Artist Eye Talk at the National Art Gallery – 4th Nov 2011

Creativity is based on inspiration, and artists are inspired in many ways: some by nature, some by relationships, some by pain… and some by the masters of the past.

At the Artist Eye Talk last week, Michael Landy was invited to talk on one masterpiece of his choice of the National Art gallery: Les Grandes Baigneuses (about 1894-1905) by Paul Cézanne. Landy is best known for his monumental installation/performance artwork Break Down (2001) whereby he systematically destroyed all of his possessions in a former department store on Oxford Street, London, as well as Semi-Detached (2004) which consisted of replicating his parents’ home inside Tate Britain. Then, what is it that drew him to a painting artwork as Les Grandes Baigneuses, which is obviously far from his medium of expression?

nationalgallery.org.uk

When asked that question, Landy humourously said, ‘Money’. In fact, it was the purchase order of a friend to make a replica of this painting. Landy explained how that he was that type of artist who makes innumerable sketches of the proposed drawing and he said that this is one of the best ways for understanding a painting. As a result he now has quite a few ink and pencil sketches based on Les Grandes Baigneuses, and this even ended upon being an inspiration for a large-scale drawing he exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer 2011 Show, Bathers after Cezanne no.3. Thence we notice how the simple interconnectivity of the eye and the skill of the hand, draws contemporary artist Michael Landy to the old master, Paul Cézanne.

Coming to the painting itself, we notice the architectural tone that dominates the background, the lack of perspective and lack of detail in terms of tints and shades; it is all to do with texture and the overall feel of the artwork. Landy described how this semblance of the foreground merging into the background caught his attention. Indeed there is nothing delineating the two, be it the gradual toning down of colour intensity that we find in painting during the Renaissance period, or perspective. 

Moreover, we do feel a certain presence of water beyond the nude figures though we do not see it. Again it all comes down to Cézanne’s painting technique. Cézanne treats the outer section of the bodies with a certain warm, earthy feel which gradually converges into a cooler, bluish tint in the treatment of the further, inner section of bodies. That bluish tint gives the hint of a cooling presence beyond, maybe the reflection of water. The painting follows a long tradition of nude paintings by Titian and Poussin but Cézanne’s interpretation of it is what makes it unique.

We saw how Landy became inspired by Cézanne and now understand how artists may be inspired by other artists in a multitude of ways. By the end of the talk, I realised that to understand a painting simply seeing it live might not be enough; drawing it might be the better way of doing so.

And I hope you realised it too.