Photo, above: Albert C. Barnes with Renoir’s “Bathers in the Forest” (left). Photograph of 1932 from the Barnes Foundation Archives.

Barnes, like Henry Clay Frick, was a ruthless accumulator of wealth, but where Frick amassed prime art specimens, . . . Barnes was gripped by both specific artistic passions and generous democratizing impulses. Above all, he was in thrall to Renoir’s late and summary, non-impressionist, nude paintings. An intimate of and close collaborator with John Dewey, Barnes bequeathed his stupendous collection (a thousand pictures with over one hundred eighty Renoirs) as the tool of an educational method. Executed with his money, his works of art, and according to his and Dewey’s ideas, this unique experiment affronted many in the art world. As the cash value and the esteem for the collection rocketed, covetous eyes grew impatient with the foundation’s high-minded purpose and began seeking ways to prise the art away from its distinctive teaching method that encouraged/demanded that the student make the great mental effort to acquire the specific habits of perception of artists in order to see as the artist sees. [more]

For yet more information on the nightmare of the Barnes's transfer, see, BARNES COLLECTION: What’s Missing That Shouldn’t Be Missing?

To see a photo of the dowdy, albeit expensively-clad, and preening perps of the largest art heist in world history, see, Barnes Foundation board of trustees

http://www.panacheprivee.com/Web/BeSeen/Barnes12/Barnes-Foundation-Board...

 

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Hour One

Sunday 1 June  2014  / Hour 1, Block A: Room for Improvement: A Life in Sport by John Casey  ( of 2)

Sunday 1 June  2014  / Hour 1, Block B: Room for Improvement: A Life in Sport by John Casey  ( of 2)

Sunday 1 June  2014  / Hour 1, Block C: "On My Way": The Untold Story of Rouben Mamoulian, George Gershwin, and Porgy and Bess by Joseph Horowitz ( of 2)

Sunday 1 June  2014  / Hour 1, Block D: "On My Way": The Untold Story of Rouben Mamoulian, George Gershwin, and Porgy and Bess by Joseph Horowitz ( of 2)

Hour Two

Sunday 1 June  2014  / Hour 2, Block A: Art Held Hostage: The Battle over the Barnes Collection by John Anderson (1 of 4)

Sunday 1 June  2014  / Hour 2, Block B: Art Held Hostage: The Battle over the Barnes Collection by John Anderson (2 of 4)

Sunday 1 June  2014  / Hour 2, Block C: Art Held Hostage: The Battle over the Barnes Collection by John Anderson (3 of 4)

Sunday 1 June  2014  / Hour 2, Block D: Art Held Hostage: The Battle over the Barnes Collection by John Anderson (4 of 4)

Hour Three

Sunday 1 June  2014  / Hour 3, Block A: Collision 2012: Obama vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America by Dan Balz and James Silberman  (1 of 4)

Sunday 1 June  2014  / Hour 3, Block B: Collision 2012: Obama vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America by Dan Balz and James Silberman  (2 of 4)

Sunday 1 June  2014  / Hour 3, Block C: Collision 2012: Obama vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America by Dan Balz and James Silberman  (3 of 4)

Sunday 1 June  2014  / Hour 3, Block D: Collision 2012: Obama vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America by Dan Balz and James Silberman  (4 of 4)

Hour Four

Sunday 1 June  2014  / Hour 4, Block A: Room for Improvement: A Life in Sport by John Casey  (1 of 2)

Sunday 1 June  2014  / Hour 4, Block B: Room for Improvement: A Life in Sport by John Casey  (2 of 2)

Sunday 1 June  2014  / Hour 4, Block C: The Price of Altruism: George Price and the Search for the Origins of Kindness by Oren Harman (1 of 2)

Sunday 1 June  2014  / Hour 4, Block D: The Price of Altruism: George Price and the Search for the Origins of Kindness by Oren Harman (2 of 2)

..  ..  ..