Editorial

‘Painting from nature,’ Paul Cezanne once said, ‘is not copying the object, it is realising one’s sensations.’ Many of us think we know how to engage with art in terms of what we can see, but how might we experience art through our other senses? This is a question that inspires Tate curator Marcus Dickey-Horley, who, with his team, has spent the past 15 years developing and delivering touch tours for visitors who are blind or partially sighted. At Tate Britain this autumn, you will find them guiding groups inside and outside the galleries, stopping to handle and discuss artworks such as Henry Moore’s King and Queen 1952–3, cast 1957, Hew Locke’s The Procession 2022 and Frederic Leighton’s An Athlete Wrestling with a Python 1877 – the scales of the snake cool to the touch and the strain in the young man’s arms immediately recognisable beneath one’s fingertips.

We have taken touch as a connecting theme for this issue, and in the following pages are the traces of many artists’ hands at work. We visit the studio of sculptor Maria Bartuszová, who created delicate plaster forms inspired by nature, as well as tactile ‘assembly kits’ for blind and partially sighted children. Elsewhere, Cecilia Vicuña talks to us about the quipu, the ancient Andean system of knot-tying that will form the basis for her Turbine Hall commission, and artist duo Hannah Quinlan & Rosie Hastings teach us about the hands-on process of fresco painting. In a special feature on Cezanne, celebrating a major exhibition

at Tate Modern, artists from Cezanne’s time and from our own describe the many ways in which his paintings have left a mark. As Cezanne said, ‘An art which isn’t based on feeling isn’t an art at all.’

Tate has a large and growing programme of activities and resources to ensure all visitors can access and engage with the national collection. ‘Everybody,’ Marcus says, ‘should feel that Tate is open for all.’ With this issue of Tate Etc., we are following suit: you will now be able to listen to our articles online at tate.org.uk/tate-etc.

We hope you enjoy it.

Tate Etc.

Contents

A child handles Barry Flanagan's bronze sculpture of an elephant. To his right, another visitor leans into view to survey the scene.

Touch Tours for All!

A truly inclusive museum should foster collaboration and extend touch tours to sighted people too, writes Georgina Kleege
Cornelia Parker stands in front of the White Cliffs of Dover on a sunny day. She holds her right hand up to shield her face from the sun. Her left hand is on her hip.

Seeing the Light

Cornelia Parker reflects on the early experiences that shaped her art
Paul Cezanne. The Basket of Apples

‘The Apple of My Eye’

‘With an apple, I will astonish Paris’, Paul Cezanne once claimed. Leaving his native Aix-en-Provence for the French capital in his twenties, this is precisely what he did. Here, we gather an array of artists from Cezanne’s time and from our own to tell the story of his extraordinary legacy

Magic in this Country

Barbara Hepworth’s love of landscape inspired the forms of her sculptures, her commitment to politics and her lesser-known fascination with the universe beyond

Dancing in the Rain

Artist Ro Robertson is stirred by the ‘new and vital movement’ in Barbara Hepworth’s sculptures and reflects on the connections between art, landscape and the body

Hannah Quinlan & Rosie Hastings

The artist duo talk to curator Amy Emmerson Martin about the elusive art of fresco painting and how they keep things harmonious in the studio

Tate Etc. Writing Prize

The Tate Etc. Writing Prize, our annual competition for young art writers, focuses on Lubaina Himid’s exhibition at Tate Modern. The winner, Ellie Perry, sees a topic of recent public debate in one painting, and our runners-up, Katherine Birditt and Eleanor Flanagan, explore questions of identity, belonging and agency

Force of Nature

Ahead of her commission for the Turbine Hall, artist Cecilia Vicuña talks to curator Catherine Wood about art erased by tides and her connection to ancient forms of knowledge

Apprehensions

In his short life, Hamad Butt made art that explored scientific knowledge and our attempts to both rationalise the world and master our fears and desires
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