| Barnes Foundation | |
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Location of the Barnes Foundation in Lower Merion Township
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| Established | 1922 |
| Location | 300 North Latch's Lane Merion, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Director | Derek Gillman |
| Website | barnesfoundation.org |
The Barnes Foundation is an American educational art and horticultural institution in Lower Merion, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1922 by Albert C. Barnes, a chemist who collected art after making a fortune by co-developing an early antigonorrhea drug marketed as Argyrol.
Today, the foundation possesses more than 2,500 objects – including 800 paintings – estimated to be worth about $25 billion. These are primarily works by Impressionist and Modernist masters, but the collection includes many by leading European and American artists, as well as ancient works from other cultures.[1]
The foundation became embroiled in controversy due to a financial crisis in the 1990s, partially related to longstanding restrictions related to the original trust and to its location in a residential neighborhood. The relocation of the gallery from Lower Merion to a site in Philadelphia on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, for enhanced public access, is scheduled for 2012.[2] A 2009 documentary makes the case that the foundation was the subject of a takeover by other non-profit institutions, in violation of Barnes' will and of his wish that the gallery remain outside the hands of the Philadelphia establishment. [3]
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In 1922, the architect Paul Cret designed a complex of buildings for the school, on the land purchased by Barnes from American Civil War veteran and horticulturist Captain Joseph Lapsley Wilson. The building features several unusual cubist bas-reliefs, commissioned by Barnes from sculptor Jacques Lipchitz. The grounds, which were developed by his wife, Laura Barnes, with some of Wilson's plantings, are now the Arboretum of the Barnes Foundation.
From 1912, Barnes, who derived his fortune from his development of the antiseptic drug Argyrol, began to dedicate himself to the pursuit of the arts. He was assisted at first by the painter William Glackens, with whom he had gone to Central High School and become friends. In 1912 in Paris, Barnes visited the home of Gertrude and Leo Stein, where he became familiar with the work of such Modernist artists as Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.
In the 1920s, he became acquainted with the work of Amedeo Modigliani and Giorgio de Chirico, thanks to the merchant Paul Guillaume. In 1922, Barnes began to transform his collection into a cultural institution. That year, he chartered the Barnes Foundation as an educational institution in the state of Pennsylvania, and began construction on the current complex of buildings in Merion.[4] Soon afterward, a taxation dispute found its way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.[5]
The Barnes Gallery was built on the grounds of Captain Joseph Lapsley Wilson's arboretum, established around 1880.[6] Barnes built his home next to the gallery, and it now serves as the administration building of the foundation. Laura Barnes developed the arboretum and the horticulture program, which are integral parts of the foundation.
Among the collection are numerous Impressionist and Modernist works, including 181 by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 69 by Paul Cézanne, 59 by Henri Matisse, 46 by Pablo Picasso, 21 by Chaim Soutine, 18 by Henri Rousseau, 16 by Amedeo Modigliani, 11 by Edgar Degas, 7 by Vincent Van Gogh, and 6 by Georges Seurat. One of Matisse's works of dancers was created for the main gallery space, where the triptych is above Palladian windows.
In addition, the collection holds numerous other masters, including Giorgio de Chirico, Peter Paul Rubens, Titian, Paul Gauguin, El Greco, Francisco Goya, Edouard Manet, Jean Hugo, Claude Monet, Maurice Utrillo, William Glackens, Charles Demuth, and Maurice Prendergast. It also holds a variety of African artworks; ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art; and American and European furniture, decorative arts and metalwork. A notable aspect of the foundation's art collection is its display in "wall ensembles", which are intentional combinations of works from different time periods, geographic areas, and styles for the purpose of comparison and study.
Barnes's collaboration with the philosopher John Dewey strongly influenced his development of the original program of the foundation, which is a school rather than a typical museum. Dewey helped Barnes draw up its mandate.[7][8][9] Barnes also hired two of Dewey's students, Lawrence Buermeyer (1889–1970) and Thomas Munro (1897–1974), to assist him with the early educational programs. Buermeyer and Munro each served as Associate Director of Education for several years, while Dewey served in the largely honorary position of Director of Education.[10][11]
To control the institution's identity, Barnes created detailed terms of operation in an indenture of trust to be honored in perpetuity after his death. These included limiting public admission to two days a week, so the school could use the art collection primarily for student study, and prohibitions against lending works in the collection, colored reproductions of its works, touring the collection, and presenting touring exhibitions of other art. Matisse is said to have hailed the school as the only sane place in America to view art.[12]
It was not until 1961, and the resolution of legal challenges, that the public was allowed regular access to the collection. Public access expanded to two and a half days a week, with a limit of 500 visitors per week and through reservations at least two weeks in advance.[13] An earlier suit by an editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, with the consent of, but not directly on behalf of, the Pennsylvania Attorney General, had been unsuccessful.[14]
In 1992, Richard H. Glanton, president of the foundation, said that extensive repairs were needed on the aging structure to upgrade its mechanical systems, preserve the fabric of the buildings, provide for maintenance and preservation of artworks, and provide security, required breaking some terms of the indenture in order to gain more revenue for the needed work. From 1993 to 1995, he sent a selection of 83 highlights of the collection's Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings to be exhibited on a world tour, the proceeds of which were to pay for needed renovations to the Foundation. The seldom-seen works attracted large crowds in numerous cities, including Washington, D.C.; Fort Worth, Texas; Paris; Tokyo; Toronto; and at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.[15][16] People opposed to fundraising events at the collection challenged them in court, but lost.[17]
When the foundation tried to extend its hours for public access and increase the number of visitors, it was legally opposed by Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and the township. Later, a number of financial irregularities were discovered in the administration of the collection. Between the renovations, the irregularities, and the associated legal expenses of court challenges, the financial situation of the Barnes declined. The revenues earned from the tour of paintings was not enough to ensure its endowment for the future. By Fall 1998, board members Niara Sudarkasa and Richard Glanton were suing each other, and an investigation was launched at Lincoln University about its finances. The foundation's board felt a similar investigation was warranted for activities during Glanton's tenure as president of the board. In 1998, The board of directors began a forensic audit conducted by Deloitte Touche, which showed the Foundation needed greater accountablilty and internal controls during the period from 1992 to 1998. [18]
On September 24, 2002, the foundation announced that it would petition the Montgomery County Orphans' Court (which oversees its operations) to allow the art collection to be relocated to a more accessible site in Philadelphia (which offered a site on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway) and to increase the number of trustees from five to fifteen members. The foundation's indenture of trust stipulates that the paintings in the collection be kept "in exactly the places they are".[16] The foundation argued that it needed to expand the board of trustees from five (four of which were held by persons appointed by Lincoln University) to fifteen members to make fundraising viable. For the same reason, it needed to relocate the gallery from Lower Merion to a site in Center City, Philadelphia. In its brief to the court, the foundation said that donors were reluctant to commit continuing financial resources to the Barnes unless the gallery were to become more accessible to the public.[19]
On December 15, 2004, after a two-year legal battle that included an examination of the Foundation's financial situation, Judge Stanley Ott ruled that the foundation could relocate.[19][20] Three charitable foundations – The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Lenfest Foundation and the Annenberg Foundation – had agreed to help the Barnes raise $150 million on the condition that the move be approved.[21]
On June 13, 2005, the foundation's president, Kimberly Camp, announced her resignation, to take effect no later than January 1, 2006. Camp had been appointed in 1998 with the goal of stabilizing and restoring foundation to its original mission. During her tenure, she initiated the Collection Assessment Project, as the first-ever, full-scale cataloguing and stabilization project for the multi-billion dollar collection; brought in exemplary professional staff, created the fundraising program, restored Ker-feal and the Barnes Arboretum and worked with the board to approve policies and procedures to make the foundation viable once again. In 2002, Dr. Bernard C. Watson initiated the proposal to move the Barnes.[22]
Recently, the foundation appointed a new Director of Education, to preserve and expand the education program in the new gallery It will be the site of the foundation's art and aesthetics courses.[23] The foundation has pledged to reproduce Dr. Barnes's idiosyncratic installation of artworks and other objects within the new gallery.[24]
In May 2006, the foundation announced that it had successfully reached its $150 million fund-raising goal, and that it would expand the campaign to raise another $50 million for endowment purposes. In August 2006, the foundation announced that it was beginning a planning analysis for the new gallery. Derek Gillman (formerly of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts) was selected as its new director and president.[25]
The foundation is proceeding with plans to relocate the collection to a new facility under construction in the 2,000 block of Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin Parkway.[26] Tod Williams & Billie Tsien Architects of New York have been selected as lead architects of the building project. The building team also consists of the Philadelphia-based firm, Ballinger, as associate architect, Olin Partnership as landscape architect and Fisher Marantz Stone as lighting designers. Aegis Property Group will serve as external project managers with L. F. Driscoll as construction managers. Supervising and coordinating the project for the foundation is Project Executive Bill McDowell.[27]
Students and staff at the Youth Study Center have been temporarily relocated to East Falls, Philadelphia. A new facility in West Philadelphia is to be completed in 2013. The Youth Study Center building was demolished to allow site work to begin for new construction.
Construction for the new building started in the Fall 2009 and is planned to be completed by Winter 2011. The new foundation building is planned to house the collection in galleries that replicate the scale, proportion and configuration of the original Merion galleries. The new site will contain increased space for the foundation's art education program and conservation department, a retail shop and cafe.[28]
After Judge Ott's decision in 2004,[20][29] The Friends of the Barnes Foundation and Montgomery County filed briefs in Montgomery County Orphan's Court to open the hearings that allowed the move. They hoped to persuade Judge Ott to reopen the case because of the changed circumstances in the County. On May 15, 2008, Judge Ott published an opinion dismissing the request of both the Friends of the Barnes Foundation and the Montgomery County Commissioners to reopen the case due to lack of standing. Congressman Jim Gerlach has strongly supported keeping the Barnes in Lower Merion.[30][31]
On May 20, 2009, Friends of the Barnes Foundation appeared before the Commissioners of the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) in Camden, New Jersey, to request that they reconsider their 2003 authorization of a grant for $500,000 toward the plan to relocate the foundation. They contended there was not sufficient evidence of substantial economic benefit to Philadelphia, and that DRPA had not undertaken necessary economic evaluation assessing the impact at both locations. They introduced a study by economist Matityahu Marcus that challenged claimed benefits. The DRPA said that it would consider the Friends' request.[32][33] The controversy is chronicled in the 2009 documentary The Art of the Steal.[1][34]
In late February 2011, Judge Ott ordered a new hearing, setting a date of March 18, which was ultimately postponed until August 3, 2011. The court ordered the foundation and the Attorney General's office, who argued in favor of the move, to explain why the case should not be reopened. The opposition group, Friends of the Barnes Foundation, says the documentary revealed that Ott did not have all the evidence in 2006, when he approved the art collection's move.[35] A decision on re-opening the case has not yet been issued.