The Pew Charitable Trusts Role in the
Affairs of the Barnes Foundation
Enter now the philanthropies.
Like the project to build a new home for the collection
on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, the
trustees’ suit
was underwritten by a consortium of philanthropic institutions
led by the Pew Charitable Trust. Given that Barnes’s
collection has been estimated to be worth about $25 billion,
the $150 million amassed for the move can be regarded
as one of the great garage sales of all time.
Barnes’s
little reliquary of a museum—designed by Paul Cret,
sculpted by Jacques Lipschitz, and painted by Henri Matisse—was
designed for the objects it contains. It was, one might
say, an installation piece, on a grand scale. Dismantled
into its constituent parts and removed from its context,
it will offer something far diminished—an instance
of more people getting to see less.
From Michael
Lewis’ article, "Art
for Sale," published in Commentary
The Pew Charitable Trusts, under Rebecca
Rimel, leads the effort to move the art collection of
the Barnes Foundation from its Merion home to a site
on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. Ms.
Rimel was recently quoted in The Wall Street Journal
as saying, "Philadelphia
will keep its nose up if it has more product to offer." Apparently,
the art collection of the Barnes Foundation is envisioned
by Ms. Rimel as so much new "product".
The distance to the planned
site is approximately 5.3 miles. The cost of this undertaking
in public and private funds is estimated to be at least
$300 million and rising. In cultural terms, the cost
resulting from
the planned evisceration of The Barnes Foundation would
be immeasurable. 
The articles and documents listed below
discuss the activities of the Pew Charitable Trusts concerning
the Barnes Foundation.
Correspondence Re:
Application of Pew Charitable Trust for Public Charity
Status and a request for an "Investigation
as to Abusive Transactions" from Mark D. Schwartz,
Esq.:
Letter to IRS Investigative
Unit
Letter to Pennsylvania Attorney
General Corbett
Articles:
"The
New Goals at the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Rate
of the Nonprofit Sector," by Marie C. Malaro,
The Nonprofit Quarterly
"A
Foundation Head Central to the Philadelphia Story,
Cultural Conversation with Rebecca Rimel," by
Judith H. Dobrzynski, The Wall Street Journal
"Behind
the Barnes Bonanza," by David D’Arcy, Artnet
"Peeeeewww," by
Noel Weyrich, Philadelphia Magazine
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