Art patrons can no longer view Dr. Albert C. Barnes’s art collection in the Philadelphia Barnes Foundation, Paul Goldberger writes in Vanity Fair with a hint of nostalgia. But that is old news, he says, as the impending opening date of the new museum draws nearer. “Beginning on May 19th, people will see the Barnes collection not where Barnes intended it to be seen, but in a new building designed by the New York architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien,” Goldberger writes. And then his tone shifts from one of minor melancholy to one of mounting glee as he describes the new facility that will house the eccentric collector’s assortment of post-Impressionist paintings, African and ancient art, and furniture. “You may or may not believe that visitors fare better in the new Barnes. But you cannot dispute the fact that the Cezannes and Renoirs and Matisses do,” Goldberger opines, acknowledging that the “Barnes Fundamentalists” will not be happy with this, or any, new building.
Click here for the full story from Vanity Fair.
For ARCHITECT’s April cover story about the new Barnes museum, “The Burden of History” by senior editor Eric Wills, click here.