New Cezanne Works Discovered at Barnes Foundation

(Photo courtesy of the Barnes Foundation)

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Two previously unknown sketches by Paul Cézanne have been discovered among the collection at the Barnes Foundation, the museum announced this week.

The unfinished sketches were found during a recent paper conservation treatment, the museum said. They are on the back of the watercolors “The Chaine de l’Etoile Mountains” and “Trees.”

Dr. Albert Barnes bought the paintings from American collector Leo Stein in 1921. “What Barnes probably didn’t know was that in purchasing these two watercolors from Stein, he had actually acquired four works by Cézanne,” said Martha Lucy, assistant professor at Drexel University and consulting curator at the Barnes Foundation.

“These sketches offer a window into Cézanne’s artistic process, which is truly invaluable,” said Barbara Buckley, senior director of conservation and chief conservator of paintings at the Barnes Foundation. “It is with great excitement that we share this discovery with our students and visitors. Our new facilities on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway allow us to do much more comprehensive conservation than ever before and we know there are many more discoveries within the Barnes Collection waiting to be unearthed. We look forward to bringing them to light over the coming months and years.”

The sketches “will be displayed in double-sided frames, with both sides visible, from April 10 through May 18, 2015, in the second-floor classroom of the Barnes Foundation.

The Barnes Foundation moved from its longtime home in Merion to Philadelphia in 2012, though the museum’s horticulture program, library, and the institutional archives are still based at the Merion location.

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