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Saturday, December 22, 2012

The Secrets of Cezanne Review and how we each define success

A collector of mine sent me a link yesterday of a review he found on a new book on Cezanne. I don't know if the book is any good (although it must be), as I loved the review of it! http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1179756.ece If you have 10 minutes, I highly recommend you read it. It is rather long but fascinating.

I also watched BIG NIGHT last night. I had not heard of it before but a friend of ours has this huge painting he said he had commissioned after he saw the movie. I was curious, as I knew nothing of the movie, but I did find it an intriguing subject and actually ties into the review mentioned above. That subject is "success" and how each of us defines it. BIG NIGHT, if you have not seen it, is about two Italian brothers, in the early 1950's, who came to America to be successful. One brother is an amazing chef, although both brothers cook. They open a restaurant with a top quality menu, yet can garner no business, while the cheesy "Italian" restaurant across the street is always packed. The brothers fight about how to succeed. One wants to compromise so they don't lose the business, and the other can't compromise his "art" for the sake of people who don't know what good food is. In the review on the Cezanne book, it surmises that Emile Zola and Cezanne, life long friends, parted company over their definition of success. That the individuals definition of success pulls artist friends apart much more than failure ever has. I think there is much truth in that.

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