Art Blob: “The Biggest Art Heist Since The Second World War”
>>> Pardon us: We let last week go by without any mention of the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Barnes Foundation on the Parkway. While it’s true that Lower Merion residents may have just lost their singular pride and joy, let’s not dwell on the negatives, folks. What the Barnes’ neighbors in the 610 just lost in a truly world-class art collection housed in one of the world’s most eccentric museums (pictured), they have gained in freshly put-upon, disenchanted conspiracy theorists:
Friends of the Barnes member Robert Zaller called the plan “a criminal conspiracy to bring about the biggest art heist since the Second World War.” He said opponents will continue to fight the relocation “until we stop it.”
Somebody get this guy a “Why Can’t Us?” t-shirt, no? [Forbes]
>>> This is kind of a big deal in the local art world, and we’re surprised we haven’t seen more about it: Longtime director of Vox Populi Amy Adams has jumped ship and is now director at Fleisher/Ollman Gallery. In her stead, Andrew Suggs, late of Fabric Workshop & Museum has stepped in to direct Vox. What does it all mean? [Vox/FO]
>>> And props is due: Philly artist Daniel Heyman gets a nod on The Huffington Post today for his Abu-Ghraib-inspired work.
October 20th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Friends of the Barnes member Robert Zaller called the plan “a criminal conspiracy to bring about the biggest art heist since the Second World War.”
He’s right.
October 20th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Sorry to be a dissenting voice again, but we should remember this: Lower Merion Township made life ~miserable~ for the Barnes FOR.EVER. Amid some (quasi-valid, I have to admit) faint rumblings of racism, owing to the fact that the Barnes had been left in the care of Lincoln University (the MSM appellation for such an institution being “historically black,” the township stood in the way of every single solitary avenue the Barnes pursued to improve its fate. Township supervisors blocked efforts to expand visiting hours, blocked efforts to increase the number of daily visitors, while standing aside as neighbors harangued the poor place for traffic, parking, etc. The Barnes needed a lifeline and the community threw them an anchor — more than once. It really is sad to think that the (insane) doctor’s will be wind up being so anally raped, that the main building out there will be empty one day, that the true mystique of the place will be surrendered. But god damn, don’t shed one tear for Lower Merion. They’re lying in the bed they made.
October 20th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
@Sonny
good and informative comment.
Hopefully, I’ll be able to see the Barnes before the relocation. Got to make reservations soon. I think the wait is around 30-60 days.
October 20th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
I love how the residents of Lower Darby harrass and protest the fact that a muesum rests in the middle of their residential neighborhood. Yet when push comes to shove they want it to remain. What a bunch of rubes.
October 21st, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Readers of the Philadelphia Inquirer may never know this, however there is a robust dialogue at the LA Times blog as a result of a letter which I wrote to Governor Rendell. What people missed during the groundbreaking was his statement that he had been working on the move for 14 or 15 years. That admission alone makes the 2003-2004 Court arguments of the Barnes Foundation the total sham that they were. Check :http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2008/10/barnes-rendell.html Read the article and my blog. Then ask yourself why this is being covered thousands of miles away and not in The Inquirer.
Mark D. Schwartz, Esq.
http://www.markschwartzesq.com
October 31st, 2008 at 8:12 am
The neighbors of the Barnes have gotten a bad wrap but it’s no wonder as the present management of the Barnes has turned into a publicity machine for the move. It was always a bad idea, it will always be a bad idea and blaming it on Lower Merion Township is ridiculous on the face. The Barnes spent down their endowment in ‘frivolous and cynical law suits’ (words of the court). The neighbors and students have been working hard to keep the Barnes where it is since the 2004 very unexpected decision of Judge Ott that the Barnes Foundation could move.
They have made it possible for the Barnes to become a National Historic Landmark. They have petitioned their public officials to offer a $50 million dollar bond issue that would provide enough funds to cover the purported annual deficit. Lower Merion has changed its zoning code to permit the Foundation to have up to 144,000 people a year.
The move was being planned long before the neighbors or Township had any part in the Barnes saga. It is people who don’t really care about art or the fact that their heritage is being destroyed by some kind of ill conceived idea that the Barnes will save Philadelphia who have allowed this heist to take place.