and Picasso’s 20th century (1957) homage.
“(Picasso’s) versions of masterpieces are brilliantly subversive: the big pastiche or rather rethinking of Velázquez’s Las Meninas is disconcerting in the way it at once pays homage to the original’s deep space and mocks the illusions of art. It is as haunting as the original. The French philosopher Michel Foucault saw Las Meninas as an allegory of representation – that is, of the art of describing the world.” (Jonathan Jones, The Guardian, 2009)
I was reminded of this when I went to the Cezanne exhibition at Tate Modern on Wednesday. It is particularly interesting, should I say well-curated to be fashionable, as the pictures are hung by genre. So there is a room of bathers, rooms devoted to landscapes painted when he was staying near Aix and of course still lifes. The audio guide has commentaries by a variety of experts which is a plus.
“After inheriting his father’s estate, Jas de Bouffan, in 1886 along with his mother and sisters, Cezanne’s studio practice changed. He planned a group of paintings which followed a singular method, depicting the same objects repeatedly. In 1893-5 Cezanne painted a dozen canvases where his usual combination of props – apples and pears, bottles, a ginger jar, sugar bowl, water jug – are connected by an intricately folded blue fabric. Produced locally in Aix until 1885 and known as l’indienne, the fabric takes centre stage in most of the works in this room.” (Tate Modern notes for the Cezanne exhibition)
I bought some napkins in the same pattern in the Tate shop. But I digress. Many of Cezanne’s compositions are part of a continuum going back to Rembrandt at least.
Artists are still inspired by this meme.
This 20th century riff on the genre uses a mirror to reflect the composition and a rich tapestry to evoke the 17th century.