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CHOICE Review

This is an uncomplicated book of great value--a simple presentation of Cezanne's Basel sketchbooks, 99 full-page illustrations each accompanied by only title and date. The introduction by Lawrence Gowing is equally direct. The author forgoes the normal museum catalog scholarly study with its numerous citations and explications, and offers instead an essay exploring the intricacies of the images by interweaving biography and connoisseurship. The result is illuminating and highly readable. As presented here, the experience of Cezanne's drawings is mediated for the viewer only by the sensitive responses of Gowing's own intelligent eye. The resulting publication will delight anyone interested in Cezanne. The single fault with the book is its total lack of color. The original drawings are primarily pencil, but subtle colorations do exist within the shadings and the papers vary in color. Most of this is lost in black-and-white reproductions--a minor defect. The book is a pleasure to read and a joy to view. These drawings give a marvelous insight into Cezanne's creative process. They are as close as we can come to engaging him in conversation. T. F. Mitchell University of Kansas