STANDARDS

Core Art Standards: VA1, VA6, VA7

CCSS: R1, R2, R3

Article Options

Presentation View
Teaching Resources

Lexile® measure

The Birth of the Barnes Foundation

How—and why—did a scientist create a groundbreaking art collection?

How did a scientist create this one-of-a-kind art collection?

December 2024
Kimberly Feltes Taylor

Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978), Dr. Albert C. Barnes, 1926. Oil on canvas. The Barnes Foundation. ©2024 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SIAE, Rome.

Why is it significant that Giorgio de Chirico painted Barnes’s portrait?

Pretend you just started a job at a manufacturing plant. But instead of working 8, 9, or 10 hours a day, you work for 6 hours—then you spend 2 more hours studying and discussing history, philosophy, and art. Sounds unlikely, right?

That was the workday at the A.C. Barnes Company in the early 1900s. Dr. Albert C. Barnes, the founder and owner of the company, passionately believed in education. He saw it as the key to personal improvement as well as to keeping the community informed and engaged. Barnes was also an art collector. He recognized that his collection could be a resource for people, leading him to create the Barnes Foundation.

Pretend you work in a factory. Instead of working eight hours a day, you work six. Then you study art for two hours. That was the workday at the A.C. Barnes Company in the early 1900s. Dr. Albert C. Barnes was the founder. He believed education improved people’s lives. Barnes also collected art. He created the Barnes Foundation as a resource for everyone.

A Path Out of Poverty

Angelo Pinto, Albert C. Barnes in Gallery 23 of the Cret Gallery, c. 1946. Gelatin silver print. Courtesy of the Pinto family

Dr. Albert C. Barnes in his galley in Merion, Pennsylvania.

Barnes was born in 1872. He grew up in a poor area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Rats scurried around the garbage that lined the streets. Fights often broke out among the neighborhood kids.

Dreaming of a better life—and with encouragement from his mother—Barnes focused on his schoolwork. His dedication paid off, and he gained entry to the University of Pennsylvania. He earned a medical degree in 1892 at the age of 20.

Soon after graduating, Barnes realized that rather than treating patients, his true interest was the science of medicine. So he went to Germany in 1894 to study advanced chemistry.

Barnes was born in 1872. He grew up in a poor area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There were rats and garbage in the streets.

Barnes wanted a better life. His mother told him to focus on school. He did and was accepted to the University of Pennsylvania. He earned a medical degree in 1892, at age 20.

Barnes realized he was more interested in the science of medicine than treating patients. In 1894, he went to Germany to study chemistry.

Funding the Collection

Courtesy of Division of Medicine and Science, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

Argyrol was widely used to prevent and treat eye, nose, throat, and other infections in the early and mid-1900s. Today antibiotics are used to treat infections.

In 1900, back in Philadelphia, Barnes and a chemist from Germany set out to invent a new medicine. They succeeded a year later with their invention of Argyrol (right), a new antiseptic for preventing and curing infections.

It was hugely successful and quickly made both men multimillionaires. Around 1910, Barnes began using his earnings to build his art collection. He acquired works from Paris, the center of the avant-garde, or radical, art movement. He purchased examples by some of the most innovative artists of the day, including Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, and Henri Matisse. A famous Surrealist, Giorgio de Chirico (JOR-joh duh KIR-ih-koh), even painted Barnes’s portrait, above, in 1926.

By 1900, Barnes was back in Philadelphia working with a chemist he’d met in Germany. They invented a new medicine. A year later, they started selling Argyrol, right. It prevented and treated infections.

Argyrol was a success and made both men rich. Around 1910, Barnes used what he earned to start collecting art. He purchased works by new creative artists. These included Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, and Henri Matisse. In 1926, a painter named Giorgio de Chirico (JOR-joh duh KIR-ih-koh) painted Barnes’s portrait, above.

Angelo Pinto (1908-1994), Albert C. Barnes, with Fidèle on his lap, lecturing to a class in the Cret Gallery, 1942. Gelatin silver print

Students listen attentively to a lecture at the Barnes Foundation.

Education for All

When Barnes was a child, his mother had taken him to African American camp meetings—outdoor gatherings of sermons and gospel singing. These experiences made Barnes deeply anti-segregationist. Unlike many employers of the time, he hired women and Black people.

Barnes believed that providing workers with opportunities for education that they otherwise wouldn’t have would give them advantages. So as his collection grew, Barnes made time at the end of each workday at his factory for art classes for the workers.

When Barnes was a child, his mother took him to African American camp meetings. At these outdoor gatherings, people listened to sermons and sang gospel songs. These experiences led Barnes to be against segregation, or keeping Black and White people apart.

Many employers at the time did not hire women or Black people. But Barnes did. As his art collection grew, he stopped the workday early to discuss the art with his employees. Barnes wanted the workers to learn things they might not otherwise.

America’s $6,000,000 Shrine for All the Craziest ‘Art,’ Philadelphia Inquirer, April 29, 1923. Courtesy of Photograph Collection/The Barnes Foundation Archives, Philadelphia.

An exhibition of Barnes’s collection in 1923 received poor reviews, like this one from The Philadelphia Inquirer.

From Criticism to Acclaim

Trash—that’s what a Philadelphia Record art critic called Barnes’s collection when it was shown at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1923. Other critics were just as harsh; they were used to traditional realistic painting. The innovative use of color, line, shape, and perspective found in Post-Impressionism, Cubism, Fauvism, and Expressionism seemed bizarre to them.

The harsh reviews deepened Barnes’s ideas about education. After years of planning, he opened the Barnes Foundation in 1925. The public, not just his employees, could now take free classes in the gallery he had built next to his home. But the gallery was not a museum that just anyone could stroll through. One had to attend a class, like the students in the photo above, to have access to the private collection.

Years later, French artist Matisse said that the Barnes Foundation was “the only sane place to see art in America.”

In 1923, Barnes’s collection was shown at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. It received negative reviews. Critics were used to traditional realistic art. The avant-garde artists in Barnes’s collection were not traditional. They played with color, line, shape, and perspective.

The bad reviews did not stop Barnes. They made him more passionate about education. In 1925, Barnes turned his collection into the Barnes Foundation. He offered free classes to the public. The gallery was still private, unlike a museum. But people could get in by taking a class, like the students in the photo above.

Years later, French artist Matisse visited the Barnes Foundation. He called it “the only sane place to see art in America.”

Article Type

Features
Spotlight
Skills Sheets (8)
Skills Sheets (8)
Skills Sheets (8)
Skills Sheets (8)
Skills Sheets (8)
Skills Sheets (8)
Skills Sheets (8)
Skills Sheets (8)
Lesson Plan (6)
Lesson Plan (6)
Lesson Plan (6)
Lesson Plan (6)
Lesson Plan (6)
Lesson Plan (6)
Leveled Articles (1)
Text-to-Speech