T.J. Clark's New Book Reconsiders Cézanne's Modernity Through Historical Discontinuity

Art historian T.J. Clark's latest publication, 'If These Apples Should Fall: Cézanne and the Present,' challenges conventional approaches to writing about Paul Cézanne. A decade after declaring the French painter could no longer be written about, Clark now argues that understanding Cézanne requires acknowledging historical discontinuity rather than assimilating him into contemporary perspectives. The book positions Cézanne as both historically remote and a contemporary figure whose work embodies modernity's contradictions. Clark emphasizes negative knowledge—ambiguity and disorientation—as central to Cézanne's art, exemplified by the uncertain spatial relationships in his still lifes with apples. While predecessors like Clement Greenberg and Roger Fry noted Cézanne's problematic modernity, Clark distinguishes his analysis through sustained focus on negativity. The five-chapter structure examines Cézanne's apprenticeship to Camille Pissarro, still lifes, landscapes, card players paintings, and his influence on Henri Matisse. Clark interprets formal elements like brushstrokes and compositional tension as responses to modernity's failures, drawing on Theodor Adorno's theories. However, the analysis remains predominantly formal, with limited historical context, raising questions about whether Clark projects contemporary postmodern disillusionment onto Cézanne's work. Published by Thames & Hudson, the hardcover retails for £30 or $39.95.