Cezanne collection at AGH

Crews at the Art Gallery of Hamilton are installing a landmark exhibition. It’s a groundbreaking collection of works by Paul Cezanne. It was put together by the gallery’s curator and it’s putting Hamilton on the art map.

This really is a big deal for the AGH.

The exhibition is called “The World is an Apple.”

It’s the first time that any gallery has focused on the still life’s of Paul Cezanne.

Paul Cezanne became known as “The Painter of Apples.” In the last 30 years of his career he painted a lot of apples but there’s more to that than meets the eye.

Benedict Leca, Curator: “The colour relationships, the symbolic meanings, the illusions, they are very open ended. They are like poetry. Cezanne invites these kind of imaginative leaps. It’s not just apples, it’s space and colour relationships and touches of paint that’s on the canvas.”

This is the first time ever that the still lifes of Cezanne have been brought together in one exhibit. The Art Gallery of Hamilton didn’t borrow this exhibit. Benedict Leca created it: “This is a path breaking show and I say this humbly. It will go into the critical literature as the first show devoted to still life paintings and in the bibliographies it will say Hamilton 2014.”

“This is one of Cezanne’s most famous paintings. It’s called ‘The Kitchen Table’ and Leca says it embodies everything that makes Cezanne unique.”

Benedict: “It looks like a mish-mash of objects and furniture. But if you look closely, you will see the picture has in fact a very subtle geometry. The table leg connects with the table leg here. You’ve got a whole set of lateral lines”

The works are over 100 years old and very valuable. They must be handled with care.

Christine Braun is Manager of Collections and Exhibitions: “Preparators are trained in art handling, they also always wear protective gloves.”

They will continue setting up the exhibit for the next two days. It opens on November 1st and runs until the 8th of February.