Barnes also wanted the art to educate the people, not the rich people, but the working class. The current set up makes this mission impossible. You need to make an appointment, drive out to the site as there is no public transportation, take of time from work hours, in the end the only people who get to go are those with plenty of free time. In philly the art work will be much more accessible to the average person. So I think this will help to carry out his original intent, which is better served in a major city like philly.

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"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." —George Bush, Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 2001

That doesn't matter.

Wow, that has to be the best-informed, most articulate, most persuasive comment EVER on Phillyblog.

It's simple and truthful, It doesn't need explaining and it at least relates to the thread unlike your post.

He stated in his will that it's not to be moved plain and simple end of story. Maybe you would like someone to over-ride your will ?

Yeah, but then he didn't think his art would be lock down and kept from being seen by everyone either...

Oh wow, that is so many people.

But they got nothing, unless the people who agree with the move are gone, this won't change...And thus they have till 2010 to get the collection in Philly....

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TAFKATLB(TheArtistFormerlyKnowAsTheLoveBelow)

Thank Richard Glanton for squandering the endowment. That's the real reason for the move

I have mixed feelings on this issue. But if it's any consoloation, Barnes (a miserable human being with a great eye for art), did originally offer his collection to the Philadelphia Art Museum. He built the Barnes only after Philadelphia rejected the offer.

So that is why he wanted it to stay there, so those bastards at the Art museum wouldn't take them....

I'm sure he'd love to have his own museum on the parkway, sticking it to the PMoA, making his bitter dead ass smile...

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TAFKATLB(TheArtistFormerlyKnowAsTheLoveBelow)

Glanton squandered the endowment fighting Lower Merion Township (admittedly frivolously), which refused to give the Barnes board then the very things it is offering now in this last-ditch effort to save it in its original location.

And you wonder why blacks believe conspiracy theories so much more readily?

FTR, I actually agree that The Barnes Belongs in Merion, and it is entirely possible to make it accessible to the average working Joe at its present site. Some of the changes the Lincoln-appointed Barnes trustees sought would have helped advance that goal.

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Sandy Smith, Exile on Market Street, Philadelphia
“Basically I figure guns are like gays: They seem a lot more sinister and threatening until you get to know a few; and once you have one in the house, you can get downright defensive about them.” --Theresa Neilson Hayden

Do you think Girard College should have been forced to accept minorities and women? Or should it have remained an institution for orpahned white boys only. Times change and situations change. Lower Merion was hurting the finances of the institution and the spirit of the institution and in the end it was better for the health of the foundation that the move was necessary. Would you have rather seen them sell off pieces of the collection to remain solvent?

Also, the school will remain in Lower Merion and the art is to be hung at the new museum in the same exact manner.

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"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." —George Bush, Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 2001

Aubin said it best: "times change." It seems to me that the best approach is to use the full power of our intelligence to achieve the spirit of Barnes' will, rather than chain ourselves to a slavish adherence to its text. It is indisputable that Barnes meant for his collection to be a tool of uplift for the common man, and despite what MarketStEl says, it seems less likely that that mission will be accomplished in Lower Merion than it will in Philadelphia. It seems to me that executing his intent is more important than robotically following a set of dictates that couldn't have possibly accounted for present reality, 80-some years in the future.

If I were to die and leave a fabulous art collection behind (not bloody likely), I'd hope that future generations cared enough about me and my vision to try to execute the vision rather than slavishly adhere to my antiquated 21st-century ideas of how to count the paperclips.