Ambroise Vollard first spotted Cezanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, others [audio 7min]

You expect a great institution like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to put on an exhibition of masterpieces. And the Met's current offering -- Cezanne to Picasso -- is just such a show. It has works by Cezanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso and others. But the focus of the exhibition is not so much on masterpieces as it is on Ambroise Vollard, the Frenchman who first spotted these artists and sold their works, which became part of every important collection of modern art all over the world. Vollard was not the first dealer in modern art. But starting in the 1890s, he was one of the first to recognize certain unknown young artists, and then help make them famous. And Vollard was certainly the most interesting -- even difficult -- art dealer of his day. The exhibit, Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde, continues at the Metropolitan Museum through Jan. 7, 2007. It is later scheduled to travel to the Art Institute of Chicago and the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. ~Website offers extended report by Susan Stamberg, photos, audio slideshow.