Ginger Jar 1895

This still life was painted by Paul Cézanne, using oil on canvas, most likely in the 1890s. Look closely and you can see how Cézanne has built up the composition through deliberate application of paint, almost as if he were constructing the scene from blocks. Consider, too, the objects he has selected. Cézanne was a master of imbuing the everyday with significance. The ginger jar, the fruit, the simple draped cloth: each of these is a manufactured item, though they may also appear natural. The ginger jar, likely mass produced, contrasts with the unique, hand-made quality of the painting. The fruit—organic and perishable—is rendered immortal through the application of oil paint. Cézanne’s still lifes invite us to consider the relationship between the handmade and the manufactured, the fleeting and the permanent. He blurs the boundaries between design, craft and fine art.