Hidden Cezanne sketches found in US

The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia said on Saturday that it had uncovered the Cezanne sketches, saying that they had likely remained hidden for almost a century.

The sketches, one graphite and one watercolor, were hidden on the back of "The Chaine de l'Etoile Mountains" and "Trees," but it wasn't the frames that had prevented their earlier discovery.

"We've had them out of the frame before. But the backs were covered with brown paper," Barbara Buckley, the foundation's senior director of conservation told The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper. "That's one of the reasons they were sent [for conservation]. Brown paper is very acidic, and they needed acid-free paper."

According to the Barnes Foundation, Cezanne often worked on both sides of paper in his sketchbooks and on larger sheets, usually in order to "experiment with line and color." However, Albert Barnes is believed not to have known about the sketches when he purchased the paintings from US collector Leo Stein in 1921, according a curator at the foundation.

Works in progress, showing artistic process

On the back of "Trees" (shown above), conservators found a detailed depiction without color of houses and the Etoile mountain range. On the reverse of "The Chaine de L'Etoile Mountains," Cezanne had begun sketching trees with pencil and then color, although the center of the sketch was so unfinished that it was difficult to ascertain what the artist was planning to depict.

The newly-discovered sketches will go on display from April 10 to May 18, the foundation said, after which the finished watercolors would be put back in their original positions.

"These sketches offer a window into Cezanne's artistic process, which is truly invaluable," Buckley said.

Cezanne lived in Aix-en-Provence close to the Etoile mountain range. "Cezanne walked frequently there and did many depictions of it," said Martha Lucy, a Drexel University assistant professor of art and art history.

msh/cmk (AP, Reuters)