The Barnes Foundation Permitted To Relocate By Court Order

Written by Randy Kennedy Saturday, 14 November 2009 22:50

PHILADELPHIA, PA - Leaders from Philadelphia's arts and philanthropic communities are celebrating the groundbreaking for the new downtown home of the Barnes Foundation. The groundbreaking Friday morning comes after years of legal battles over the future of the foundation and its multibillion-dollar art collection. Despite an unmatched collection of Matisses, Picassos, Cezannes and Renoirs, the Barnes said it would go broke if it stayed in its suburban Merion location. Barnes board chairman Bernard Watson told the crowd of 200 guests that the move guarantees the collection will be protected and its mission will be preserved.

After years of battles over theBarnes Foundation’s plan to bypass its charter and bylaws and move its art collection from suburban Merion, Pa., to downtown Philadelphia, the foundation broke ground on Friday for its new home, designed by the architectsTod WilliamsandBillie Tsien. A 2004 court ruling permitted the foundation, which has struggled financially, to go against the wishes ofAlbert C. Barnes, who built the collection and stipulated that no picture in it could be lent, sold or moved from the walls of the galleries that he built for it in Merion, PA.

JudgeStanley R. Ottof the Montgomery County Orphans’ Court said in the ruling that he considered the move “the only viable alternative” to save the Barnes from bankruptcy. But opponents — a couple dozen of whom protested on Friday morning outside the groundbreaking ceremony, above, waving signs with messages including: “Crime Scene. Do Not Enter. Destruction of National Historic Landmark in Progress” — contend that the collection’s financial troubles are surmountable and that the move is motivated primarily by the Philadelphia political establishment’s desire to generate more downtown tourism. “This is not about art — it’s about politics,” saidEvelyn Yaari, a member of Friends of the Barnes Foundation, which organized the protest.

The Barnes Foundation was established by Albert C. Barnes in 1922 to "promote the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts." Located in a twelve-acre arboretum, the Foundation is home to one of the world's largest collections of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and early Modern paintings, with extensive holdings by Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne, Renoir and Modigliani, as well as important examples of African sculpture. The Gallery andArboretumare open to the public and courses in aesthetics and horticulture are available through the education department.

Born in a working class Philadelphia neighborhood in 1872, Barnes received a B.S. degree from Central High School in Philadelphia and, at the age of twenty, his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. He also studied chemistry and pharmacology at the University of Berlin, and at the Ruprecht-Karls-Univerität in Heidelberg, where he befriended German scientist Herman Hille.

Back in America, Hille and Barnes developed a new antiseptic silver compound, Argyrol, and formed the firm of Barnes & Hille in 1902. In 1907, Barnes bought out his partner and in 1908 established the A. C. Barnes Company in Philadelphia. The success of this endeavor provided Dr. Barnes with a sizable fortune.

As the setting for the Foundation, Barnes and his wife Laura purchased a twelve-acre arboretum in Merion, near Philadelphia, owned by lawyer, Civil War veteran, and horticulturist Joseph Lapsley Wilson. Wilson served as the director of the Arboretum and as a Foundation trustee until his death in 1928.

Barnes hired the noted French architect Paul Philippe Cret (architect of the Ben Franklin Bridge and the Rodin Museum) to design the Gallery and attached residence (now the administration building), which were completed in 1925. He commissioned bas-reliefs by the sculptor Jacques Lipchitz, and tile work using African designs and themes by Enfield Pottery and Tile Works, to adorn the building.

Barnes was particularly noted not only for his collection of Modern art, but also for his early and vigorous collecting of African art. While his contemporaries collected African art as examples of "primitive" cultural artifacts, Barnes was outspoken in his view of African art as a major art form that was at least as aesthetically important as other major art movements and traditions. As a child, Barnes had attended African American camp revival meetings with his mother, who was a devout Methodist. It was at those religious retreats that Barnes developed an appreciation for African American culture, especially music and creative expression. In addition to collecting African art, Barnes was seriously involved in African American social and cultural issues, and supportive of African-American artists.

Visit the Barnes Foundation at : http://www.barnesfoundation.org/

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