John Rewald, CÉzanne, and the National Gallery of Art

Art historian John Rewald (1912–1994) is renowned for his pathbreaking, scholarly study of Paul Cézanne (1839–1906). As a young graduate student in France, Rewald took what he later described as a “chance trip” to Provence, where he became captivated by Cézanne’s life and work. He then focused his doctoral studies on the artist, and, with Léo Marschutz, a German painter living in Provence, he began to photograph the places associated with the painter’s work. Since then many of these sites have changed beyond recognition. Rewald also undertook a lifelong effort to collect archival sources on the artist and to create a comprehensive reference library.

In 1979, Rewald began donating photographs of mostly French paintings to what is today the department of image collections in the National Gallery of Art Library. In 1981, he donated almost 1500 photographs of Cézanne watercolors. In 1986, recognizing the importance of Rewald’s research materials on Cézanne and other artists, the library purchased Rewald’s collection of almost 15,000 items, including monographs, periodicals, and catalogues, many extensively annotated, as well as the bulk of his photographic archive, including his collection of Cézanne site images. The library also acquired Rewald’s art history research files and the working files for his Cézanne catalogues raisonné; the latter are now housed in the Gallery archives. Together, these materials constitute an extraordinary resource and have made the National Gallery of Art a center for the study of the Cézanne’s life and work.

John Rewald also enhanced the art collection of the National Gallery of Art through advice he gave John Hay Whitney, a trustee of, and major donor to, the Gallery, and the Gallery’s preeminent donor, Paul Mellon. In 1946, Mrs. John Hay Whitney attended Rewald’s lecture to the wives of Museum of Modern Art trustees. Impressed, she suggested to her husband that he hire the art historian as an advisor on his collection. In 1966, Whitney’s friend Paul Mellon also engaged Rewald for advice on his own collecting of impressionist and post-impressionist works. For decades, the art historian continued to be an influential advisor to both donors.

Rewald’s scholarship was showcased at the National Gallery of Art in 1966, when he wrote the catalogue for the museum’s twenty-fifth anniversary exhibition of French paintings from the collections of Paul Mellon and Ailsa Mellon Bruce. In 1979, he presented the Andrew W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts. These were subsequently published in 1989 as Cézanne and America. Also in 1979, Rewald wrote the introduction to the Gallery’s exhibition catalogue, Cézanne: The Early Years, 1859–1872. His catalogues raisonné of Cézanne’s watercolors and oil paintings were published, respectively, in 1983 and 1996.

General Information

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery's Web site at www.nga.gov.

Visitors will be asked to present all carried items for inspection upon entering the East and West Buildings. Checkrooms are free of charge and located at each entrance. Luggage and other oversized bags must be presented at the 4th Street entrances to the East or West Building to permit x-ray screening and must be deposited in the checkrooms at those entrances. For the safety of visitors and the works of art, nothing may be carried into the Gallery on a visitor's back. Any bag or other items that cannot be carried reasonably and safely in some other manner must be left in the checkrooms. Items larger than 17 x 26 inches cannot be accepted by the Gallery or its checkrooms.

For additional press information please call or send inquiries to:

Press Office
National Gallery of Art
2000B South Club Drive
Landover, MD 20785
phone: (202) 842-6353 e-mail: pressinfo@nga.gov

Deborah Ziska
Chief of Press and Public Information
(202) 842-6353
ds-ziska@nga.gov

If you are a member of the press and would like to be added to our press list, click here.