Leave the Barnes Foundation in Merion!

[Phillyurban8]

The more I think about and read about the "relocation" of the Barnes Foundation galleries, the more shabby I think this entire process is. The man left his art to be viewed a certain way in a certain setting. Why are so many people willing to disrespect his final wishes?!

I don't care how stellar the Williams/Tsien design is, it's NOT the same.

[DocAwesome]

I agree that it is a shame that the place is migrating, not because I have any kind of attachment to Mr. Albert Barnes, but because of the it really is a one of a kind place (from what I see and hear. I need to go prior to the move). However, given the reality of the situation, I think the saga ended up relatively well.

[Bob_Head]

If only Barnes had the foresight to entrust his vision to competent managers or not locate his estate in a neigborhood full of d!ckheads. But he failed on both accounts. Sure, the money necessary to save the Barnes came with strings attached....money like that always does. There's blame aplenty to go around, but the reality is Barnes vision had become unsustainable.

[Seanibus]

The more I think about and read about the "relocation" of the Barnes Foundation galleries, the more shabby I think this entire process is. The man left his art to be viewed a certain way in a certain setting. Why are so many people willing to disrespect his final wishes?!

I don't care how stellar the Williams/Tsien design is, it's NOT the same.

I generally agree, but it is a little late for that. I think the deal is done beyond any saving.

[Mr Morley]

The people of Lower Merion fought against the foundation for years, and were a part of why it is currently near bankruptcy. They very obviously did not want it in their back yards, so it makes sense to move it.

As to Barnes' last wishes, they are not as clear-cut as you might think, and they definietly cannot be divided from the will that was probated after his death. Dr Barnes changed wills like most people change their shoes. He had dozens of them over the course of his life and they were all quite different.

The will which was probated was written after talks with U Penn (his alma mater) had fallen through. It was intended as a "screw you" to Penn, but Barnes never really meant to follow through on the threats laid out in it. He was not expecting to die any time soon when he did (he was creamed by a truck after blowing a stop sign at 90 MPH while coming back from his weekend house).

If he'd lived, his will would have changed again, and the collection would have been left to some city institution (at various times, it was promised to Penn, PAFA and the PMA, among others), and what he really wanted was a testament to his genius in assembling his collection and understanding Modern art at a time when almost no one else in this country did.

If you're interested in trying to wrap your head around the background of this issue, read The Devil and Dr Barnes, which is the best biography of the man written thus far.

[Seanibus]

The people of Lower Merion fought against the foundation for years, and were a part of why it is currently near bankruptcy. They very obviously did not want it in their back yards, so it makes sense to move it.

As to Barnes' last wishes, they are not as clear-cut as you might think, and they definietly cannot be divided from the will that was probated after his death. Dr Barnes changed wills like most people change their shoes. He had dozens of them over the course of his life and they were all quite different.

The will which was probated was written after talks with U Penn (his alma mater) had fallen through. It was intended as a "screw you" to Penn, but Barnes never really meant to follow through on the threats laid out in it. He was not expecting to die any time soon when he did (he was creamed by a truck after blowing a stop sign at 90 MPH while coming back from his weekend house).

If he'd lived, his will would have changed again, and the collection would have been left to some city institution (at various times, it was promised to Penn, PAFA and the PMA, among others), and what he really wanted was a testament to his genius in assembling his collection and understanding Modern art at a time when almost no one else in this country did.

If you're interested in trying to wrap your head around the background of this issue, read The Devil and Dr Barnes, which is the best biography of the man written thus far.

I am trying to remember where I read it - maybe the New York Review of Books - but I recently read an account about Barnes that made him sound like a Not At All Nice kind of man.

[Mr Morley]

I am trying to remember where I read it - maybe the New York Review of Books - but I recently read an account about Barnes that made him sound like a Not At All Nice kind of man.

He was a raging arsehole, and he only got worse as he got older. But he did have his good points:

-He understood modern art in a formal way, and could clearly see how it arose naturally out the of the art which preceded it.

-He (with the help of his childhood friend, painter William Glackens) embraced modern art extremely early, before WWI, when the only other Americans collecting it were Gertrude Stein, her brother, Leo, and her friends, the Cone sisters. (Barnes later bought much of Leo and Gertrude's collection; the Cone collection can be seen in Baltimore)

-He saw no difference between black and white people at a time when racism and the inferiority of African Americans were simply accepted facts. He integrated his factory in West Philly at a time when such a thing was unheard-of, and maintained a strong interest in AA education throughout his life (hence his connection to Lincoln University).

-He honestly wanted to help improve and educate the lower classes. He'd been born poor (ironically, in a boarding house where PAB Widener was also a tenant at the time) and had worked hard to educate himself. What developed into the Barnes program begin with Barnes hanging some of his art in his factory. The workers wanted to know what the paintings were about, so he started conducting seminars after work to teach his employees about the formal aspects of art.

This -in part- explains his later resistance to allowing the Great and Good into his museums; he believed art should be an educational and transformative thing, not simply a social outlet for the overly-wealthy.


If you read up on him, you'll find that many of the stories about what a dick he was have to do with his refusal to let people like Walter Annenberg in to see the collection late in Barnes' life. He responded to letters with exceptionally rude and funny replies. He frequently pretended to be his own secretary on the phone, and would tell people that Dr Barnes was too drunk/insane to takes their calls.

He realized, in the 40's and 50's that his collection was finally recognized for what it was (one of the finest of its type in the nation) and that it finally brought him power and prestige. So he used it to screw with people he felt had slighted him, which was basically the entire upper class of Philadelphia (because of their reaction to the showing of his collection at PAFA in 1917).

At the same time, he was extremely generous. James Mitchener applied to the Barnes program claiming to be a bricklayer (which he had been in the past; at the time he was a struggling but published journalist) and Barnes took him in, and was very kind to him. When people applied from the city and said that they'd like to take part in the program, but that they couldn't afford the transportation costs to Merion, Barnes would frequently issue them a stipend from his own pocket.

[MarketStEl]

Actually, I wouldn't say that the Barnes' neighbors in Merion "fought the foundation for years" in the sense this phrase is used above, which is to say, they didn't want it as a neighbor. They did, and clearly still do (unless all those "The Barnes Belongs in Merion" signs along Latches Lane are some sort of prank). What they didn't want was lots of traffic -- tour buses pulling up to the Barnes to disgorge their contents, a large parking lot on the site, that sort of thing.

None of this was an issue prior to the passing of Violette de Mazia, the executrix of Barnes' will and the director of the Barnes Foundation after his death. It was only after her death that control of the foundation passed on to the Lincoln University trustees, and it was only after the trustees appointed Richard Glanton as head of the Barnes board that the fun stuff began.

Some of what he moved to do was necessary: the Barnes endowment was indeed in bad shape, hobbled as it was by the stipulation in Barnes' will that it could only be invested in Pennsylvania Railroad stock, which became worthless when successor Penn Central went bankrupt in 1971. And the building needed repairs and new systems to keep the collection in good condition. Although Glanton's proposal to sell some of the Barnes collection was ill-advised (and contrary to accepted museum practice), the petition to send the paintings on tour to raise funds for the renovation was indeed a good idea.

The race-discrimination lawsuit, OTOH, was not. Yesterday I had the pleasure of talking with a gentleman who provided a piece of the puzzle that put the ensuing legal fracas in a different light. He is on the board of the Violette de Mazia Foundation, established in her will after her death. As he described the relationship between the two foundations, "if the Barnes Foundation has his collection, we have his soul." The de Mazia Foundation runs the classes in the Barnes method of art appreciation offered at the foundation and (I understand) will also do so at the new facility on the Parkway (this gentleman thought the Tsien's exploding of the Barnes galleries to insert classrooms and a garden atrium rather clever). He also told me that not even that audio tour really gives you a true understanding of Barnes' theories, which are very abstract and mechanical, based as they are on relations between colors and shapes.

The other thing he told me was this: The neighbors were very much willing to accept the idea that the Barnes needed to increase the number of visitors it allowed in to earn more money. All they wanted was that the parking be located somewhere other than on the Foundation grounds. Apparently, an agreement had been reached with the Barnes board to produce an off-site parking solution -- which Glanton then promptly discarded after becoming the Barnes board's head. That then led to the dueling lawsuits that ultimately drained the Barnes endowment completely.

That kinda puts the whole Barnes saga in a completely different light -- and exonerates the neighbors to a large extent.

[Mr Morley]

There were legal battles before Glanton. I'm not remembering the details right now, but there were lawsuits between the Barnes and its neighbors going back to Barnes' own lifetime. The people of Lower Merion didn't want a museum/educational institution on sleepy Latches Lane, and they didn't want the sort of people Barnes was accepting into the program tromping up the hill from the station.

And yes, Glanton was an equal partner in the lawsuits which not only drained the endowment, but also spend all the money from thr tour.

[five apples]

I am a huge lover of the arts, especially of impressionist art, but I have never been to the Barnes because it is such a freaking pain in the ass to get to. Barnes, from what I have read, was all about bringing art to the common man. The current situation basically means that the art is being brought to people who don't work during the day and have the means to get to Lower Merion. In other words, not the common man. Now it will be easily accessible and will have the type of hours that a fan of art such as myself can take advantage of.

Also, I think at a certain point art, especially the type of art barnes has, should be accessible to all as a basic right. Art has a value to a society as a whole, and I think moving the Barnes to the Parkway better serves this.

[Mr Morley]

Unless they changed their policy recently, the Barnes always offered night and weekend classes for those who worked during the day.

As to whether the collection should be open to all or not, that's an interesting argument, and one strongly supported by Walter Annenberg, who paid for the lawsuits which got the collection opened to the public on a limited basis after Barnes' death. And his foundation will foot the bill for 25% of the new building.

Barnes' viewpoint was that the collection is so specific and arranged in such a specific way that the average person -even if they understand something about art- isn't going to understand it.

You also have to accept that Barnes' view on art education runs exactly counter to the main line of art historical theory. Art history is all about understanding the context behind the works, and why painters painted what they did, when they did.

Barnes' view, as I already mentioned, is completely formal. It's all about color, form and space. It's about why a painting works or doesn't, and Barnes hated the concept of psychoanalyzing a painter through their works with a burning passion (this is why there are so few Picassos in the collection; you can't understand Picasso's work without knowing what he was doing and who he was sleeping with at the point at which the work was made).

His hanging style (and I think I'm one of the few who loves it) was based on the same formal considerations, and doesn't make sense in any other context.

When Barnes wanted was to keep annoying art historians (like myself) out of his galleries to keep them and the discussion of the work "pure". He also hated people who went to museums to socialize, rather than to look at the art and be transformed by it, which is a position I can sympathize with.

[phillycat]

He responded to letters with exceptionally rude and funny replies. He frequently pretended to be his own secretary on the phone, and would tell people that Dr Barnes was too drunk/insane to takes their calls.

Can I just say, if I were megarich this would be an awesome way to behave.

apples, it's not as hard to get to as you think. you can almost always get a ticket the day before if you call, except holidays. there's a public bus that goes there (I forget which one, but they can tell you), and it's not really far from the city at all.

it's certainly worth seeing in its original habitat, and if you like modern art your mind will be blown. it will be interesting to see what people who never saw the original setting make of the new one.

btw, has anyone here seen the new noguchi garden at the PMA? yeah, I know, it's covering a parking garage, but I really like it.

[five apples]

Can I just say, if I were megarich this would be an awesome way to behave.

apples, it's not as hard to get to as you think. you can almost always get a ticket the day before if you call, except holidays. there's a public bus that goes there (I forget which one, but they can tell you), and it's not really far from the city at all.

it's certainly worth seeing in its original habitat, and if you like modern art your mind will be blown. it will be interesting to see what people who never saw the original setting make of the new one.

btw, has anyone here seen the new noguchi garden at the PMA? yeah, I know, it's covering a parking garage, but I really like it.

I would have to take a day off, and when you only get ten a year it is just not a priority.

[Mr Morley]

Can I just say, if I were megarich this would be an awesome way to behave.

That's one of the reasons I have a soft spot for the crazy old man. He wasn't even megarich, but his collection allowed him to play games with people who were much wealthier and more powerful than himself. And because he had no part in Society, there was no way for them to get back at him.

I've been thinking about the effects that the new Barnes will have on the art world. Until very recently, nothing much was written about the paintings in the collection and their position in various artists oeuvres, as the works were impossible to see and one couldn't get color transparencies of them until 1996.

I think new building and the exposure of the collection to a wider audience will do two major things in the art world: it will increase interest in Matisse immensely, as Barnes owned some of the best works Matisse painted. Even with the attention he currently gets, Matisse is still underrated, and still trapped in Picasso's shadow.

And (and this will probably be the earth-shatterer) it will make clear to the world at large what a poor and uneven painter Cezanne really was. People have only been exposed to Cezanne's first-rate (and some second-rate) work up to this point. Barnes owned 69 works, and some of them are really clunkers (on the upside, several are masterpieces).

I'm also curious to see what happens when people see the 161 (mostly late) Renoirs in the collection. Renoir started out as a porcelain painter in Limoges, and he came back to it at the end of his life.

[Phillyurban8]

These are all good replies and they do help to fill in the blanks.

I think it's time to make a trip to the Barnes Foundation. I'd like to see the art exactly as Barnes had intended it to be seen.

[five apples]

I'm also curious to see what happens when people see the 161 (mostly late) Renoirs in the collection. Renoir started out as a porcelain painter in Limoges, and he came back to it at the end of his life.

Renoir might be my favorite painter.

[supersupper]

.....What they didn't want was lots of traffic -- tour buses pulling up to the Barnes to disgorge their contents, a large parking lot on the site, that sort of thing........ All they wanted was that the parking be located somewhere other than on the Foundation grounds. Apparently, an agreement had been reached with the Barnes board to produce an off-site parking solution -- which Glanton then promptly discarded after becoming the Barnes board's head. That then led to the dueling lawsuits that ultimately drained the Barnes endowment completely.

That kinda puts the whole Barnes saga in a completely different light -- and exonerates the neighbors to a large extent.

Parking for the new location (loading dock separate from the parking lot, unloading dock separate from the parking lot), is for the pleasure of staff and students. It continues the legacy of the Barnes Foundation (not necessarily Barnes himselfy), and the Parkway (with the sole exception of the Rodin Museum, whose layout the architects trashed).

[snick33]

These are all good replies and they do help to fill in the blanks.

I think it's time to make a trip to the Barnes Foundation. I'd like to see the art exactly as Barnes had intended it to be seen.

Wait a sec..Are you the OP that said "it's NOT the same"?

How can you make a statement like that if you have never even been there?

[Mr Morley]

Renoir might be my favorite painter.

His late (post 1900) work has always been looked down upon (to the point that I'm having trouble finding images online). They're mostly Rubenesque women bathing, painted in a sweet, slick style based in china painting.

The PMA owns a late "masterpiece", a large bathing group painted very near the end of his life, which they keep hung in a far corner of the Impressionism galleries, where I think they hope no one will notice it (a painting not to be confused with his 1887 work also in their collection). It makes me giggle every time I see it, as the shiny pink women look like they were inflated with bicycle pumps.

Picasso (who had a weakness for bad art) loved late Renoir, and actually owned a couple of them.

Interestingly, the PMA is putting on a show of Renoir's late works next year: Philadelphia Museum of Art - Exhibitions : Upcoming Exhibitions

[phillycat]

I would have to take a day off, and when you only get ten a year it is just not a priority.

you don't get weekends off?

IMHO not a big fan of the Renoirs or the Cezannes in the Barnes. But the Matisses and especially the Manets are a revelation. There are some very fine Picassos and my personal favorite VanGogh, the one of the Postmaster. The Soutines are also deeply disturbing. Those are the ones that stick with me from my visits, although there is so much there I'm sure I'd find other favorites on other visits. I'm looking forward to being able to spend much more time with them on the Parkway.

I have heard that they are really stepping up the scholarship in preparation for the move. Many of the works are only widely available in VERY poor reproductions.