Jun25 |
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Barnes Backers Dead Serious About It
Although the Barnes Foundation is pretty much set to move to Philadelphia — at this rate, I expect it to be in Philly just in time for the tricentennial — those rapscallions at Broad Street Review are still protesting the move. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but apparently people are writing letters to editor Dan Rottenberg — or stopping him on the street, maybe — saying it’s a done deal so his publication should stop writing about it. Let’s take a look:
I expect future columns in the BSR on why the United States should not re-instate slavery. And maybe we can get some sort of “underground railroad” to sneak the Barnes paintings back to the suburbs. ‘It’s a done deal’ [Broad Street Review] |
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Remember. You heard this prediction here. City land won’t be provided and low and behold….the Barnes Foundation will go hat in hand to court and be allowed to move the collection into the welcoming arms of The Philadelphia Art Museum.
Mark D. Schwartz,Esq.
This is just plain highway robery. Or as Ed Sozanzky put it last Sunday, “the most audacious art heist in American history.” What shocks me is not that the art community beyoond Philadelphia is somewhat silent on this matter.
We tend to think of this as Philadelphia and Lower Merion. This issue is MUCH bigger than that….
No part of the Barnes Foundation or its collection should move. At issue is more than just the magnificent art. The entire setting has significance to Philadelphia, to the region, and to art history. One of the reasons that the collection exists in a building designed by Paul Cret specifically to house it has to do with the fact that in 1925 Dr. Barnes was essentially ostracized from the powerful and wealth “art establishment” in Philadelphia. They wanted nothing to do with him or his art. He held true to his singular quirky vision and persisted in building a collection that is now coveted by powerful and wealth forces in Philadelphia. If we really want to promote regionalism, LEAVE THE BARNES WHERE IT IS.
The Barnes has been in Lower Merion for 85 years. The relationship and accessibility that Lower Merion has to Philadelphia has changed significantly in that time. It will change again in the next 50-85 years. Philadelphia should be looking at promoting regionalism—at really taking advantage of what the total experience of visitors to the REGION includes.
The story of how and why the collection was built and why it is located where it is holds lessons we should learn from. Lessons that are significant to Philadelphia and to art history. But no one seems to want to learn.
My visit to the recent Frieda Kahlo exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art was rewarding. But as I moved through the carefully controlled crowd to peer over under and around the other equally interested visitors, I was saddened by the thought that Dr. Barnes’ collection would be subject to that same fate. Stand in a line— move thru the crowd in a timed sequence to do the best you can to see the art.
How many of the individuals who want to see the Barnes moved have actually had the opportunity to be profoundly moved the visiting the collection in Lower Merion, sitting on a bench in the center of the room and absorbing the amazing collection that Dr. Barnes amassed?
I for one have always found it to be a bit cumbersome to make Barnes Foundation reservations, but I have always been able to make a visit when I felt the need. Visiting the Barnes is a powerful experience. My visits there leave me exhausted and renewed at the same time. Each and every visit there is by far the most powerful art experience I have ever had. Please don’t take that away.
Again to repeat Ed Sozanzski, “Before you know it, a unique bit of Americana will have become just another routine stop on the Gray Line tours.”
Dear Joan,
Articles like your should enlighten even the most dim amongst us.
Thank you