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News - Archive

February 26, 2011
“Hearing could reopen case of Barnes art move,” by Robert Moran in The Philadelphia Inquirer
”A Montgomery County judge has ordered a hearing that could reopen the case of the Barnes Foundation's move from its home in Lower Merion Township to the Parkway in Philadelphia. “
Full Story

February 25, 2011
“Judge sets hearing date in Barnes Foundation case,”  The Associated Press
“The judge who cleared the way for the legendary Barnes Foundation art collection to relocate to Philadelphia has ordered a new hearing in the contentious case.”
Full Story

February 18, 2011
“Barnes move faces a new legal challenge,” by Stephan Salisbury in The Philadelphia Inquirer
“The move of the Barnes Foundation art collection from Lower Merion to a new museum on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway is again under legal assault. “
Full Story

February 17, 2011
“New petition filed to challenge move of Barnes Foundation's art to Philadelphia,” by Cheryl Allison in Main Line Media News
"The Friends of the Barnes Foundation announced this afternoon that an attorney representing the group has filed a petition with Montgomery County Orphan’s Court Judge Stanley R. Ott, asking him to reopen his 2004 decision to permit the gallery in Merion to move its priceless art collection to a new facility in Philadelphia."
Full Story

Feb. 17, 2011
“Opponents of Barnes Foundation move ask judge to reopen case,
” by JoAnn Loviglio for The Associated Press
“Opponents of a plan to bring The Barnes Foundation's extensive art collection to Philadelphia asked the judge who approved the move to reopen the case, contending that a recent documentary brought to light misconduct by then-Attorney General Mike Fisher to deceive the court and force the controlling board to go along with the relocation.
Full Story

January 16, 2011
“Elite want a new Barnes, masses are paying for it,” by Joseph N. DiStefano in The Philadelphia Inquirer
“For most of us who can't tell a Cassatt from a Cézanne without a guidebook or a Moore College student to light the way, the long, nasty fight over moving the late Albert C. Barnes' art collection from Merion to the Ben Franklin Parkway has seemed, how you say, abstract.”
Full story

January 2, 2011
“Protesters gather to keep the Barnes in Merion,” by Christopher K. Hepp in The Philadelphia Inquirer
“It ain't over till it's over. So the Friends of the Barnes Foundation contended Sunday as a contingent of about 45 protesters led a vigil across from the Merion gallery built by the late Albert C. Barnes to house his spectacular collection of art.”
Full story
To see Philadelphia Inquirer photographer Ed Hille’s photos of Barnes Day, go to: www.philly.com/philly/gallery/Vigil_protests_move_of_Barnes_Museum.html

December 3, 2010
“One last billion for the road,” Editorial, The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Such a large request so close to the end of a governor's tenure is unsettling. While most of the money would pay for work already under way, there would be little transparency and no accountability for a lame-duck governor picking winners and losers among other projects.”
Full story

December  2, 2010
“$1 billion bond proposal for Pennsylvania draws objections” by Angela Couloumbis and Tracie Mauriello in The Philadelphia Inquirer 
“Politics - and the reality of the recession - might stand in the way of the Rendell administration's plan to borrow $1 billion to help finance public-improvement and other construction projects across the state.”
Full story

December 2, 2010
“State Officials Give Hope To Anti-Barnes Move Forces” by Judith H. Dobrzynski on Real Clear Arts
A report in yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer gives new life to those who oppose the move of the Barnes Foundation into downtown Philadelphia (including me).
Full story

August 19, 2010
“ $500,000 Barnes Foundation grant questioned ,” by Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, Culture Monster blog

 “An obscure but important early player in the now widely criticized plan to move the Barnes Foundation's unique collection of Post-Impressionist, early Modern and other art from a residential suburb to a redevelopment area five miles away in downtown Philadelphia came under fire at the agency's Wednesday board meeting after months of mounting complaints.

The Delaware River Port Authority, a Camden, N.J.-based regional transportation agency for southern New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania, has been sharply rebuked for what Bloomberg News called "nepotism and conflicts of interest" in its operations. The Port Authority last year collected almost $300 million in bridge tolls, commuter rail fares and other revenue.

In January 2003 the Delaware River Port Authority allocated $500,000 to the Barnes Foundation to help relocate the art collection to Philadelphia. The unusual transit authority grant came almost two years before a local court made a controversial ruling that allowed the move.”
Full story  

 

May 31, 2010
“No Museum Left Behind,” by Lance Esplund in The Weekly Standard

“Moving through the Barnes Foundation, you feel immersed in a complete work of art, as you do when deep in the nave of a Gothic cathedral. The Barnes seems wonderfully timeless and out of place. The world and the works of art are in sync. Mature trees can be viewed through tall windows—the arcs of their branches echoing pictures’ arabesques. The only sounds are of the occasional bird outside, the measured movements of a handful of visitors, the creak of old parquet beneath your feet. Artworks flirt and flit. Parts of paintings, like flashes of jewels or glimpses of flesh, pull and lure you from one to the next. 
No matter how much you know about the Barnes Foundation—no matter how often you’ve been told that it houses the most important collection of Impressionist, Postimpressionist, and early Modern art in the world—nothing, especially its deceptively small scale, prepares you for the experience inside the museum.”

To continue reading, go to http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/no-museum-left-behind

To contact The Weekly Standard:
1150 17th Street, NW
Suite 505
Washington, DC 20036
E-mail: editor@weeklystandard.com
202-293-4900

 

May 13, 2010
“Fund-raising work is on track for Barnes' move to Parkway,” By Stephan Salisbury in The Philadelphia Inquirer
“City officials said they did not require any economic-benefit analysis for the project.
"It's a pretty easy case from the city's perspective," said Duane Bumb, the city's senior deputy director of commerce. ‘If we were being asked to provide a public asset [in this case, the site on the Parkway] for a for-profit undertaking, we'd be requiring much more detail.’"
Full story

Same story with notes and commentary from FBF

April 26, 2010
“The Revenge of the Rich” (Die Rache der Reichen), by Lars Jensen in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (translation by Maureen Winterhager)
“The ‘Barnes on the Parkway’ is going to look like a cross between a multiplex cinema and an upside-down milk carton. The architects Williams/Tsien have attempted to reproduce the original galleries inside. Nicolai Ouroussoff, architectural reviewer for the NY Times, called the design the ‘best reason to leave the collection where it is.’”
Full story

April 1,2010
“The Battle Rages On,”
by Lauren F. Friedman in Main Line Magazine
“Inside the Paul Cret-designed house, art that has been collectively valued at billions of dollars crowds the walls alongside hinges and tools of all shapes and sizes. Wooden stools are pushed into corners, and painted dressers sit under gilded frames. The overall effect is one of organized chaos and complete sensory overload. It is unlike anywhere else in the world.”
Full Story

January 1, 2010
”The Barnes Collection is not being saved, it is being stolen,”
by Richard L. Feigen.  Commentary in The Art Newspaper
“The biggest heist in history is afoot, some $20bn to $30bn worth. On 13 November, ground was broken in Philadelphia on a fake reconstruction of the Barnes Foundation.”
Full story

November 23, 2009
“Barnes Storm” by Judd Tully in Art & Auction
http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/33284/barnes-storm/
“…And the naysayers are lones-stormoking to get a boost from the wide release on February 26 of The Art of the Steal, a documentary film about how moneyed interests commandeered the foundation to bring the art to the city.”
Full story

November 13, 2009
"Barnes Foundation Breaks Ground For New Home In Philadelphia,” by Randy Kennedy in The New York Times “Arts, Briefly"
“…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.”
Full story

“Barnes Foundation breaks ground in Philadelphia,” by Joann Loviglio for The Associated Press
"…The very last thing we should do is dismantle it," she said, "and good practices tell us that we should conserve the authentic and not undertake actions that cannot be undone."
Full story

 

November 3, 2009
Critic's Notebook: "The Art of the Steal: The Untold Story of the Barnes Foundation,"by Christopher Knight on Culture Monster, the LA Times blog
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/11/barnes-.html
“The Art of the Steal: The Untold Story of the Barnes Foundation” is a riveting — and tragic — documentary film chronicling the gratuitous ruin of a school outside Philadelphia that houses an incomparable art collection. It's a classic story of destroying the village in order to save it.

Except this little saga comes with an unexpected twist: “Saving” the Barnes turns out to have been a sham, as the title's claim of artful theft implies. (Full disclosure: I was interviewed for the film and appear, uncompensated, in it.) That slowly evolving turn of events finally leaves a viewer slack-jawed and angry.
Full story

 

October 15, 2009
“Marty and Inga, did the dog eat your homework?”  by Evelyn Yaari in The Main Line Times
“Things must be getting desperate. No less than much-admired “Radio Times” host Marty Moss-Coane and Philadelphia Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron have used the airwaves to spread lies about the Barnes controversy.”
Full story

 

October 12, 2009
“The Barnes Foundation:  Beauty Surrounded By Controversy,” by Ed Voves in California Literary Review
“The Barnes Foundation, located in the Philadelphia suburb of Merion, PA, is by varying degrees a temple of art, an experiment in democratic education and a bit of paradise brought down to earth.”
Full story

 

October 7, 2009
 “Architects Reimagine the Barnes Collection,“by Nicolai Ouroussoff in The New York Times
“Can a design convey an institution’s feelings of guilt? That’s the question that came to mind when I saw the plans for the new Barnes Foundation in downtown Philadelphia, which are scheduled to be unveiled on Wednesday.”
Full Story

 “Populism and Propriety,” by Julia Harte in City Paper
Don Argott's ballad of the Barnes Foundation hits the silver screen. “It's a story that needs to be told," says Aram Jerrehian
Full story

 “Barnes’ film a hit with locals at NYC debut,” by Cheryl Allison in The Main Line Times
“Boarding a bus outside New York’s Lincoln Center after midnight for the trip back to Merion last week, members of a group fighting the Barnes Foundation’s move to Philadelphia were anything but sleepy. They were energized.”
Full story

 “Barnes Foundation unveils concept plans of new museum on Parkway” by Cheryl Allison in The Main Line Times
“Nearly five years after a judge gave it permission to move its prized art collection, the Barnes Foundation was to provide the first glimpses of the new museum that will house it in Philadelphia yesterday.”
Full story

 

October 6, 2009
“Architect Robert Venturi slams planned Barnes Foundation move ,”
by Christopher Knight on the LA Times Culture Monster blog http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/

“Robert Venturi, the Pritzker Prize-winning architect and lifelong resident of Philadelphia, has written a stinging letter in opposition to a controversial plan to dismantle the suburban Barnes Foundation and relocate its unparalleled collection of postimpressionist and early Modern art from its specially designed 1925 building to a new, tourist-friendly structure near downtown.”
Full story

 

September 30, 2009
“The New York Film Festival, The Art of the Steal,” by Tom Hall, in  the blog “Back Row Manifesto” (Indie Wire)
http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/014761.html

“You can’t tell a good story without a strong point of view, without a sense of doing advocacy for both your subject and your own perspective, and so, when I am not throwing up in my mouth as people criticize documentaries for “playing with the facts”, I usually end up shaking my head in disbelief that anyone could possibly want what they’re asking for.”
Full story
More reviews on the documentary “The Art of the Steal” 

June 5, 2009
"Barnes move is a waste of philanthropy money," by Sandy Bressler, in The Philadelphia Inquirer

September 10,2009
“From Toronto to glory,”
by Steven Rea in The Philadelphia Inquirer

“…Of particular interest to Philadelphia-area residents, and art lovers the world over, is Don Argott's The Art of the Steal, a conspiracy theory-documentary about the Barnes collection and its controversial move from Merion to a new site on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.”
Full story

 

September 2, 2009
“Wake Up Philadelphia; Don’t Move the Barnes Foundation out of Merion,
” by Nancy Herman (Reader’s Response) in The Main Line Times

…What is obvious to anyone who is paying attention to the facts on the ground is that there is not enough money to build a fine museum on the Parkway even if the $156 million actually exists.
Full story

 

September 1, 2009
“To Move or Not to Move,”
by Eric Wills in Preservation (publication of The National Trust for Historic Preservation)

Ask Evelyn Yaari to describe the Barnes Foundation to someone who has never visited, and she'll say that's no easy task. ‘It's not like a museum. You walk through those gates onto the property, and you just know it's going to be something really different, really special.’
Full story

Karen Heller raises provocative points about the philanthropic future of our region ("Alarming decline in philanthropy," Tuesday). Albert Barnes was one of the "better rich people" whom Heller is saying we need now. The Barnes Foundation is his gift to the public. How ironic. What good are "better rich people" if their philanthropic deeds are undone after they die?
Full story

 

June 4, 2009
“Exhibitions axed as recession bites. US worst hit as sponsorship withdrawn and endowment wealth shrinks,” by Jason Edward Kaufman and Martin Bailey, The Art Newspaper

An Art Newspaper survey suggests that a growing number of exhibitions are being cancelled because of the recession.
Full story

 

June 2, 2009
"Alarming decline in philanthropy," by Karen Heller, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Less. In a country where General Motors declares bankruptcy, Americans are learning to deal with less of everything. Our region has less, too, including a dwindling pool of generous benefactors and civic leaders.
Full story

 

May 26, 2009
"Symbolism" The Art Law Blog
Friend of the Barnes Evelyn Yaari responds via email to my post last week wondering what difference it would make if the Delaware River Port Authority rescinded its $500,000 in funding for the move to Philadelphia.
Full Story

 

May 24, 2009
“Board at Barnes Foundation hopes to block move, By Lucas K. Murray, (lmurray@sjnewsco.com,) The Gloucester County Times

CAMDEN -- It's one of the unique collections of art in the world, filled with paintings by renowned French Impressionists set on the grounds of a picturesque arboretum in Pennsylvania's Montgomery County. But the artwork held at the Barnes Foundation is up for a possible move just a stone's throw over the Philadelphia city line. The relocation has been decried by art lovers, art critics and those in the community where the collection resides.
Full story

 

May 21, 2009
“Speakers Oppose Funds For Barnes’ Move To The City,” By Bradley Vasoli, The Bulletin

Camden, N.J.Opponents of moving the Barnes Foundation art collection from Merion to Philadelphia asked members of the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) to rescind $500,000 in funding for the move yesterday.
Full story

 

May 20, 2009
"Group Makes Last-Ditch Plea to DRPA to Stop Barnes Move," by KYW's Hadas Kuznits

A group that opposes moving the Barnes Foundation from Merion, Pa. to Philadelphia
attended a Delaware River Port Authority board meeting on Wednesday to try to get
the DRPA to reconsider allocating funds for the move.
Full story

 

May 20, 2009
"Greatest Theft of Art Since WWII,"  by Karen Araiza, NBC Philadelphia

Friends of the Barnes Foundation ask the DRPA to reconsider supporting the move into the city. The anti-movers had the megaphone Wednesday in the passionate fight over moving the Barnes Collection from the suburbs to the city.
Full story

 

December 11, 2008
“Discussion on Regionalism is Missing Something Big,”
by Evelyn Yaari in Main Line Life

Last Saturday afternoon, a forum called “The Big Canvas” was held at the Valley Forge Radisson, the culmination of a series of citizen forums on arts and culture in the region.  The findings show that arts and culture are valued by people and make a big contribution to the quality of life throughout the region. 
Full Story

 

December 2, 2008
“It's A No-Brainer” by Aram K. Jerrehian, The Bulletin

It was an aside voiced by a member as City Council deliberated leasing the land formerly occupied by the Youth Study Center (YSC) to the Barnes Foundation for a dollar a year. This prime real estate was the final piece in the puzzle to relocate the fabulous Barnes art collection five miles and fifteen minutes from its ancestral home in Merion. (Ironically, it presently exists only a few hundred feet from the city's border).  So controversial is the concept, that the new executive director of Barnes, Derek Gillman said in reference to its creator, Dr. Albert C. Barnes, "I think he's probably rotating in his grave."
Full Story

 

November 20, 2008
“The Barnes move: What a waste,”
by Nancy Herman, Main Line Times

In October, the Barnes Foundation had its so called 'ground breaking' event on the Parkway. One wonders as usual with all Barnes-related events in recent years what is really going on.
Full story

 

October 16, 2008
“Barnes stages symbolic groundbreaking on Parkway,” by Inga Saffron, The Philadelphia Inquirer
The symbolic groundbreaking, attended by the city's cultural and political elite, was
conceived as a splashy coming-out party for the Merion-based art institution, after years
fighting lawsuits aimed at blocking the transfer of its valuable collection of impressionist
art.
Full Story

 

October 16, 2008
“Demolition Begins for Barnes Move to City,”by Jenny DeHuff, The Bulletin

“Barnes is rolling over in his grave and has been doing so ever since these shenanigans bean nearly 20 years ago,” he said. 
Full Story

 

October 15, 2008
“Barnes Foundation: Philly home complete by '11,” by Joann Loviglio, Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Construction of The Barnes Foundation's new downtown home
is slated to be complete by the end of 2011, a timetable that comes after years of legal
battles over the future of the foundation and its multibillion-dollar art collection.
Full story

 

August 14, 2008

“Barnes Foundation fight enters Pa. politics,” by Nancy Petersen, Philadelphia Inquirer

John Morganelli, the Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania attorney general, said yesterday that the fight to keep the Barnes Foundation in its historical home was not over yet.
Full story

 

August 17, 2008

“Holy Picasso! The Brit at the centre of a £6bn art row,” by Charles Darwent, The London Independent

Derek Gillman is an English academic in charge of the biggest private collection of art in America. He is also the man accused of evicting this £6bn treasure from its rightful home – and of betraying the radical vision of the man who created (it).
Full story

 

August 14, 2008

“Morganelli Picks Up Key Endorsement,“ by Chris Reber, Queen City Daily, blog of The Allentown Morning Call

Yesterday, as reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Morganelli and Rocky were in Montgomery County to condemn the decision to move the Barnes Foundation to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, which could take a Balboa-like effort. Earlier this year a MontCo judge blocked the foundation's request to keep the collection in Lower Merion, despite Albert Barnes' last wishes.
Full story

 

August 14, 2008

"Keeping The Fight Going," by Bradley Vasoli, The Bulletin

Merion Station - Pa. Attorney-general candidate John Morganelli, D, yesterday promised to attempt, if elected, to reopen a case that permitted the Barnes Foundation's move from Merion Station to Philadelphia.
Full story

July 3, 2008

Judge Ott: Justice for Dr. Barnes is still 'in your court' by Aram K. Jerrehian Jr.

An open Letter to Judge Stanley Ott

DEAR JUDGE OTT:

Although I am honored to be associated with the volunteer group known as the Friend of the Barnes Foundation, I am writing this on my own behalf. Your recent ruling denying standing to the Petitioners, including the County of Montgomery, to reopen the proceedings regarding moving the collection to Philadelphia is distressing and perplexing.
Full story

 

June 30, 2008

"Gloves Off: Sozanski Socks the Barnes Move" by Lee Rosenbaum’s Cultural Commentary - Culturegrrl
Edward Sozanski (above), art critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer, has taken off the kid gloves and put on the boxing gloves, pummeling the proponents of moving the Barnes Foundation from Merion to Philadelphia. In doing so, he is battling his own newspaper's MegaBarnes-friendly news coverage, as well its editorial page's campaign in strong support of the Barnes move.
Full story

 

June 29, 2008

"Art: Friends of Barnes keep up the good fight," by Edward Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic
To paraphrase the eminent metaphysician L.P. Berra, an event has not concluded until
all activity associated with that event has ceased. By that measure, the 20-year struggle
for the body and soul of the Barnes Foundation might still have wobbly legs, even if,
legally, la guerre appears to be fini.

Although their last-gasp legal challenge to moving the fabulous Barnes collection to
Philadelphia has been peremptorily swatted aside by Judge Stanley R. Ott, the Friends
of the Barnes Foundation remain undaunted, at least for the record. "We have lost a
battle, but we have not been defeated," said Walter Herman, a leader of the group.
Full story

 

June 19, 2008

“When Politics Shows its Face, It’s Not Pretty,” by Evelyn Yaari  Main Line Times

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”   Albert  Einstein         

“On June 10 a delegation from Friends of the Barnes Foundation went to Norristown to meet the County Commissioners, our former allies in the effort to preserve the Barnes Foundation in Merion.  During the course of the hour and a half meeting, it became apparent that the politics that had made the Barnes cause useful for election purposes had run its course.  Commissioners Hoeffel and Matthews, previously totally committed to doing everything reasonable to preserve the Barnes, were caving in right before our eyes.”
Full story

 

June 25, 2008

"Postcards from Nowhere" by Jed Perl, The New Republic
I wish more museum directors and trustees understood how hungry--and how disgruntled--museumgoers in America really are. Again and again, people are pointed in precisely the wrong direction. It is depressing to think how many people have visited LACMA in recent months to see BCAM without sparing a minute for the Ahmanson Building. They literally do not know what they are missing.

...... Shortly after returning to New York, I went down to Philadelphia to visit the Barnes Foundation, a sacred place for anybody who loves modern art. And the news there is bad as well, for most likely the Barnes will soon be torn out of its historic home in suburban Merion and reconstituted as part of a projected museum district in downtown Philadelphia
Full story

 

June 11, 2008

“A last-ditch pitch” Commissioners hold closed-door meeting on Barnes issue by Margaret Gibbons, Times Herald

COURTHOUSE — With Monday’s deadline looming for an appeal, the Montgomery County commissioners still have not decided whether to pursue litigation aimed at keeping the renowned Barnes art collection in Lower Merion.

The county’s three commissioners Tuesday met behind closed doors for an hour and a half with members of Friends of the Barnes Foundation, a grassroots citizens’ organization opposed to moving the approximate $6-billion’s worth of Impressionist art to a new but not yet built museum in Philadelphia.
Full story

 

June 4, 2008
"Castor vows to continue fight to save Barnes" by Cheryl Allison, Main Line Life, Main Line Times    
The next twist in the long fight over the Barnes Foundation's proposal to move its art out of Merion may rest on a risky proposition: That Montgomery County commissioners can put aside their strained relationship and decide in the next days whether to appeal a recent court ruling.
Full story

June 13, 2008

"No decision regarding Barnes issue. Commissioners remain split on whether to file appeal" by Margaret Gibbons, Times Herald Staff
The Montgomery County Commissioners Thursday night did not reach a decision on whether to continue their legal efforts to keep the renowned Barnes art collection in Lower Merion. County Commissioner Bruce L. Castor Jr. made a motion to file an appeal of an unfavorable county court ruling, but it died for lack of a second.
Full story

June 3, 2008
“Castor:  I Was Not Consulted…,” by Jeff Cobb, The Bulletin
Last week, The Bulletin reported the commissioners would not appeal a May 15 ruling by Montgomery County Orphans Court rejecting their request to reopen a case from 2004 that had granted the Barnes permission to move. Judge Stanley Ott ruled that neither the county, nor co-petitioner the Friends of the Barnes Foundation, a citizens group, had legal standing.

The county had 30 days to appeal, and Wednesday its decision had been relayed by County Solicitor Carolyn Carluccio. She told The Bulletin that she had been clearly informed by commissioner chairman James R. Matthews (R), who in turn spoke for the commissioners. According to Mr. Matthews yesterday, however, it was simply a mistake.

Full story

 

May 17, 2008
“Group fighting Barnes move looks west for help” by Jeff Gammage, The Philadelphia Inquirer
After getting thumped in Montgomery County Orphans' Court, the people who want to keep the Barnes Foundation's art collection in Lower Merion are looking west for a strategy.
Full story

 

May 16, 2008
“Barnes move’s foes dealt new blow” by Derrick Nunnally, The Philadelphia Inquirer
A Montgomery County judge has thrown out an attempt to stop the Barnes Foundation's $5 billion art collection from moving to a new Philadelphia exhibition space.

The decision is a major defeat for opponents of the move, who have been fighting in court since 2002 to keep the foundation's dozens of Renoirs, Cézannes and Picassos hanging where Albert C. Barnes left them in Lower Merion Township when he died in 1951.
Full story

April10, 2008
“Barnes Foundation will take township up on its offer,”
by Cheryl Allison, Main Line Life/Main Line Times

Still preparing for a move to Philadelphia, the Barnes Foundation is taking a step to increase attendance at its Merion home in the meantime.
Full story

 

April 2, 2008
 “Barnes Foundation acts to boost revenues,” By Derrick Nunnally,  The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Administrators of the Barnes Foundation's art collection in Lower Merion Township announced a series of moves yesterday that could boost revenues at the cash-poor institution, which is mired in controversy over a planned move to Philadelphia.”
Full story

Clearing the record
A story in yesterday's Inquirer said the Barnes Foundation, in an effort to increase visitor access to the art collection, will be open Wednesday through Saturday during July and August. It will be open Wednesday through Sunday.

 

April 4, 2008
“The Barnes in Court:  Painting by the Numbers,” by  Robert Zaller, Main Line Life

“Follow the money.  It’s the first rule of business, and of politics.  The attempt to move the Barnes Foundation is about both.”
Full story

 

April 4, 2008
“Attorney general has pushed to move Barnes” or “Enough is Enough,” by Evelyn Yaari, Main Line Times

“Larry Barth is the representative of Attorney General Tom Corbett on the Barnes Foundation case.  Ralph Wellington is the attorney representing the Barnes Foundation.  They are not happy.  Despite their best efforts, the wheels on the escape vehicle hired to carry off the Barnes art collection are very wobbly and might just come off.”
Full story

March 27, 2008
 “Reopening Barnes’ case now up to judge,” by Cheryl Allison, Main Line Times, Main Line Life

NORRISTOWN – The Barnes Foundation and opponents of its plan to move the priceless art collection from Merion to Philadelphia were back in court Monday for the most substantial hearing in the matter in more than three years.
Full story

 

March 25, 2008
“Montco Judge Holds Hearing in Barnes Dispute,” by Amaris Elliott-Engel, The Legal Intelligencer

Following a hearing Monday in Montgomery Common Pleas Court over the efforts to relitigate a judge’s 2004 decision to allow the Barnes Foundation to move its $6 billion art collection to Philadelphia, attorneys representing both sides of the dispute expressed confidence, saying the law was on their side and predicting they would triumph in the case.
Full Story

 

March 25, 2008
“Foes of Museum’s Move Ask Judge to Reconsider", by Randy Kennedy in Arts, Briefly compiled by Lawrence Van Gelder, The New York Times

“Opponents of a plan to move the Barnes Foundation and its world-renowned art collection from a Philadelphia suburb to a downtown site asked a Pennsylvania judge on Monday to reconsider his 2004 decision allowing the relocation. 
Full Story

 

March 24, 2008
 “Tug-of-war over Barnes resumes” or “Opponents of Barnes Foundation move urge judge to reopen case,” by Derrick Nunnally, Philadelphia Inquirer

“It has been more than three years since a Montgomery County judge ruled that the Barnes Foundation's $6 billion art collection could move to Philadelphia. But opponents of the relocation yesterday implored the judge to reconsider his decision, contending a variety of new developments make it financially possible for the museum to stay in Merion.”
Full Story

 

March 24, 2008
“Barnes Friends ask judge to reopen case,”
By Derrick Nunnally, The Philadelphia Inquirer

The campaign to keep the Barnes Foundation from moving its $6 billion art collection from Lower Merion Township to Philadelphia was back to court this morning, as attorneys for Montgomery County and a group of art patrons and residents argued to have the case reopened.
Full Story

 

March 24, 2008
“Opponents urge Barnes Foundation to reopen move case,” by Joann Loviglio, Associated Press

Opponents of a plan to relocate The Barnes Foundaiton’s multibillion-dollar art collection to downtown Philadelphia on Monday asked the judge who approved the move to allow new hearings on the contentious issue.

The opponents have been trying to persuade Montgomery County Orphans’ Court Judge Stanley Ott, who has jurisdiction over Dr. Albert Barnes’ trust, to reconsider his 2004 decision.
Full Story

 

March 6, 2008
"Friends, Montco file Barnes' briefs; oral arguments next," by Cheryl Allison, The Main Line Times

Meeting a deadline Feb. 29, the Friends of the Barnes Foundation and Montgomery County each filed briefs asking Orphan's Court Judge Stanley Ott to set aside objections raised by the world-renowned art gallery and the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office and reopen the case of its proposed move from Merion to Philadelphia. Oral arguments in the matter are scheduled to begin in Norristown March 24.
Full Story

 

March 3, 2008
"Friends of the Barnes Fire Back," by Jim McCaffrey, The Bulletin

"Attorney Eric Spade, newly hired to represent the Friends of the Barnes, threw a flurry of punches in his opening round in the fight to keep the Barnes Foundation in Lower Merion. Whether any of them landed will be up to the judge to decide."
Full story

 

February 22, 2008
"Young Archivists Digs Up the Unknown Barnes," by Jim McCaffrey,The Bulletin

"Merion Station - Forgotten in all the headlines, animosity, disputes, rumors, old grudges, new grudges, lawyers, courtrooms, large sums of money and determined efforts to move a $6 billion art collection is the important, interesting and inspiring work being done by archivists at the Barnes Foundation." 
Full story

 

February 22, 2008
"Barnes and O'Keeffe Correspondence The Lost Correspondence Revealed," by Jim McCaffrey,The Bulletin

"Merion Station - Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) is well-known for being a great 20th-century American painter. Dr. Albert Barnes, we learn through his letters, had great respect for her but had trouble translating that respect to her paintings. " 
Full story

 

February 20, 2008
" The Barnes belongs in Merion," by Carmelle Yaari, Lower Merion High School Class of 2010
“The Barnes Foundation is not just an art collection.”
Full story

 

December 22, 2007
“New lawyer means delay in Barnes suit," by Diane Mastrull, The Philadelphia Inquirer

"The group fighting the proposed move to the Parkway now has its legal brief due Feb. 29, 2008.  Montgomery County Court Judge Stanley R. Ott yesterday gave the Friends of the Barnes Foundation an extra 60 days." 
Full story

 

December 18, 2007
“Friends Of Barnes Fires Its Attorney,” by Jim McCaffrey, The Bulletin

"Mark Schwartz, the outspoken legal face of the effort to keep the Barnes Foundation's art collection in Merion, was fired yesterday two weeks before a critical response is due."  
Full story

 

October 25, 2007
"It's not over yet.  Fight against Barnes move will now go 'to the next level," by Cheryl Allison, The Main Line Times, Main Line Life

"It may have lasted all of 15 minutes.  But in the high-stakes matter of othe Barnes Foundation's move from Merion to Philadelphia, what the first court date in three years lacked in substance, it made up for in drama."
Full story

 

October 20, 2007
"Fighting for the Barnes," Arts Briefly, by Randy Kennedy, The New York Times

"Opponents of a plan to move the Barnes Foundation and its world-renowned art collection from a Philadelphia suburb to a downtown museum quarter asked a Pennsylvania judge yesterday to reconsider his 2004 decision allowing the relocation."
Full story

 

October 19, 2007
"Judge Asked to Re-Examine Barnes Ruling," by Kathy Matheson of the Associated Press

"The judge who allowed The Barnes Foundation to move its multibillion-dollar art collection to Philadelphia should re-examine his ruling because he was not given accurate information before making the decision, a lawyer said Friday."
Full story

 

October 19, 2007
"A Barnes hearing with fireworks on the side,"
by Diane Mastrull, The Philadelphia Inquirer

"A routine court session over the latest attempt to block the Barnes Foundation art collection from leaving Merion for Philadelphia turned to drama today when a lawyer accused the judge of doing too little, too slowly, in the case."
Full story

 

October 1, 2007
" Judge to review Barnes planned relocation", by Jason Edward Kaufman, The Art Newspaper

"The trustees of the Barnes Foundation have been ordered by a US judge to respond to a petition filed in August by the Friends of the Barnes Foundation, the organization seeking to stop the foundation’s move from suburban Merion to a more profitable site in central Philadelphia." 
Full story

 

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
"Designs Solicited, Discussion Unwanted at the Barnes Foundation," by Nicolai Ouroussoff, The New York Times
"There are few places in the United States where art and viewer share a closer bond than the beloved old Barnes in suburban Merion, Pa. Dismantling it is a crime."
Full story

Also published in The International Herald Tribune  on September 26, 2007 under the title, "Eschewing public debate at the Barnes Foundation."

 

September 22, 2007
ArtsWatch: The Wind Began to Shift?
Posted 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

 

September 19, 2007
"Barnes experience can not be duplicated" , editorial by Susan Greenspon, The Main Line Times
"After what seemed a long drought in any action regarding the Barnes Foundation's move to Philadelphia, things seem to have kicked into high gear."
Full story

 

September 18, 2007
"Has Barnes' Vision Finally Been Realized? The synergy of art and incarceration," by Bruce Schimmel -- 'Loose Canon column' in Philadelphia City Paper 
"Today, Albo (Jeavons) is taking aim at a new boondoggle with "ArtJail," a send-up of the proposed Barnes Museum on the Parkway (www.artjail.org).
Full story

 

September 10, 2007
"One last try to keep Barnes art in its original home,"
by Christopher Knight, The Los Angeles Times
Petitioners give the judge who allowed the storied art collection's takeover by Philadelphia interests another chance to get it right.
"Nearly three years ago, the court approved moving the unique Pennsylvania school with the drop-dead $6-billion Modern art collection from suburban Lower Merion Township to downtown Philadelphia. The scheme wrecks the greatest American cultural monument of the early 20th century, so opponents are trying a last-ditch effort."
Full Story

 

August 30, 2007
"Group files petition to reopen Barnes case,"
by Cheryl Allison, The Main Line Times
"Friends of the Barnes asks Montco Orphans' court judge to oust current board of trustees. In a scathing, 79-page petition filed Monday, opponents of relocating the Barnes Foundation's priceless art collection from Merion to Philadelphia asked a judge to reopen the epic case."
Full Story 

 

August 28, 2007
"Arts, Briefly,"
by Robin Pogrebin, The New York Times
"In a petition filed yesterday, the Friends of the Barnes Foundation asked Judge Stanley R. Ott of the Montgomery County Orphans’ Court to rescind his permission for the financially troubled foundation to move Albert Barnes’s art collection to Philadelphia from its original home in Merion, Pa."  
Full Story 

 

August 28, 2007
"Barnes Friends:  Foundation Move Is Part of Conspiracy,"
by Jim McCaffrey, The Evening Bulletin                     
"In a petition submitted to the Montgomery County Orphan's Court, Schwartz claims the Barnes' board of trustees is so riddled with compromise and conflicts that the only way to protect the interests of the foundation and its indenture is to take the "drastic" step of putting the foundation into receivership."
Full Story 

 

August 28, 2007
"The Barnes filings, Part One ...,"
by Tyler Green, Modern Arts Notes                                "MAN is the first news outlet to report on the petition. The filing makes a strong argument that the case should be re-examined and that the Philly foundations who want to move the Barnes are behind their self-mandated schedule to move the Barnes, suggest a reason why, and note that Pew in particular may not have been completely honest with the public -- or the court."
Full Story

             

August 27, 2007
"Opponents urge U.S. Judge to reconsider Barnes Foundation's move,"
by JoAnn Loviglio, International Herald Tribune     
"Opponents of a plan to move The Barnes Foundation's multibillion-dollar art collection to Philadelphia filed a petition Monday asking a judge to reconsider his decision allowing the move."
Full Story

 

October 16, 2006
" What the court didn't know" , by Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
"Pennsylvania set aside funds to move the Barnes collection to downtown Philadelphia long before a judge's ruling allowed it."
Full Story

 

"Pushing to reopen Barnes proceedings," by Cheryl Allison, The Main Line Times
Opponents of the Barnes Foundation's move to Philadelphia have turned up the heat in their efforts to bring the matter back to court. In a letter to state Attorney General Tom Corbett dated last Friday, all three Montgomery County commissioners, joined by U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Sixth District) and Lower Merion Township Commissioner Brian Gordon, called on him to "immediately petition Montgomery County Orphans' Court to reopen proceedings pertaining to the Barnes Foundation.
Full Story

 

"Montco Seeks Out Attorney General over Barnes Role," by Jim McCaffrey, The Evening Bulletin
Montgomery County commissioners are demanding a reply from state Attorney General Tom Corbett to their request that the AG act on their behalf to protect the $3 billion Barnes Art Collection from a move to Philadelphia.
Full Story 

 

"Will the Barnes Foundation Stay Put?" Barnes Foundation Update, by Maryanna S. Phinn, LifeStyle Magazine
As the Barnes Foundation moves forward with its plans to move the institution's priceless art collection and art education program to Philadelphia, this small but growing citizens' group vows to prevent the change, calling the move 'unnecessary, willfully destructive and terribly wrong.
Full Story

 

"Last Gasp for Foes of Barnes Move," by Deborah Leavy, The Philadelphia Daily New
Many who have followed the brouhaha over the Barnes blame the institution's Merion neighbors for complaining about the Barnes years ago, and wonder why, as founders of Friends of the Barnes, they are now fighting to keep it in Merion. The neighbors say they have been misunderstood.
Full Story

 

"After 50 Years, the Barnes Way, Still," by Randy Kennedy, The New York Times
Mr. Sefarbi is often seen as more than just a veteran teacher of Barnes’s method. He has become a voluble, cane-carrying symbol of all the ethereal qualities that critics of the move fear may be lost in the foundation’s translation to a sleeker, more contemporary space.
Full Story

 

"Latest Plan for Barnes Rejected," by Cheryl Allison, Main Line Life                                     One day after the board of commissioners voted to adopt an ordinance raising limits on daily visitors, Derek Gillman, Barnes executive director, issued a statement saying that the increased revenues that might be realized "will not be sufficient to alter in a substantial way the adverse economic situation that caused our board of trustees to seek permission to move the gallery art collection."
Full Story

 

"Montco Cries 'Gross' Injustice, by Tom Infield, The Philadelphia Inquirer         
Referring to the uproar over Eakins, a coalition voiced its complaints about the Barnes move.       
Full Story

 

"Philly suburbs in last-ditch effort to keep Barnes art" by Michael Rubinkam, The Associated Press
The Barnes Foundation, whose suburban gallery holds a world-class trove of Cezannes, Picassos, Renoirs and van Goghs, has long claimed poverty as justification for breaking the will of its late founder and moving the art collection to downtown Philadelphia.

But a growing number of critics say the planned move has little to do with shoring up the foundation's shaky finances , and everything to do with the city's desire to claim the multibillion-dollar collection of French masterpieces and thousands of other paintings and objects for itself.
Full Story

 

"Montco Floats New Proposal to Keep Barnes", by Mari A. Schaefer, The Philadelphia Inquirer Montgomery County has a proposal to keep the Barnes Foundation in Lower Merion, save the taxpayers about $100 million and give the museum a $50 million endowment.
Full Story

 

"Montco's Barnes Offer Stuns," by Jim McCaffrey, The Evening Bulletin
Montgomery County yesterday made a stunning, historic attempt to keep Philadelphia from hijacking its great treasure, the Barnes Foundation and its $30 billion art collection in Merion.
Full Story

 

"Pennsylvania county bids for Barnes Foundation," staff writer, The Los Angeles Times 
A Pennsylvania county has offered to buy the buildings and grounds of the controversy-mired Barnes Foundation for $50 million or more, in an effort to thwart a plan to move the foundation's multibillion-dollar Impressionist and Modern art collection to a tourism district in neighboring Philadelphia.
Full Story

 

"Commissioners Plan Suit to Keep Barnes," by Jeff Shields, The Philadelphia Inquirer
With the move of the Barnes Foundation stalled by political gridlock in Philadelphia, officials in Montgomery County yesterday said they would sue to keep the famed art collection at its Merion home.
Full Story

 

"Barnes Moves to a Standstill," by Jim McCaffrey, The Evening Bulletin
It looks like it could be one step forward and two steps back for the Barnes Foundation.
Full Story

 

"City Committees OK Barnes Move," The Main Line Times
Philadelphia City Council's Joint Committees...voted Tuesday to approve a $10 a year lease to the Barnes Foundation...
Full Story

 

"Opponents Promise To Block," by Jim McCaffrey, The Evening Bulletin
"I am here today to ask you to help stop a robbery in progress," Robert Zaller, of the Friends of the Barnes, pleaded in his City Council testimony yesterday. "You, the members of the City Council, have just been asked to become the receivers of stolen goods. I ask you to reject this role."
Full Story

 

Board enlists Montco into campaign…, by J. Shields, Philadelphia Inquirer
Montgomery County will join Lower Merion Township and residents in their efforts to block the Barnes Foundation’s move to Philadelphia.
Full Story

 

L. Merion Neighbors Fight to Keep the Barnes, by J. Price, Philadelphia Inquirer
The Friends are also trying to get traction with the realization last year that the state legislature authorized more than $100 million for the move in 2002, two years before the court approved breaking Albert Barnes' will that stipulated the collection stay in Merion in perpetuity.
Full Story

 

A Conversation with Rebecca Rimel, by J. H. Dobrzynski                        
Ms. Rimel sees culture as one way the City of Brotherly Love…will thrive again.  “Philadelphia will keep its nose up if it has more product to offer.” 
Full Story

 

Was Barnes Foundation Crying Poor With $100 Million On The Way? by J. McCaffrey, Evening Bulletin
Neighbors of the Barnes Foundation in Merion, the people who have organized themselves into a group calling itself Friends of the Barnes, alleged Thursday a $100 million appropriation to move the Foundation to the Ben Franklin Parkway was quietly moved through the legislature prior to the public announcement that the Barnes would seek such a move.
Full Story

 

Rep. Gerlach blasts plan to move Barnes art to Phila., by Tom Schmidt, Phila. Daily News
U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach, R-Pa., wants to keep the Barnes Foundation at its home in Montgomery County and prevent it from moving to Philadelphia - and said he will introduce legislation seeking to accomplish that.  His bill would impose a penalty on any tax-exempt organization, in this case the Barnes Foundation, for accepting a donation that would be used to move the organization contrary to the intent of the donor, in this case the late Albert Barnes, he said.
Full Story

 

Who knew about the Barnes secret budget item? By B. Schimmel, City Paper                               
In 2001, somebody had to know about this $100 million. In 2004, they kept quiet as the court agonized over trashing Albert Barnes' indenture. To move forward, to help save the Barnes from the arrogant ministrations of Philly's culturati, we need to find out who knew. And who kept quiet.
Full Story

 

Behind the Barnes Bonanza, by David D’Arcy, Artnet
$25 million was added by Pennsylvania governor Edward G. Rendell to a fund that will relocate the Barnes Foundation to downtown Philadelphia, near the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The new Barnes, in a projected $100-million building, is being celebrated by local boosters as the eventual crown jewel of a museum mall in Philadelphia. Critics say the Barnes scheme does double-duty as a favor to some of Rendell's key political supporters.
Full Story

 

The Deal of the Art, by P. Horn, Philadelphia Inquirer 5/05p
Through interviews with more than 30 people and reviews of court records and correspondence, The Inquirer has pieced together what went on behind the scenes that year as Philadelphia politics and power clashed with a proud, historically black university in Chester County.
Full Story

 

Camp to Leave Barnes, by L. Solis-Cohen, Maine Antique Digest                                        
Camp led the Barnes Foundation during its successful court fight to relocate the multibillion-dollar art collection from Merion to Philadelphia and to turn the teaching institution into a tourist attraction on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in downtown Philadelphia. She said she will be available as a consultant, but she has been relieved of her day-to-day responsibilities.
Full Story

 

To the Editor, by K. Camp New York Times (2001)
The fix for the Barnes foundation is support, not relocation.
Full Story

 

Barnes’ Long Road, by Julia M. Klein, New York Times 
And while Merion residents and many art lovers lamented the impending loss of a charmingly intimate place to savor masterworks, officials here exulted in the prospect of a windfall for tourism and economic development.
Full Story

 

Scathing critique of Pa.'s Barnes role; by D. Steinberg and P. Horn, Phila. Inquirer /04                 
The judge blasted the Attorney General's Office for not amassing the financial data he now requests.
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.
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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

 

Email:  barnesfriends@comcast.net
Write: 7615 St. Martin’s Lane
            Philadelphia, PA  19118

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