Trekking to the Barnes
If you have a romantic nature and a sense of adventure, visiting the Barnes Foundation from Manhattan can be a very “doable†art pilgrimage. This is a feasible mini adventure to approximate other art journeys to Rodin Crater, City, or Lighting Field. I had a wonderful Sunday deciphering NJ Transit to SEPTA to the “main line†local train, a very comfortable and affordance ride while taking in the late Fall foliage, flowing rivers, and steel bridges along my way to Marion, Pennsylvania.
One of the SEPTA ticket machines the Trenton, NJ stop wasn’t functioning and I was stressfully trying to manipulate the buttons and was jamming in my crinkled five dollar bill while the train was waiting. One of the kind conductors ushered me onto the train with a friendly joke and didn’t charge me the extra five dollars he was supposed to–contrary to Flaubert’s assertions, life in the provinces is a pleasant break indeed! I enjoy no such camaraderie or nurturing as I am being elbowed in the ribs while packed onto the 6 train each morning in the city.
Rites of Initiation
On the rails on the way to the Barnes, you can ponder if you’ve followed all the rules for entry (to name a few: “An adult must accompany children under 14 at all times. Outerwear, such as jackets, coats, and similar bulky garments, which do not fit flush against the body, must be checked in the Coat Check Room. Visitors must remain at least 18 inches from all objects displayed in the Gallery. Painting, drawing, and photography are not permitted in the Gallery. Shoes with heels smaller than two inches in diameter may not be worn in the Gallery). When you finally reach the Marion stop, it’s a pleasant stroll about ¾ of a mile to the museum. Once you arrive at the gate, your name will be checked, probably the first of three times and you will be given complicated, of course, instruction on how to wind your way through the property to reach the actual gallery.
Once inside, you will check your coat AND buy a locker. Rest assured your quarter will be returned, you are in the Quaker state of Pennsylvania, after all. You should put everything, coat, camera, purse, no matter how small into the locker as no coats, scarves, or handbags, not to mention camera equipment is allowed inside. I usually cannot stand either docent lead tours or audio guides at museums, but here, please buy the audio guide. Besides the fact that the guy who you purchase it from is quite attractive, you will absolutely need it to make any sense of the upcoming journey.
The Controversy
The Barnes has a collection of hundreds of works of art on display, mostly impressionist paintings and African sculpture, oddly. This private collection is estimated to be worth about $6 billion. There are also acres of gardens, an arboretum house, and greenhouse as well as a library of the history of the collection. Dr. Albert C. Barnes is the namesake, and founder and the foundation is housed in his former residence. Dr. Barnes died in a car wreck in 1951, after coming from humble Philadelphia roots, attending medical school and amassing a fortune in the pharmaceutical industry. His creativity was not limited to Art, he also used it in the drafting and constant amending of his Will, which in its final form has been litigated and has led to continuing controversy, up until and including now. The museum has been the subject of discord because of its location, funding issues and manner of operation. There are a litany of rules both for access tickets and one’s conduct inside the museum. Some might find these absurd but you’ll really enjoy the Barnes if you revel with some wonderment and glee in them.
But, like anything else, the controversy is relative. Some feel greater accessibly would give, well, greater access, to the public to see hundreds of piece of very important works of art. This is complicated by the fact that one of the stated purposes of Dr. Barnes amassing his art collection was to help heal racial disharmony but the museum now has odd hours and is located in a toney white suburb accessible mostly by car or the intrepid train traveler. Others argue that keeping the collection in the estate in Marion is key to Barnes’ long efforted purpose of teaching and displaying the works in a very specific way and that the museum is indeed, open to all. Adding to the eccentricity of the situation is that many of the works have not been reproduced in any sort as posters or image so the Barnes really is the only place to view them (although part of the collection did go on tour in 1993). The museum will probably be moved to downtown Philadelphia in the relatively near future. So, no matter which side of the location issue you embrace, if you want to see it in both of its forms, time might be limited to visit the collection in its existence as intended by its founder in Marion.
The Collection
Your first stop is the main gallery with a built in Matisse mural commissioned for the space. Painting this mural led to Matisse’s eventual use of cut-outs in his work and evolution of his color style. Another benefit of the audio guide, which is incredibly informative and well done, is the campy-ness in the fact that anytime a quote from a French artist or art critic is used in the explanation (which is often in this collection) a faux French accented voice is used. That is basically worth the $7.00 for the audio guide alone, if not the trek itself. Just try to keep a straight face when you first hear “Matisse†talking to you about the mural, you don’t want to be pegged as an effete Manhattanite any earlier than absolutely necessary.
Once in the main gallery, the much lauded originality of the museum layout becomes clear and you will understand the complexity of moving this place, no matter which side of the locale argument you advocate. None of the paintings have any identifying information, only placards in the middle with the artists’ last name. This is where the explanations in the audio guide are essential both for identifying the paintings and their history as well as explaining some of the background of why they are displayed as they are. While many are Matisse, Renoir, Picasso, Seurat, et cetera, there will be quite a few artists you have never heard of. I was first exposed to Maurice Prendergast here, who is found in an ensemble with Rousseau’s jungle paintings because of the mosaic flatness of both painters color use. You will also notice Shaker and early American furniture, and what my mother would call tchotckes, displayed about. These were carefully placed by Barnes to add to the experience. For example, under a nude corpulent Renoir portrait sits a wide bottomed chair. There is also a lobster claw fashioned into a little fish statue, although no explanation for it was given in the audio guide or elsewhere.
There are also various small flat ironworks on the linen covered walls next to the paintings throughout the museum. These were meticulously chosen by Barnes often to emphasize shapes he wanted the onlooker to notice in the paintings. These range from parts of grillwork to small parts of chapel décor from Italy and Greece.
Which brings us to how the paintings themselves are displayed. Not by period, artist, timeline or even region of the world, but rather by color, form, line movement, or simply Barnes’ instinct. Barnes’ purpose was always the same, to teach via the ensemble of the works. One wall is dedicated to the contrast of purposes and violets. You are as likely to find far Asian art, medieval sketches and early 20th century portraits all together because they have a shared “qualityâ€Â. This is simultaneously odd, amateurish, refreshing and genius. The free association of one man who was ostensibly trying to teach how an artists mind works really revealed more about his own.
The Grounds
The gardens at the Barnes are beautiful. On the Sunday in November when I visited blooming flowers and the more delicate plants were not in season and the arboretum house was closed. The lawns are still pleasant to stroll on even in the crisp weather and Mrs. Barnes’s odd tree collection is in evidence year round. The trees, unlike the paintings, have identifying tags which list country of origin, year of planting, and even facts and stories about their arrival. A serene Koi pond is tucked away near the furnished (but closed off) tea house and takes a nice end to a stroll through the grounds.
Highlights
Personally, the highlight of the collection is Matisse’s Joy of Life. This is a painting that perplexed even Barnes himself, as he tried several times and failed to be able to be comfortable with displaying it ensemble style. It stands alone in an interior hallway and captures the ecstasy of life in its color, form, and shape. Although Joy of Life is my favorite, the Barnes itself is probably most similar to Postman, a Van Gogh portrait of contrasts, the Japanese exoticism mixing with the blue collar nature of the postman subject.
The Barnes Foundation is open 9:30 am – 5:00 pm Friday, Saturday and Sunday (Sept-June)
And 9:30am – 5:00 pm Wednesday- Friday (July-August)
Tickets must be purchased in advance through the reservation system either online or by phone at (610) 667-0290. The Foundation suggests reservations for individuals and groups should be made at least 30 to 60 days in advance to obtain your desired date, and payment in full must be received in advance to secure a reservation.
http://www.barnesfoundation.org/index.html
More detail on some of the intrigue:
http://www.nonprofitissues.com/public/features/leadfree/2004dec2-IS.html
More intrigue:
http://www.barneswatch.org/
