Marcelin Pleynet's Essay on Cézanne's Marginality

Marcelin Pleynet's essay "Cézanne marginal" explores why Paul Cézanne is necessarily marginal in contemporary context. Published by Éditions Les mauvais jours, the book argues that Cézanne participates in a new beginning of the possible, inviting readers to be surprised by the strange and familiar truth of his work. Pleynet structures the essay in several stages, culminating in a magnificent final gathering. In chapter III, he critiques critics and historians who deny that an artist is immediately and entirely himself. In chapter V, he explicates Picasso's declaration that "It's not what the artist does that matters, but what he is." Pleynet repeatedly cites Cézanne's credo: "I believe in the logical development of what we see and feel through the study of nature." The final pages unite logos, phusis, and kosmos for a thought-sensation beyond the usual idea of "nature." The writing has the rhythm of a decisive meditation, posing the question of whether we can share the extraordinary thing that the painter exposes: the instant of the world that, in order, arrangement, and ornament, produces itself before us as world and time in the dispensation of being. The essay asks who can still share this today. Claude Minière provides commentary on the work.