Sketchbook No. 2 (L'Estaque)

Sketchbook No. 2 (L'Estaque) by Paul Cézanne, French (1839-1906), is a rare and intimate artifact spanning a crucial decade of the artist's production, 1875 to 1886. Classified as a book, this bound volume consists primarily of studies executed in graphite and enhanced with focused strokes of pen and ink on paper. The title references L’Estaque, a fishing village near Marseille where Cézanne frequently worked during this period, turning the coastal topography of Southern France into one of his most important recurring subjects.

Cézanne utilized sketchbooks not merely for preliminary drafts but as working diaries, capturing rapid visual observations that would later inform his monumental Post-Impressionist canvases. The drawings contained within demonstrate his methodical approach to composition and form, often isolating elements of architecture, still life subjects, or figures. These preliminary sketches allowed him to analyze spatial relationships and the underlying geometry of nature, a critical step in the development of early Modernism. The interplay between the delicate graphite outline and the stronger definition provided by the ink highlights the artist’s constant search for structural clarity and volume.

As a vital record of the artist's conceptual development, Sketchbook No. 2 (L'Estaque) offers scholars unparalleled insight into Cézanne’s working process before the subject achieved its final painted form. The preservation of this volume is critical for revealing the foundational steps of works now recognized globally, many of which are available today as high-quality museum prints. This exceptional piece is held in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, where it serves as a key reference for studying the transition from Impressionism to 20th-century abstraction.