By Alexandra Even
Contrary to the will left by its founder, a judge ruled in favor of a new loan policy for the Barnes Foundation in July of this year. The order represents another step in a string of re-interpretations of the will left by Dr. Albert Barnes. Since his death in 1951, the Barnes Foundation has sought court intervention when the Board felt the rules set out by the founder were too restrictive and were preventing them from running an effective organization. The changes that followed resulted in significant controversy in the city of Philadelphia from those who championed Dr. Barnes’s method.
Genius collector or hostile outsider?
To understand the Barnes Foundation, one must first understand Dr. Barnes, as tall a task as that may be. His life was a quintessential American success story: he grew up poor, bettered himself with his intelligence and keen business sense, and amassed a large fortune. At the same time, Barnes was deeply complicated, stubborn, and prideful. He spent his life making enemies with the Philadelphia elite and eschewing the standards set by the art world all while establishing a bastion of art education and philanthropy.[1]
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