Commentary and Essays - Archive
Commentary,
Op-Ed pieces, Blogs, Essays
September 24, 2007
Culture
Girl put it all together on her blog for Arts
"It takes a music critic to solve the Barnes problem."
Full story
September 22, 2007
ArtsWatch: The Wind Began to Shift
http://blogs.phillynews.com/inquirer/ArtsWatch/2007/09/the_wind_began_to_shift.htmlPosted
by Peter Dobrin, music critic of The Philadelphia Inquirer
"There's a change in the air surrounding the Barnes Foundation's proposed
move to Center City. Some part of that feeling, admittedly subjective,
is hard to pin down. Other aspects of a possible change are more tangible.
For one thing, Judge Ott has told Barnes trustees that they have some
explaining to do. "
Full
story
“Barnes to downtown Philly? A Bad Move,” Christopher
Hawthorne, architecture
critic for Los Angeles Times
“Relocating the collection to
a new home in Philadelphia isn’t a good idea but architects have trouble
saying ‘no’”
Full
story
“We Had to Destroy the Village to Save It” by
Richard Lacayo in TIME’s blog,
The financial problems of the Foundation are real, but the snatch-and-grab
solution of relocating the collection to Philadelphia is no solution
at all. It isn't salvation. It isn't even euthanasia. It's death
by disembowelment.
Full
story
“Burying Albert Barnes in the Philly MegaBarnes,” by
Lee Rosenbaum, CultureGrrl
The dutiful recreation of the old Barnes room layouts and art installations,
as a small portion of the much greater whole, will reduce his galleries
to an anachronistic time capsule, diminishing rather than celebrating
his spirit and achievement.
Full
Story
Ada Louise Huxtable, architecture
critic for the Wall Street Journal, reacts
to “Burying Albert Barnes” (CultureGrrl, above)
I simply cannot believe that anyone is seriously considering reproducing
the old rooms in the wrongheaded assumption that this will somehow
make it all okay.
Full Story
Excerpt from “Giver’s Remorse,” by
Tyler Green in FORTUNE
The most notorious donor-intent case involves the Barnes Foundation.
Full
Story
“The Barnes Commission: Where are Architecture’s
Conscientious Objectors?”
Lee Rosenbaum, CultureGrrl (blog) : Full
story
“Keep the Barnes, and Build Another “ by
Nancy Herman, Philadelphia
Inquirer
Contemplating this problem of the Barnes Foundation
and the desire of the City of Philadelphia to make hay out of the collection,
I have come up with an idea I think could satisfy all involved. It
would honor the ideas of Albert C. Barnes, create many new reasons
to visit Philadelphia, and keep the original foundation intact.
Full Story
Statement of Marie C. Malaro from Friends of the Barnes Forum&
It is very important for the public to understand that the true losers
in the Barnes Case are the people of the state of Pennsylvania, not just
those arguing against the move of the Barnes Collection to downtown Philadelphia.
I say this because the Barnes decision sets a frightening precedent for
other nonprofits in the state - a precedent orchestrated by powerful
political and financial interests without regard for the long-term consequences
for the public.
Full Story
“Invest in Barnes where it is” by Jim Gerlach in the Philadelphia
Inquirer
Gov. Rendell's proposal to spend $25 million in
taxpayer money to facilitate the move of the Barnes Foundation collection
from its rightful home in Merion, Montgomery County, to the Ben Franklin
Parkway in Philadelphia is a shortsighted and ill-advised decision…This
$25 million would be enough to keep the Barnes Foundation solvent in
Merion, making the move to Philadelphia unnecessary.
Full Story
“Behind the Barnes Bonanza” by David D’Arcy
in
Artnet
Coincidentally, Rendell's announcement of the $25-million grant came
on the same day the Pennsylvania state legislators cut a $25-million
appropriation to the Philadelphia school district. More school cuts are
planned. Rendell noted at the announcement of the $25-million grant that
the Barnes might well receive more state money.
Full Story
“Losing the Barnes is Not An Option” by Robert Zaller
The plan to steal the Barnes from its rightful home
in Lower Merion is built on three fallacies. The first is that it is a done deal,
and that all further resistance--or even discussion--is fruitless. The
lie is that the Barnes’ neighbors are hostile to it, and that
local opinion is resigned or indifferent. The third is that the
Barnes has no choice but to move because its financial problems can be
solved only by relocation to the Ben Franklin Parkway.
Full Story
The Barnes and Historic Preservation – A Long Note by Robert Zaller
But the Barnes is not another covered bridge somewhere;
it is an institution of world renown, and one of the world's
great art repositories. It is also a unique entity, the confluence
of one man's vision at a moment of our country's social, political, and
cultural history, and his astonishing realization of it.
Full Story
“Art World Omertà” by Eric Gibson
in The Wall St. Journal
Why is a museum association sitting on the sidelines of a major debate?
From time to time AAMD has taken a public position on an issue, most
notably…when it convened a task force on art stolen by the Nazis;…While
the Barnes situation isn't on that order of magnitude, it is the next
most important museum issue of our time. Yet AAMD has remained silent.
Full Story
“Intentions Be Damned!” by Tom. L. Freudenheim
Donors of art often find themselves betrayed, The Wall St. Journal
This will certainly change the Barnes Foundation from a school with serious,
if eccentric, principles to a sexy destination venue for gawkers of this sort
of art -- even though that's just what Dr. Barnes did not want for his art.
Even more shocking is the fact that all of this has been done with the collusion
of local museums and foundations.
Full Story
“Untouchable” by Peter Schjeldahl in The New Yorker
You
don't view the installation so much as live it, undergoing an experience
that will persist in your memory like a love affair that taught you some
thrilling, and some dismaying, things about your character. If there
were other places like the Barnes, dispensing with it would not be tragic.
But one minus one is zero.
Full Story
Friends of the Barnes Foundation Forum Statement by Robert Zaller
Lord Elgin took the Elgin Marbles from Greece. The Nazis
looted art from all over Europe. Now the Pew Charitable Trusts
and their co-conspirators are trying to destroy the Barnes Foundation
Full Story
“Art For Sale” by Michael Lewis in Commentary
Barnes’s little reliquary of a museum—designed by Paul
Cret, sculpted by Jacques Lipschitz, and painted by Henri Matisse—was
designed for the objects it contains. It was, one might say, an installation
piece, on a grand scale. Dismantled into its constituent parts and
removed from its context, it will offer something far diminished—an
instance of more people getting to see less.
Full Story
“The Barnes should stay put”by Edward J. Sozanski in the Philadelphia
Inquirer
I wouldn't blame Judge Stanley Ott if he envied King Solomon….Determining
a baby's real mother was child's play.
Full Story
“Philadelphia Story” A Review of Art Held Hostage by John
Anderson.
By Eric Gibson, Arts Editor of The Wall St. Journal
Mr. Anderson notes that H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, head of the eponymous
foundation, is also chairman of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. All three of
the Barnes-interested foundations are major donors to the museum. And that's
just the beginning of the web of influence surrounding this proposed deal.
Reading about it, one finds it hard not to conclude that the fix is in: Sooner
or later, Albert Barnes's paintings will be keeping company with John G. Johnson's.
Full Story
The Barnes Files, an essay series.
Friends of
the Barnes Foundation produces an essay series in cooperation with The
Main Line Times, in Ardmore, Pennsylvania to engage people to
think about the history and fate of the Barnes Foundation in Merion.
“More Than an Art Collection” by Sandy Bressler
People say, “What’s wrong with moving the Barnes art collection
to Philadelphia? It will stay intact and remain in the region.” This
line of thinking ignores the fact that the Barnes is much more than an art collection.
Full Essay
“Barnes and Education” by Jay Raymond
It is my contention that those in favor of moving the art cannot understand
what sort of education Dr. Barnes nurtured and intended, for if they
did, this plan to move the art would make them weep, as I do when
I contemplate what will be lost.
Full Essay
“Eakins, Barnes, and a Great City” by Evelyn Yaari and Sandy
Bressler
Great cities celebrate and protect their cultural
heritage. Rather
than move the Barnes art collection to Philadelphia, let a shuttle bus
move visitors from Philadelphia to the Barnes. On the return trip,
they would see an exquisite panorama of a truly great city, a generous
city that acts wisely and honorably with the region’s artistic
legacies.
Full Essay
“A Grateful Student” by Michelle Osborn
I’m a graduate of Smith College, I learned Spanish at the University
of Madrid… yet the most exciting educational experience of my
long life was at the Barnes Foundation in Merion, PA.
Full Essay
“Hostile Neighbors or Concerned Citizens?” by Evelyn Yaari
In June of last year, I joined Friends of the Barnes Foundation,
the organization opposing the plan to move the artwork of the Barnes
from Merion to Philadelphia and decided to throw myself into a personal
street campaign…
Full Essay
“Visionary Collectors” by Nancy Herman
When the average Philadelphian was of the opinion
that Modigliani was an exotic pasta, that nothing African could be considered ‘art’ and
that Renoir was a pornographer, Albert C. Barnes was collecting this
art.
Full Essay
“A Civic-Minded Woman” by Margot Flaks
Its Merion location is as much a part of the Barnes as its art and
there is no other place quite like it.
Once destroyed, there can be no willing it back.
Full Essay
“Missing in Action -The Attorney General” by Aram Jerrehian
The Attorney General is missing in action. Not Tennessee’s
Attorney General…But rather, Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, whose
office is charged with overseeing nonprofit corporations and reviewing
the actions of trustees of trust.
Full Essay
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