Isn't it the same firm that did Skirkanich Hall at Penn? So it should be really interesting architecture, and zur is guaranteed to hate it.

Given that the architects are under instructions to replicate the Merion galleries exactly in the new facility and display the works in them exactly as they are displayed there, you're probably right about this. Hadn't thought about it in that fashion. (Edited to add: I hope that the Barnes makes an effort to at least educate all the new hordes of non-art-student visitors in the basics of Barnes' unconventional theories of art and aesthetics as part of their visit, though.)

And your point about changing his will repeatedly also suggests that had he lived, Lincoln might have found itself out of the will in favor of Penn once again, thus making that school's ultimate (and relatively short-lived) control of the Barnes literally an accident.

__________________
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

Let's hope it's more than just "interesting". Skirkanish Hall is interesting and not especially ugly but something of this kind in such an important public setting should have a sense of permanency and timelessness. It needs to be beautiful.

Here's an article from last fall about the commission. I think it was posted in this thread before, but it's worth posting again:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/10/ar...gn/10barn.html

I have to say, I really like the idea of keeping the original layout but blowing it up and adding the classrooms and gardens in between the galleries instead of around them. It sounds like a great creative reinterpretation that nonetheless remains true to Barnes's original vision.

Yeah sounds good to me. I do think Barnes' arrangements are visually stirring...any reinterpretation would be foolish not to just "copy" what he's already put into place.

The CCRA discussed this project as a significant factor into a more animated Parkway. Will the architects rise up to the challenge? We can only hope so...


Oh, and I love the direction this thread is going in...Barnes Museum is full steam ahead, Call Dr. Frankenstein, cuz "IT'S ALIVVVVE!!!!!!!"

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“Man who run in front of car get tired.”

Yes, and at times the opposition reminded me of Jason from the Friday the 13th flicks. Couldn't kill them rascals.

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"Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."

Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)

The one thing that sucks about his last will was the demand that the paintings be shown exactly as they were the moment he died.

He rearranged the paintings on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis, as the mood stuck him. As his theories are all about form and color, there are an infinite number of arrangements for the works.

But the two causalities of his will are that Matisse's first masterpiece is stuck in the stair hall (there was no other space to hang it) and the massive Seurat was intentionally "skied" in the main gallery (probably because Barnes was bored with Seurat, who was really a one-trick pony).

My take on it, based on everything I've read, is that the Lincoln will was part of a threat to Penn that Barnes didn't really expect to carry out. By all accounts, Barnes loved black people (he ran one of the first integrated factories in West Philly in the 1920's), and he loved to shock people, but he wasn't above race baiting people he believed to be racists.

In the period before his death (he blew a stop sign at 60-90 MPH and was creamed by a truck) he was finally starting to contemplate the future of his foundation. But he was also becoming increasingly irritable and difficult to deal with. I believe he wanted the paintings to go to Penn, but that they weren't giving him exactly what he wanted (Barnes was of the "he that asks, gets" school of thought).

If you're interested, The Devil and Dr Barnes is a really interesting and reasonabily fair portrait. There's also great stories on Barnes and his relationship with the PMA in in the biography of Fiske Kimball, Triumph on the Mount.

While I was in college, I really wanted to write something on Dr Barnes (I was an art history major) but the chance to do it never came up.

I understand WHY the paintings will be left in the same order that they were. However, it's a bit odd to see if you haven't been there. I haven't been to every art gallery, but have been to many, and I've never seen another one like it. Lots of latches and other hardware displayed between paintings.

As Simon discussed, carrying out his intent is difficult at best since he was constantly changing things around.

it would be great is they changed the zoning so that the new building could be loser to the sidewalk.

I hope it isn't set as far back as the detention center currently is.

I don't that was a zoning issue, but rather a conscious move on the part of the architects to keep the building off the Parkway and to give a pleasanter, green view from the rooms/cells.