Paul Czanne

Paul Czanne (1839 1906) painted almost 200 portra its, including twenty - six of himself and twenty - nine of his wife . This book presents twenty - four highlights from a major international exhibition that explores the portraiture of this remarkable artist, whom both Matisse and Picasso called the father of us all. In bringing together a broad selection of Czannes portraits, the book reveal s arguably the most personal , and therefore most human, aspect of his art, and one that has hitherto received surprisingly little attention. They range from the artist s earliest surviving self - portrait , dating from the 1860s, through portraits of his uncle Dominique, his wife Hortense, his son Paul and a range of friends and associates, to his final portrait of Vallier, the gardener at his hou se near Aix - en - Provence, made shortly before the artists death in 1906. The art historian Mary Tompkins Lewis , author of Czanne : Art and Ideas (200 0 ) and Czannes Early Imagery ( 1989 ) , contributes an illuminating introductory essay on the artist and his portraiture for a genera l readership. Also included is an illustrated chronology of Czannes life and work .