Cezanne's Watercolors Between Drawing and Painting Matthew Simms

Cezanne's watercolours exhibit not only kaleidoscopic arrays of translucence but also very light graphite pencil lines that contrast strikingly with the soft watery touches of colour. These drawn lines have been largely overlooked in previous studies of Cezanne's work in this medium.In this ravishing book, Matthew Simms argues that it was the dialogue between drawing and painting - the movement between pencil and paintbrush - that attracted Cezanne to watercolour. The technique allowed Cezanne to express what he termed his "sensations" in two distinct modes that become a record of his shifting and spontaneous responses to his subject. Combining close visual analysis and examination of historical context, Simms focuses on the counterpoint of drawing and colour in Cezanne's work over the course of his career and as viewed in relation to his oil paintings. More than a tool for sketching or preparing for oil paintings, Simms contends, watercolour was a unique means of expression in its own right that allowed Cezanne to combine in one place the two otherwise opposed mediums of drawing and painting.

Matthew Simms is associate professor of art history at California State University, Long Beach.