Museum ends Albert Barnes exhibit
"A further slight to the man and his legacy"
Museum ends Albert Barnes exhibit
Joseph N. DiStefano
"Less than a year after Albert Barnes’s art, uprooted from its original home in Merion, Pennsylvania, occupied new quarters, the collector himself has been removed from the Philadelphia museum that now houses his treasures," writes Bloomberg LP's Katya Kazakina here.
"Barnes, a doctor, chemist and all around eccentric, died in 1951 leaving an astonishing collection that included 181 Renoirs. Though his will expressly forbade moving the pictures from Merion," leaders of the Barnes Foundation, aided by the Annenberg, Lenfest, Perelman, Pew and Roberts family fortunes and nearly $50 million in Pennsylvania taxpayer money, broke Barnes' will and moved his pictures to Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin Parkway anyway, next to the city Art Museum whose elite backers were, to Barnes, enemies of popular and proper art study.
"The new museum opened with a special show that many perceived as an effort to soothe critics of the move. It was called 'Ensemble: Albert C. Barnes and the Experiment in Education,' and told the early history of the foundation from its founding in 1922... It was a tribute to Barnes himself, drawing from archival material... The show also included letters signed by his beloved dog Fidele and its specially constructed little bed. A vitrine celebrated Barnes’s development of Argyrol, an antiseptic useful for the treatment of gonorrhea." All gone now:
"This reflection and ode to the man without whom there would be no Barnes Foundation to visit, has now been closed to make room for 'Ellsworth Kelly: Sculpture on the Wall,' which opens on May 4.
Barnes spokesperson Jan Rothschild told Bloomberg that "we are planning an event to celebrate Dr. Barnes as we kick off our anniversary weekend on May 15. On that day we will move the Di Chirico portrait of him to the gallery entrance.” Other material “is being prepared for presentation on our website, as orientation for our visitors and for display in other parts” of the building."
Adds Bloomberg: "While the Barnes tribute was never described as permanent, its removal struck some as a further slight to the man and his legacy." Evelyn Yaari, president of Barnes Watch, which opposed the museum move, speculates Barnes was removed in deference to the intentions of the late Walter Annenberg, whose foundation helped lead the charge for the move. As Yaari told me, "Annenberg did hate Dr. Barnes' guts." More on Barnes: The clearest Barnes book I've seen is Howard Greenfeld's "The Devil and Dr. Barnes" (Camino Books, Philadelphia)
It's for the common good.
Liberals don't respect your property when you are alive, much less dead.— rmg154- Stupid comment.
The Barnes ALWAYS stated that the celebratory exhibit of Dr. Barnes was temporary not permanent. It has been up nearly a year. He has been honored in a variety of ways and will continue to be so.
As Shakespeare wrote: much ado about nothing and the Jacka'' comments that follow bashing this institution, 'leftists' (where does that come from related to this story?), etc. are shameful.— 24sDad - This comment has been deleted. — jonline
- Calling me out? In 40 years I have been to the Merion site 10 times, 5 with my kids, and now twice to the new venue, not including two openings.
— 24sDad - Do anyone care to hear your fictitious life story? Uh ... NO. Back to sleep now.
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— MS. LOU. - 24sDad: I like the new building and I'm glad that the Juvenile Detention Center has been removed. But, I think it was a travesty to move this work. This wasn't a public collection. I realize there were issues with money. But, this just goes to show that with the right amount of money behind an effort, anything is possible to change. This was a greedy grab at a personal fortune.
The very least they could do is honor the man that made all of this possible, in perpetuity.— PotteryPete - Rendell and the leftist elite of Philadelphia did this.— operagost
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I wish everything was so simple in life that it could always be distilled in left vs. right. Must make your lives so easy!— Just Some Guy33 - What's funny is that Barnes was a left-winger whose foundation went broke in part because he wouldn't let its assets be invested in stocks. The city of Philadelphia and its allies stepped in to find a pro-market solution to rescue the artworks. But they're Democrats, so the right-wing trolls are stuck defending a position they would otherwise heap contempt upon. — Thad Lawrence
The dead have no rights. They're dead, non-existing. Duh!- "Though his will expressly forbade moving the pictures from Merion, leaders of the Barnes Foundation, aided by the Annenberg, Lenfest, Perelman, Pew and Roberts family fortunes and nearly $50 million in Pennsylvania taxpayer money, broke Barnes' will and moved his pictures to Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin Parkway anyway, next to the city Art Museum whose elite backers were, to Barnes, enemies of popular and proper art study."
We are all just so fortunate to have these Uber Rich families to look out for us and do the right thing. Never mind what someone puts in their will. Dr. Barnes was just an old fool. He should never had made his will without consulting these elites first. We all should do that in the future. These type of people make me physically ill.— truthfirst - Barnes' will explicitly states that the collection could be moved if the Latch's Lane property was deemed no longer capable of it, and even mentions Philadelphia as an alternative. — Thad Lawrence
- Give credit where credit is due. The Foundation had to move because the neighbors on Latch's Lane made it impossible for the Foundation to accomodate visitors. They wanted this world-class collection for themselves and did everything in their power to force them out.— PhillyJoe918
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