Harry Sefarbi, RIP. A Link to Barnes.

A friend had told me about Harry. Great painter, great teacher, great character - learned from The Man himself. Or, as I wrote in a May 2007 column, a "sweet, canny link to the quirky, tyrannical Dr. Albert C. Barnes."

When Harry Sefarbi, then just shy of his 90th birthday, answered the door of his Powelton Village home, he must have sensed my shock.

He was a sight - he wore a big patch high on the middle on his forehead, as if he sported a third eye, four layers of shirts, topped by a pointed cap that lent an elfin look, Harry was dealing with vision problems, which were no small thing, given he'd devoted the past 50-plus years to teaching art lovers how to really see.

That same friend e-mailed this morning, the morning of Harry's funeral. Harry died Monday, at age 92. He leaves his wife of 54 years, Ruth, a daughter, a grandson, a sister and a brother.

He was born in Chester in 1917, went to teachers college, then the war in France and took courses from Barnes and his collaborator, Violette de Mazia, at age 40. Three years later the quirky collector wrote Harry: would he sell Barnes one of his portraits?

Harry made $100 on the oil painting, which Barnes hung over a door in Room IX, by the Renoirs and the Rousseaus.

For 54 years Harry taught the Barnes method at the Foundation in Merion. He was not a fan of its planned move, and appeared in the new documentary about the controversy, "The Art of the Steal."

I take no credit for it, but after my column ran, another fine publication caught onto Harry.

At the end of my short course in the Sefarbi Method, I talked with some of Harry students, one of whom provided me with one of my favorite end quotes:

"If you think you understand this," he said, "you're wrong. "

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About Metro Mashup

Metro columnist Karen Heller has been an Inquirer staff writer since 1986. She has won national, state and local awards for feature writing, investigative reporting and criticism, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary. E-mail Karen here; read her columns here.

An award-winning columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Annette John-Hall’s twice weekly metro columns always illuminate. Her topics and storytelling challenge readers to reflect on their own perceptions, to turn off the auto response and forge a different kind of conversation. She has been nominated twice by the Inquirer for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary. E-mail Annette here; read her columns here.

Kevin Riordan’s daily newspaper byline debuted in 1972, when he was a child prodigy. He got his first real newspaper job four years later, and joined the Inquirer in 2010. A native of western Massachusetts, he lives in Haddon Heights, NJ. E-mail Kevin here; read his columns here.

Since joining The Inquirer as a staff writer in 1988, Daniel Rubin has reported from 27 countries, but most of them were small. He's a metro columnist and has been the European Correspondent for Knight Ridder Newspapers. For two years he sat at home and wrote Blinq, the paper's first daily blog. Dan began newspaper work in Norfolk and Louisville, Ky., after getting his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Northwestern University. He has lived in all four commonwealths, most recently in Pennsylvania. He teaches urban journalism at the University of Pennsylvania. E-mail Daniel here; read his columns here.

Monica Yant Kinney joined the Inquirer as a suburban reporter in 1996, moved to the City Hall Bureau two years later and was named a metro columnist in 2001 at the age of 30. As a columnist, Kinney speaks to, and for, the curious and infuriated masses, writing often about gun violence, casinos, politics, pop culture and parenting. She logs so many miles reporting in the city, suburbs and South Jersey, she finally bought a Prius. E-mail Monica here; read her columns here.

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