TITLE:
Embodied Subjectivity in Cézanne’s Late Paintings
AUTHORS:
Yu Yuan
KEYWORDS:
Post-Impressionism Art, Paul Cézanne, Embodied Subjectivity, Phenomenol-ogy, Philosophy of Art
JOURNAL NAME:
Art and Design Review,
Vol.12 No.1,
February
29,
2024
ABSTRACT: This study aimed at the transformative artistic
approach of the renowned French painter Paul Cézanne during his later years,
emphasizing a departure from conventional cognitive conventions in painting.
Cézanne’s shift towards highlighting the
structuring of visual impressions over mere observation aligns with the philosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s
phenomenology, which places the
embodied subject at the core of perceptual experience. The argument
presented here centres on how embodied subjectivity, as employed in
phenomenological research methods, facilitates a deeper understanding of the
imaginative abstraction in Cézanne’s late paintings. In doing so, this paper
contributes to a deeper comprehension of post-impressionist art and underscores
the significance of the theory of embodied subjectivity in artistic
interpretation. This reciprocal relationship establishes a distinctive approach
to artistic thinking and research grounded in
essential cognition and direct intuition, enriching the understanding of
Cézanne’s late paintings, and advancing the discourse on art perception.