Edited by Jodi Hauptman and Samantha Friedman. With contributions by Kiko Aebi, Samantha Friedman, Jodi Hauptman, Annemarie Iker, and Laura Neufeld.

“Drawing is merely the configuration of what you see,” Paul Cézanne wrote, and his practice of drawing, he believed, taught him “to see well.” Cézanne drew almost daily, hiking out into the hills or into dense forests for views of nature; returning repeatedly to subjects close at hand, such as his wife, his son, his own likeness, and the bottles, pitchers, and fruit in his home and studio; and envisioning scenes, both violent and idyllic, from his imagination. The resulting works, in watercolor and pencil, are some of the artist’s most radical, representing with a fresh immediacy the iconic motifs for which he is most recognized: vibrant still lifes, prismatic landscapes, and carefully choreographed bathers.

Accompanying a major exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, Cézanne Drawing is a career-spanning appraisal of the artist’s works on paper, tracing the development of his practice, illuminating his themes and subjects, exploring his working methods, and ultimately revealing the essential role drawing played in shaping Cézanne’s vision. 184 pp.; 254 illus.