Cézanne and On

There's some good news out of Philadelphia this morning. The recession hasn't kept people away from the great "Cézanne and Beyond" show that's five weeks into its run at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. With ticket sales at 134,000 so far, the museum just announced that it's pushing back the close date from May 17 to May 31. That still might not give the show time to reach the 548,000 attendance figure for Philadelphia's full Cézanne retrospective in 1996, still a record for the PMA. But it might nudge past the second biggest show there, the Barnes Foundation loan show in 1995, which brought in more than 477,000 people over 11 weeks. It so happens that one was called "From Cézanne to Matisse".

The exhibition is not traveling, so you must.

In related (and unsurprising) news, the Shepard Fairey show at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston is on track to become the ICA's biggest draw ever. Geoff Edgers of the Boston Globe reports that the show, which opened Feb. 6 — the same day Fairey was busted by Boston police for tagging property with street art — has been seen so far by 55,719 people, and still has more than four months left in its run.

Look soon for "Cézanne and Shepard Fairey: Compare and Contrast"