PHILADELPHIA.- In honor of Philadelphia’s remarkable World Series champions, the Phillies, the Philadelphia Museum of Art will give away its own signature baseballs—Philly All Star and All Star Artists—to the first 100 Museum members and the first 100 general purchasers when tickets for Cézanne and Beyond go on sale. Member tickets are available beginning 9 a.m. Saturday, November 1, and tickets for the general public go on sale at 9 a.m. November 15.

While it’s often disputed whether Abner Doubleday invented baseball in 1839 there is no question that the French master Paul Cézanne was born in that year. Cézanne was not known to have engaged in America’s favorite pastime. The artist’s main connection to the sport was made in 1996 when the Philadelphia Museum of Art created the first Cézanne baseball for the retrospective Cézanne. The Museum developed the Philly All Star and Artists All Star baseballs later. The Philly All Star baseball reproduces autographs of Thomas Eakins, Mary Cassatt, Benjamin Franklin, and others; the Artists All Star baseball represents the international league, including signatures of such luminaries as Henri Rousseau, Leonardo Da Vinci, Claude Monet, and Benjamin West.

“With the Phillies’ fantastic victory, and a landmark all star exhibition opening in Philadelphia in a few months, we decided to give away the Philly All Star and All Star Artists baseballs from the Museum Store,” said interim Chief Executive Officer of the Philadelphia Museum of Art Gail Harrity. “Of course, we’d also love to induct the entire Phillies team into the Museum collection. The Museum is a hall of fame for artists and there’s no question that the Phillies are Philadelphia Treasures.”

Cézanne and Beyond (February 26-May 17, 2009) will present some 150 works, including 60 paintings, watercolors and drawings by Cézanne (1839 – 1906), along with those of 16 later artists for whom Cézanne has been a central inspiration and whose work reflects his extraordinary legacy. Philadelphia is the only venue for this major exhibition celebrating the continuing impact of the artist whom Pablo Picasso called “my one and only master.”

Among the all star artists whose work will be featured in context with Cézanne are Max Beckmann, Georges Braque, Charles Demuth, Alberto Giacometti, Arshile Gorky, Marsden Hartley, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Fernand Léger, Brice Marden, Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian, Giorgio Morandi, Pablo Picasso, Liubov Popova, and Jeff Wall. The works will be drawn from public and private collections around the world. The exhibition will survey the development of an artistic vision that anticipated Cubism and fueled a succession of artistic movements, and will juxtapose Cézanne’s achievement with works by many who were inspired directly by him, showing a fluid interchange of form and ideas.

Advance tickets for timed entry to Cézanne and Beyond may be purchased at the Museum or by calling (215) 235-SHOW (9 a.m. until 5 p.m.) or via the Museum’s website at www.philamuseum.org. (phone and online orders are subject to a $3 per ticket non-refundable service charge). Tickets are free of charge to Museum members.