Poster for “The Art of the Steal”
The Barnes Foundation’s latest E-Newletter, which recently hit my inbox, conveyed this sad message:
Join and receive FREE tickets to enjoy the final year [emphasis added] of the Barnes
collection in Merion as few can. You will also receive permanent status
as a Founding Member of the Barnes on the Parkway.
FINAL YEAR in Merion? So soon? (The new Philly Barnes is scheduled to open in 2012.)
The same Barnes newsletter also introduced me to the construction-site webcam, where we can follow the lamentable progress of the facility that shouldn’t be built. Now I won’t have to scoot over to the construction site whenever
I’m in Philadelphia to shoot my
own photos. “Currently the digging of the foundation has been completed and the pouring of the concrete footings has begun,” the newsletter informs us.
Meanwhile, opponents of the Barnes move are gearing up for the premiere of the anti-move movie, The Art of the Steal, tomorrow in Philadelphia. (It will also open tomorrow in New York.) Beginning yesterday, the documentary, directed by Don Argott, was available for home viewing through IFC On Demand. (You can check availability in your area here.)
Don Argott at Alice Tully Hall in New York, before the screening of his “The Art of the Steal” at the New York Film Festival
If the predicted snows don’t keep them away, the opponents of the move are planning a pre-movie rally, Friday at 6:45 p.m. at the Ritz 5 theater in Philly. Congressman Jim Gerlach, Drexel professor Robert Zaller and John Anderson, author of Art Held Hostage: The Battle Over the Barnes Collection, are expected to speak. All appear in the film, with Anderson playing a key role by providing a solid factual foundation (partly undermined by the filmmakers’ gaffes and omissions).
I promised you my own review, pegged to the film’s commercial release…COMING SOON.
Finally, on a self-promotional note, it’s more than a little ironic that three of the four ads in my blog’s righthand column have just ended their runs, leaving behind a lone advertisement, bearing the eat-your-heart-out image of the Barnes Foundation’s beloved facility that we’re set to lose alarmingly soon. While I hope for an influx of new ads, my warmest thanks go out to CultureGrrl Donors 114, 115 and 116, from New York City, Zionsville, IN, and Washington.