Barnes Rune 2012 (Decoding The Mysteries of Pennsylvania’s Barnes Foundation, A Special American Place)

Richard Ralph Feudale Table of Contents

Prologue...... 1 Chapter 1—Telltale Art (Through the Looking Glass)...... 7 Chapter 2—Wisteria sinensis...... 13 Chapter 3—An American Home ...... 17 Chapter 4—Angels in the Architecture...... 21 Chapter 5—A Diving Platform near Pourville...... 29 Chapter 6—The Founder’s Circle—The Tears of St. Lawrence...... 37 Chapter 7—The Founder’s Circle—In Flanders Fields, The Cret Connection ...... 43 Chapter 8—The Founder’s Circle—Then We All Went Home ...... 55 Chapter 9—The Founder’s Circle—Something Happened...... 59 Chapter 10—The Founder’s Circle—The Gate that Looketh toward the East...... 63 Chapter 11—The Founder’s Circle—Gallery IV, The Chapel...... 79 Chapter 12—The Founder’s Circle—The Order of the Knights Templar ...... 87 Chapter 13—The Founder’s Circle—“The Flanders 43” (between Heaven and Hell)...... 93 Chapter 14—The Founder’s Circle—Gallery VI, Welcome Home!...... 103 Chapter 15—The Founder’s Circle—The Circle Complete...... 111 Chapter 16—Through the Eyes of a Child...... 115 Chapter 17—The Interlude...... 119 Chapter 18— “Angels and Horses in Hilly Landscape—Fantasy”...... 123 Chapter 19—Becken Backen...... 127 Chapter 20—Passages ...... 135 Chapter 21—The Eternal Flame, the Soldier, and the Knight by Jacques Copyright © 2010 Ali A Dashti Lipchitz...... 139 All rights reserved. Chapter 22—The Passage of A Group of Personages through a Dry Canal..... 143

Chapter 23—The Synapse...... 145 ISBN: 1453625496 Chapter 24—The Pirate, The Cyclops, and The Cauldrons of “Ker-Feal”...... 147 ISBN-13: 9781453625491 Chapter 25—The Monkey Puzzle Tree...... 155 Chapter 26—St. Michael Defeats the Devil...... 159 Chapter 27—The Circle of Heaven and Earth in Merion...... 165 Chapter 28—“While the Children Were Smothered on the Stair by the Door”...... 171 Chapter 29—The South Wall, Gallery XIV (A Scene from a Dry Canal)...... 181 Chapter 30—The Double...... 187 PROLOGUE Chapter 31—The Crypt...... 195 Chapter 32—The Water Bearer’s Formal Education ...... 209 Chapter 33—The Barnes Curse?...... 217 Chapter 34—The Accursed?...... 237 ecently, former Pennsylvania Governor, Edward G. Rendell, told Fox News that Chapter 35—The Three Wise Men ...... 243 he thought that keeping The Barnes art collection in its Merion Home would Chapter 36—The Place of the Skull...... 273 Rbe a disgrace. My goal is to persuade Americans to encourage Pennsylvanians Chapter 37—Two Nudes...... 281 to preserve The Barnes and its art collection intact in Merion. Some Pennsylvania poli- Chapter 38—A Legend of Modern Art...... 289 ticians hope to promote The Barnes as a museum and move the Barnes art collection Chapter 39—The Holy Grail of Modern Art? ...... 295 of Renoirs, Matisses, Picassos, etc., into a new building in the art museum area of the Chapter 40—The Missing Link?...... 303 city of Philadelphia. Interests sympathetic to moving The Barnes to Philadelphia have Chapter 41—A Portrait of a Painter, after El Greco?...... 309 prized it open and managed to progress to begin building a new “home” for the art Chapter 42—The Book of Life...... 325 collection. The state of Pennsylvania has quietly earmarked over $100,000,000.00 in Chapter 43—Time Past, Time Present, Time Future...... 331 public funds to move The Barnes. The problem is that, in my opinion, The Barnes isn’t CONCLUSION ...... 347 a museum, it is an oracle of modern times and is inextricably tied to its original home EPILOGUE...... 351 in Merion. I believe that The Barnes is a great American composition that belongs where the good doctor, Albert C. Barnes, M.D., put it and ordered that it remain. In my opinion The Barnes has no one to defend it who can defend it because the powers supporting this Move have nearly inconceivable power and wealth. Even all the might of its potential savior, the Pennsylvania taxpayer, has been leveled against it. So, I have written this story to at least tell you what you’ll be missing. Hidden on The Barnes Foundation’s Merion estate and in its dazzling ar- ray of art is a story for modern times written in images and completed by the garden and arboretum. In my opinion The Barnes is an historic work of human hands designed to allow a visitor to step into and to become a part of the artis- tic experience. I believe that its founder crafted The Barnes to be a memorial to those who died in the wars and labor struggles of his time and that he left im- ages corresponding to those themes of memorial carved on the stone walls of his Mansion. I also believe that the doctor somehow had a glimpse of the future and that he intended The Barnes to be a place of hope in these times in which we find ourselves. Most of my discussion will focus on the paintings in a way that I hope will bring the collection to life. Barnes Rune 2012 PROLOGUE

This text is organized like a walking tour of The Barnes. I vary from the order, the imagery of the stair at The Barnes and the memory of those who died in The Italian but I have provided a reasonable facsimile of the gallery layout in the appendix to Hall Massacre of 1913, a shameful chapter in American labor history. I talk of a modern help keep the reader oriented as I talk about different pieces of art. I make significant champion or guardian of The Barnes whose coming Dr. Barnes may have foreseen and proposals about The Foundation that, despite their importance to American culture, of a lesson that Barnes may have left for that champion. I describe the possibility that have not been previously made. I believe that these mysteries were not revealed during there may be a curse associated with The Barnes and how to break it. I tell of a great Dr. Barnes’s time because he felt that in a perpetual Foundation there would be time mystery about Picasso and of the possible origins of modern art. Finally, I propose that enough to reveal these secrets and that they should only be revealed when the time was Dr. Barnes may have foreseen his Foundation under siege and the Move planned for right as a defensive measure to save The Barnes. I think Barnes was working on big completion in 2012. Has he left his tale on the wall of Gallery XVII in defense of keep- things and that his view is a multi-generational, epoch-making approach. ing The Barnes in Merion? We shall see that Dr. Barnes’s message is one of hope for this generation and for I think The Barnes is an oracle for modernity. There is even imagery in the paint- future generations. It is a message from reflective people who thought deeply of the ing arrangements that suggest a psychic interest and even a possible 2012 connection. long range possibilities for humanity in simpler, less complicated times before the cata- If you want treasures beyond imagination, mystery and authentic American charm and clysmic mechanized wars and countless atrocities of the twentieth century irreparably flavor, The Barnes in Merion is it. This book will guide the reader through some of the traumatized modern civilization and robbed us of our innocence. I believe the doctor highlights and then the reader should go and see what they can find on their own be- meant The Barnes to be instructive in our present time as to how we should shape our cause this manuscript is far from exhaustive. For art scholars, The Barnes contains many aspirations as leaders in this brave new time in which we now find ourselves and in prime examples of the building blocks of the modern artistic tradition. For museum- which our children will find themselves as the advanced nations lead the rest of the goers, The Barnes is one of the most soulful presentations of art in all the world. world out of darkness and poverty. The Jacques Lipchitz architectural bas-reliefs flanking the main entrance to The As chaotic as these times seem, for the first time in human history, society has the Barnes may reveal the concept of The Barnes the best. There are two reliefs, one on ei- tools to bring economic and social freedom to every corner of the world. I believe that ther side of the main entry door, and I believe that they form a sequence. In the East re- The Barnes is intended to be an example to us of the world that we should strive to cre- lief, to our left as we approach the main entrance, we see the image of two hands cupped ate in this time when all seems so murky and unclear. Perhaps this is why Dr. Barnes together holding-up structural steel bolts to start the sequence; and, to conclude the demanded that The Barnes not be touched, because he somehow knew how difficult it sequence, in the West relief, to our right, a human hand holds a pear, an ancient symbol would be for us to see in this all important time and he wanted The Barnes to be here of immortality, up to the heavens. The Barnes is built by human hands as an offering to guide us. Dr. Barnes made an art of seeing to perpetuate the value that he saw in to immortality. the artistic pursuit of excellence. He based a whole foundation around seeing the art In the same year Barnes began executing his plan to build his Foundation on the in painting, in drawing, in sculpture and in the earth’s natural bounty. Now the time Merion Station property that he would purchase in May of 1922, Picasso’s friend, has come for America to see something else Dr. Barnes may have seen and to look more Henri-Pierre Roche, on February 19, 1922, wrote to another American collector of deeply at the secrets of The Barnes. European art, John Quinn, that Picasso “contemplated building a house in the country, I shall propose that The Barnes commemorates Miss Moina Belle Michael, the where, like ‘Adam on the first day out of the garden,’ he would create from whole cloth originator of the veterans’ memorial poppy, and itself represents a kind of symbolic a total domestic fabric.” Everything was “to be thought out anew by him, with new Valhalla where the souls of the deceased service personnel of our nation’s wars and the simplicity and new proportions, even the steps of the stairs, the windows—every piece victims of our bloody labor struggles can find symbolic repose. Dr. Barnes appears to of furniture: tables, chairs, jugs, glasses, etc., created as for the first time, forgetting all be communicating these themes through his art placements. I call Galleries II through [that] exists already.…[Picasso] says it is the work he feels in his head [that] he would VII The Flanders Field Galleries. They are all the first floor East Wing Galleries. Then most love to do” (Richardson, A Life of Picasso, The Triumphant Years, 1917-1932, p. we see that there may be an agent in the West Wing of The Barnes to assist the pass- 199 and note 74 to chapter 15). ing over of souls as well as imagery to suggest that there is a mystical correspondence In his quest to rebuild Eden, Picasso, arguably the twentieth century’s greatest art- between The Barnes and the doctor’s West Chester, Pennsylvania, Pre-Revolutionary ist and muse, saw a vision similar to Dr. Barnes’s. Picasso never built that utopian place, War farm, “Ker-Feal”, which may energize this agent. I talk of the connection between but Dr. Barnes built his, leaving us a snapshot of the first quarter of the twentieth

2 3 Barnes Rune 2012 century—a living image of all of its grandeur, its optimism, talent, and its refinement. Now America is gutting this place. Shame on us all. In my opinion, the move callously disregards the profound pride and ingenuity that the builders of this vision left for us to help us find our way from the agony of our past to a magnificent future. We should not permit our dead to die in vain. We must never forget. The reader should take note that when I talk about right and left in a painting that I am viewing this as if I was looking out from the painting unless otherwise indicated. Many thanks to Barbara, Ann, Lance and Myron who read one or more of my many drafts. Thanks Mom, Dad, Ronda, Ralph, Tom, Tim, the educators and security team at The Barnes, my fellow students, colleagues, clients, co-workers, Nancy and Dr. Walter Herman, Evelyn Yaari. Special thanks to Sarah Reeder and Sasha Bobosh for their will- “All these scenes depicted on the emunctory field showing our ancient duns and raths and ingness to give their time and talent to someone they hardly knew. Thanks to our vet- cromlechs and grianauns and seats of learning and maledictive stones, are as wonderfully erans and to the men and women in the armed services of the United States of America, beautiful and the pigments as delicate as when the Sligo illuminators gave free rein to their to their families and their allies in the fight to bring security, basic human rights and artistic fantasy long long ago in the time of the Barmecides—all these moving scenes are still democracy to people of all races, nationalities and religions around the world. Thanks there for us today rendered more beautiful still by the waters of sorrow which have passed over also to the union men, women and families of this world, for the pride they take in their them and by the rich incrustations of time.” work and for their fight for fair labor standards and pay throughout the world. Thanks also to Ronda’s yorkie, Jumbo, and Barnyard. Thanks to Ken Peiffer for the cover James Joyce, Ulysses, Trieste-Zurich-Paris 1914-1921 photo and Randl Bye. The World War I images are from gwpda.org, The Great War Photographic and Document Archive, administered by Ray Mentzer and The Italian Hall photos are from The Italian Hall Website, angelfire.com/mi2/1913 administered by Thomas James Katona, a descendant of a miner from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Thanks also to Mary Ann Sullivan of Bluffton University, Bluffton, OH for her photos: she also has many artful photos of The Barnes on her website. I encourage you to send thanks and donations to these important archivists. Biblical quotes are primarily from the translation of The Holy Bible published by the American Bible Society in 1886. Be sure to visit my blog barnesrune.com for links and updates. Thanks to The Barnes Family and even more to all The Barnes Friends at Barnesfriends.org: may The Family and The Friends some day all be one and the same. The Barnes belongs in Merion.

4 Chapter 1 Telltale Art (Through the Looking Glass)

uring the first part of the twentieth century, the founder of The Barnes Foundation, Albert C. Barnes, M.D. (b. January 2, 1872 – d. July 24, 1951), Dcollected and then arranged art, antique metalwork, and furniture in a twelve-acre American utopia or Eden. Dr. Barnes formed The Barnes Foundation as school of philosophy and a place uniquely designed for the study of art. Following his death in 1951, his Indenture of Trust directed that nothing in the mansion art galler- ies should be moved from the place where it had been left by him unless the passage of time rendered it valueless by decay. For some reason, The Barnes was meant to survive unmolested in its Merion, Pennsylvania, home, permanently. Some say that Dr. Barnes restricted moving the art collection from Merion solely for aesthetic purposes because of the staggering beauty of that the Merion mansion and campus contributes to the art experience, but I think the doctor had another reason that he didn’t publicize, a special message to America in a future time. I believe that time is now. At Dr. Barnes’s specially designed Merion mansion, one finds a staggering cache of the art of Cezanne, Renoir, and Matisse, accompanied by major examples of Modigliani, Picasso, Rousseau, Utrillo, Daumier, and Seurat. But, unlike the mansions of the American royalty, The Barnes Foundation was not intended just to be a beautiful storehouse of American baronial treasure; it was, instead, designed to exist eternally in Merion Station as a place of utopian elegance, inspiration, meditation, and education, and it was entrusted to posterity on this condition by its founding charter, formed with the assistance and counsel of Dr. Barnes’s good friend and attorney, the Honorable Owen J. Roberts, who later served as an Associate Justice of The United States Supreme Court. The story of The Barnes is a story of a generation of twentieth-century Americans reaching back into their past and out to future generations in ways not yet fully un- derstood even though we are bent on taking the place apart. So, before we shred the social contract to modify the Barnes Indenture of Trust created by Justice Roberts and Dr. Barnes and sacrifice the American pride represented in this Merion original upon Barnes Rune 2012 Telltale Art (Through the Looking Glass) the altar of creating better public access to the art collection, let us delve carefully into Twenty-five years ago I was told a story about The Barnes. It is an oral legend hand- the mysteries of The Barnes Foundation. And then, when we have understood the pos- ed down through time. This oral legend comprises most of this text and is essentially sibilities for interpretation that The Barnes Merion presents, let us agree upon a less a tour through the art placement of Dr. Barnes, explaining much of the symbolism of culturally destructive alternative to moving the art collection from Merion. The Barnes Foundation. One of the complaints I have heard from visitors to The Barnes As I am writing this, The Barnes Foundation in Merion Station, Pennsylvania, is is that there are no titles to the pictures. If nothing else, this text will give a visitor about to be dismantled by those who would take its art collection away to a more vis- an entry point for trying to remember some of the titles of the paintings. Hopefully ible Center City Philadelphia site upon the premise that it will improve public access this text will also challenge the visitor to see The Barnes and to learn the tale of its to the collection. However, by moving the art collection we will destroy The Barnes, art from the design of its garden stepping stones to the etching in its architectural a national treasure, and we will render the artistic sentiment that formed The Barnes stone. I believe that the text stands by itself, but it should be read in connection with and The Barnes art collection as meaningless and as inaccessible to the public as if a planned visit to The Barnes Foundation, because it is a description of the symbolism we had closed the door upon our past and sealed off the Secret Garden of America’s of the artistic imagery at The Foundation. This tour is factually dense and, at times, imagination. may be difficult to take in, but I believe that the confirmation of what I have learned is This effort to move The Barnes should concern all who care about American cultur- easily found in the imagery that the reader will find currently at the original location al integrity. Influential and wealthy entities are intent upon stripping the art away from in Merion. The Merion original cannot be fairly replicated, so, the reader will have to this special American place and stripping this place away from the American people use their imaginations as to a lot of this if a Move occurs. I have decided to write down without, as far as I can tell, having made any in-depth examination of what this place the oral legend of The Barnes to tell the American people what I have been told about may mean to American culture or how the American people feel about The Barnes The Barnes, so at least they will know what they stand to lose (or have lost by the time Move at all. The Barnes is hard to understand and even harder to define, so I think it is they read this) if they permit The Barnes to be dismembered and moved from its home easy to see how this Move could slide by an uninformed public. However, in the follow- in Merion. ing pages I shall attempt to show that there are ways of looking at The Barnes and its One day a long time ago while I was an undergraduate at Bucknell University in magnificent garden home that make The Barnes Move from that historic Merion home a philosophy seminar whose theme was “The Relevance of The Beautiful,” the teacher seem extremely undesirable and, in my opinion, culturally unacceptable. Educating the asked our class if we would be willing to participate in a departure from the stated cur- public about The Barnes is extremely difficult. The Barnes is a school, and there are les- riculum. She said that if we could get through the planned coursework in the first half sons there that cannot be learned in a day, a week, or even a year. I hope to reduce this of the session, during the second half of the session we would discuss art and art history. learning curve to provide a glimpse of the inspiration and mysteries that lie therein. Since it seemed like a fascinating subject, we had no objection. It was to be an untradi- Much has been written about The Barnes. However, there is much more to learn about tional approach to the study of art: we were to take no notes and to make no drawings The Barnes that should be considered as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania finalizes of what we were taught, and, while we would be studying art, the teacher would use no its financing of what I believe is an ill-conceived and uninspired plan to effectuate the prints, art books, or other visual aids. It was to be an entirely oral lesson. final dismemberment of The Barnes. Our teacher started her lessons by telling us of the history of art. Then her lessons To get in the right frame of mind, it is helpful to consider for a moment that The became more specific. She talked of pieces of art presently in private collections, from Barnes Foundation might be thought of as a way that the founder, Albert Barnes, and the most prominent and pivotal artworks to the most obscure and poorly understood. the individuals who surrounded him, all artisans in their own right, worked to project Finally, she began discussing a school in Merion, Pennsylvania, called The Barnes something greater than themselves to all eternity. And, I think that the effort to move Foundation. She taught us that this was a special American place where the paintings, The Barnes interrupts the accomplishment of that great artistic impression and living architecture, garden, arboretum, art ensembles, and setting all combine to tell a story experience that some of the most esteemed forbearers of our modern time meant to like modern hieroglyphics, but that the story was a secret one, unknown to art experts leave this world. And so, I feel compelled to pose the question, “Who speaks for the and unknown even to those involved in the day-to-day administration of The Barnes. art?” Has any thought been given to understanding the value of The Barnes as a work She related that Dr. Barnes didn’t just acquire an art collection and set it up to of art in and of itself in its original home in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery teach art appreciation, but that he also formed that art collection into a greater artistic County, Pennsylvania? whole and something the world had not seen before: a codex composed of masterpieces,

8 9 Barnes Rune 2012 Telltale Art (Through the Looking Glass) a modern American version of a Mayan or Incan temple or shrine, a pyramid of the an- at close range in a homey, unostentatious setting. There is something awe-inspiring in cient pharaohs, or a shrine of tenth-century Angkor with carved images in sandstone. the natural tranquility of the cathedral-like art arrangement in this simple, earthy set- She told us that the message of The Barnes, like the message of its counterparts of past ting. The unassuming, homelike quality of The Barnes makes the visitor feel as if he civilizations, recites the mythology of our modern civilization, and that The Barnes, or she fits in this place, as if the mysteries of art and life are not out there beyond us on like the pre-Columbian, Egyptian, or Cambodian edifices of the past, is an oracle of the some sterile museum wall, but, instead, are right in front of us and a part of us in this modern era and contains the wonders of our present age, the magic of our times, a mes- intimate beaux-arts mansion in Merion, Pennsylvania. sage about our mysteries, and maybe even a curse if it is disturbed. The Barnes Foundation is set in a large, twelve-acre, world-class arboretum, which The following is my story of what I have been told about The Barnes. When I am accentuates the air of permanency and establishes the grandeur of the place well before done, I hope that the reader will come to the conclusion that moving The Barnes from we ever enter the galleries and see the collections. Everything here instills the feeling Merion is as much an affront to America’s pride as razing Independence Hall or melting that this is a place meant to appeal to a greater power and glory, the glorification of the down the Liberty Bell. spiritual in heaven, and the manifestation of the spiritual on earth through the work of In the hills above Philadelphia, there is a place of singular charm and grace. There, just human hands. It is a place that translates the history of art and religion into a modern over the city line, you will find the secret garden and home of a poor kid made good be- tale, filtering it through modern eyes and making the lessons of the old times and the yond his wildest dreams, the mansion, grounds and art galleries of Albert Coombs Barnes, old ways relevant today. As such, this is a place of great learning and inspiration; it is a M.D., The Barnes Foundation, Merion Station, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Built place of unparalleled intellectual and spiritual development. with the pharmaceutical fortune of Albert C. Barnes and specifically designed for the vast There are times when one is walking the grounds or, especially, when one is leaving collection of postimpressionist and early modern art that it houses, The Barnes Foundation the galleries on a warm summer evening, after having spent time with the art inside, and School, affectionately known by some as simply “The Barnes,” is a place where it seems that the French limestone of the mansion seems to glow with iridescent splendor under that some of the brightest colors in all of this world have been gathered up in one bouquet. the dark canopy of the evening sky. It is then that one realizes that the beauty of the At times, walking among the gardens, beneath the tall trees, past the sculpted exterior of the sculpted mansion, combined with the symphony of the crickets, the elegance of the architecture with its mysterious cubist friezes, and in a fantastical ar- shadows cast by the massive trees, and the smells and hues of the exotic flora of the ray of paintings, one may catch a glimpse of a forgotten time, a way we may never be garden in the clear country air, evinces a feeling rivaling the sensation created by all the again, or a way we should always be. Here at The Barnes lives the early modern spirit masterpieces within. The sensation of leaving the galleries and walking out into the of a time past, a better time. Built in America’s golden time when all was new, here, in splendor of the quiet grounds makes one feel the participation of one’s Maker, if one this special American place at Merion, we can virtually see into the heart of mankind’s believes in such things, in something more than all the artistic works of man inside. If better aspirations, where the essence of common decency and uncommon wonder re- the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, then, the mansion, arboretum, garden, side. The Barnes in Merion is like an island of calm in the great bustling Philadelphia collections, grounds, and meaning of this experience in Merion Station, Pennsylvania region, the United States, and the world. It is a place where one may see art clearly, has an overwhelming effect upon the visitor. If nothing else, the example of the archi- with a vision unadulterated by neon, asphalt, and the complexity and clamor of modern tects of The Merion Barnes community demonstrated how the collaboration of a few civic life. The Barnes experience can only be described as organic. It stirs places inside a highly articulate and advanced members of modern society could endure and could person that are archetypal, and as much as we may look in anticipation to see each new become something greater than the people themselves. Therefore, The Barnes may hold image, so, too, in the quiet solitude of this mysterious garden, do we find the silence the answer to one of the greatest questions of all: how philosophers of one generation to see ourselves as we open up to reach deep into our experience to recall the imagery can leave something uniquely their own and unalterable that is worthy for future gen- that seems so faintly and inexplicably familiar. There are images of fidelity, strength, erations. The Barnes in Merion is a place of inspiration and hope about such noble ides, sacrifice, miracle, and other wonders in every hue and color of the human imagination. but, unfortunately, there is no time to dwell on such ideas because this artistic vision of These wonders don’t exist at a distance; they are accessible to and inches from the visi- America’s Industrial Revolution is thought by some to be Philly’s next hot commodity, tor as if you are in a wealthy friend’s sitting room. so it is being traded downtown. The unpretentious feel of The Barnes permits the visitor a close, one-on-one rela- Entering the quiet, sunlit rooms of The Foundation and walking across the sub- tionship with the art and antiques one finds there, because one discovers the collection dued parquet floors of gallery after gallery, a visitor is transported through a looking

10 11 Barnes Rune 2012 glass of human history and artistic achievement. At every step, the colors and themes within The Barnes become brighter and more curious. Like a kaleidoscope composed of stunning masterpieces instead of refractive lenses, there are great works of art at each turn, arranged in geometric wall ensembles. At first these wall ensembles seem a jumble of color and line, with modern works juxtaposed against more “traditional” works, European works mixed with American works, works of the American Southwest grouped with postimpressionists and Dutch masters, African wooden carvings grouped Chapter 2 with early modern works, and on and on. The new visitor begins to feel overwhelmed. The parquet floors begin to feel as if Wisteria sinensis they have become the wooden deck of a ship far at sea rocking to and fro. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the confusion of the art or its arrangement, and, walking through the art galleries of The Barnes for the first time, one finds oneself he Barnes is a unique construct of a century that I like to call “the American thinking that it would be difficult to fully understand such a place. The varied diver- Century,” the twentieth century. Conceived in 1918 and designed and created sity in the range of artistic styles represented in the collection seems like a catalogue Tin the Golden Age of America, the Roaring Twenties, its setting, symbolism, of mankind’s artistic endeavor; but, without an art history background, one can easily and imagery tell the story of America. The Barnes Mansion and Residence in Merion find oneself bewildered by the presentation of the pieces. There are no explanations Station emanates a quiet elegance as one enters its gated grounds. There is great magic next to the artworks as to their place or importance, if any, in art history. It is as if the in the unification of God’s natural elegance with man’s artistic elegance that The Barnes visitor is expected to already know the backgrounds of the paintings that he or she is represents. The magic of the unification of art and nature is its greatest charm, draw, about to see. and lesson. Nestled among the trees of a 125-year-old arboretum planted by a famous In a sense it didn’t matter to Dr. Barnes what the name of a painting was, because he Philadelphian, Joseph Lapsley Wilson, the place suggests an enchanted garden. In mid- taught on the principle that to the eye learning to see, all there was to see in a painting April, an exotic white wisteria skirts the base of the second story at the front of the resi- was within the four corners of the painting itself. Explanations were superfluous to the dence like the white veil of a bride at the altar. The wisteria grows from a wooden trunk beginner in the Barnesian method, and by the time you learned to see, you didn’t need and reaches high overhead to the base of the windows. Wisteria sinensis (Leguminosae) any explanations of the pieces because by then you had developed such an appreciation is a beautiful flowering plant indigenous to China. In another place, just to the south for these artists that you took the time to learn all about him or her on your own. It is a side of the residence, purple wisteria forms an arbor where a visitor can sit in fragrant fascinating approach to education. The place is not a passive place like a museum; instead, lavender shade. The tone of The Barnes is as wistful and as peaceful as the wisteria that it is a school that poses an intellectual challenge to the visitor to look more closely at what blooms around it. The sights, sounds, and fragrances of the garden draw us out of our is before one’s eyes rather than reading little explanatory cards. It is a place where one life-hardened shells as we approach The Barnes in this marriage of art and nature. must study more deeply to understand the import of what is being seen. As we proceed past the residence and toward the main building of the estate, the However, I am not writing this book about Barnes’s educational theories. I am air of exotic mystery is reinforced by the imposing but benevolent-looking figures of going to explore some of the more things about Dr. Barnes’ art ensembles that reflect mystical sentinels inspired by African tribal art and levitating Baule horned turtle- a second level of meaning of the whole, which is not taught as a Barnesian course of god totems laid into the graceful multicolored tile work of the Enfield Tile Company study. I propose that with a little explanation, in this place of such great variation one surrounding the front entryway of the Foundation gallery. The gallery entryway is the begins to see that each item is purposefully and painstakingly placed to furnish a way focal point of the estate and is framed by stately Corinthian columns. If you look at the for the visitor to see things that could not be seen in any other way or in any other building from the street, as you pass it on Latches Lane, the building looks subdued at location. And, as we shall see, the art is also arranged like a visual manuscript to tell first, but, at times, when the sunlight catches the multicolored polished cut glass in important and compelling stories from the time when Dr. Barnes was collecting his art the tile work in the convex walls of the entryway, that atrium appears to be a shimmer- in the dawn of the twentieth century. ing portal or a passageway to a place of unearthly beauty. The effect when the sun hits the tile work in the entryway reminds you of the transporter beam in the popular TV

12 Barnes Rune 2012 Wisteria sinensis series Star Trek or the sparkling entrance to the mystical treasure cave of Ali Baba and and architect to create an entirely different art form and to reveal new wonder in the the Forty Thieves. Entering The Barnes through this portal, we come face to face with world: a new experience and a new wonder of the world, the Merion Barnes experience. some of the greatest art of modern times. Dewey wrote that “[r]evelation in art is the quickened expansion of experience” (John The themes of transport and conveyance are appropriate, because a visit to this Dewey, “Art As Experience,” Perigee, August 2005, p. 281). If one masterpiece can place transports one’s spirit to a better place. The theme of the mansion and gardens is stimulate a quickened expansion of experience, imagine the possible revelations that art, outside and in. In addition to the organic effect of the tile work, which is laid on The Barnes’s art placement and design elements may contain, with their closely spaced a beveled façade around the doorway, the stone of the architecture is, itself, made less composition of hundreds of paintings and their spectacular estate grounds. My conten- rigid and, at times, almost fluid by the hand of sculptor Jacques Lipchitz. Seven cub- tion is that, in addition to the hundreds of masterworks on the walls of the galleries, ist reliefs by Lipchitz adorn the parapets of the galleries and residence of the limestone The Barnes is, itself, an inspired work of art, a book without words, only pictures. The mansion. The sculpted reliefs appear to seamlessly flow from the stone like water from Barnes, in and of itself, is nothing less than a modern American masterpiece. the fabled rock of the Bible and as fluidly as the water from the natural spring on the A visit to the Renaissance-style mansion that is home to The Barnes Foundation property that nourishes the cool glade on the western end of the estate where Dr. Barnes leaves a lasting impression. A writer from The New Yorker, Peter Schejeldal, may have is thought to be buried with his dog, Fidele. said it best. He described the art arrangement on the walls of The Barnes, as a rune, The Lipchitz stone reliefs work in unison with the arboretum, the garden space, which, if he just knew how to read it right, might reveal the very mystery of life itself. and the design of the mansion to diffuse any sense that the mansion’s architecture is I, for one, believe that Mr. Schejeldal was right and that there is a message behind the content to stay within traditional confines of symmetrical lines or even time and space. art. I believe that The Barnes, from its art to its paving stones on its vast sweeping It is as if the estate’s sweeping lawns are the carpet for the sculpted figures in Lipchitz’s lawns, is a runic tableaux. Its constituent elements compose a symbolic alphabet form- reliefs and the tree canopy is their roof. What we first thought was the “outside” is re- ing a new language and a timely message or codex for our modern era. It is a message ally a world of its own, and these figures that people the exterior architecture of the es- formed from art found by Dr. Barnes and arranged in specific ways on the canvas of the tate buildings are a natural part of this place like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. majestic American estate for the purpose of communication to future generations about The effect of softening the mansion’s stone with sculpted bas-relief friezes is not unlike the unique spirit of his own generation. the way the lacy white wisteria of April softens the stone of the attached residence as The Barnes was conceived in 1922, which was the same year that T. S. Eliot, an the blossoms dance lightly along the southwest side of the second story, appearing to American expatriate from St. Louis living in England, wrote “The Waste Land,” widely grow at times like a beard of fine down, from the wall itself. The soft blooms against thought to represent the apogee or height of twentieth-century intellectual achievement. the dense stone form a symphony of contrasting textures. The Barnes, its gardens, and Complex and compelling, “The Waste Land” is a poem of the new human heartland, its grounds offer many such incomparable and inspirational contrasts. revisiting in new ways many of the metaphors in the human archetypal catalogue. If you John Dewey, the first director of education at The Barnes, wrote: “Philosophy is said read “The Waste Land” aloud, one can almost hear the measured beat of a new age. In to begin in wonder and end in understanding. Art [on the other hand] departs from some ways, The Barnes Foundation may be operating at the same level. In “The Waste what has been understood and ends in wonder” (John Dewey, “Art As Experience,” Land,” Eliot leaves us questioning whether there is any wonder left in life despite the Perigee, August 2005, p. 281). The philosopher takes wonder and turns it into under- sterility and torpor that he finds in the modern age. I respectfully suggest that Eliot’s bril- standing, while the artist begins at the point where understanding ends and employs liance in “The Waste Land” is in the way that he is able to synthesize a new form of poetic his or her talent to take human experience to a place farther than anyone has seen before. execution that is able to reach the pathos of this new age. And, by so intuitively and richly Dr. Barnes, it seems, was both philosopher and artist. As a philosopher Barnes sought describing the age, Eliot’s own talent helped him to craft a magically insightful poem to express the wonder of art in understandable terms in his Foundation ensembles and that would, by the virtue of its eloquence, help to reestablish some sense of the wonder classes. And, while Dr. Barnes wasn’t a painter, a sculptor, or even an architect, Dr. that he found so lacking in the modern world. So, too, does the artfulness of The Barnes Barnes was an artist, because he imposed a curatorial hand upon all that we see at The take up the task of breathing mystery and wonder into modern life in the architecture, Barnes. The ensembles are his and his alone, and if they contain a communication to us, galleries, gardens, and incomparable brilliance of the Merion experience. that communication is from him. We feel touched by him here. As an artist, Dr. Barnes Like “The Waste Land,” The Barnes is a dynamic creation with narrative value that drew upon the talents that he saw in each of the arts of painter, sculptor, metal worker, has purposive harmonies, a mood, a setting, an overall message, and a theme. As such, The

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Barnes is a treatise on human life, and what makes Dr. Barnes’s treatise so interesting is that you can’t carry it with you—despite what the folks who want to build a replica of it in Center City Philadelphia might think. Instead, you have to go walk around it and inside it and through it to fully “get it”—which makes this treatise the only one of its kind in all of the world. This magnificent American pronouncement is subtle, but when it hits, it hits like a stroke of lightning and a crash of thunder. “A new age is upon us!” it says. “These are the things that we have learned! This is the mythology of our time. These are the pathways Chapter 3 of human understanding and spiritual mystery on Earth.” The paths of Dr. Barnes and T. S. Eliot eventually crossed when Eliot wrote a letter to Dr. Barnes requesting to see the col- An American Home lection and to visit the Merion campus. When Dr. Barnes received Eliot’s request, it is said that Barnes laughed. I don’t know if Eliot ever made it in to The Barnes, but I like to think that Dr. Barnes laughed because he thought that T. S. Eliot had already achieved a version he Barnes Foundation collection has astounding depth. One of the most revered of Merion in his poetry. For, as I hope to help the reader see, The Barnes may be as much art dealers of the twentieth century, Ambroise Vollard, a dealer of Cezanne, a monumental reflection of early modernity as Eliot’s poetry. It is a true tragedy that the TPicasso, Matisse, and Modigliani, called The Barnes Collection “the greatest quest to enhance public access has taken us to the point where we feel that we must move assembly of postimpressionist and early modern paintings in the world.” Vollard was The Barnes, for by so doing we will forever deprive the public of access to what I believe is arguably one of the most important art dealers from this very important early modern an important message of modern life in the Merion composition. period. The most important collection from a most important time in the development In the spring, when the garden is in bloom and the trees are heavy with their buds, of modern art, The Barnes Foundation is, accordingly, one of the world’s most impor- the campus is steeped in a fragrant aroma, and an earthy stillness transports the visitor to tant resources for studying the development of modern man as artisan. The Barnes a contemplative place as close to heaven as you may ever experience. Upon arrival, visitors is also an important place in the development of American philosophy. John Dewey, often linger for awhile beneath the tall trees or take a detour and a rambling walk through widely considered to be the father of American philosophy, was the first director of the garden and the forest to explore the secluded area near the reflecting pool. The serene education at The Merion Foundation. natural setting, far away from the hustle and bustle of the city, is a sweeping area of calm In 1922, Dr. Barnes acquired the arboretum of Joseph Lapsley Wilson for the pur- before you enter the stately art galleries themselves. The exotic colors and fragrances of poses of building a foundation for the study of art, philosophy, and design. Barnes com- the flora set against the quiet magnificence of the stately stone structure have a sooth- missioned one of the preeminent architects of his time, Dr. Paul Phillippe Cret, and ing effect as you approach, and the snarl of the city begins to dissipate. As you enter the sculptor Jacques Lipchitz of the same early modern design period to specially design art galleries of The Foundation, the sights, sounds and earthy smells from the canvases, and decorate the Foundation’s limestone buildings. Although Barnes was the master parquet floors, the silent marble, and the time-worn wood can leave a person awestruck, of the house, the house was built on the theme of collaboration with several other and everything feels hushed and muted. You feel that you are in the presence of a great masters. The participation of the master architect, Cret, the master sculptor, Lipchitz, mystery, and your mind almost unconsciously begins to muse over the riddle. You feel as the master arbor culturist, Wilson, and America’s masterful first lady of horticulture, if you have gone back in time or, better, you feel that you have experienced a time shift Mrs. Laura Barnes, imbues the premises with an aura and presence that reflect the early and have gone beyond time to a place of soulful introspection. You just know, in your modern design experience inside and out. heart, that there is more here than first meets the eye, much, much more. World-renowned philosopher Bertrand Russell taught at The Foundation’s school. As one proceeds through the twenty-three galleries, the arrangement of the paint- Albert Einstein walked the grounds in Merion and viewed the art there. Philadelphia’s ings, the metalwork, the antique furniture, and the craftwork suggest an alphabet and first muralist, Henri Matisse, visited this place and found therein the inspiration for a then a text of foreign or long-forgotten hieroglyphs, but with a hauntingly familiar har- very special mural, La Danse, that he painted specially for the Merion mansion and the mony. It is as if The Barnes is a cathedral for a new age, an age that we all know but which setting, which he called “the sanest place to view art in America.” So many leading citi- has somehow escaped us in the bustle of our lives—it is as if its meaning is just beyond zens of the twentieth century visited or laid their hands upon this magnificent location the grasp of our understanding, as if we could almost get it if we only knew how. that The Barnes in Merion seems to have become a sacred American place. Dr. Barnes’

16 Barnes Rune 2012 An American Home wife, Laura Barnes, was the most underestimated of all because she helped to plan and except in Gothic cathedrals, the Sistine Chapel, the Egyptian pyramids, and the like. to oversee the management of a graceful garden in the old English style. The ineffable Thinking about The Barnes in such grandiose company as pyramids and cathedrals connection of her home and her garden to this great art collection constitute one of the may seem a little too self-assured, but it is a good analogy because The Barnes is the great American legacies that The Move will leave behind. The garden of Laura Barnes storehouse of a major collection of art from the turn of the twentieth century, which is is best accessed from a place near the southern gate over a flagstone walk through a the period of time considered most earth-shattering and trendsetting in all of modern planting of rosebushes. The simple garden entry at the city side of the estate signifies a art, quite likely equaled only by the classical realism of the Renaissance artists such change in latitude from the shoe leather of the city to the barefoot elegance of home. It as Michelangelo and his work on vastly influential compositions such as the Sistine is nice to start the tour in the garden because it echoes, at times, the colors found in the Chapel that defined Western civilization’s path out of the Middle Ages. The Barnes art inside the mansion, for it is said that Mrs. Laura Barnes chose her blooms to match contains specially arranged art from the height of the next major great time in Western the colors of the artwork inside the mansion galleries. The impact of all these artists culture, the Western industrialization: it is a new take, from that pivotal time of trans- contained in and around the building and grounds, including Laura Barnes herself, has formation, on some of the mysteries that have been occupying human beings since the helped to shape the modern eye. The Barnes is a living testimony to the legacy of each beginning of recorded history, and it informs upon what had been occurring since the of these people. Sistine masterpiece. And, if it is America’s take on this topic, isn’t it worth taking a Dr. Barnes formed this art collection and intellectual community in Merion in closer look? If it is a modern human edifice which contains communiqués written in America’s golden age of prosperity as she grew to be a leader on the world stage in the world’s modern masterpieces from Dr. Barnes’s generation and from the height of the first quarter of the twentieth century. And, while the dream of the generations of The Golden Age of America to all future generations, where will it lead us? America’s golden time of prosperity was soon overshadowed by the world economic The Barnes is remarkably easy to find these days with the universality of Global downturn of the Great Depression, the devastating wars, and the domestic and interna- Positioning Systems. However, the earliest official mention that I can find of itas tional struggles that persisted through the rest of the twentieth century, the optimistic an important Pennsylvania site is in a publication by the Writers’ Program of The vision of America’s golden generations endured like an eternal flame and is preserved Works Projects Administration in The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Writers’ like a photograph or snapshot in The Barnes Foundation in Merion. Program gives the description from U.S. Route 30, The Lincoln Highway. Extending As a result, this elegant, earthy place in Merion is a place of living American his- from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Astoria, Oregon, The Lincoln Highway was the first tory. It is a crucible and a testing ground for many great notions of a great time in a auto road across America. It has been dubbed “The Main Street Across America.” In great nation. The Barnes, with its art and architecture, is a cultural imprint or a liv- addition to The Barnes Foundation, other sites along this road in Pennsylvania include ing chronicle of the height of esoteric study in America’s Golden Age. Of all that is Gettysburg Battlefield and The Flight 93 Memorial. American, The Barnes should rank near the very top of the list because it represents To find The Barnes, the Writers’ Program advises that when one reaches historic characteristics which might be thought to be wholly “of” America in the late nine- Lower Merion Township, one is to leave U.S. Route 30 1.1 miles and proceed to a junc- teenth and early twentieth century. Men and Women like Dr. and Mrs. Laura Barnes, tion with Old Lancaster Road “L. here 0.4 mi. to a junction with Latches Lane; L. here John Dewey, Captain Joseph Lapsley Wilson, and the many unsung participants in 0.3 mi. to The Barnes Foundation.” Pennsylvania, A Guide To The Keystone State, Oxford the experiment in Merion could reach back and touch their American roots. Captain University Press 1947, p.437. Joseph Wilson might be thought of as having helped sow the foundational trees of a new nation in the world class arboretum. They were, in a sense, the culmination and embodiment of what the Founding Fathers had hoped for as they also contemplated the evolution of this great society, America, in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centu- ries—the American spirit as patron and custodian of the values of a millennium as the nation ascended to the top the world stage. And, as we shall see, Dr. Barnes didn’t make The Barnes a museum; he made it a school where he appears to have used found objects of some of the most important art of his time to fashion cross-generational communiqués in a way previously unseen

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s one enters the public rooms, the oversized baronial entry doors open upon the Main Gallery, where colorful modern masterpieces of magnificent scale Aimmediately confront the guest from the southern wall as if this were a Hall of Titans. Many of the figures in the paintings of the Main Hall are life-sized, and in some cases they are larger than life. The colors are spectacular, and the subjects are invitingly familiar. The paintings are arranged with fancy metalwork affixed to the walls all around. One first encounters two massive early works by the twentieth cen- tury’s greatest masters, The Peasants (1906) by Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse’s robed Riffian (1912) of Casablanca. Both canvases exceed six feet and are filled with large, engaging figures. Picasso’s Peasants shows a larger-than-life young man bursting forth from the canvas. The virile young peasant is carrying a crate of flowers on his right shoulder while his powerful form frames a demure woman striding forth in lockstep with him while she holds a bouquet of flowers in her hands. Picasso has painted two large bulls energetically tossing their heads as if they are snorting an approval at the youthful optimism of these two young people walking next to them. On the other side of the massive window facing Laura Barnes’s garden, Matisse’s Riffian looks like a giant maharaja holding court with a yellow and green face, a turban, and a festive sash adorning his robe. Above these paintings vaults Matisse’s La Danse (The Dance), which Matisse specially designed for this American place. The Dance contains large red and blue dancing forms gracing the vaulted crenellations of the ceiling like the white wiste- ria dances across the face of the residence and the shadows of the limbs and leaves of the high trees that dance in the wind across the exterior walls and windows of the mansion. On either side of the Main Gallery there are other spectacular, large paintings. On the large Western Wall of the Main Hall Dr. Barnes placed The Models or Le Poseurs by Georges Seurat, showing three life-sized nude artist’s models in various stages of undress as they finish posing for another famous painting by Seurat,A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, painted into the background of The Models, and change back into their street clothes. Underneath The Models on the West Wall is The Card Barnes Rune 2012 Angels in the Architecture

Players, or Les Joueurs de Cartes, by Paul Cezanne, which shows a group of life-sized On a scale that approximates the massive works of the old European masters of the men in the attire of the French working class sitting at or observing a card game. On Renaissance who painted grand Chapel Frescos, Matisse renders liberated shades, spir- the East Wall of the Main Hall is Cezanne’s The Large Bathers, showing a surreal group its or figures dancing pell-mell across the massive vaulted crenellations of the ceiling of orange and pink female bathers in a blue landscape. Underneath Cezanne’s Large of the Main Gallery as if these figures have been set free from space, time and gravity Bathers is the life-sized Portrait of the Artist’s Family, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, with a itself as they dance through the architecture of The Barnes and across the sky of the child dressed in a white robe and bonnet standing in the center; some have compared Arboretum. The arches of the windows of the Main Gallery seem to intersect and grow the figure to an allegorical Christ child. out of their bodies in places so that the distinctions between the gallery and the mural In the East End of the Main Hall one feels surrounded by bather images. Perhaps at times appear to become blurred as if the art and architecture are one. they are angels? A semicircle of bather images is found in the East End. The semi- At times, the distinctions between the art and the beauty of the gardens, the trees, circle begins at eye level with one of Renoir’s impressionist bather scenes on the North and the sweeping estate are blurred as well. When he first saw his mural, La Danse Wall; the circular track traces upward through Cezanne’s postimpressionist bathers on installed in Merion, Matisse reportedly said: “As soon as I saw the decoration in place, I the East Wall above us and then culminates higher-up in the nude figures of Matisse’s felt it was detached absolutely from myself, and that it took on a meaning quite differ- La Danse that is fitted into the three vaulted ceiling arches above. Grouped together, ent from what it had had in my studio, where it was only a painted canvas. There in the these three paintings of nude forms show vastly different treatments of the bather Barnes Foundation it became a rigid thing, heavy as stone, and one that seemed to have theme by the impressionist Renoir, the postimpressionist Cezanne, and the modern been created at the same time with the building” (Howard Greenfield, The Devil and artist Matisse. Since Matisse created La Danse for the gallery space, his mural may have Dr. Barnes, Viking Penguin, Inc., 1987, p. 169). Greenfield also cites a letter Matisse also been specifically designed to complement his two predecessors’ bathing scenes that wrote to his friend Simon Bussy, on May 17, 1933, wherein Matisse describes the expe- also share the space. A visitor in the Main Hall can trace a semicircle from left to right rience of La Danse as “a splendid thing, which one can have no idea of without having as one’s eyes move from Renoir’s sensual impressionist Bathers frolicking in a stream on seen it—since the whole arched ceiling radiates out—and this effect even extends down the Northeast Wall to Cezanne’s meld of natural form and abstract experimentation of to the ground.” (The Devil and Dr. Barnes, p. 170) what has been called postimpressionism in his Large Bathers on the East Wall to full- There is a second-story walkway called “The Bridge” between the Western and blown modernism, almost half a century later, in Matisse’s La Danse, high up above Eastern Wings of The Foundation in the Main Hall across from La Danse, and although the Southern windows, in which we see fluid and almost total abstraction in the blue we won’t go up there quite yet, Dr. Barnes has placed a statue on The Bridge of St. and red dancers. Some say this is introductory symbolism of the three themes of art a Stephen, the first martyr of Christianity, at the same level asLa Danse. St. Stephen was student will explore in the collections of The Barnes, because the collection primarily stoned to death, and this rendition of the saint shows him with the instruments of his focuses upon Renoir, Cezanne, the early moderns, and the origins of the Modern Design martyrdom, stones. He is shown effortlessly holding a pile of heavy stones in his hands Experience. while other heavy stones are shown hitting each side of his head. In the story of his In Renoir’s Bathers, the figures are idealistic but earthbound as the nudes frolic in a martyrdom, it is said that as Stephen died, he stated, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, country stream. In Cezanne’s Bathers, the figures are more abstract, yet still earthbound and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56). As we contemplate as they congregate under the night sky. However, Matisse seems to have invented flight, these images, so, too, does the Gallery of the Main Hall seem to open up to heaven as and his La Danse explodes any thought that his figures are bound by gravity or confined the spirits of La Danse cavort across the border of the ceiling in front of our eyes. What to the earth at all. Instead, Matisse fixes some of these figures poised to spring and oth- will we see as we delve further into The Barnes? ers in the eternal leaps, tumbles, and gymnastics of a gravity-defying dance. Matisse’s On the Northern Wall of The Bridge, directly across from La Danse, Dr. Barnes has work is almost like a great crowning triumph in the continuum of artistic expression placed an altarpiece fragment showing Christ in the Garden at Gethsemane. The altar- formulated by artists like Renoir and Cezanne. piece can be viewed as having a correspondence to La Danse because the mural repeats At two places, Matisse’s forms merge with the architecture of The Barnes to suggest some of the themes of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. Matisse’s majestic, danc- that these dancers merge into the building, expanding into the architectural elements ing figures could be angels that recall the angel that appeared to Christ as he prayed in as if the architecture were itself an extension of the art. the garden: “And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him”

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(Luke 22:43). Or Matisse’s mural may recall Christ’s own words to his disciples when He rose from praying in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, returned to his disciples, “He who drinks of the water that I who were sleeping in their sorrow, and said: “Why sleep ye? Rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation” (Luke Ch. 22:46. The placement of the altarpiece in close proximity will give him shall never thirst, but to La Danse may represent Dr. Barnes’ interpretation of Christ’s wish for his disciples that they raise themselves up in prayer and in vibrant celebration of His spirit. the water that I will give him shall The first time I attended a class with Barton Church, a Barnes professor who has been at The Foundation since 1949, he described the impression that had been left become in him a fountain of water upon him by the choirs that Dr. Barnes had invited to come to perform in the Main Hall. Mr. Church is an artist who came from the Midwest in search of an education springing up unto life everlasting.” in the East. Dr. Barnes befriended him and Mr. Church stayed on at The Barnes after Dr. Barnes’s death in a 1951 automobile accident at the age of 78. I understand that John 4:13 Mr. Church took roll for Dr. Barnes. Mr. Church speaks of his many memories of Dr. Barnes, but the passion of his description of memories of the exquisite beauty of The In my estimation, just like the sustaining wellspring of Christ’s message, Barnes as the strains of the hymns filled the Hall calls to the imaginations of students Dr. Barnes wanted his Merion presentation to provide visitors a nourishing experience even today. It seems to me that the impression of the spirituality of this place attracted of revitalization and glorification of the eternal human spirit in his galleries, the man- that young man, Barton Church, to spend his life here in artistic and philosophical sion, and the grounds. I believe that Dr. Barnes hoped to raise the consciousness of a study. The Barnes does that to a person, it creates unforgettable impressions and strong new millennium by putting us in contact with the old in a new and modern way; and, feelings. It is a place of great spirituality and grace. for this reason, he wished to create a continuum between old and new. There is also a spot on The Bridge where a visitor can stand and see the images In part, Dr. Barnes seems to have wanted to sprinkle a little fairy dust on a new age of the Main Hall, the image of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane on the wall of to give us a grand hall of magical wonder and provide an enduring breath of the bril- The Bridge and another image from the life of Christ called Christ at the Well with the liance of color, thought, and passion that swept through his time. It is as if nothing has Woman of Samaria (attributed to a master of the school of Jacopo Tintoretto, sixteenth changed since the day in 1951 when Dr. Barnes died, like an undisturbed passage back century) which is visible through the door in Gallery XIV. Gallery XIV is one of the in time to a better place. And, like Walt Disney’s Tinkerbell streaking through the sky large upstairs West Wing Galleries and we will sometimes see themes from one gallery to inaugurate the Wonderful World of Disney, so, too, does Dr. Barnes have his own inau- of The Barnes meshing with the themes of paintings from other galleries visible, for gural fairy to bestow her auspicious blessing on his magic kingdom in Merion. instance, through a door. A tree in the background of Christ at the Well almost looks And if the reader was wondering if, by chance, there is a magic fairy princess here? like it is growing out of the well where Christ is immersed in conversation with the She appears to be here on The Bridge of the Main Gallery as well. For, on The Bridge’s woman of Samaria. As one looks at the image of St. Stephen, the image of Christ in East Wall, above the entry to Gallery XX, there is a small rectangular painting by the Garden of Gethsemane, the image of Jesus with the woman at the well, and back Arthur B. Davies that I call “The Recital.” This tiny painting shares space with some at the joyful figures in the Matisse mural clearly visible in the Main Hall, one may see of the greatest masterpieces in modern history, so, I have to ask myself, what is its rele- reinforcement of what I believe is the core message of Matisse’s mural and Dr. Barnes vance? The figures in the small painting are among the smallest in all of the Main Hall. himself: that, just like the woman of Samaria who Jesus befriended despite the tribal In the center of the painting is a woman in a white dress that is illuminated as if she enmity between Samarians and Jews, we are all afforded an opportunity for eternal life were an angel or a fairy presiding over an unreal recital by a small group of musicians, and are each asked to raise the water up out of the well of everlasting life, so that our including a piano and a piano player, in the open air by the light of the moon as a herd souls and our faith may spring forth in the glory of God. Eternal life is commemorated of cows look on. The lady in the unearthly white appears to be holding a magic wand. here in the heart of Merion, a natural place filled with the splendor of heaven on earth. In the mind’s eye, this lady becomes a mythical figure waving her wand and sprinkling At the well, Jesus shared His message with the woman of Samaria: her fairy dust upon this magnificent collection and bringing it to life.

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Perhaps the group of musicians playing for the fairy angel under the open heavens perhaps, dead for many of the new generations. But God and spirituality were not of the night sky is playing music for the dancers in Matisse’s La Danse? A little way dead for Dr. Barnes. Casting aside other routes for the perpetual manifestation of his away, on the West Wall of the Main Hall, Dr. Barnes has placed Seurat’s monumental purpose, Dr. Barnes built a place in Merion that combined images from all of the great painting Models. Curiously, in Models we again see another wand or walking stick, but it religions of human history (and some of the philosophies) to not just show examples is now much larger than life and tucked under the arm of a figure that is standing with of these religions and philosophies, but to reenergize and reaffirm the themes of these a magnificently attired lady on the shore of Seurat’sLa Grande Jatte in the background religions and philosophies. Like the image of the fairy wishing it so in Davies’s painting of Models. Is this larger-than-life figure from the shore ofLa Grande Jatte standing guard or in the image of the maestro standing among other grand fairies on the beach at La over his creation with his magical wand tucked under his arm? Are both of these fig- Grande Jatte to watch over their creation in Seurat’s Models, Dr. Barnes, in his creation ures, the little one in the Davies on The Bridge and the larger one in the Seurat on the The Barnes Foundation, may reaffirm the wonder of spirituality here in Merion. West Wall of the Main Hall, magical ushers or fairies of The Barnes? If we develop our understanding of the imagery before us, we can begin to see, This sort of intriguing correspondence is taking place all around The Barnes. with the aid of the art, the architecture, the trails and the pathways of the Arboretum, Dr. Barnes’s “message” transcends the mere collection of objects, and it also transcends and the blooms of the gardens, a greater message of human decency and respect. In the mere placement of objects to talk about artisanship and design theory. If we merely moments of quiet reflection, steeped in the history of those who have gone before, we thought of all these images as pretty pictures without seeing the unmistakable story can see here in a way that no other artistic experience seems to offer and in a way that that I believe they are assembled to tell, we would be missing the point. no other place could ever permit us to see. Returning to the opened heavens theme, Matisse’s mural may also give us our The best way to think about The Barnes may be found in the allegory of La Danse: first example of the relationship between the inside of the Gallery and the architec- it is that Dr. Barnes hoped that this place would be a place of rejuvenation and com- tural bas-reliefs on the outside walls. On the exterior Southern face of Dr. Paul Cret’s munion for the souls commemorated herein and for those who would visit. As the visi- Barnes Foundation, on the same side where Matisse has positioned La Danse, a large tor is drawn into the atmosphere of this fanciful country estate, it creates in a person a bas-relief carved by Jacques Lipchitz into the limestone shows a musician lying on his mood of rapt splendor. In a sense, it is possible that Dr. Barnes hoped that The Barnes back and looking toward heaven as he plays his music to a field of sculpted stars and Foundation, garden, and arboretum might be seen as an earthly allegory for heaven, calls the tune for the acrobatic figures ofLa Danse inside. The ebullient forms depicted and that the environment he created here would be a way to feel an approximation of in Matisse’s painting in the center of the Main Hall juxtaposed against Lipchitz’s bas- heaven on earth or a way to heaven. relief outside of the building best explains what Dr. Barnes aspired to in the creation of The Barnes was designed to create a uniquely intellectual experience in the man- his experiment in Merion: a timeless, harmonious unity of art, nature, and place. ner of the cathedrals of old that glorifies the harmonies in nature and in thought in a In his quest to paint the essence of life on his walls, Dr. Barnes’s primary inspiration new way for a new age. It is a sacred place for modern times, for our time. And, like seems to have been to try to use his masterpieces to serve as pointers or pathways to the cathedrals of the Renaissance that rose up from the European countryside for all to human understanding about art. What has been lost on the public is that he may have see, The Barnes rises up out of the countryside of suburban Philadelphia and appeals also used these pieces to tell stories whose morals described the essence of spirituality to the finer instincts in every man and woman of today. The Barnes aspires to speak an in all of human existence. The object arrangement is talismanic. Like the poetic score all-inclusive language of tolerance and understanding of differences. Like a great rose of a modern-day Homer, The Barnes seems to trumpet a new mythology of the modern window, it is a prism of color and form through which mankind can connect with the day. In the arrangement of his masterpieces, Dr. Barnes, as a modern artist and philoso- shades of its past and, perhaps, see in the refraction an inspiration of how best to evolve pher, tried to make his utopian inspiration new, applicable, and germane to the strife toward its future. that existed in his time when the tendency in the modern age of reason was to discount wonder and to rationalize it. Professor John Gatti in his first-year class at The Barnes Foundation, circulates a handout of a paper by a noted psychiatrist of the time, Carl Jung, who remarked that in the Age of Reason, he was seeing less and less of the God archetype in psychoanaly- sis, meaning that people were abandoning God. As Nietzsche had declared, God was,

26 27 Chapter 5 A Diving Platform near Pourville

roceeding through the Galleries in numerical sequence, the Gallery that is next after the Main Hall is Gallery II. Above the entryway to Gallery II, at the jump- Ping off point, Dr. Barnes has hung a painting by William James Glackens called The Raft (1915). This painting depicts people swimming at a lake on a bright summer’s day. The focal point of the painting is a buoyant sunlit raft anchored in deeper water off the lake shore with swimmers and boaters. Glackens has painted a diver poised on the edge of the diving raft as she is about to jump into the shimmering, sun-speckled water. Another diver, who has gone before, bursts out of the water as she resurfaces. Glackens is noted for bright color, and he uses a rich violet—as only he could—to form the cool waves on the sweltering, sunlit day. Next to the same entryway to Gallery II is Renoir’s green, blue, and purple masterpiece of houses in a lush landscape called Pourville (circa 1878), and above Renoir’s Pourville is a painting by Jean Simeon Chardin called The Copper Water Urn, (1732–40) with a copper samovar also known as a fountain, a ves- sel for holding potable water before the advent of household plumbing. Next to the samovar in the little painting is a dipper resting against the wall. It is a little dipper reminiscent of that storied star cluster, The Pleiades, which forms the “Little Dipper” in North America’s night sky. The Pleiades, a cluster of stars moving in tandem 440 million light years away, is the subject of myth and legend. It is thought by some to be the source of all life. The little dipper has a metal hinge that loops through the end of its handle for hanging it from a hook from a hearth or an overhead kitchen rack with the other trivets, travelers, strainers, forks and toasters of eighteenth century domestic life. The position in which the dipper has been propped causes the hinge to extend ver- tically from the plane of the wall at the viewer. Above it, a piece of ornamental antique metal contains a similar looped construct sticking out from the wall that emphasizes this looped feature in the painting. The way that the loop extends out from the wall in the painting has almost a tactile feel to it. You almost want to reach out and touch it. This loop or hinge is like an access point. Let us use it to take hold of the ladle so that we can draw ourselves a drink of nourishing water. Let us grasp the metal loop or latch and open the hinge of our mind’s eye to experience the wonders here. Barnes Rune 2012 A Diving Platform near Pourville

The blues in the foliage and in the cool, violet roofs of the houses of Pourville take so clearly when I was an adolescent, the pure, simple, joy of life, and had been able to us back to memories of country walks through lush greenery on a warm spring day. The permanently enshrine my fleeting impression. blues, buoyant in the sunlit waves in The Raft and vibrant in the flowers and homes of I shall try to go in order as much as possible as I go through the galleries addressed Pourville, invite us into The Barnes experience with the promise of new and nourish- in this text, as if we were on a tour of The Barnes. While I am not going to spend a ing insight. The green and lavender colors in Pourville suggest growth, abundance, and great deal of time with every gallery, Gallery II is important, so I will try to start at the fullness of being, pregnant with increase like the late spring garden of Laura Barnes beginning. The large painting to the viewer’s left of The Laundress is The Valley of the and warmed in the brilliant sunlight of The Raft. The lavender suggests memory and Arc (1892–95) by Cezanne. The large painting to the viewer’s right of The Laundress is the vast abundance of lilac of the garden visible through the window to our right as we another Cezanne called Gardanne (circa 1885). Immediately above The Laundress is a by begin our journey into The Barnes. Renoir called Reapers (circa 1917–19). The main figure in Reapers has her hand raised As we fully enter Gallery II, a visitor almost naturally does a half turn to his or above her head as she appears to pick a piece of fruit from a tree branch in the painting. her left to look at the Western Wall of Gallery II. In the center of this Wall is Manet’s Above the standing figure in Reapers, Dr. Barnes has placed an antique carriage house life-sized Laundress (1875), showing a laundress in full maturity and a child standing hinge which rises vertically from a point near the hand of the reaper that is reaching before her gripping the rim of a wooden bucket resting on a chair between them. The up to grab a piece of fruit from the tree. In this position, the hinge looks like a long, laundress is wringing out her wash into the bucket as the child looks on in a gleam- slender piece of metal with a U shape or a cup at its apex. The arm of the reaper seems ing, sunlight-filled scene. Manet’s woman and child are standing in the most beautiful to be reaching not only for the tree branch in the painting but for the slender metal garden that one could ever imagine. The lush greenery seems to envelop them while handle above her as if it were a flag staff or a standard crowned by a cup that would leaves of grass and flowers done in rich and warm colors seem to spring up everywhere catch life-giving rain from the heavens. Renoir’s Reaper sort of resembles the classical around them. The elder laundress is symbolically passing on to the young child her renditions that we see of Lady Liberty. The cup she bears from on high is the font from legacy in the shimmering water wringing from her cloth. While looking at this paint- whence the laundress has obtained the water that she is wringing out into the bucket ing, it may occur to you that this is a scene that might be taking place somewhere out held by the child. Much of this gallery, Gallery II, is about bringing the viewer into in the woods of this rambling bucolic estate that is The Barnes. I can’t fully express the proportion into The Barnes. It is a place of transition. A number of the paintings in magic of the memories that I have of seeing this painting for the first time as a teenager the Main Hall are larger than life, and most are hung higher than eye level, but here, in Gallery II of this grand mansion: it seemed as if this laundress might be part of the most of the paintings are hung at eye level, all are in proportion to the viewer and seem household staff and that at any time we might see the two of them emerge from one of almost life-sized in perspective. the other rooms or run into them if we went outside and explored the heavily wooded As we first enter this smaller gallery, Gallery II, all these life-sized paintings give areas of the property. Things can happen to you at The Barnes and before you know the impression that Dr. Barnes brings the visitor into a more inviting and intimate it you have become steeped in this amazing world of wonder, you barely have to open space. There is even a chair sitting on the floor in the Northwest Corner where the West your heart at all. Wall meets the North Wall, beneath the spot where Dr. Barnes has placed Vincent van In this gallery, it is as if all the beauty, personality, and bucolic peacefulness of the Gogh’s Postman (1889). The chair in that corner under the Postman makes you think country setting of The Barnes Foundation campus just outside the window is brought that you have been invited to sit and stay awhile in the stillness of the sundrenched inside. If we left and went outside, the laundress and her little charge would most room. At times, the chair seems like it is for Dr. Barnes and you have just been ushered surely be there, waiting. What I remember most about this place from my visit here into his presence. You almost feel that the postman could be him sitting in the rustic, as a teenager was how great and inspired the human beings who created this wondrous handmade chair in the corner in this home that he has built. Directly above the chair, place must have been. I could sense the power and goodness of their example. It left an the postman seems to be looking at the visitor across the span of time. indelible impression upon me. As a young person, The Barnes met all of my hopeful The painting is over 120 years old, but the postman looks as vibrant and as alive expectations—there was a place in life where the indescribable beauty of the summer as if the model were actually sitting there before you. The penetrating, sky-blue eyes days of my early childhood was actually replicated; I could finally show what I once of the gray-bearded postman meet yours as you look from the chair to the painting and felt as a child to all the world, because someone else had seen what I had seen and had back again; and, again, you do a double take, and think for a moment that the postman memorialized it forever. It was as if this adult, Dr. Barnes, had seen what I had seen sure looks like Dr. Barnes himself. And then you realize that Dr. Barnes might have

30 31 Barnes Rune 2012 A Diving Platform near Pourville wanted to create the effect of an older man above this chair in this intimate gallery to We should come to expect this of The Barnes. It is a place of active seeing. It has a suggest that he is here with us. After all, Gallery II is more of a proper introduction to story to tell. The experience fills us with the peace and innocence of the world as it the good doctor after the pomp, pageantry, and circumstance of the Main Hall. The col- should always be. The artfulness of each of the other paintings and the proximity of the lection is certainly that of a worldly wise man and, tucked in his neat corner, the post- myriad colors and scents of the garden and grounds seem to engage and play upon each man looks the part of a fantastical art collector of times past, or, in his neatly rendered other in profound and indescribable ways in the soft sunlight in Merion that streams uniform and cap, like an old soldier. through the windows of Gallery II. Gallery II is like a receiving line with images of Van Gogh has a special effect on art lovers; people look forward to seeing a van all the assembled inhabitants of the Merion estate from the garden beyond: van Gogh, Gogh. However, the unusual thing about Gallery II is that as much as a visitor might Cezanne, Manet, and Renoir. have been thinking in awe about seeing The Postman on their trip to Merion, The Postman Gazing back over our left shoulder and away from the North Wall and the postman doesn’t overwhelm the scene and seems more like an old friend than a spectacular paint- for a minute, we see a colorful painting called The Beach (1915) by the artist Maurice ing by van Gogh. The postman fits seamlessly into the painting ensemble of Gallery II Brazil Prendergast. It hangs above the entryway between the Main Hall and Gallery II at the Mansion as if he has just come up the lane and stopped to stay awhile before he on the Gallery II side. The Beach hangs back to back with The Raft which is above the continues on his postal route through Lower Merion Township. He is a giant among same doorway in the Main Hall as one enters Gallery II. In typical Prendergast style, equals in such a way that lends his mien and bearing even more power in its gentle The Beach is done in an idyllic palette that seems to reflect the colors of the garden in humanness as he presides over the other masterpieces. bloom. The scene depicts people in colorful nineteenth-century attire on a summer The effect of the room seems to be to take you back outside to the placid, lush holiday on a crowded beach. As you contemplate the painting, you begin to notice beauty of the magnificent grounds and gardens of The Foundation. It is as if the beauty large spots of bright colors interspersed throughout the crowd; some spots of color are of the estate has been brought inside. Surrounding The Postman are other masterpieces just above the heads of the beachgoers, some spots of color are at the eye level of the of the warm European countryside, such as Renoir’s life-sized Bather and Maid (La beachgoers, and some are just at torso level of the beachgoers. As you look at the paint- Toilette) (circa 1900) in the center of the North Wall of Gallery II, a portrait of Madame ing more and more, the spots of color begin to resemble sounds and suggest the laugh- Cezanne, and The Laundress. The figures in these paintings all seem like they could be ing and the yelling of a cheerful summer holiday. The more you look, the more you inhabitants of this rambling country estate in Lower Merion Township. The bather can’t help but hear the sounds of people at play. It could be the sound of people at play may be down at the edge of the pond in the wooded area of the estate with her maid on the sweeping lawns of The Foundation. The visual spots of color strike audible tones combing out her hair after a morning plunge. The laundress may be a household helper like notes on a scale. In the flashes of color in this painting, we hear sound. The phe- doing the wash by hand in the garden with one of the household children. Perhaps the nomenon that I am describing is called synesthesia, and Professor Gatti at The Barnes postman has just finished delivering mail to the laundress in the garden of the estate, teaches about it in his first-year class. Synesthesia, sometimes described as feeling as and he has taken the time to sit for a spell near the table upon which Cezanne has placed if you are able to smell, taste, hear, or feel a color, is like looking at the color lavender his Terracotta and Flowers (1891–92) immediately to the postman’s left. Maybe he is in the painting Pourville and thinking that you can smell the lilacs in the garden. It is waiting near the table for Renoir’s bather from Bather and Maid on the North Wall like a flash of lightning flashing not just lighting but also the expectancy of thunder. of Gallery II to dress and sign for a registered letter from a loved one far away. As he Professor Gatti proposes in his first-year class that if one was able to lay Prendergast’s waits, perhaps the postman is thinking of his own home, still some ways away, and the bright spots of color on a musical scale, they would, in all likelihood, form notes that wildflowers he must pick along the way for a vase of flowers that he will be filling for could actually play a tune. If you mapped the spots of Prendergast’s color on a sheet of his beloved there. The vase of his mind’s eye for the object of his affection is present in music and played them like musical notes, they might very well form a harmony. Like a second van Gogh on the opposite side of the North Wall called Still Life with Flowers this Prendergast beach painting, the art arrangement at The Barnes, and particularly and Pitcher. in this gallery, may acquire a synesthetic aspect, with the visual becoming musical and In Gallery II it seems that we have suddenly found ourselves in a painting within forming a visually literate and communicative harmony if you look at it just right. a painting, and that the garden, arboretum, and mansion have become a setting for a Prendergast’s painting, placed at the beginning of the Barnesian journey, sets the tone living artistic experience. This artistic experience isn’t just passive and sterile like the for the experience to come and tells us that we should keep an eye out for the harmonies museums of the cities, but instead is an experience which is active, warm, and intimate. to come as we proceed through The Foundation.

32 33 Barnes Rune 2012 A Diving Platform near Pourville

As we turn around from the clamor of a day at a crowded beach represented in In my estimation, St. Hyacinth, with his name that has become the name of a beau- the musical notes of the Prendergast and look directly behind us, our eyes would fall tiful flower, is a patron of this garden in Merion. This painting is a message to those upon Cezanne’s The Allee of Chestnut Trees at Jas du Bouffan (1888) on the East Wall. Dr. who would undertake a study of The Barnes that there may be visions and realizations Barnes has placed it near the door toward Gallery III and beyond. The silent sequence here beneath the cathedral-like trees, in the vast stillness of the country estate, that can of the spacing of the chestnut trees on each side of Cezanne’s still country lane, or allee, move a person to greater consciousness. One of the most intriguing parts of The Vision possibly represent whence the postman has come, or where he would lead. The sounds of St. Hyacinth is that the design of the parquet floor of St. Hyacinth’s church is remark- of the West Wall become hushed in this image that seems to lead out of Gallery II into ably similar to the parquet floor of The Barnes itself. The places where The Barnes ends the Barnesian journey beyond. Looking at the painting, we are drawn into a visually and the painting begins seem to merge into one another, as if St. Hyacinth’s Temple is transportive sequence. Under the spell of Cezanne’s spacing of the chestnut trees, the The Barnes and vice versa. eyes trace a visual sequence which suggests a soothing, underlying tempo or orderly, Another thing that is unique about the floor of The Merion Barnes is that the order rhythmic advance through a space. As Mr. Gatti describes it, the placement of the of the Galleries is laid out in the shape of infinity. It is nice to sometimes ponder that chestnut trees along the lane traces a Fibonacci sequence, which is an artistic device to the parquet floor may be slightly worn in that shape by the steps of those who have give the impression of progression through a two-dimensional canvas to give depth to come before. a surface by using a classical mathematical formula of adding the sum of two numbers to the greater of the two addends to create an expanding sequence. The sequence goes, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 (i.e., 1, 1+1=2, 1+2=3, 2+3=5, 3+5=8, 5+8=13), and on into infin- ity, to give the impression of a rhythmic, orderly progression through space and time. Before we follow that still and inviting sunlit path through the chestnut trees, our eyes track to our left along the East Wall where we see Cezanne’s Still Life with Skull, which suggests that more serious issues are at play here, issues that regard not only life, but death as well. Above this image of an eyeless skull is one of the most spiritually uplifting Renoirs that I have ever seen, called Child Reading (1890s). The child is a girl with golden brown hair and soft features. She is intently focused on a text from which she is reading. To emphasize her intelligence and concentration, Renoir has placed a bright area of golden yellow on her brow to suggest the spirit of great mental anima- tion within her. The placement of this image on this wall by Dr. Barnes underscores that there are very great lessons in this text of his Wall ensembles requiring intent and rigorous study. Further on along the wall to the viewer’s left and next to Still Life with Skull and Child Reading we see a painting called The Vision of Saint Hyacinth by El Greco or the School of El Greco (1605–10), with St. Hyacinth shown standing in a temple look- ing heavenward, his arm sweeping out behind him as if to steady him in thin air as he receives a revelation from a heavenly apparition. St. Hyacinth is the saint with the mellifluous name who, in Christian mythology, was given miraculous strength to save the relics of the church from danger when his home and church were threatened by pagan invaders. This painting is hung in the center of the East Wall of Gallery II. St. Hyacinth is shown receiving a great message and great strength to protect against those who would disgrace the relics of his church.

34 35 Chapter 6 The Founder’s Circle—The Tears of St. Lawrence

here is one other image that I will touch upon before I leave this gallery. This image is in the center of the South Wall of Gallery II, which is opposite from TThe Postman. The image is a painting depicting the martyrdom of St. Lawrence, the patron of students and of the poor. The painting is said to have been done by a Master of St. Ursula Legend and has been formerly attributed to a Master of St. Severin (circa 1480 or 1490–1510). Of all the paintings that he could have used to greet a visi- tor entering Gallery II from the Main Gallery, Dr. Barnes chose a naive work from the fifteenth century of a martyr whose life was dedicated to the poor. The story of St. Lawrence is that he was a treasurer of the church. When asked by his accuser, a Roman prefect, where his assets were, St. Lawrence responded that the people were his assets. He is the patron of students and the poor. The Barnes is dedi- cated to the everyday people of this world, the kind of people with whom Dr. Barnes felt most at home. St. Lawrence is also said to have been an early custodian of the Holy Grail. It is possible that Lawrence’s presence here suggests that there may be a grail quest defined here in Merion, or, more specifically, that The Barnes may be a road map for a modern grail quest that may lead us to the very origins of modern art. In the calendar of the Catholic Church, St. Lawrence’s Feast Day falls on August 10 which is about the time that the Perseid meteor showers begin. The Perseid meteor showers are an annual astronomical event when Earth passes through the comet Swift- Tuttle’s debris trail. They are like the Earth’s fireworks. During this time, hundreds, if not thousands, of meteors fall to Earth, creating a heavenly display in the Earth’s night skies. The meteors are like falling diamonds as they make their way through the fir- mament. In another sense, the falling meteors are also like the souls that St. Lawrence treasured above any gold or riches. In one sense, Dr. Barnes might have wanted us to see the brilliance of all living souls, so he built an exclusive merit-based school in Merion that was to exist not for the privileged, but for the worthy. The worthy could be from Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—The Tears of St. Lawrence any walk of life, from any race, and from any socioeconomic class or status. The choice though this billionaire could have easily afforded to donate sufficient capital to avoid of the placement of the painting of St. Lawrence in the beginning of the Galleries may a Foundation capital shortfall. Mr. Annenberg’s Foundation has dedicated millions to act as a reminder of the ideals of The Foundation. The image of the martyrdom of St. support The Move. Lawrence may also be a prelude or prologue to all the beautiful paintings that will When analyzing the painting of the martyrdom of St. Lawrence, it is helpful to note greet the visitor in Merion, and it may suggest that each of the paintings housed at The that the painting shows St. Lawrence in three different states. First, in the foreground Barnes is a devotional tear wrought by the God-given talents of artists throughout the he is shown being broiled to death on a grill, the method of his martyrdom, while a ages, as the human vessels of those inspired artistic talents briefly lived a lifetime and persecutor who appears to have a leg resembling the leg of a cloven-hoofed devil feeds passed on—each of them brilliant, fleeting lights streaking across human history. the fire. Second, in the background of the painting there is a body wrapped in a shroud Viewing each of the beautiful paintings at The Barnes as a tear is entirely appro- on a sepulcher or tomb surrounded by mourners, which represents the interment of St. priate to the theme that I intend to introduce that The Barnes is a memorial. It is my Lawrence’s mortal body. Third, a little child, St. Lawrence’s immortal soul, is being position that all these brilliant tears are preserved here to commemorate those who lifted up to God by two angels in the sky above. The fleur-de-lis is cleverly formed by have gone before us to give us a glimpse of a way we may never be or an idea of how the body of the little child and the bodies of the angels flanking the child. The point we should always be. The first way that The Barnes connects us to the past is by con- of the fleur-de-lis is formed by the crown of God in the heavens, with the child forming necting us to our artists of times past. Another connection to the past that The Barnes the solid center and the flowing garments of the angels forming the bottom petals of may facilitate is a connection to the memories of those who fell in both foreign and the flower symbol. The image of the fleur-de-lis is also hidden in the ramparts of the domestic conflicts. castle in the painting of the martyrdom of St. Lawrence. It is interesting to note that the painting of St. Lawrence contains the fleur-de-lis, In this image of martyrdom, burial, and resurrection, we see time present in the the symbol of the Knights Templar, but that the image is not immediately apparent burial, time past in the execution, and time future in the assumption of the martyr’s and is, instead, hidden in the symbolism of the painting. The fleur-de-lis is hidden in soul into heaven. So, too, at The Barnes, we may also see the past, present, and the plain sight in this painting for a reason, because this painting was painted during the future all at once: we may see the art of the past, the beauty that art inspires in us today, fourteenth and fifteenth century Templar suppression. I believe that this painting was and a utopian vision of the future in the earthly approximation of the Garden of Eden placed here by Dr. Barnes to suggest that something else, a solemn and private tale, is that the Barnes in Merion represents. The choice of an image of St. Lawrence with a also hidden in plain sight at The Barnes. It may be a hidden Templar connection as well Templar theme may also suggest that Dr. Barnes hoped that the everyday people of the as something more. In my opinion, the reason the imagery is hidden in plain sight at world would be the mainstays or defenders of his Foundation and that the people would The Barnes is because Barnes, too, feared suppression of his message by his very power- preserve The Barnes in Merion. I believe that Dr. Barnes counted on the people of the ful detractors. Perhaps he feared that his detractors might spin public opinion to make city of Philadelphia, the birthplace of liberty, to pull together to preserve his vision in light of his message if it got out before his institution became woven into the fabric of Merion. America. If there is a message, now would be the right time for it to be revealed because The story of The Barnes, like any good story, starts with a challenge as timeless and The Barnes has stood the test of time. All the politicians, art experts, rich donors, the eternal for those who have gone before as it is for those yet to come. It is a challenge city of Philadelphia and the university professors are talking about her, so the powers to the seeker of knowledge, social justice, and virtue to begin the quest anew. Just that be are locked into keeping the art arrangement the same even if they move her. above the painting of St. Lawrence at the beginning of the journey in Merion, there is a And, in my opinion, the art arrangement substantiates enough of my interpretation weather vane on the wall with the image of crossed keys in a metal circle, which, in my that I suspect that the reader will not look at The Barnes the same way again, which I estimation, represents a challenge. The image of the crossed keys is sometimes seen as hope will leave the reader questioning why anyone or organization is right to move any a symbol of the Church of Rome and is also the symbol of the hierophant in the tarot. of it from its Merion home? I often wonder if Walter Annenberg suspected that there “The hierophant card represents knowledge in its most commonly understood and gen- was more to this collection such as a hidden story. We will never know, but he and erally accepted form, but with the potential that the spiritual soul requires expression” Barnes had been friends and then had a bitter falling out. What piques my curiosity is (Sarah Bartlett, The Tarot Bible, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 2006, p. 95). that it is my understanding that he encouraged a Barnes CEO to petition the court to It is fitting that Dr. Barnes chose the symbol of the hierophant to open the com- sell paintings off the walls and to reconfigure the art arrangement to raise capital even munication at The Barnes Foundation in Gallery II, because, in so many ways, The

38 39 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—The Tears of St. Lawrence

Barnes represents the expression of the spiritual soul. Similar to the principles that the When appearing in a “future position” in a tarot spread, the hierophant is said to Founding Fathers set forth for a new republic, The Barnes, too, espouses principles that signify “a meeting with someone you feel you’ve known before and with whom you make it a vehicle for individual self-realization and civic enlightenment founded upon have an immediate rapport” (Sarah Bartlett, The Tarot Bible, Sterling Publishing Co., tradition but leaving open the possibilities for spiritual growth. It is fitting that the Inc., 2006, p. 95). America, would you like to meet your past? symbolism of St. Lawrence’s triumph over death depicted in the painting is also located here at the start of our Barnesian journey of enlightenment, because even though there are two other places in The Barnes and once in the garden where we will see or be reminded of the sepulcher and the grave; in each case, we will see the triumph of eternal life over death as we do in this painting of St. Lawrence. The next place that we see a tomb is far off in a second-floor gallery, Gallery XVI, which is entirely on the other side of the mansion. There, we encounter a naïve painting of the risen Christ stepping out of his tomb with the standard of the Templars waving behind him. Then, on the North Wall of Gallery XX, also on the second floor, we see a painting of Lazarus being raised from the grave called The Healing of Lazarus by a Westphalian Master (circa 1400). Finally, in the garden where Dr. Barnes’ biographers say that Dr. Barnes is buried with his favorite dog, Fidele, there is a long, low planter which is just about the size of a man. This planter suggests a grave, but from it grow green shoots of vegetation. In each example, the related imagery signifies that life conquers death and, perhaps, that the more things change in the world, the more important it is that The Barnes remain the same. For here in Merion, in the eternal revolutions of the seasons in the garden and glade, is an example of the triumph of life over death. The triumph of eternal life over death rings through the quiet glen and spring, pool and forest, mansion, garden, art, and the peaceful unity of the whole of this magnificent construct in Merion. It is like a symphony of sight, sound, smell, and silence. Next to the painting of St. Lawrence on the South Wall of Gallery II is a painting called Beach with Figures, Bellport (1915–16), by William James Glackens, which suggests in its title and placement facing the city of Philadelphia that this is a place where freedom rings: freedom of thought and expression, and freedom from death. Above the hierophant on the weather vane, there is a metal bull readying for the charge and an angel pointing toward Gallery III and beyond as if pointing out a challenge and an answer that are all waiting there in our Barnesian quest. And, at the same time, in what new visitors call “the balcony” of the Main Hall or in what is referred to at The Barnes as “The Bridge,” high up in the rafters, above the entry to Gallery XIX, in the painting of a music teacher by Arthur B. Davies we are reminded of a luminous fairy maiden or an angel with a magic wand who seems to marshal the entire event like a magical musical conductor. As static and as frozen in time as these images seem to be, so, too, do they suggest momentous perpetual motion, as if The Barnes, just like the vision of St. Hyacinth, is always just about to come into focus for someone.

40 41 Chapter 7 The Founder’s Circle—In Flanders Fields, The Cret Connection

he symbolism of The Barnes is based on over three thousand years of civilized history, and it encompasses poetry, literature, and music. To make matters more Tdifficult for folks who don’t have an encyclopedic knowledge of human history, Dr. Barnes expresses his vision in a pictorial language of silent communication. The impressions of the art communicate in silence much like the silent trek of the Sentinels of the Old Guard of the United States Third Infantry Regiment walking a post at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery. The silent impressions made by these guards communicate our nation’s reverence for our unknown soldiers more than a thousand voices could ever begin to do. The tomb guards have walked a continu- ous post since 1937 at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Their credo is: “A Soldier Only Dies When He is Forgotten, and a Tomb Guard Never Forgets.” The Barnes, in its own way, also stands like a silent sentinel, a solemn commemoration of something great within America, something She may have forgotten. In my analysis The Barnes recites two themes of remembrance of those who died in some of the major struggles of Dr. Barnes’ time. The first theme is remembrance of our World War I dead. This theme encompasses Galleries II through VII and concludes in the Main Hall. The second theme is about remembrance of the dead of America’s labor strikes, and this theme begins in the inside public stairway in the foyer of The Foundation and continues up the stairs and onto the second floor Bridge spanning the Main Hall. Both themes culminate in the Resurrection symbolized by Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane in The Bridge of the Main Hall and in the image of Matisse’s La Danse. To understand the first theme of remembrance, it is necessary to go back in time. On August 2, 1914, the Germany Army under Kaiser Wilhelm invaded Luxembourg. Two days later, on August 4, 1914, the German Army, 850,000 strong, invaded Belgium, a neutral country whose neutrality was guaranteed by France. Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—In Flanders Fields, The Cret Connection

The Germans managed to push as far as Ypres, Flanders, where they were fought to a in the bright Flemish sun, immediately thought better of it, and threw the paper standstill by two hundred thousand Belgians with the support of the French. Between away as he returned to his duties in surgery. An orderly retrieved the paper and pur- October 18, 1914, and October 20, 1914, the lines of the conflict stabilized, with the sued its publication. It was a poem. The poem was written by Lieutenant Colonel Germans holding what is known as “The Flemish Ridge.” The Germans would hold John McRae, M.D., during the second battle of Ypres, Belgium, on May 3, 1915, and that ridge for over three years. By Christmas of 1914, over one hundred thousand it goes like this: soldiers had lost their lives. Over the next three years, another four hundred thousand souls would perish in Flanders. “In Flanders Fields” Flanders was the scene of at least three major battles of one of the most horrible In Flanders fields the poppies blow Wars of the 20th Century, the First World War, The Great War. In some sense, The Between the crosses, row on row First World War was the last “Old” War because it was the last war that saw wide- That mark our place; and in the sky spread use of such obsolete things such as horse Calvary and bayonet charges even The larks, still bravely singing, fly though mechanization existed. The First World War was a war of fixed positions which Scarce heard amid the guns below. gave the combatants time to train their modern guns upon each other’s lines and pound them with high explosives and deadly chemical weapons. The brutality was inconceiv- We are the Dead. Short days ago able and masses of bodies were rendered unrecognizable by the shelling and rudimen- We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, tary body interment. The enemy lines and the trenches of the opposing forces were Loved and were loved, and now we lie so hazardously close together, that, at times, after a charge, in a manner reminiscent In Flanders fields. of Cezanne’s skull lying unburied that we see in Gallery II, the battle dead could lie decomposing for days between the trenches before they could be retrieved. In addition, Take up our quarrel with the foe: there was no easy way to identify the dead such as easily retrievable dental records or To you from failing hands we throw identification systems. As a result, nearly 90,000 Allied soldiers of World War I sleep The Torch; be yours to hold it high. as unknown soldiers in unidentified graves. The Menin Gate in Ypres commemorates If ye break faith with us who die 50,000 British soldiers reported Missing in Action. We shall not sleep, though poppies grow Flanders comprises the Dutch-speaking northwest portion of Belgium and contains In Flanders fields. the capital of the country, Brussels. It is a place famous for flowers, because in this area the climate and the soil are perfectly suited to their growth. It is said that the mud is so A society woman, Miss Moina Belle Michael, was so inspired by Lieutenant Colonel thick in this part of Europe that one has a difficult time washing it from one’s clothes. McRae’s poem that upon reading it she penned a sweet response. Miss Michael was one Many fought and died there in muddy trenches in the horrifying years of World War I of a handful of American women in the male-dominated society of the early twentieth and soaked the soil with their blood. In the rich mud grow beautiful flowers that carpet century to experience war firsthand. She had been in Europe in 1914 when the war the ground. broke out and had helped with the relief of stranded or disenfranchised souls. Miss A story is told of a young Canadian doctor at a Battalion Aid Station in the Ypres Michael’s response to Lieutenant Colonel McRae’s “Flanders Fields” poem would have Salient. He had served in the artillery during the Second Boer War and was appointed reached him only after his own tragic death in Europe. It is entitled “We Shall Keep field surgeon in the Canadian artillery. On June 1, 1915, he had been placed in charge The Faith” and it goes as follows: of the No. 3 Canadian General Hospital at Dennes-Camier near Boulogne-sur-Mer. One day during a lull in the fighting, Lieutenant Colonel McRae went outside to “We Shall Keep The Faith” catch a breath of air and to take a break from the horrors of surgery. He had just Oh! You who sleep in Flanders fields, learned of the loss of a dear friend, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer. A makeshift cemetery Sleep sweet—to rise anew! had been started near the Aid Station, and he was so moved by the fresh flowers that We caught the torch you threw had so quickly sprung up in the fecund soil of the fresh graves that he penned a few And, holding high we keep the faith. lines. An eyewitness account suggests that the doctor then studied what he had wrote With all who died.

44 45 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—In Flanders Fields, The Cret Connection

We cherish, too, the poppy red of America’s most popular generals, a Freemason and the creator of The Pershing Map That grows on fields where valor led: which became the blueprint for our Interstate Highway System. The memorial would It seems to signal to the skies be a memorial honoring the fallen warriors who furthered the cause of freedom in World That blood of heroes never dies. War I. The site chosen was an existing cemetery which had attained world renown But lends a luster to the red because it was located in an area that had seen three major campaigns of World War Of the flower that blooms above the dead I and represented the resting place of the dead of all the Allied lands. It was in the In Flanders Fields. Flemish countryside about twenty miles from Ypres, Belgium, in Flanders Fields. So many warriors had fallen near Ypres in the battles of the world war that the place had And now the Torch and Poppy red become synonymous with bravery in combat and had captured the imagination of all the We wear in honor of our dead. world. Fear not that ye have died for naught; Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, The Barnes Foundation mansion and school were We’ve learned the lesson that ye taught completed in 1925. The mansion and school were designed by one of America’s great- In Flanders Fields. est architects, Dr. Paul Philippe Cret, in 1922. Dr. Cret was a French-born American immigrant and a World War I veteran who designed a number of the great edifices Originally dubbed American Cemetery 1252, one of America’s Military Cemeteries, of America’s Golden Age, including the Federal Reserve Building in Washington, a cemetery near Ypres, Belgium, in Waregam was renamed Flanders Field after the the University of Texas at Austin (seen even in the TV show Austin City Limits), poem by Lieutenant Colonel John McRae, M.D., of the Canadian Army Medical Corps Cincinnati’s Founders Hall, the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, and the Rodin Museum (deceased 1/28/1918) and Miss Moina Belle Michael’s inspired response. Through in Philadelphia. Dr. Cret also taught architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. the efforts of the newly formed American Battle Monuments Commission, American As he was completing the Barnes commission, Dr. Cret also won a great commis- Cemetery 1252, Flanders Field Memorial Cemetery would become a symbol of all the sion from the United States government: the privilege of designing a memorial to Allied Cemeteries in Europe. the American dead of World War I, Flanders Field Memorial Chapel and Cemetery. In the early part of the 1920s, World War I had just concluded and America was I believe that Dr. Cret’s design of Flanders Field Memorial Chapel established a con- looking forward to a more hopeful and positive future. In 1921, the United States nection between the Flanders Field Memorial Chapel and The Barnes in Merion, Mint issued the famous Peace silver dollar. In 1922, Charles Lindbergh made the first Pennsylvania. The Flanders Field Cemetery is located at a site which is near to 50 transatlantic flight and ushered in an age of transoceanic aviation that would bring degrees latitude and The Barnes in Merion is located near 40 degrees latitude. Both the world closer together. After his flight, Lindbergh did a triumphant sortie over places are made of white Pouillenay limestone which is a limestone quarried in Eastern the most important “American” place in Europe, which was, at the time, Flanders France (The Barnes also has some elements of white Coutarnoux limestone as well, Field Memorial Cemetery, where he dropped a wreath to a celebratory crowd assembled which is from the same general area of France). The Chapel is in the center of a cru- there. This act of respect and homage to the Allied war dead was recorded on film sader’s cross composed of graves of soldiers primarily from the 91st Infantry Division, and played in newsreels in every movie house in America. To Americans, the wreath “The Wild West Division” or “The Pine Tree Division.” The graves are marked by dropped on that cemetery came directly from America via the Spirit of St. Louis to the crosses or the Star of David according to the religion of the soldier. The base of the cru- nation’s beloved sons interred in that faraway place. In this way, Americans’ hearts have sader’s cross forms the tree-lined entry gate of the Flanders Field Cemetery. The base of been drawn to Flanders Field ever since as a monument to our World War I dead in this cross points toward America and The Barnes in Merion as if the hand of America Europe. could reach across the Atlantic Ocean to grasp this cross. Dr. Cret has inscribed a In 1925 America conceived a great notion to design a memorial to our World quote on the altar of the Chapel at Flanders Field which sets the tone for the only con- War I veterans which would be administered by the American Battle Monuments nection between an American Place and an American Overseas Memorial that I have Commission, which had been formed in 1923 at the request of General of The Armies, ever heard about. On the altar in that faraway place, Dr. Cret inscribed the following John Joseph “Black Jack” Pershing (b. September 13, 1860 – d. July 15, 1948), one quote:

46 47 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—In Flanders Fields, The Cret Connection

Barnes imagery reflects upon the issue of human aggression by commemorating the “I will ransom them from the power souls of our war dead. I believe that Dr. Barnes does this to pay an honor due to the heroic souls of our nation and to help us as a society to learn from our past and to live of the grave; I will redeem them differently now. Later in this text, the reader will see that I also believe that a separate part of The from death.” Barnes commemorates another major problem area for mankind, which is the exploi- tation of our fellow human beings. Today’s relation of capital to labor is increasingly Hosea 13:14 sophisticated. More capital is flowing across international boundaries and monitoring abuses has become a larger task. It appears that the relation of labor to capital will The first theme of remembrance of the dead in Merion involves ransoming our continue to require honorable self-policing and integrity from capital in an increas- warrior dead from the power of the grave and redeeming them from death. I believe ingly sophisticated international environment where it is easy to exploit cheap labor that the theme involves an effort by Dr. Barnes to emulate the promise made in the forces. The Barnes may therefore also provide a rubric of images that will encourage us writings of Hosea and to make The Barnes in Merion a place that would represent a to reflect upon the problem of ending human exploitation and the goal of humanizing symbolic place beyond the grave for the dead of the First World War, a place of eternal labor around the world. peace and repose. The theme of remembrance is not an easy one to ascertain at first The Barnes is the type of institution that can act as a touchstone where we may find because Dr. Barnes communicates this theme using complex imagery in sophisticated the example of what is right and the inspiration to fairly conclude the kind of complex arrangements. The whole of the first floor of the East Wing of The Barnes seems to undertakings that the very near future may demand. I propose that Dr. Barnes, with the be dedicated to this task. I believe that The Barnes in Merion and The Flanders Field participation of Dr. Cret, meant The Merion Foundation to be a symbol condemning Memorial Chapel are connected to one another for the purpose of commemoration and aggression and exploitation in the human race as an example to future citizens of the remembrance of the Allied dead of World War I. world. And so, I propose that even though The Barnes is a place whose cumulative effect The story goes that The Barnes Art, Architecture and Natural Setting in Merion is to raise our consciousness through the overwhelming effect of its beautiful treasures represent a place of mystical repose and honor for the souls of Allied soldiers, with an and magnificent environs, when we have attained that higher level of consciousness Dr. emphasis on those who may be lost or sleeping in unknown graves and cannot find Barnes doesn’t leave us contemplating our navel. Instead, we are left contemplating the their way home. There is evidence in The Barnes that confirms this proposition. The horrors of what human beings are capable of doing to one another and, hopefully, with evidence suggests that Dr. Barnes and his architect, Dr. Cret, formed a unique collabo- the aid of the example of the Merion experience, the impulse of members of humanity ration to suggest a communication across the Atlantic between the Flanders Field site toward aggression and exploitation may someday be eradicated from the Earth. in Belgium and The Barnes in Merion. I believe that Dr. Cret and Dr. Barnes wished Starting in Gallery II of The Barnes, there is a strong correspondence between that any wandering souls of the Allied dead could return to that quiet utopian place in the Flanders Field Memorial Chapel and Cemetery and The Barnes. A visitor to The Pennsylvania, even though the young doughboys and their valiant allies had died too Barnes who is also familiar with Flanders Field Cemetery will immediately be drawn to young to ever see The Barnes. Cezanne’s Allee of Chestnut Trees at Jas du Bouffan on the East Wall. The tree-lined lane Whether or not a transport of these souls ever occurred, The Barnes is a place of in the Cezanne is almost identical to the tree-lined path that leads to Dr. Cret’s Flanders honor and repose representing the best that Dr. Barnes and Cret could hope for the Field Memorial Chapel in Belgium. war dead of their generation and for the children of the future—a living place of peace. The Allee of Chestnuts on the East Wall is just the beginning of the symbolic imag- And, the sentiment appears to be a universal one applying to all the fallen of our ery in the Eastern Wing of The Barnes that suggests that The Barnes is connected to nation’s wars. I will ultimately contend that The Barnes was intended to act as a mirror Flanders Field Memorial Chapel. The connection between the two sites, Merion and of modernity, a place where we can get a good look at ourselves. If that is the case, one Flanders, is further confirmed in the title of the painting above the passageway from major characteristic of mankind is senseless aggression. It is one of the most indecent Gallery II to Gallery III by Maurice Brazil Prendergast called Beach and Two Houses and unbearable attributes of mankind. It seems impossible to eradicate aggression even (1918), which suggests the two places of repose. Further, if one looks at a black and in this supposedly enlightened time of the twenty-first century. I propose that The white picture of Beach and Two Houses (which one can do on the present copy of The

48 49 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—In Flanders Fields, The Cret Connection

Barnes CD produced by Corbis and The Barnes Foundation Productions), it appears disabled and needy veterans. These “Buddy Poppies” were popular for a time in the that what looks to me like the outline and features of a head, possibly, a skull, are United States but seem to have lost all popularity in forgetful America. Other nations, clearly perceptible in the center of the painting. Are the “two houses” to which the however, still honor their war dead in this way, by wearing the red poppy. Our northern painting refers The Flanders Field Memorial Chapel in Waregam, Belgium and The neighbors, the Canadians, for instance, still wear the poppy on Remembrance Day or Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania? Does the image that could be a skull in Armistice Day, a Canadian national holiday akin to Veterans Day in the United States the center of the painting suggest that the two houses are unified in honor of the dead? which celebrates the Armistice of November 11, 1918 which ended World War I on Prendergast was Barnes’s friend. Was this little seen feature of the faint outline of a ‘the 11th hour of the 11th day in the 11th month’ of 1918. skull in Beach and Two Houses only privately known, sort of like the other imagery hid- Like McRae’s poem, Gallery II is filled with paintings that contain poppies or strong den in plain sight that I am proposing to the reader? reddish colors in the fields that otherwise suggest poppies. Preibe’s bluish woman sur- Dr. Barnes has placed a March 1947 painting called Girl with a Bird by Karl Priebe veys a field of remembrance. The poppy theme pervades the room starting with the (American, 1914–1976) just inside the door between the Main Hall and Gallery II poppies in Renoir’s Woman with Black Hair or Gabrielle in Algerian Headdress (circa near Renoir’s Pourville and under Glackens’s The Raft. Priebe’s painting is probably 1911) right beside the door and the red in the fields in the small landscape painting by the strangest painting in The Barnes and at first it seems to be a highly unusual choice Renoir above her. In the large painting in the center of the North Wall of Gallery II, right at the very beginning of the Galleries. It is so unusual that I don’t think that I there are three poppies in the hat of Renoir’s Sitting Bather. On the large painting in the have ever heard a scholar at The Barnes adequately explain its presence in a place with- center of the West Wall of Gallery II, Manet’s Laundress, there are brilliant red poppies out curatorial accidents. It is a painting of a bluish woman with a shocking hairdo. She in the foreground. All of the small Renoir landscapes in Gallery II have a reddish hue looks like she could be a character out of James Cameron’s “Avatar” movie and her pres- to them which suggests that they, too, depict the poppy red. In other paintings where ence here seems, at first, to be inexplicable. She is naked from the waist up and holds poppies are not expressly present, like the plains of two of Cezanne’s Mount Sainte- two satellites or elliptical seeds in her outstretched hands. The seeds are connected Victoire pictures on the West Wall, The Valley of the Arc and Gardanne, which lie to the by a cord that appears stretched to the limit but is elastic and organically inseparable viewer’s left and right, respectively, of Manet’s Laundress, the fields in the pictures are from the two worlds that it connects. Priebe’s bluish female figure is like a shamanic imbued with red as if they were carpeted with flowers. So, too, do we see reddish fields spirit. Her eyes are so soulful, pure and warm that she must be a kindly spirit. In my in Renoir’s Dovecote at Bellevue (circa 1888–89) on the East Wall of Gallery II to the left estimation, the two seeds she holds in her hands symbolize the connection of remem- of St. Hyacinth as we face him. brance between past and present, between the New World and the Old, and between The more one lets one’s eye adjust to these images, the more it becomes clear that America and the European Theater of World War I. I believe that Priebe’s figure is this place is meant to recall the Flemish battlefields. Even the names of the paintings placed here by Dr. Barnes to represent an almost mystical connection between The confirm this Flanders Field theme. For instance, The Valley of the Arc suggests a place Barnes Foundation in Merion and The Flanders Field Memorial Chapel in Flanders, of military honor; Gardanne is loosely reminiscent of the word “guard”; and the title two worlds eternally connected. This connection will be a raft for the souls of our heroes Dovecote at Bellevue is extremely compelling in a Flanders Field theme because, if we and a lifeline which will bring them home to us so they can pour out their blessings recall the poem, the poppies on the graves of the fallen soldiers signify peace for these upon us. men as they carpet the freshly overturned soil of their graves in a “dove” or “peace” As I have noted, these themes of connection between Europe and America and of coat. And, since our poet, Lieutenant Colonel John McRae, was a doctor, the name remembrance of the Allied dead are based upon the application of artistic imagery to “Bellevue” becomes important because Bellevue Hospital in New York became the first poetic concepts contained in two highly regarded remembrance poems, “In Flanders civilian organization to establish an American Hospital on foreign soil during the First Field” and “We Shall Keep The Faith.” Both of these poems contain allusions to pop- World War, Base Hospital No. 1, which treated casualties from Belleau Wood, Chateau pies. And, if the visitor looks closely, many of the paintings in Gallery II contain allu- Thierry, Soissons, St. Mihiel, and The Argonne, all the scenes of bloody American sions to poppies. McRae’s poem and Ms. Michael’s efforts made poppies a favorite sym- battles of World War I. bol of remembrance in England, France, Canada, Australia, America and numerous Even van Gogh’s uniformed Postman on the North Wall of Gallery II fits with the other countries. The American Veterans of Foreign Wars, for instance, sold what are Flanders Field theme. He looks like an old soldier, and he is placed above a comfort- known as “Buddy Poppies,” crafted by disabled veterans, to finance the support of able-looking chair. To the attentive viewer, it seems that we have come, in Gallery II,

50 51 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—In Flanders Fields, The Cret Connection to a place of rest for old soldiers and a place of remembrance for those cut down in their head and, instead, gives the sense that the substance or soul of the person outlives the youth. earthly form and is there as well, animated, looking and seeing in this place of wonder. The central paintings of the remaining walls depict St. Hyacinth and St. Lawrence, Above Cezanne’s skull is a painting called Child Reading by Renoir. Renoir’s child has who are noted guardians of the treasures of the church. These two saints might be the an illumination in her brow similar to Cezanne’s animating smudge on the brow of his defender patrons of The Barnes and are the first such images that visitors encounter at skull. As she reads, we notice a similar illumination in her hand as it holds her book. In The Barnes. They are worthy sentinels. this imagery Barnes encourages us to learn the lesson written at The Barnes. The eyes St. Lawrence, martyred in 258, is said to be an early guardian of the Holy Chalice of Cezanne’s skull look at Manet’s laundress on the opposite West Wall as she wrings or the Holy Grail, which Christ used to celebrate the Last Supper. He was also said to out her water into the catch bucket held by a small child. be a guardian of the treasures of the early church. Upon the death of Pope Sixtus II at It is possible to interpret Manet’s Laundress as representing the ideals of the French the hand of the emperor Valerian, Lawrence, an early deacon of the church, was asked Revolution in Manet’s time, with the young child holding the catch bucket repre- to deliver up the treasures of the church in three days. During that time, Lawrence senting the second and, perhaps, the successive generations of the new republic look- disbursed as much treasure as he could to the poor and then came empty-handed to the ing forward into the future. This image has currency in every age because the elder prefect of Rome. When, on the third day, he was ordered to deliver up the treasures, he generation transfers its wisdom and ideals to the youth in each successive generation. presented the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the suffering, and told the prefect that Directly above this painting and echoing the theme of liberty or liberte to which the these souls were the true treasures of the Church. French Revolution was dedicated, we see Renoir’s Reapers. In this painting we see what St. Hyacinth also appears in Gallery II, and he was another guardian of the church. looks like a standard bearer, a small Renoir with a woman reaching upward to pick While his town and monastery were under attack, St. Hyacinth was able to lift a stat- something from a tree. Her hand reaches in the direction of a metal staff affixed to the ute of the Virgin Mary that was too heavy for a mere mortal and carried it away from wall above her by Dr. Barnes. This staff is in the shape of a long metal handle with a the looters, together with a monstrance containing the sacrament. St. Hyacinth is the u-shaped cup extended to heaven for God’s grace to fill. patron of those in danger of drowning. Cezanne’s eyeless skull is looking from East to West at Manet’s laundress as if he Dr. Barnes may have placed these saints here as guardians of the treasures of a new were the latest in a long line of defenders of liberty now laid low. As a symbol of the holy place that he created. On the South Wall is the martyrdom of St. Lawrence. On the French Revolution, the laundress, a kindly-featured, matronly woman of the old gen- East Wall, the large central painting is an El Greco showing St. Hyacinth in a church or eration, wrings the water of her sparkling life, ideals, and legacy of liberty into the chapel that recalls the Cret-designed chapel in Flanders. The parquet floor of the chapel receptacle that the child of the new generation is holding. These images are an allegory in the floor of this painting recalls the same parquet design of The Barnes Foundation for the legacy of wholesome liberty which must be treasured, nurtured, and, often, floor in Merion. It is as if the elements of both places, one in Merion and the other in defended in each generation. An allegory glorifying liberty would be something which Flanders, combine into one painting: the parquet floor of The Barnes is seen combined the Allied war dead of Flanders would understand all too well if their eyes looked out with the domed ceiling of the interior of the Flanders Field Chapel. The elements of at it through the eyes of Cezanne’s skull on the East Wall of Gallery II. The standard both The Barnes and The Flanders Field Chapel are unified in this painting, as if both being carried by the reaper would be the first thing the heroic souls would encounter meet here, drawn across time and space to one place in Merion, Pennsylvania. And, in if they emerged from Cezanne’s aisle of chestnuts upon their arrival to The Barnes, and both places we find that the common man is the hero. St. Lawrence championed the it recalls the torch of freedom and the lines of Colonel John D. McRae’s poem, “To you poor and St. Hyacinth is like the ordinary soldier of uncommon valor, like so many who from failing hands, we throw/The torch; be yours to hold it high.” The dead would reap died in Flanders and elsewhere in our military conflicts who summon the strength and what they have sown, immortality. courage in times of extraordinary need to achieve victory over evil. It is to those heroes Lady Liberty will raise her cup to heaven to bring the purifying water of freedom that not only Flanders Field Chapel but also The Barnes, is dedicated. and equality to all her children while Christ above her, in The Bridge of the Main Hall, Cezanne’s eyeless skull looks out at the viewer from the East Wall of Gallery II. At in the scene of the garden of Gethsemane, which we can see if we stand near the door- first, it is as if the eyeless skull represents the decomposed battle dead still unburied way facing back into the Main Hall, represents redemption and eternal life to us all. as they lie between belligerent trenches. But, after a fashion, if we look closely at the As we ponder these images, we begin to see evidence that at least a portion of skull, we see a smudge of paint over its brow that softens the hard outlines of the death’s the art assembled in Dr. Cret’s 1923 mansion serves as Dr. Cret’s and Dr. Barnes’s

52 53 Barnes Rune 2012 private homage to missing soldiers of World War I and a corollary to the Cret-designed Flanders Field Memorial Chapel. Cret dedicated the chapel to forty-three missing soldiers. The names of the missing are inscribed upon the wall of Cret’s Chapel. I believe that there is a reason that forty-three names are hewn into the walls of the Overseas Memorial at Waregam, Belgium, and that reason has to do with the Forty- third Psalm, which, as we shall see, is the key to understanding Flanders Field Memorial Chapel and The Barnes. The explanation for what Dr. Cret has created in Belgium is Chapter 8 here in Merion, the heart of America. I believe that the idea is based upon Dr. Cret’s and Dr. Barnes’s wish that we could The Founder’s Circle—Then bring all of our sons and daughters of our conflicts home to a gardenlike place such as the one that had been built in Merion. There is imagery in the next galleries, especially We All Went Home Galleries III, IV, and V that face east toward Belgium, that may be designed to sym- bolically will our soldiers home, or, if not home, then to a place of peace. Cezanne’s Still Life with Skull is on the same wall as Beach and Two Houses which seems to contain hemes of remembrance and miraculous transport run through all of the a faint outline of a skull when seen in black and white. Cezanne’s skull is to the right first-floor East Wing of The Barnes, which consists of Galleries II through VII of Cezanne’s Allee of Chestnuts and Beach and Two Houses is to the left of Cezanne’s Allee. Tand then out into the Main Hall. In Galleries III and IV, in the easternmost The separation of two skulls by a quiet country road or allee or even the separation of rooms that directly face Flanders Field Cemetery in Belgium, we find some of the Cezanne’s skull from Prendergast’s beach and two houses by this road implies transit. most symbolic correlations between the two sites. If you review the diagram of The Cezanne’s Allee of Chestnuts is right next to the door to Gallery III that takes us deeper Barnes included in the appendix you will note that Gallery II is a large room facing into The Barnes. These will be the first in a long line of images that will reinforce the South while Galleries III, IV, and V are much smaller rooms that all face East toward theme of transit and passing over as we proceed through The Barnes. Flanders. In this part of The Barnes, most of the symbolism progresses in the order of the galleries. The number forty-three continues to have significance in these galleries, albeit in a way that is slightly more subtle. In Merion, Galleries IV and III are aligned in that order—“four” and “three”—if the visitor stands in those galleries facing East in the direction of the Atlantic Ocean and Flanders. The story goes that it is likely that Dr. Cret, a World War I veteran and a man of great imagination, didn’t design the Flanders Field Chapel at American Cemetery 1252 in a vacuum. Instead, when he received his Flanders Field commission, he was fresh from finishing The Barnes Foundation design in Merion. In some collaboration with his acquaintance Dr. Barnes, Cret conceived that the cemetery and chapel in Belgium might represent a symbolic and even mythical passageway for the war dead of Flanders back to the peace and repose of The Barnes Foundation in the hills above Philadelphia. I believe that the correspondence between The Flanders Field Cemetery and The Merion Barnes was inspired in part by the Forty-third Psalm. If we fast-forward through the galleries for a moment, there is a small painting, a part of a larger altarpiece by Peter Paul Rubens, in the center of the South Wall of Gallery V that depicts the Song of David. The Song of David is the Forty-third Psalm. In Rubens’s painting, King David is shown on a cloud surrounded by cherubs and strumming a harp. King David’s eyes are directed toward heaven, and his crown is seen resting at his feet. He is obviously in

54 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—Then We All Went Home heaven, and he has laid aside his crown in deference to his King, God Almighty. As he a result, it appears that Dr. Barnes and Dr. Cret had engaged in a collaborative effort prays for deliverance from harm, David plays his harp in glorification of God. David’s to bring the miraculous spirit and the religious history of the church to the horrific prayer that he be restored to the Temple goes like this: experiences of their time. Religious people believe in miracles, and it is possible that Dr. Barnes and Dr. Cret were trying to attract such a miracle to the Merion Gallery that they built as a new utopia in the New World. Judge me, O God, and plead my In an age of skepticism and with the decline of religiosity in America, these con- cepts are easy to reject, but it is my hope at least that I shall be able to show you how cause against an ungodly nation: advanced were their humble efforts on that special hill in Merion overlooking and silently ennobling the people of Philadelphia and all of the world with their magnifi- O deliver me from the deceitful cently decent and uncommon aspirations. I have been told that The Barnes Foundation and the Flanders Field Memorial and unjust man. For thou art the Chapel and Cemetery were linked through the efforts of Dr. Paul Cret and Dr. Albert Barnes in such a way that The Barnes would come to represent an earthly representa- God of my strength: why dost thou tion of God’s holy hill: a place where the honored dead could come, if God willed it, and rejoice. A place to which these honored dead would be led by a great light: they cast me off! Why go I mourning were to be led by God’s great and miraculous light. And, this is where the legend of another saint, St. Barbara, comes into play. because of the oppression of the One of the unusual things about The Barnes is that in the midst of all these won- derful masterpieces of art, Dr. Barnes has placed wooden retablos of New Mexican ori- enemy! O send out thy light and thy gin. These retablos are all religious in nature and depict certain saints, the Madonna, and the Christ Child. While they are clearly artful, they seem, at first, to be out of place truth: let them lead me: let them next to the fine masterpieces that grace the walls of The Foundation. No one, to my knowledge, has ever been able to completely explain the presence of these retablos. The bring me unto thy holy hill, and saints are the guides for souls of both the living and the dead. The very first of these retablos, if we follow the numerical sequence of the galleries, to thy tabernacles. Then will I go is in Gallery V on the East Wall near the Northeast corner of Gallery V. It is an image of St. Barbara or “Santa Barbara” (circa 1885) by Jose Benito Ortega (New Mexican, unto the altar of God, unto God my 1858–1941). St. Barbara is important to the Flanders Field theme because, among other things, her story is one of miraculous transport across a substantial distance. The exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp I legend of St. Barbara and miraculous transport figures prominently in the theme of the correspondence between The Barnes and Flanders Field Memorial Chapel. will praise thee, The legend of St. Barbara is that her pagan father kept Barbara, his Christian daugh- ter, locked in a tower when she refused to marry a pagan man. And, when she persisted O God my God. in her refusal, her father attempted to kill her. As he was about to kill her, her prayers created an opening in the walls of her tower prison and she was miraculously freed and Psalm 43: 1–4 transported by a great light to a mountain gorge, where two shepherds were watching their flocks in the fields. The first shepherd was a good shepherd and rebuffed her father Dr. Barnes came from a religious background, and Dr. Cret was a decorated World when he came after her, but the second shepherd betrayed her to her father, who then War I combat veteran who had been an eyewitness to the horrors of World War I. As killed her. God turned the faithless shepherd to stone, and his flocks were turned to

56 57 Barnes Rune 2012 locusts. As Barbara’s father returned home, he, himself, was struck by lightning, and his body was consumed by this bolt from heaven. The manner of Barbara’s father’s death in retribution for her own death makes St. Barbara the protector against death by lightning strikes and also the patron of artil- lerymen, miners, and all who work with explosives or who might suffer a sudden death in the course of dangerous labor. It is fitting that she would be one of the patrons of Galleries II through VII if these galleries are dedicated to the missing because she is Chapter 9 the patron of artillerymen. Lieutenant Colonel John McRae, the author of the poem “In Flanders Field,” was an artilleryman. The Founder’s Circle—Something Happened St. Barbara’s image appears twice in what I term “The Flanders Field Memorial Galleries” which are in Galleries II through VII of The Barnes. St. Barbara doesn’t appear twice in the same galleries. Instead, she appears once on the Eastern Wall of he Commemorative Chapel built in Waregam, Belgium, by Dr. Paul Philippe Gallery V, depicted on the wooden retablo of which I have just spoken, and she appears Cret, at the Commission of the United States Government in the memory once on the Western Wall of Gallery VII in an oil-on-canvas painting in the company Tof our World War I Service Personnel is what some might term a Knight’s of St. Mary Magdalene. A reminiscence of her history is also echoed in Gallery III, Chapel. It is relatively small and would have space for, perhaps, one heavily armed which I believe is the room that Dr. Barnes dedicated to the passage of the souls of the knight on his steed with his page. It is not designed for a large group of people. For dead back from Europe. the convenience of visitors, there are four sets of very small pews—enough only for an There is a correspondence between the legend of St. Barbara and Gallery III. On the intimate group. On the wall, there are carved the names of forty-three soldiers who, at West Wall of Gallery III that we have just entered is a painting by Titian of a shepherd the time it was constructed, slept in unknown graves. There is a black marble altar, and sleeping in a field. The Titian represents the good shepherd and the one that tried to adorning the wall above the altar is a large crusader’s broad sword. The Chapel ceiling save Barbara from her murderous father after God had miraculously transported her to is stepped or graduated inside, and birds are depicted intermittently on different levels the safety of the gorge. to give the appearance that they are circling and ascending toward a lighted torch that is painted in the very center of the ceiling on a field of stars and sky. Viewed from the air, the Chapel is laid in the center of a Crusader’s cross formed by walkways and graves. Something happened in Waregam, Belgium, in the summer of 1935 that may forever affect how we look at The Barnes in Merion, Pennsylvania. In a freak event, lightning struck the Flanders Field Cemetery Chapel roof. The lightning strike was so severe that it tore a piece from the stone cornice of Dr. Cret’s Chapel. It is said that there may be a connection between this event and The Barnes. It is thought by some that there is imagery at the Barnes to suggest that this lightning strike opened up a mystical pathway or portal between the two places. Above a doorway in The Barnes that faces toward Belgium, there is a circular cage with what appear to be lightning bolts frozen inside the rungs of the cage. This cage is on the South end of the East Wall of Gallery III. This Wall, The East Wall of Gallery III, faces out from the hills of Merion over the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, directly toward Belgium. Was the cage with lightning bolts frozen in its metal rungs installed in the Pennsylvania mansion before or after the lightning strike in Belgium? Is the occurrence in Belgium related to the imagery in Pennsylvania or is it an inexplicable coincidence?

58 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—Something Happened

There are certain things that we can verify about this mystery. For instance, we them to heaven, ransoming them from the power of the grave and redeeming them can verify with the American Battle Monuments Commission that lightning struck from death? “Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the Flanders Field Memorial Chapel in 1935 and that, when it did so, the lightning took golden door!” In my opinion, the imagery appears to establish that The Flanders Fields a piece of stone from the cornice of the Chapel. The Chapel has not been damaged by Memorial Chapel and Cemetery and The Barnes Merion may be another “air-bridged” lightning before or since. After we verify that lightning did strike the Chapel, we can relation (to borrow Emma Lazarus’s term) between Europe and America, with a sym- visit The Barnes and see with our own eyes the image of lightning in the metal rungs bolic purpose akin to the Statue of Liberty but reserved as a special place of honor of the cage above the East Doorway in Gallery III of The Barnes that faces Belgium, as for our casualties and for our missing. The harbor, in the case of The Barnes Merion/ if this cage was built to catch the lightning and as if lighting has been caught in the Flanders Field connection is, in my opinion, the exquisite unification of art, garden and cage and forever frozen into the ironwork. Does the lightning recall the fire of the torch arboretum of Merion. It is quite a poetic proposition. of liberty being passed to each successive generation? Is it meant to light the way to a The idea of a soldier dying in battle and not being able to enter heaven is not an golden door for our servicemen and women in The Barnes, reminiscent of the Statue of unfamiliar theme in human history. A crusader’s fear that he would die with the sin of Liberty in New York harbor? the battlefield and would be unable to enter heaven is thought to have resulted in the Catholic scapular devotion. Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, There is a tale of a monk during the thirteenth-century Crusades who prayed that With conquering limbs astride from land to land; despite what evils he may have done in his crusader’s life that he be granted some way Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand to escape the fires of hell if he should die with the blood of his enemies on his hands and A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame without absolution on the battlefield. He was a Carmelite monk named Simon Stock. Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Simon Stock’s Carmelites took their name from a hermit encampment they occupied in Mother of Exile. From her beacon-hand a mountain range in the Holy Land called Mount Carmel. In the midst of their camp Glows worldwide welcome, her mild eyes command they had erected a chapel to Christ’s mother, Mary, whom they called the Lady of the The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. Place or Our Lady of Mount Carmel. One day, Our Lady of Mount Carmel appeared to this monk and gave him an apron “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she or monk’s habit which was worn about the shoulders and known as a scapular, telling With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, him “Whosoever dies clothed in this shall never suffer eternal fire. It shall be a sign of Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, salvation, protection in danger, and a pledge of peace.” I believe that there is evidence The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. to suggest that Dr. Cret and Dr. Barnes symbolically intended the Merion Experience Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, to be a modern Mount Carmel and to represent their pledge of peace to the dead of the I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” First World War and, perhaps, to the dead of all our wars. “The New Colossus” Dr. Barnes appears to include scapular imagery at The Barnes. On the Eastern Emma Lazarus, 1883, Wall of Gallery III, the Wall facing Flanders, the scapular devotion may be expressed inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, 1903 in a painting by Jean-Simeon Chardin (French, 1699–1779) which shows a woman holding up a sheet. The sheet that the woman is holding up in Woman Doing Wash Reinforcing this connection to the Statue of Liberty. The Barnes is made out of (1732–40) reminds us of the scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. In Gallery II, French stone and so is the Statue of Liberty. She holds a torch whose flame is impris- in a small drawing by William Glackens next to the passage between Gallery II and oned lightning, a beacon-hand glowing worldwide welcome. Cries she with silent lips, Gallery III, on the Southern Wall of Gallery III, we see a group of men walking down “Breathe Free!” St. Barbara died as a result of a conflict with her father over her righ- a street arm in arm called “Then We All Went Home” (1909). On the Eastern Wall teous beliefs. Miraculous lightning avenged her. So, too, did those who have died in the of Gallery II, on the North side of the passageway into Gallery III from Gallery II, we service of this country’s democratic principles give all for their righteous beliefs. Is it see a receptacle for Holy Water as if we are about to enter a holy place as we cross the possible that divine and miraculous lightning avenges them here as well, consecrating threshold into Gallery III. On the other side of the passageway as we enter Gallery III

60 61 Barnes Rune 2012 on the South Wall of Gallery III is a painting, circa 1896, of Prometheus chained to a rock called Dramatic Poetry (Aeschylus) by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. In Aeschylus’ version of the legend of Prometheus (as opposed to Hesiod’s more tragic version), Prometheus escapes his imprisonment like the Allied soldiers of Flanders may have been meant by Dr. Barnes and Dr. Cret to escape the grave. The dramatic poetry to which the painting refers in Barnesian Code is, in my estimation, Lieutenant Colonel McRae’s Flanders Field poem, Miss Michael’s “We Shall Keep The Faith” poem, and Chapter 10 the poetry of the imagery of the assembled paintings at The Barnes forming a new and modern mythology. The Founder’s Circle—The Gate that Dr. Barnes’s use of scapular imagery appears to also have meant cloaking our hon- ored warriors in a mantle of peace. The name of the Mount Carmel mountain range Looketh toward the East was derived from the Hebrew word “Har Hacarmel,” which means “the garden” or “the garden land.” Isaiah 35:2 speaks about the beauty of Carmel. Mount Carmel was where the prophet Elijah confronted the false prophets of Baal and where he came f some kind of a miraculous transport and scapular sanctification of warrior souls unto all the people and said: “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord were meant to take place through a Golden Door at The Barnes, it would have to be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a Ibe done through the agency of a powerful miracle, and it would help if there were a word. Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only remain a prophet of the Lord; but symbolic Golden Door to back up the theme. Barnes had a strong Christian upbringing, Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men… And Elijah said unto them, Take the and there is no evidence to suggest that he was practicing the dark arts. In Dr. Barnes’ prophets of Baal: let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought theology, only Christ, through his death and Resurrection, would have the power to work them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there… And Elijah went up to the such a miracle. And, on this miraculous East Wall of Gallery III we see a picture of Christ top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his on the Cross. Also, in the center of the East Wall of Gallery III there is a painting said knees…” (I. Kings 18:20-40) “Har Hacarmel” is a special place which has an area for to be of the School of El Greco called The Disrobing of Christ from the early seventeenth worship and the assembly of the people. It also has a cavern called “the School of the century. This painting shows Christ in the foreground with a group of soldiers behind Prophets.” The destruction of this garden place was thought to be the surest sign of him with spears and staves. One of the soldiers is not like the others. The soldier that I God’s punishment of his people (Isaiah 33:9, Jeremiah 4:26, Amos 1:2, and Nahum am describing is depicted to Christ’s right-hand side, and he is dressed like a conquistador 1:4)(see, Catholic Online, www.catholic.org). I think that Cret and Barnes thought of The or a Spanish soldier in metal armor. The image of a seventeenth-century conquistador in Barnes in the Hills of Merion as a symbolic Mount Carmel and School of the Prophets. a first-century biblical scene suggests a time shift in the context of the painting and the Unfortunately, in 2012, the people and government of Pennsylvania are scheduled to wall ensemble. The conquistador is out of his time, as if he has been magically trans- gut the art collection from The Barnes Foundation’s garden land in Merion. Who do ported to the scene of Christ’s persecution. Is he a helper transported through time to you support? stand with Christ in his time of need? If he is a helper, it is unclear if his mystical presence In addressing the Carmelite Order on its 750th anniversary in 2001, Pope John is combined with a true corporeal presence that even permits him to be of assistance, or if Paul II said, “Over time this rich Marian heritage of Carmel has become, through the he can only stand with Christ in spirit bearing witness during Christ’s trial and humili- spread of the Holy Scapular devotion, a treasure for the whole church by its simplicity, ation. Perhaps he is the Simon of Cyrene of a new age, and every age, who helps take up its anthropological value, and its relationship to Mary’s role in regard to the church and the Cross of Christ again and again, such as the Allied soldiers of Flanders had done and humanity” (www.newsadvent.org from the Catholic Encyclopedia, Robert Appleton Co., their counterparts of today continue to do. New York). In my estimation, The Barnes is yet another example of the extension of a El Greco commonly juxtaposed figures of different times into one painting, but I think rich Marian heritage. that Dr. Barnes’ placement of this painting suggests the additional concept within the Flanders Field imagery that this soldier has been mystically transported through the agency of Christ to a different place. It is as if this conquistador is himself a warrior and martyr who has helped to carry the cross of Christ and is now gaining admittance to The Barnes led by

62 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—The Gate that Looketh toward the East

Christ. Perhaps he represents the Allied war dead being led here by Christ or the faithful tower, recalling St. Barbara’s tower prison. Also, if one looks in the background of the soldiers of liberty in every age, who win admittance to this place by their fidelity and service. painting by Titian, one can see a tower, which further confirms the St. Barbara theme. The Disrobing of Christ is one of three symbols of an adult Christ on the East Wall of Did the lightning that opened a hole in the Flanders Field Memorial Chapel’s cor- Gallery III. The second is a disturbing figure of a blindfolded Christ being ridiculed by nice act through the intercession of the same St. Barbara and form a magical pathway bourgeois-looking men in a painting attributed to Hieronymous Bosch (Netherlandish, of transport for the souls of the artillerymen who are commemorated therein, and all circa 1450–1516). These might represent the critics and skeptics who do not believe who died, back to the peace and repose of the hills above Philadelphia? Did Barbara’s that Dr. Barnes and Dr. Cret created these correlations between Waregam, Belgium, intercession create an opening of escape for the dead from the prison of the grave, just and Merion, Pennsylvania. as her prayers created an opening in her tower prison? The third image of Christ is in a triptych of a Master of the San Quirico (Italian) from St. Barbara is said to protect against death or injury by lightning strike. The legend of the 1290s, composed of a tempera on gold panel showing the Crucifixion. Dr. Barnes has The Barnes/Flanders relationship as it has been related to me through the oral history sur- placed it above all the other paintings on the East Wall of Gallery III. I always like to note rounding The Barnes is that, although the Flanders Field Memorial Chapel was dedicated the beautiful reverence of an artist who would place this holiest of Christian themes on a in 1928, it took until 1935 for all the souls of the soldiers to which it was dedicated to valuable gold panel. Of course, the gold also suggests the mystery of alchemical reaction accumulate in the Flemish Chapel. At this time a bolt of lightning then struck Dr. Cret’s which might also be at play in the magical transportive attributes of this Gallery. The Memorial Chapel through divine intercession and formed a pathway of transport for all gold also suggests a Golden Door for the passage of the souls honored in this place. those souls back to The Barnes. The St. Barbara legend is not only a story of the miracu- There is additional imagery of a doorway or pathway in this area of The Barnes. On lous effect of lightning, but it is also a tale of miraculous transference or transportation. the Eastern Wall coupled with the aforesaid images of Christ, Dr. Barnes has placed two The connection between Merion and Flanders seems evident in the imagery. There Dutch paintings by Jean-Simeon Chardin. They are both interior scenes of the same size are correspondences between the two places. The Flanders Field Chapel ceiling, com- and nearly the same subject and figures. The first is Woman Doing Wash, and the other is pleted in 1928, contains a stepped ceiling with birds painted on it caterwauling and Woman Drawing Water, both from 1732–40. There is an open doorway in both paintings. spiraling ever upward as if they were, in fact, in flight. In part, I think the effect of In the doorway in the painting by Chardin to our left as we look at the East Wall, we see the birds spiraling upward recalls the line in Dr. McRae’s poem which states “ . . . and a woman standing in the doorway holding up a sheet while a boy sitting by a tub of wash in the sky/The larks, still bravely singing, fly. . ..” However, it also seems to suggest water blows a bubble in the foreground. It appears that the woman is holding the sheet to the flight of the souls of the dead commemorated in the Chapel. And, in the center of hang it for drying or to fold it. However, if we look beyond this simple, mundane task to the vaulted Chapel ceiling, there is a golden lamp with a flame coming out of it. The ascertain a more symbolic motif, she could be holding the sheet like a magician, because, lamp recalls the torch of the poem “To you from failing hands, we throw/The torch; be in the companion painting by Chardin to the viewer’s right, we see a similar doorway, and yours to hold it high./” In addition, this torch floating high in the heavens in Dr. Cret’s the very same woman who had been holding the sheet in the first painting is now draw- Flemish Chapel also seems to presage or predict the transport by the fire of lightning of ing water in the foreground, and a child, dressed in what appears to be a blue and white the souls of Allied warriors back to The Barnes in Merion. Christ has also been called a uniform, has appeared in the doorway. It is as if the transportation of a soul, represented torch and it is only through his intercession that such a miracle could take place. by this uniformed child, has taken place before our eyes. This is only the beginning of the miraculous imagery in Gallery III. For instance, on There is additional imagery in Gallery III that suggests that a transference takes the East Wall there is a painting called Madonna and Child (1539) from the workshop place from Europe to The Barnes through a pathway or a doorway in the Easternmost of Hans Baldung Grien (German, circa 1484–1545). In this painting Grien portrays Wall. Like St. Barbara’s protective good shepherd, an image of a sleeping shepherd by the Madonna with an unusually large ring of brilliant light above her head. This circle Titian with a flock of sheep on the West Wall of Gallery III would be the first sight that of light may represent a magical portal or astral pathway formed by the lightning of the transported souls would encounter as they entered The Barnes Foundation through transport. There appear to be stars around this light-filled portal, and it seems as if it the East Wall of Gallery III. The open door in both paintings by Chardin recalls the might be an opening in the skies or a pathway through heaven. It seems that Dr. Barnes miraculous opening in the tower of St. Barbara’s confinement, made by her prayers. As has placed this painting here to suggest the passageway that would convey the souls in the legend of St. Barbara, the boy in the doorway in the painting by Chardin faces of the Flanders dead to Merion. Hans Baldung Grien painted during the time of the Titian’s shepherd sleeping in the field, called Sleeping Shepherd (circa 1500–10). Even Black Death, the plague. According to Barnes researchers, Grien is best known for “his the design of the Flanders Field Chapel is similar in shape to the geometrical shape of a explicit images of the somber theme of death and the Maiden and mysterious paintings

64 65 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—The Gate that Looketh toward the East associated with witchcraft.” Describing this painting, the researchers say that Baldung Grien “here shows the nursing Madonna and child in a timeless realm dominated by way of the gate whose prospect is a mysterious aura.…The restless and bizarre intensity of the picture may relate to the mystical concept symbolizing perfect Christian Truth as transcendental supernatural toward the east. light” (Barnes Foundation and Corbis CD Barnes virtual tour disk). Galleries III, IV, and V are the Barnes galleries that face East. If there were a passageway for the souls of So the spirit took me up, and the honored Allied dead, it would be in the galleries that face East. And, while I do not have the ability to test the precise alignment of The Barnes and Flanders Field in the brought me into the inner court; and time required to get this manuscript to press, I often wonder if the science of mathemat- ics or even astronomy could reveal something more about how these buildings or the behold, the glory of the Lord filled Crusader’s Cross of graves and The Merion Barnes are somehow oriented to one another. As I have suggested, the number forty-three is instructive in the analysis of the the house.… relationship between Merion and Flanders. In the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel talks of four wheels. On the second floor of The Barnes in Gallery XXI, which is directly above Gallery Ezekiel 43:1–5 IV, there are four Amish-like hex symbols represented in four round Pennsylvania Dutch wooden cookie cutters that Dr. Barnes has placed on the walls of Gallery XXI. There is a The design of the emergency door on the East Wall of Gallery III seems to confirm sword in Gallery IV that points up toward Gallery XXI. These round cookie cutters recall that only a special visitor may enter through it because there is no outer handle on that the wheels seen by Ezekiel, and I think that their presence reinforces the likelihood that door. One may not spontaneously enter through that doorway either by privilege or by another part of Ezekiel’s vision, found in Chapter 43, may be germane to our consider- other means because there simply is no external handle: the door must be opened from ation of the symbolism of The Barnes. Ezekiel 43 reads in relevant part as follows: the inside. Ezekiel 43 and 44 speak of the design of a temple and about the Eastern door as being the entry for the prince that no one else can enter. Next to this Eastern door is a painting by Milton Avery (American, 1893–1965) called Nursemaid (1934), showing A“ fterward he brought me to the a black couple with a white child. The placement of this painting could suggest that these figures represent mystical dark-skinned guardians similar to the Egyptian guard- gate, even the gate that looketh ian of the dead, Anubis, faithfully guarding the soul of an honored soldier and guiding him on his path to The Barnes. Are Milton Avery’s nursemaids guardians of the souls toward the east:/ of the transported soldiers? Is this why Dr. Barnes entrusted the eternal preservation of The Barnes in Merion to black Americans? And behold the glory of the God of Intermingled with the paintings on the East Wall, the Flanders Field entry wall, are a set of four wooden pieces from fifteenth century France set in an orderly left-to-right Israel came from the way of the east: progression along a straight line along the Eastern Wall. The wooden panels are a four- part series involving the same lady depicted in four very different states. The first wooden and his voice was like a noise of panel from the viewer’s left shows a lady holding a disembodied heart—representing devotion to Christ. The second wooden panel shows the same woman with an unusual many waters: and the earth shined wing extending from her brow holding a chalice with a shining host above it—meaning consecration to Christ and transubstantiation. The third wooden panel shows the same with his glory./…And the glory of lady now holding a baby, but this baby has an odd lamblike face, a creature dressed in a baby’s swaddling clothing—meaning, perhaps, purification from sin or the shedding of the Lord came into the house by the the mortal coil and the miraculous transformative power of Christ as the Lamb of God. The fourth wooden panel shows the same lady, but she now has a strongly muscled arm

66 67 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—The Gate that Looketh toward the East holding a monstrance before her—suggesting that she has become a soldier for Christ. by Pierre Bonnard (French, 1867–1947), showing figures dressed in black in a barren city This sequence suggests a spiritual transformation with overtones of mystical shape-shift- landscape with a cart piled high with rags. If interpreted to be part of the Flanders Field ing as the woman is shown in different physical states. These strange carvings are attrib- imagery, did Dr. Barnes intend these figures to represent Americans at home mourning uted by Dr. Barnes to fifteenth-century Europe, which was the time of the plague. The his death, and the cart a funerary cart? Does this imagery also suggest the loyal defenders horror of widespread death during the plague was magnified in the flickering candlelight of The Merion Barnes, The Friends of The Barnes (barnesfriends.org) who wear black at and in the flames of the funeral pyres of the dark nights and, under the spell of this horrific their demonstrations to protest and mourn The Barnes Move? Is it possible that Dr. Barnes time, the people would draw eerie compositions on the walls of the charnel houses. These somehow foresaw the emergence of The Barnes Friends and has placed an image of them carved panels may, therefore, represent an aspect of charnel house mysticism intermixed here in this special Gallery of homecoming? In the foreground of The Ragpickers, we see a with Catholic principles. In the same way, The Barnes may be a similar artistic construc- dog, man’s best friend. Any soul entering Gallery III from the Eastern Pathway would also tion reflecting the strong interest in faith and mysticism of our own modern times. see poppy red in Renoir’s painting Glade (circa 1909) to the viewer’s left side on the West It is interesting to note that the woman in the charnel house carvings ends up being Wall of Gallery III. He would also see the poppy red in Renoir’s Woman’s Head with Red a soldier for the faith, which is important in the symbolism of The Barnes, because this Hat and Early Spring Landscape (1880s) to the viewer’s right side on the West Wall. last image holding the monstrance faces the black couple in the Nursemaid painting. There is also a 1490 painting of the crucifixion on the West Wall by a Netherlandish As I have noted before, in this Milton Avery painting, the black couple is guarding a painter by the name of Juan de Flandes (Netherlandish, active in Spain, 1465–1519). little white child. It is as if faith in God will be our, their, and the little child’s guide. This image of the crucifixion on the West Wall is directly opposite the gold tempera Does this mysterious black couple shepherd the souls of the World War I dead like the panel depicting the crucifixion on the East Wall as if the two images ‘bridge’ or comple- onyx guardian Anubis shepherded the souls of the pharaohs in the ancient Egyptian ment one another. The name “Flandes,” of course, even further confirms the Flanders cosmology? Do they shepherd The Barnes as if it were a little child, or does The Barnes Field theme. Below the paintings of the West Wall of Gallery III, there is a small cup- shepherd the student or soldier in every generation, cultivating, fortifying, and guid- board with dishes and utensils—most likely, for feeding the new arrivals and to suggest ing him or her to attain ever greater states of clarity? the accoutrements of home to a potentially disoriented soul that has travelled a great Another painting on the East Wall of Gallery III depicts a man in a green tam- distance. And there is fruit for them to eat which can be seen in two small paintings by o’-shanter, or beret, which is traditionally an official military headdress and, in World Renoir on the West Wall above the cupboard. War I, was the official headdress of a regiment of Canadian soldiers, the Royal Highland On the North Wall of Gallery III, we find further confirmation that miraculous activity is Fusiliers, who fought in the Ypres Salient in the third battle of Flanders in 1917–1918 suggested. There are examples of how artists depict implied activity through the use of tension and who traditionally wore dark green tam-o’-shanters with their ceremonial dress lines. Two paintings on the North Wall show how “proximity lines,” or lines that are almost uniforms. As one would expect, consistent with the Flemish or Netherlandish theme, touching but do not touch, are used by artists to create emphasis and tension in a composition. this painting, called Man with Tam-o’-shanter, is of Netherlandish origin. It is done by The first of the two paintings utilizing this artistic device is the 1510-1520 work Meeting of a member of the Circle of Corneille de Lyon (Netherlandish, active in France 1500 or Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate, by Hans von Klumbach (German, circa 1485-1522) show- 1510–1575, in the third quarter of the sixteenth century). ing the immaculate conception by Joachim and Anna of the child Mary, the mother of Christ, Consistent with the Flanders Field theme, we find a number of other Netherlandish at the Temple Gate. The Immaculate Conception is the first miracle of the New Testament— paintings in Gallery III. A Flanders field is even seen in the background of the Flemish the conception of Christ’s mother, Mary. To reinforce the miraculous act of an immaculate painting from the last quarter of the fifteenth century of a young man by a follower of conception, Klumbach utilizes what are known as “proximity” or “separation” lines. The effect Hans Memling (South Netherlandish, 1430 or 1440–1484) on the East Wall of Gallery of such lines is to create a sense of tension by laying lines in a design close together but not III closest to the emergency exit door. The young man in this painting with the fields of letting them touch. The close separation of lines in the Joachim and Anna painting suggests Flanders behind him is like the young laborers, merchants, students, husbands, and sweet- an accentuated tension between the wall of the Temple and the hips of Joachim, which seem hearts who left home for the European battlefields of World War I and never returned. to suggest an implied virility and movement in Joachim’s hips as the barren man miraculously If a soul did enter Gallery III through the Eastern Wall, the first thing that he would impregnates his wife without penetration while each is totally clothed. see would be the Western Wall. And, on this wall, is the Titian of the shepherd sleeping in The implication is that such lines that are almost touching but do not touch suggest the field (consistent with the legend of St. Barbara), but there is more. Above the passage- a tension or transference of force, such as, for example, the trembling strings of a harp, way into Gallery III from Gallery II, he would see a painting called The Ragpickers (1909) sort of like King David’s harp as he sings the Song of David, the Forty-third Psalm, in

68 69 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—The Gate that Looketh toward the East

Gallery V a very short distance away. The second of the two paintings that show the use The East Wall of Gallery II also contains the invocation of the patron saint of of proximity lines is the painting of a Netherlandish gentleman with arms slightly parted drowning men, St. Hyacinth, ostensibly to help save these dead souls from drowning from his torso. Located directly above the Joachim and Anna painting, it is called Man in the abyss of death or the river of death and to convey them safely home. Perhaps with Red Beard and is from a member of the Circle of Corneille de Lyon (Netherlandish, St. Hyacinth is also here to prevent these ideas and the memories of those honored active in France 1500 or 1510–1575) in the third quarter of the sixteenth century). The souls from drowning in a sea of anonymity and forgetfulness in the vast emptiness slight, but marked separation of the arms from the body illustrates a further example of of modernity and in the remorseless commercialization of the same in the city of how lines painted close together can create the effect of separation but also of cohesion and Philadelphia. thereby seem to give animation, tension, and dynamism to a two-dimensional figure. The Themes of water figure prominently on the Eastern Wall of Gallery III and through- presence of these two paintings among so many other paintings suggesting a miraculous out The Barnes, so it is likely that St. Hyacinth, the patron saint protecting against occurrence in Gallery III may be seen as reinforcing the concept that a miraculous trans- drowning, is placed in The Barnes for an important reason. If water is a method of ference is taking place through a modern “Golden Gate” that Dr. Barnes and Dr. Cret miraculous conveyance and purification, we would want a protector to make sure that may have been contemplating in their efforts to connect Merion and Flanders. its power is channeled properly. As we return to the Eastern Wall of Gallery III, water On the same North Wall of Gallery III we see a tulip, another reminiscence of is a central feature in the pair of paintings by Chardin that I have described as symbol- Flanders. Beginning with the Painting of St. Lawrence in Gallery II, The image of the izing the appearance of a childlike soul in a soldier’s suit in The Foundation. fleur-de-lis, the symbol of the Knight’s Templar, recurs a number of times in what I like And, so, in addition to water acting as a symbol of the Resurrection in the New to call The Flanders Field rooms, Galleries II through VII. The fleur-de-lis is the sym- Testament and also the covenant of man with God in the concept of Baptism, the image bol of the French Monarchy and, it is equally important to the traditional protectors of of water has two additional implications. the French Monarchs, the Knights Templar. And we again see the image of the fleur- First, water is a guardian against any bad magic which might try to attach to the de-lis, discussed earlier, in the metalwork in the next gallery, Gallery IV; it is thereafter souls on their way home. There is protection against such bad magic here in the water suggested at a number of other places in the rest of the Flanders Field Galleries. imagery of the Chardins, in the presence of St. Hyacinth on the East Wall of Gallery Gallery III also contains images of poppies in the life-size painting called Embroiderers II, and in the image of the man in the tam-o’-shanter on the East Wall of Gallery (circa 1904) by Renoir on the North Wall. These same embroiderers may represent III. Running water is a protection against bad magic as described in the poem called women waiting for their men to return from war. Norman Rockwell (1894–1978) did “Tam-o’-Shanter—a Tale” by Robert Burns. In this poem, the hero, the tam-o’-shanter, a similar themed painting in 1918 for the August 15, 1918, Life magazine cover show- stumbles on a group of witches and warlocks on a Scottish heath as he heads home after ing women gathered on a beach looking out to sea with knitting and knitting needles a night of drinking. As he flees from them, he escapes with his horse, Meg, only by called Till the Boys Come Home. crossing the keystone of a bridge over the running water of a stream because, in Scottish The poppy theme in Gallery III is reminiscent of Gallery II, which contains flowers tradition, witches and warlocks could not cross running water. and poppies everywhere. Stepping back for a moment into Gallery II, in addition to the traces of poppy red in the many paintings of Gallery II, we see Cezanne’s eyeless skull with Ah, Tam! Ah, Tam! Thou’ll get they fairin’! an animated streak of paint over the eye socket where the eyebrow once was. The streak of In hell they’ll roast thee like a herrin’! paint seems to imply that there is the vestige of a spirit, a soul, residing in or near the skull. In vain they Kate awaits they commin’! This theme of spiritual animation is emphasized or echoed in the Renoir hanging directly Kate soon will be a woefu’ woman! above the Cezanne skull which shows a young girl reading with a bright patch of light, an Now, do they speedy utmost Meg, illuminated spirit of cognition just above her brow. While I have previously described this And win the key-stane o’ the brig; light and blissfully painted girl reading intently from her book as a visitor or a student of There at them thou thy tail may toss, today learning of these wondrous Barnesian things for the first time, perhaps Dr. Barnes A running stream they dare na cross. has placed her here also to accentuate the hope that the honored souls who enter here will become youthfully innocent like the girl and rejuvenated– transformed or reincarnated Robert Burns to live in peaceful contemplation at The Barnes. The concepts of transformation and the eternal are critical here. Dr. Barnes directed that these images never be moved.

70 71 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—The Gate that Looketh toward the East

There is even a witch present in a painting hung just inside the adjoining gallery, between Cayce and The Barnes imagery, but as we work through The Barnes, I will Gallery IV, above the doorway. The painting is by Benjamin Luks and is of a mischie- refer back to him to attempt to flesh out what I can about this connection. vous-looking woman holding the broom-like handle of a butter churn. She could also As to the Cayce scholars who may have an interest in The Barnes, an instructor be suggestive of the Witch of Endor, who helped Saul to communicate with the dead at The Barnes, Frederick Boyd Geaseland, and at least one other person associated prophet Samuel (I Samuel 28:6–25). with The Barnes appear to have received readings from Edgar Cayce. Cayce’s readings This segues into the second implication of water as a medium of spiritual convey- are documented, but they are numbered for anonymity and are, therefore, difficult to ance. The first thing we usually think about when water is used as a symbol is the use of assign to a particular person. Cayce believed in what is known as the Akashic Record, water in a religious ceremony, particularly baptism. We will encounter themes of baptism or a Book of Life from whence he could read to see the unseen in the past, present, and, at several places in The Barnes, including The Baptism of Jesus on the right side of the at times, the future. I have read a Cayce scholar, John Van Auken, who draws a con- Southern Wall in Gallery IV and in Gallery XIV. However, the African Bakongo tribal nection between Edgar Cayce’s prophesies and the Winter Solstice of 2012 by focusing traditions have added to some baptisms of the African Christian culture (including the on Cayce’s statements about a “New Age” in a psychic reading. There’s good reason for pre-Civil War slave cultures with which Dr. Barnes was familiar) an aspect of using water this because the Winter Solstice 2012 is the end of the next to last Mayan Age, the Age as a channel between the world of the living and the world of the dead which gives water of Change, and the beginning of the Age of the Spirit of Enlightenment. My reading an additional characteristic of psychic as well as spiritual conveyance. In the Bakongo reli- of Van Auken is that he thinks that Edgar Cayce thought that the people of Atlantis gion, this channeling is carried out by driving a large cross into the river bed where the represented our counterparts in the beginning of the current age but that they became Bakongo/Christian baptisms take place to mystically channel the world of the living and arrogant which destroyed their psychic consciousness. We have a chance in this new the world of the dead. We see this concept also in the image of the rooftree by T. S. Eliot age, The Age of the Spirit of Enlightenment that begins in 2012, to get right what the in his epic poem “The Waste Land,” which brings the concept of the interconnectedness people of Atlantis fouled-up. Mr. Van Auken quotes Cayce’s description that people in of the world of the living with the world of the dead into the modern age. this New Age may develop, ““…the full consciousness of the ability to communicate The best known example of the use of water to facilitate psychic communication or with the Creative Forces and be aware of the relationships to the Creative Forces and conveyance involves the psychic Edgar Cayce, who is widely regarded as the most influential the uses of same in material environs. This awareness during the era or age in the Age psychic of the twentieth century. Edgar Cayce was a contemporary of Dr. Barnes’s, and there of Atlantis and Lemuria or Mu brought what? Destruction to man, and his beginning is some evidence to suggest that he may have visited the invitation-only Barnes Foundation of the needs of the journey up through that of selfishness.” (1602-3)” (“December 21, of the 1920 and 1930s. What is certain is that he was doing readings for at least one female 2012: The Mayan Year of Destiny,” John Van Auken, Association for Research and who had connections to The Barnes as well as Frederick Boyd Geasland, an instructor at The Enlightenment website, www.edgarcayce.org/2012/). Barnes. It is said that Cayce predicted the Great Depression and the discovery of the Dead Van Auken thinks that this means that in this New Age mankind will be provided Sea Scrolls, and that he has never been proven to have been wrong. Cayce would fall into is another chance to dwell at a higher state of consciousness that we once misused “in a a sleep state before he did his readings and spoke from this state. To learn the information previous time cycle.” He says that we once “had a level of consciousness and relation- that he communicated, Cayce described traveling to a place called the Hall of Records in a ship with the Creative Forces that allowed us to live at higher levels of material, mental bubble through water where he was able to read from the Book of Life. and spiritual activity in the Earth and beyond. Unfortunately, we misused this con- In the Jean-Simeon Chardin painting of a woman washing clothes to the left of sciousness and power that came with the close relationship to the Forces. This misuse center on the Eastern Wall of Gallery III, there is an eighteenth-century boy blowing brought on the destruction of our cultures and a long, karmic soul journey through the a beautifully rendered bubble through a straw from his mother’s wash-water toward pain and confusion that resulted from our selfishness and self-centered focus on our will Gallery IV. If we were asked to imagine the bubble that Edgar Cayce would take to without regard for the will of the Creator and others. Now, as the cycles come around the Hall of Records, I don’t think that we could think of a much better one than the again, we are nearing a time when the level of consciousness and relationship with the example of a bubble by Chardin that Dr. Barnes has selected and hung on his wall in Creative Forces will allow us once again to regain these powers. How will we use them Gallery III. Edgar Cayce, who died in 1944, did readings for forty-three years. I believe this time?” “December 21, 2012: The Mayan Year of Destiny,” John Van Auken. that the bubble that the boy is blowing has a symbolic connection to or is a quotation This advanced state of mind may be reflected in some way at The Barnes. What The to Cayce in this highly mystical area of The Barnes. Cayce kept the transcripts of his Merion Barnes may reveal to us about this advanced state of the human mind may be one psychic readings anonymous, so it is difficult for me to make a definitive connection of its greatest treasures of all. I do not believe that I know about Cayce well enough to solve

72 73 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—The Gate that Looketh toward the East this connection, but I strongly suspect that such a connection exists. For instance, later in An underappreciated attribute of The Barnes is that it contains an encyclopedic his article, Van Auken talks about an angel from Revelation that will bind Satan and bring concentration of knowledge about human history and legend. We shall end our tour in a time of peace to the world. I propose that we even see an image that is highly suggestive Gallery XXIII. There, there is a small picture of a black cat in a wasteland peering into of this angel at The Barnes within sight of these images in an upcoming gallery, Gallery V. a bathtub that looks like it contains blue water with areas of brown that resembles a I would also note that, in addition to Galleries III, IV, and V, the only Galleries that face view of the earth from the air. The same wall contains a painting called Horses of Tragedy toward the East at The Barnes are Galleries XX, XXI, and XXII directly above them. If (1934) by de Chirico. The combination of these two images seems like an apt com- nothing was left to chance by the doctor, it is possible that the arrangement of Galleries XX, ment on The Barnes. The Barnes is a look at the world and the legends of the world in XXI, and XXII (or 20, 21 and 22), in the same eastern-facing position on the second floor microcosm. The Barnes is a time capsule containing the mystique, spirituality, wonder, of The Foundation as Galleries III, IV, and V on the first floor, may have some connection to sacrifice and artisanship of the human race. And, it tells a story so gripping that it the year 2012. I would also note that the controversial Barnes Move is also supposed to be educates about its subject and unlocks the key to human knowledge as effortlessly and complete by 2012. It could be that this arrangement foretells that unhappy event. seamlessly as tumblers turning in a lock and the lock springing open. What kind of I think that the Cayce statement about the New Age and Mr. Van Auken’s explana- assistance could this perfect place with this nearly incomprehensible and encyclopedic tion of Cayce’s statement can shed a lot of light on what The Barnes is designed to rep- array of insight and stimuli have on a fully aware and youthful mind of the future? resent. In my opinion, there is no modern place more enlightening than The Barnes in What if, for instance, Edgar Cayce was even partly right and that human beings Merion, and I have seen evidence of a connection between the relatively small Barnesian become more psychically astute in the natural evolutionary scheme? It doesn’t have to community of the late 1920’s and the psychic Edgar Cayce. These issues present interest- be teleportation and telepathy. It could simply be that we accomplish the final evo- ing questions whether or not The Barnes was meant to represent continuity in the Age of lutionary step, the attainment of a comprehensive tolerance and common decency Change and whether it might possibly represent a model for the new Age of the Spirit of between all members of the human race. Enlightenment which is coming upon mankind in the year 2012. Is the utopian Barnes Who will be the leaders to such a greater peace? Who will help define it so it is Foundation in Merion a model for the world we are destined to build in the Age of the balanced and fair? They will be the most advanced among us. They will be able to see Spirit of Enlightenment? Is it an example of how we might best employ the power of our past greed and the exploitation of power, the exploitation of the environment and the heightened consciousness and close relationship to the Creative Forces? Is this what Dr. exploitation of the worker. Barnes, Dr. Cret and Edgar Cayce foresaw? Does Dr. Barnes attempt to replicate or facili- In each successive generation we have become more and more sophisticated. We tate this higher state that Van Auken is talking about to prepare the way? Does he mesh have more and more information. It is wondrous to think of what the children of the arboretum, architecture, art, garden to guide us to and to induce higher levels of “mate- future may one day be capable of accomplishing. But there are also concerns: will they rial, mental, and spiritual activity” in much the same ways that Cayce might expect to still be able to reach into the lessons of the past to summon great character? Will they occur in the New Age? Is this why Dr. Barnes left this story in The Barnes in Merion and be open-minded and fluid enough in their thought processes to identify and apply the why the expansive setting of the garden and arboretum are critical to the philosophical precedents and rhythms of the past to compose a better future? lesson? What can we learn at The Barnes about higher levels of consciousness and about The glimpse of the world that The Barnes provides seems almost like a guide to dealing fairly with our fellow man in the new age of equanimity and equality? What les- those who may some day see the meaning of it all in an instant and build a life of aspira- sons can The Barnes teach us about making the world a more spiritually enriching place tion and innovation on that example. In its scented lilac of memory, its cathedral-like as we build our brave new world in the Age of The Spirit of Enlightenment? silence and in the luster of genius lingering in its brushstrokes, a time may come when The Barnes is an intellectual and sensory landscape that seems to speak to the com- a whole world is made over in its image. plex issues of the twenty-first century mind. In a sense, we are all a composite of our Barnes may have a purpose in his integration of sensory experience. Art can describe past and a culmination of all that has gone before. We now process information with things that we can’t express another way. If words can’t describe a thing, sometimes art lightning speed and on a massive scale. The Barnes appeals to this aspect of modernity can. Humans aren’t just verbal, we are silent and thoughtful as well. Art appeals to the because it is a precise ordering of highly complex information to provide a compre- non-verbal part in us that often words cannot describe. It helps to think of The Barnes hensive look at the highlights of human experience. The value it may have to highly as art and that, like art, it can provide a visitor a complete shift in perspective. The key organized minds of the future who are seeking examples of how to order complex data to The Barnes may be as simple as understanding the encyclopedic collage of imagery is something we may be sacrificing by dismantling it. contained there and then sitting among the radiant masterpieces and letting the meaning

74 75 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—The Gate that Looketh toward the East of it all flow over and through you. And, as the lessons of our time and the brilliance of spiritual effects of color.” Ms. Udall explains that advances like “scanning technologies an age permeate your consciousness, The Barnes, in essence, becomes a state of mind. After that can take functional pictures of the brain at work”, have renewed interest in how experiencing all these things, how could one ever return to a lesser state? artists incorporate synesthetic qualities into their work. A modification of perspective sometimes permits us to see and to understand our The Barnes is probably the most ambitious synesthetic art installation ever. These world in a different light. It is like the book Flatland (1884) by Edwin Abbott, where, if principles are becoming more important as we understand more about our world. we exist on only a certain plane, that is all that we see. If our perspective is modified, it Synesthetic principles may inform disciplines in neuroscience such as neural adaptabil- opens up new vistas. A modified perspective can open us to new possibilities and expand ity and neural plasticity. In one case, applying principles of sensory crossover to human our consciousness. physiology, researchers have reportedly discovered a way to isolate and stimulate unin- And, in our silent, non-verbal world, where we reside with our thoughts, we find jured neural pathways to take-up the task of injured ones to re-teach a paralyzed child that we have a fertile experience without ever saying a word. We begin to see much how to walk. Art pupils aren’t the only ones who see the value of exploring the poten- that we might say about our thoughts that ought to be said but that we cannot seem tialities of the senses. What insight might The Barnes provide to researchers seeking to to put into words. study how the senses complete one another? If The Barnes has scientific relevance, it might lie in its ability to put us in touch with those thoughts that we cannot put into words. If we can presume from the Cayce connection that Barnes was concerned with the psychic, it is possible that The Barnes might be a platform to assist us to more fully see how the human mind sees. It may represent a sophisticated link in the evolutionary process to help us to plumb greater depths of the mind. If, as Cayce says, psychic is of the soul, will The Barnes act as a medium to help those with a psychic disposition to take the next step upon the evolu- tionary pathway? We have no idea if Cayce was right or if mankind will ever progress to an advanced psychic state. If Cayce was right, The Barnes would be a great place to develop the psy- chic mind given the unification of sensory experience present there. There is validity to using art as a medium to advance our knowledge of the mind. Artists are known to use abstraction to stay close to their instincts. Fire Sounds (1930) by the visionary painter Agnes Pelton (American 1881-1961), a member of the Transcendental Painting Group, is a good example of the how art helps explore sense. Fire Sounds shows plumes of smoke popping and fizzing in a purple background. There seems to be a face in the smoke with a sparkle over its right eye. Pelton’s picture lets the viewer hear the fire and even be the fire. Pelton’s canvas reminds us of times sitting in front of a fire, when, in a lucid calm, our thoughts can seem to merge with the fire as we bask in its glow. Recreating a reverie or moment associated with a memorable interaction with our environment is the type of thing that artists like Agnes Pelton and Albert Barnes experimenting with sensory crossovers appear to be striving to achieve. In an article in American Art Review, Vol. XXII, No.6, November-December 2010, called Sensory Crossovers: Synesthesia in American Art, scholar Sharyn Udall discusses Fire Sounds. Ms. Udall talks of Pelton making “a concerted effort to bridge sensory divides”. She talks of Pelton’s “lifelong interest in mysticism, finding that abstractions enabled her to record her deepest feelings.” She describes Pelton’s “studies of the emotional and

76 77 Chapter 11 The Founder’s Circle—Gallery IV, The Chapel

s we continue further on our visit to The Barnes, we find ourselves in Gallery IV, where Dr. Barnes has placed a number of metal, stone, and wooden sym- Abols in the shape of a clock face on the South Wall on the opposite side of the doorway from the boy blowing a bubble in the Chardin on the East Wall of Gallery III. The clock represents the sweep of time and a mosaic of many of the world’s major civi- lizations. In this placement, Dr. Barnes has created a circle of time formed by symbols representing the Ages of mankind. The circle contains a pre-Columbian or Mayan stone mask, a Christian symbol, a Javayaraman trinket, an Egyptian carving, several pieces of European metalwork, and two small paintings, of which one is the presentation of Christ in the Temple and the other is a medieval tavern scene where a patron is shown cavorting with a barmaid as she holds a pitcher or tankard with a round mouth in her hand. Most of the world’s religions are represented in Gallery IV. If there were a Chapel or Temple in The Barnes, Gallery IV would be it. I have always found the location of this symbolic clock on the South Wall to be particularly meaningful, because the boy in the Chardin on the East Wall of Gallery III is blowing the bubble in the exact direction of this clock, as if he were blowing the bubble through time, so to speak. The transport of the bubble from Gallery III to Gallery IV suggests a hypothetical path of transport of the returning souls from the East Wall of Gallery III through the South Wall of Gallery IV. The theme of Gallery IV as a temple is strongly reinforced in the imagery that Dr. Barnes has left us. One of the most forceful images that suggest that we have entered a sacred place is a fragment of an altarpiece of Christ at the Last Supper with his disciples that is located to our right as we enter Gallery IV on the East Wall. This fragment has a semicircular or domed rampart painted into the top of the altarpiece, suggesting the domed ceiling of the Flanders Field Memorial Chapel. The table of the Last Supper is not elongated like Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper. Instead, the table is round and tilted forward toward the viewer. Christ sits at the center of the table and the hands of the apostles reach for bread on the table. The effect of the hands of the Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—Gallery IV, The Chapel apostles reaching for bread from every side of the round table reminds the viewer of various objects from the differing ages of civilization including a Mayan stone mask, a the spokes of a wheel. The tablecloth is white with the exception of a set of royal blue small carving from Egypt, a metal amulet from Java and several other pieces anchored lines that extend from the figure of Christ right down the middle of the table to the by a painting showing the Presentation of Christ in the Temple (which is primarily a red robes of two martyrs seated across the table from Christ. The blue lines suggest a Judaic theme that led to Christianity). As I mentioned before, Dr. Barnes hung these road. Dr. Barnes’s placement of the painting suggests that this road is coming into The pieces in the shape of a clock and, at times, the static images seem to suggest rotation Foundation from the East, the direction of Flanders. Right next to this image of Christ arranged in a clocklike and circular manner, proposing to the viewer that the rotating of the Last Supper but on the South Wall of Gallery IV is an idyllic work by Charles images of these civilizations symbolize the inevitable passage of time, and even the Prendergast called The Offering (1913-14) which shows an angel facing East bearing dominance and then fading of each successive civilization. These images may also stand flowers to a person approaching from the East, also from the direction of Flanders. Has for a more unusual proposition, especially when coupled with the Witch of Endor, this person approaching from the East in Charles Prendergast’s scene just arrived here who appears in close proximity to this clock: they may represent a clue to a possible on this royal blue road? prophecy taking place before our eyes at The Barnes in connection with time, the Edgar Also on the South Wall of Gallery IV, above the door through which we have just Cayce theme, and the 2012 imagery. come is a painting by George Luks of a smiling, gray-haired, mischievous-looking A 2012 connection is something that we should consider when studying the mean- woman holding the handle of a butter churn. In its tonal qualities and setting, this ing of this imagery at The Barnes. In this context it is important to note that many painting resembles the two paintings by Chardin visible through the door on the East scholars think that if the coming of the year 2012 is important, it is important as a Wall of Gallery III. The painting by Luks reminds us of the Witch of Endor, who positive and not a negative. The Winter Solstice of the year 2012 is supposed to mark Saul employed to try to communicate with the dead and which echoes the theme of the end of the Mayan Age of Change and the beginning of the Mayan Age of the Spirit the transport of souls from Flanders. Perhaps this woman would be the medium if we of Enlightenment. John Van Auken writes that “basically…every 13 Baktuns (5,125 needed to communicate with Dr. Barnes’s invitees? In Gallery IV, it is as if we have years) the [Mayan] Long Count Calendar resets to zero – the calculated time when entered the Flanders Field Chapel in some strange way. This gallery contains the most our present World Age ends and the new cycle of time commences.” The last time direct visual connections between Flanders Field Memorial Chapel and The Barnes. the values were set to zero was August 11, 3114 BC which was “the beginning of our Embossed on the Chapel wall in Flanders Field Memorial Chapel is a crusader’s broad present World Age.” (Source “December 21, 2012: The Mayan Year of Destiny,” John sword. And, likewise, high up on the South Wall of Gallery IV there is a piece of Van Auken, Association for Research and Enlightenment website.) Presumably, at the metalwork that resembles the scabbard of a sword embossed with a copper crucifix end of 5,125 years, on December 21, 2012, we will begin to leave the cataclysmic on the handle. Further correlation between the Chapel and Gallery IV are in various wars and social upheaval of the past centuries and embark upon a time of enlightened pieces on the Southern Wall showing scenes from the Jewish tradition of the Temple peace. In some sense, as the world is becoming smaller and more modern, we have a of Jerusalem, whose domed ceiling designs are similar to the domed Flanders Chapel greater incentive and more advanced ways to make meaningful progress in the struggle design…namely, the circumcision of Jesus on the far right of the Southern Wall as the to eliminate poverty, hunger, war, and disease. I like to think that if The Barnes has a viewer looks at the wall and a piece which is part of the clock mosaic, The Presentation of 2012 parallel, it represents the better state of mind and consciousness to which all the Christ in The Temple, next to the doorway on the South Wall of Gallery IV. This domed cities and citizens of the world should aspire beneath the grand trees, among the artistic temple theme is also present in the depiction of Joachim and Anna at the Temple Gate visions, and in the tranquil gardens of Merion, Pennsylvania. Perhaps the Barnes’s role in Gallery III, which is also right next to the door between Gallery III and Gallery IV. as an oracle, so to speak, of modernity, built in the end times of the Age of Change, is The figures in the Joachim and Anna painting areoutside the Temple and in Gallery IV also complemented by its commemoration of the great tragedies of the violent Age of the figures areinside the Temple which is consistent with the theme of the suggestion of Change such as our wars and our labor tragedies. In this way, it prepares us for the com- travel or movement from Gallery III into Gallery IV that I first discussed in the context ing peace of the new age and fulfills its purpose as a metaphysical bridge between these of the boy blowing the bubble toward Gallery IV from the Chardin painting on the times. Past, present and future become blurred at The Barnes. It is a vision of the past East Wall of Gallery III. and a vision of the future unified in a timeless state. It holds a way to understanding Consistent with the Temple theme, the paintings on the South Wall of Gallery IV answers to questions in the stillness of its glen and glade that human beings haven’t are hung in the sign of the cross. Also, on the same South Wall, Dr. Barnes has placed even learned to ask.

80 81 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—Gallery IV, The Chapel

The remaining paintings to the left of the clocklike rotation of images are hung was sealed in a cave with demons who nearly beat him to death, but he was miracu- in the shape of a cross. In this cross, the scenes at eye level are of earthly or temporal lously revived and removed by his devotees from the devils’ grasp. However, when he subject matter that become more spiritual the higher we look on the wall. The top was revived, he demanded to be returned to the cave to finish the battle, at which time two images hung in the cross motif are Jesus being placed into his tomb and, above the demons disappeared and God appeared to him. When he asked God where he had that image, an angelic figure looking toward heaven. Above the figure looking toward been when the demons had been beating him to death, God answered and said, “I was heaven is the piece of metalwork that resembles a sword in a scabbard with a copper here, but I would see and abide to see thy battle, and because thou has manly fought crucifix emblazoned on the handle. It is as if this represents the sword of Christ or the and maintained thy battle, I shall make thy name to be spread through all the world” sword of a knight of Christ, a Templar. In my estimation, this is a direct correlation to (www.catholic-forum.com/saints/golden153.htm). Flanders Field Memorial Chapel, because the wall of Flanders Field Memorial Chapel is The use of the images of saints is prolix at The Barnes, and there are several images decorated with a Crusader’s broad sword above the Chapel altar. If souls were returning of saints in Gallery IV. It is my belief that Dr. Barnes uses their images not only for from Flanders to The Barnes, they would experience a familiar “feel” to The Barnes in religious devotion or protection, but also as symbolism to convey a greater message as this similarity. in the manner that we have seen him do with the imagery of St. Anthony Abbott. You Moving from the South Wall to the West Wall of Gallery IV, we see images of have to know the stories of the saints to understand Dr. Barnes. There are direct allu- Oriental figures of the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century flanking several sions to many saints at The Barnes, but St. Catherine of Alexandria appears four times European images. In the center of the West Wall is a regal-looking woman who is throughout The Barnes, which, to me, is quite a lot and means that she is very impor- described as a Portrait of a Lady formerly attributed to Paolo Veronese (Italian-Venetian, tant in Dr. Barnes’s theology. St. Catherine of Alexandria is shown twice in Gallery IV. 1528–1588). To this woman’s right is a portrait, circa 1320, of St. Bartholomew hold- There are two references to St. Jerome and two to St. Catherine of Alexandria in ing a knife, by the artist Pacino di Bonaguida (Italian Florentine, active 1302). To her Gallery IV. St. Jerome is considered to be a doctor of the church, so I believe that the left is a triptych showing the Virgin and Child with two angels, St. Anthony Abbot allusion to him in The Barnes is as a patron to the two medical doctors involved in and St. Catherine of Alexandria, and the Crucifixion by a Master of Panzano (Italian imagery, Albert Barnes, M.D., and Lieutenant Colonel John McRae, M.D. Most likely, Sienese). This Venetian woman in the center of the Wall wears a sequined dress that Dr. Barnes considered St. Jerome to be his patron and perhaps he thought it fitting that reminds me of a famous portrait of Mary Stewart, or, Mary, Queen of Scots. Although St. Jerome would have been a patron to Dr. McRae as well. St. Jerome’s miraculous Mary lived from 1542 to 1567, it is possible that Dr. Barnes was thinking of her in the ability to heal might also play into the Flanders Field theme as it relates to the rejuve- imagery of Gallery IV. For instance, there are many images of Catholicism in this room, nation of the souls of the Allied soldiers whose memory the Flanders Memorial recalls. and Mary was often thought by Catholics to be the true heir to the throne of England as St. Catherine of Alexandria appears twice in Gallery IV in prominent paintings that opposed to Henry VIII’s descendant, Elizabeth I. Mary was beheaded upon the order of almost face one another. She also appears twice in another important gallery, Gallery the Protestant Elizabeth I, and is thought by Catholics to be a martyr. Mary wore a red XIV. Since she appears four times in The Barnes, St. Catherine is probably one of the chemise, the symbol of martyrdom, at her beheading. Mary is a descendant of Robert most important saints to The Barnes. She may have special significance to those who the Bruce, who legend has it, was assisted by Templars at the Battle of Bannockburn. oppose The Barnes Move because she was murdered for having stated her beliefs and, as Mary Stewart was crowned Queen of Scots on September 9, 1543. a result, she is the patron of teachers, students, jurists, and all who courageously pur- As I mentioned before, St. Anthony Abbott is seen in the triptych to the left of sue truth. In Gallery IV, the second time St. Catherine of Alexandria is shown is in a Parrisi’s Portrait of a Lady. St. Anthony is often called “Father of All Monks.” The painting on the East Wall where she is seen addressing the emperor Maxentius. In this Templars were considered monastic knights and wore monks’ robes under their armor. painting, St. Catherine of Alexandria is addressing the emperor while the emperor’s St. Anthony is also known as “Anthony the Anchorite,” and above this triptych on the dog sits on the floor beside the throne and his advisors watch in the background. It is same West Wall is a four-pronged piece of metal that resembles an anchor or a cross. said that St. Catherine converted the emperor Maxentius’s wife and, when Maxentius Three of the points of this metal anchor or cross are formed in the shape of the fleur- sent his pagan counselors to debate with her, she spoke with such eloquence that she de-lis. It is as if this piece of metal is an anchor for the returning souls to bring them converted the counselors, too. Frustrated, Maxentius condemned her to death on the to rest. St. Anthony Abbott is a saint whose story is highly appropriate in a Gallery of breaking wheel (a spiked wheel of torture), but, when she touched it, the breaking remembrance for brave warrior souls, for one of the legends of St. Anthony is that he wheel itself broke apart. Maxentius then ordered Catherine beheaded. Maxentius was

82 83 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—Gallery IV, The Chapel enraged at Catherine because she swayed all his trusted advisers and even his wife to cannot respect the wishes of Dr. Barnes to preserve his Foundation in Merion, perhaps Christ. I like to think that even Maxentius’ dog, who appears to be grinning is shown people from across the nation and the world need to summon the moral outrage neces- in this painting, was Catherine’s friend as well. Another important gallery, Gallery sary to force Pennsylvanians to respect the blood of those honored here and to keep faith XIV, contains on the South Wall a painting of St. Catherine of Alexandria with her pen with the honored souls by preserving The Barnes inviolate in Merion. and the breaking wheel. In my opinion, this image in Gallery XIV is one of the most The bubble blown by the boy in Gallery III might emerge through the round beautiful renditions of a woman in all of The Barnes. In my estimation, St. Catherine mouth of the tankard in the tavern maid’s hand on the South Wall of Gallery IV and of Alexandria is very important to the imagery of The Barnes. float in the direction of the North Wall of Gallery IV, where we have a picture of a girl The legend of St. Catherine of Alexandria is that after she was beheaded by the with an open cage by Nicolas Lancret (French, 1690–1743) called Open Cage—Girl in emperor Maxentius, her body was transported by angels to Mount Sinai, where the law- Landscape. The girl is looking for her lost birds. But, the birds, like Paul Cret’s contin- giver of the modern age, the emperor Justinian, a successor to the cruel Maxentius, built gent of souls in the Flanders Field Chapel of the American War Memorial, are finally a monastery in her memory between 548 and 565 AD. It was known as St. Catherine’s free to float freely like the boy’s bubble and have flown to Merion. The name “Lancret” Monastery. As we have seen, the idea of miraculous transport is important in Galleries is uncannily reminiscent of the name “Cret.” This painting by Nicolas Lancret of a IV and III (or “4” and “3”), which are the symbolic Galleries of transport for “The bird or birds that have flown is another direct allusion to Dr. Cret’s Flanders Field Flanders 43.” In this case we see that the story of St. Catherine emphasizes this concept Chapel in Belgium, where spiraling birds are painted on Chapel ceiling mosaic. In my of miraculous transport just like the image of St. Barbara that we are about to see in the estimation, the picture by Lancret showing a bird who has flown from its cage repre- final first-floor Gallery that faces East, Gallery V. Justinian’s monastery built to honor sents the souls of the honored soldiers finally freed from their graves and transported St. Catherine still survives today, nearly fifteen hundred years later. It is a famous repos- back from the Flanders Chapel to a place of eternal repose at The Barnes in Merion. itory of early Christian art, architecture, and illuminated manuscripts. The Monastery Galleries III and IV are where those souls would accumulate after their mystical flight to of St. Catherine has, perhaps, a modern counterpart in The Barnes. If there is a patron Merion. saint of The Barnes Foundation itself, I think that it would be St. Catherine. Doctor On the opposite side of the North Wall of Gallery IV, we see a painting of God Barnes wanted his edifice in Merion to survive for all time. With due respect, isn’t on his throne in heaven creating his son as a gift to the world. The painting is by the it unfortunate that the fantastically wealthy people of the city of Philadelphia, the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640) and is called The Incarnation people and government of the state of Pennsylvania, and the people and government as the Fulfillment of All Prophesies (1628–29). The painting seems to invoke God, the of the United States of America can’t maintain and preserve a modern repository of art, Father, in the Temple Gallery, Gallery IV, to assist and permit the transfer of the souls architecture, and manuscripts, The Barnes School in Merion, Pennsylvania less, than back to Merion. Any such transfer of the souls to Merion would be the fulfillment of sixty years after the death of its founder when, in the strife-torn land of Israel, faithful a prophesy and the presence of the Rubens here seems to confirm and underscore this Christians have maintained St. Catherine’s Monastery and repository of historical items theme of a prophesy fulfilled. on Mount Sinai for over fifteen hundred years? What does this say about the state of If we continue following the flow of the water through Gallery IV, the next time modern society? Aren’t we are doing ourselves and our culture a great disservice by we see it is on the North Wall of Gallery IV opposite the painting on the South Wall dismantling this place and breaking its magic in Merion apart? of IV with the pitcher or tankard swaying in the tavern maid’s grasp where, above the In the middle of the North Wall of Gallery IV, there is a painting of St. Jerome door to Gallery V, Dr. Barnes has placed an image of conveyance in a painting called and the Lion from the first half of the sixteenth century after Albrecht Durer (German, Grand Canal S. Geremia and the Entrance to the Cannevegio by Canaletto (Italian Venetian, 1471–1528). St. Jerome is a doctor of the church who was miraculously able to remove 1697-1768). The title Entrance to the Cannevegio and author of the painting, Canaletto, a thorn from the paw of a wild loyal lion without being attacked and killed. The saint suggests conveyance. won the friendship of the lion thereby. It is the lions of The Move, the powerbrokers, Then, this water theme continues into Gallery V, where we notice that there, on the trusts, and the important Philadelphians who, it is hoped, this text will somehow the South Wall, are two Cezannes showing, respectively, Four Bathers (1876–77) on the sway into a circle of friendship and trust to preserve The Barnes intact in Merion. Royal right as we face them and Three Bathers (1876–77) on our left emerging from a river. red is common to many of the paintings in Gallery IV, royal red is the color of kings and If we were inside these paintings looking out from the perspective of the figures in the martyrs, and they are honored here in this timeless place. If the people of Pennsylvania painting, we would form the numbers “four” and “three” or “forty-three.” These are

84 85 Barnes Rune 2012 possibly The Flanders 43 emerging from a river, the water of transport, or the alle- gorical river Styx, returning home or passing into a symbolic place of quiet repose and honor, The Barnes Galleries and Garden Estate. These paintings flank another painting in the center of the South Wall of Gallery V by Rubens called “King David the Harp” (circa 1627–28). Rubens portrays King David singing. Ostensibly he is singing the Song of David, the Forty-third Psalm, a song of supplication that he be restored to the kingdom of heaven. In Gallery V, you will also find Seurat’sPort of Honfleur on the West Chapter 12 Wall which recalls the fleur-de-lis of the warrior Templar Knights. The World War I veterans were arguably the Templar incarnation of Dr. Barnes’s time. The Founder’s Circle—The Order of the Knights Templar

side from the fleur-de-lis, the most significant Templar theme is represented in the presence of a painting of Charles VII of France above the door between AGalleries IV and V that we have just passed through on the Southern Wall of Gallery V. It is noteworthy that this painting is even owned by Dr. Barnes, because at the time that he purchased it, it is likely that he knew that it was a copy; the original, by Jean Fouquet (French, 1415 or 1420–before 1481), is displayed prominently in the Louvre, where Dr. Barnes is reputed to have spent long hours in study. The Charles VII painting is one of only three copies that I know of in all of the Galleries at The Barnes, and each copy seems to have a specific symbolic purpose, so I suspect that Dr. Barnes bought it for a specific reason. Perhaps it was done as a study by Fouquet, because Dr. Barnes has it dated in the fifteenth century, which might have been while both Fouquet and Charles VII were alive. With due respect to Charles VII and to Jean Fouquet, Fouquet’s painting is not even a particularly grand rendition, because it shows Charles without a crown and dressed in simple, common clothes in the aspect of more a com- mon man than a king of France. However, perhaps Fouquet and Dr. Barnes sought to show by the selection of this image that it is not what Charles VII wore that made him important, it is what he did for the people of France and who he was that made him important. Charles VII was very important in French and in Templar history. The Templars had enjoyed great prosperity in France until there was a break between the ruling house of France, the House of Valois, and the Knights Templar. It is said that the Templars began to get so wealthy and powerful that the papacy and the king who then ruled France, King Philip IV, better known as Philip the Fair, or, in French, Philippe le Bel, began to feel threatened by the Templars’ wealth and influence. Rumors were circu- lated that the Templars were denying Christ and trampling on the cross to discredit the order. In response to a request for an inquiry by Jacques de Molay, the leader of the

86 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—The Order of the Knights Templar

Order of the Knights Templar, Pope Clement V issued a papal announcement on the again. The Templars are said to have had a tradition in Scotland, so it is thought that it Feast of St. Bartholomew that a formal inquiry would be conducted. But legend has it was here that the survivors of the Templar order spirited the Templar wealth after the that there was a conspiracy between Pope Clement V and King Philip IV to get rid of massacre of 1307. Scotland is home to Rosslyn Chapel, another world-renowned place the Templars, and before the inquiry actually took place, King Philip IV ordered mass similar to The Barnes in Merion, representing a marriage of art and architecture and arrests of the Templars and the confiscation of their possessions on October 13, 1307 a mirror from the time within 100 years of the French Templar expatriation. Located (the original Friday the thirteenth). on the Greenwich Meridian, Rosslyn Chapel, whose construction began in September The arrests and killings of October 13, 1307, were ostensibly in response to the 1456, also contains the idea of rebirth and rejuvenation of souls in the images of the papal announcement on August 24, 1307 (the Feast of St. Bartholomew), that an Green Men carved in the Chapel’s decorations. The Green Men are so called because inquiry would be convened into the negative rumors circulating about the Order of certain faces carved in stone in the Chapel architecture are surrounded by green-colored the Knights Templar. On March 18, 1314, Jacques de Molay, the leader of the Templar stone and have branches growing from their mouths. The existence of this imagery is Knights, was burned at the stake. It is said that he cursed King Philip IV (Philippe worth noting in a discussion of the two places, Rosslyn and The Barnes, because rebirth le Bel) and his line of descent during his execution. Jacques de Molay challenged both is an important concept at The Barnes. There is certain imagery that recurs again and King Philip IV and Pope Clement V to meet him before the judgment of God, and again in human history. Rebirth is one and The Templar theme is another. The Templar before the year was out, both King Philip IV and Pope Clement V ominously died theme is an important one because they were the guardians of the treasures of the within eight months of the execution of Jacques de Molay. There is also compelling Temple of Jerusalem and guardians of their faith. In my estimation, Dr. Barnes and Dr. evidence to suggest that Jacques de Molay’s curse on the House of Valois took hold Cret clearly elaborate upon and accord the Templar imagery importance in this modern as well, because there was a quick succession of what are known as the last direct architectural marvel in Merion and in the even greater marvel of the Merion/Flanders Capetian (House of Capet) kings of France between 1314 and 1328—so much so that connection. It seems that Barnes and Cret may represent a twentieth century American they became known as the accursed kings (les rois maudits). rung in a continuum of Templar imagery that originated in the time of The Crusades. The Dauphin, Charles VII, was a descendant of Philip IV and was the sole remain- As early as 1303, some believe that the Templars had fought alongside William ing heir of Philip’s bloodline which had come to be called accursed. However, the Wallace in Scotland. It is also said that at Bannockburn on June 24, 1314, the Templars Dauphin, Charles VII, owed his throne more to St. Joan of Arc (born 1412) than to his also fought alongside the Scots during Robert the Bruce’s reign as king of Scots from status as a descendant of Phillip IV, and some say that Charles VII’s connection to St. 1306 to 1326. This is possible because Robert the Bruce was also apparently excom- Joan of Arc broke the curse of Jacques de Molay. England at the time practically ruled municated from the Catholic Church at the time so he would have had something in France, and only through the miraculous efforts of St. Joan of Arc were the French common with the Templars. There are some who doubt the Scottish connection because galvanized in strength to drive the English from their country. The legend is that the they can find no mention of the Templars in the accounts of the battle of Bannockburn, death of Joan of Arc on May 30, 1431, atoned for the death of Jacques de Molay and but, when Charles VII ascended to power, it is said that the French army under Charles healed the break between the Templars and the House of Valois. Joan of Arc’s patron VII in 1445 consisted of a Scottish company, the Compagnie des Gendarmes Ecossaise, saint was the eloquent defender of the faith, St. Catherine of Alexandria. Joan of Arc who were accorded premiere rank. It is from these knights that the king’s bodyguard never lived to see Charles VII fully unify France, but she did bring about Charles’ of Charles VII were formed. They consisted almost entirely of Scots of the Order of St. coronation; and, under Charles’ unifying influence, the Order of the Knights Templar Michael, a neo-Templar order. And, these were the means by which the Templar tradi- finally returned to France after having been nearly destroyed by Philip IV of the House tions were returned to France. of Valois. Charles VII was a leader that healed the rift between the loyal Templars and the There is speculation that some fortunate members of the Knights Templar were able ruling classes of the French. Is it possible that he has special importance in The Barnes to escape the Templar extermination ordered by Philip the Fair by sailing to Scotland given the rift between The Barnes faithful and those of the ruling class who wish to with the wealth of the order. The assets of the Templars were never fully located, and it Move The Barnes? Is there any way to heal the rift between the ruling class and the is thought that these assets were spirited away from France on the eve of the arrests of Barnes faithful and preserve the grandeur of The Barnes intact in Merion? the major figures of the order on Friday, October 13, 1307. On that day it is said that The treachery of Pope Clement on St. Bartholomew’s Day set the Templars up the Templar fleet quietly disappeared from the harbor of La Rochelle and was never seen for massacre. There is a second tie between the feast of St. Bartholomew and great

88 89 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—The Order of the Knights Templar tragedy. The second connection is the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, which was a Michelangelo seems, in his Sistine imagery, to hope that St. Bartholomew would wave of Roman Catholic violence directed against the Huguenots, the French Calvinist deem the artist’s mortal mantle worthy to present in the sight of God and to provide Protestants, initiated on the eve of the feast of St. Bartholomew on August 23, 1572. an enduring lesson to all mankind that each of us should aspire to so dedicate and con- Accordingly, St. Bartholomew’s Day has come to represent the treachery of high offi- secrate our own individual conduct to the greater glory of God. I like to think that the cials. Is this what Dr. Barnes placed St. Bartholomew here to signify and warn against? image of St. Bartholomew by Bonaguida, placed here near the beginning of The Barnes St. Bartholomew is seen in Gallery IV in a painting (circa 1320) on the Western experience in Gallery IV, was designed to serve as a “good guide” to the student and Wall by Pacino di Bonaguida (Italian, Florentine active, 1202), and both he and the to the visitor. The image of St. Bartholomew is also a good guide to all the welcome, painting of Charles VII can be seen at the same time as one looks above the door- returning souls in the Flanders Field theme. way between Gallery IV and V at Charles and through the doorway in Gallery IV at The image of St. Bartholomew holding his flaying knife in his right hand and St. Bartholomew. The painter who painted this rendition of St. Bartholomew was a book in his left hand is painted on a solid piece of wood that also forms its frame. named Bonaguida, which suggests “the good guide.” Perhaps Dr. Barnes wished that Most likely, the painting has been done in this way because it might have once been his story or Book of Life set out on the walls of The Barnes would guide future genera- part of a larger altarpiece. The effect of the composition gives the appearance that tions and he calls upon Bonaguida as an invocation of the Muse, that he, Dr. Barnes, St. Bartholomew is framed in a window or that he is recessed within the wall of The will be a good guide to future generations and that his story and his imagery will help Barnes. The book he is holding in his left hand is painted to appear that it is resting the world to not repeat the kinds of tragedies that he commemorates at The Barnes. upon this wooden frame. This image of St. Bartholomew’s book leaning on the frame St. Bartholomew has a great reputation in the church. Bartholomew was martyred could be placed here by Dr. Barnes to suggest that the walls of The Barnes comprise by being flayed or “skinned” alive and he is often portrayed in his divinely tran- a book. The knife might be a guide’s pointer. Mr. Barton Church, an educator at The scendent form holding his own flayed skin, reborn anew, in heaven. In Gallery IV, Barnes, talks of The Bonaguida as if it were a study in geometric planes. In this sense, St. Bartholomew is shown holding a knife, the symbol of his martyrdom. He suffered it is almost like a Florentine forerunner of a twentieth century cubist painting. Mr. the most excruciating of deaths imaginable and, as such, he said to be accorded a very Church describes the book as thrusting out on one plane at the viewer like a punch and important place in heaven. the knife as thrusting back on another plane into the painting and over Bartholomew’s I find it interesting that the doctor selected this painting for The Barnes, because, shoulder like a beckoning gesture. Bartholomew’s tunic is richly patterned. Perhaps in a sense, The Barnes and the objects of art inside are like the beautiful flayed skin when we read the book symbolized by the text in Bartholomew’s left hand and take the of St. Bartholomew, a mortal coil that Dr. Barnes and the artists represented there left tour pointed out to us by the knife that he is holding in his right hand, we will begin behind as a record of how deeply they treasured life and their talents. All that any of to see the rich patterns of The Barnes. us should hope to leave behind are our good works, deeds, and the consecration of our To one familiar with the appearance of St. Bartholomew in Michelangelo’s Sistine time on earth to a life well-lived. These are the best that we, in our mere humanness, imagery, the appearance of the St. Bartholomew imagery at The Barnes may suggest can ever dedicate to God and to the future of mankind. The St. Bartholomew imagery that, like the Sistine Chapel of the Italian Renaissance, the mansion, the grounds, the should not go unnoticed in this area of The Barnes. We have to pay very close attention experience, and the Galleries are all that the mortals who created this place in the at The Barnes. American Renaissance could leave behind to future generations. And, if we reflect for a The imagery of St. Bartholomew was not lost on another great of modern art, moment on the monumental effect of the sixteenth century Sistine imagery on modern Michelangelo, and this connection between St. Bartholomew and Michelangelo would civilization, it also begins to seem that all these wonders in Merion may be similarly have been one of which an art scholar like Dr. Barnes would have been well aware. consecrated to heaven and to the future in the twentieth century. In a sense, the Sistine Like Barnes, Michelangelo also identified with the St. Bartholomew image. One of the Chapel encompassed all the glory of the spirituality of mankind in the sixteenth cen- world’s most spiritual of painters, Michelangelo is said to have painted his own self- tury. Does The Barnes strive to achieve the same effect in a modern compilation? If portrait on the skin that St. Bartholomew is holding in his hand on the Sistine Chapel so, how could thoughtful Pennsylvanians even consider supporting the proposal to ceiling. Michelangelo uses the St. Bartholomew image as a personal self-portrait and a dismantle The Barnes and move part of it to Philadelphia? timeless revelation that he lay his humble, mortal work down before the judgment of God as all he had to commend himself to God.

90 91 Chapter 13 The Founder’s Circle—“The Flanders 43 ” (between Heaven and Hell)

he theme of water and rebirth continues into Gallery V, where, on the South Wall, two series of small bathers by Cezanne are placed on either side of the Tpainting by Rubens of King David praising God. To the viewer’s left as one looks at the image of King David is a small Cezanne with three bathers emerging from or sitting by a river. And, to the viewer’s right of the image of King David is another Cezanne of the same size which has four bathers emerging from or sitting by a river. In my opinion, these two small Cezannes are arranged by Dr. Barnes in the three-four set- ting to give the appearance that these souls have entered The Barnes from a river. The three-four setting is reversed into the 3-4 setting like the verse from Hosea inscribed at the Flanders Field Chapel (Hosea 13:14) which I have cited before in my discus- sion of Rubens’s King David and which is dedicated to “The Flanders 43.” However, if we would place ourselves within the Cezanne bather paintings on the South Wall of Gallery V and look out of them from the perspective of bathers in the paintings, the number forty-three is again recalled. In my opinion, the figures are stepping out of the river in both paintings and into the room in Gallery V. They emerge from paint- ings that Dr. Barnes has placed on the wall nearest the Templar room and they seem to emerge through the South Wall of Gallery V from the Templar room. As modern Templars, they are watched over by their patron, Charles VII who is also on the South Wall of Gallery V and looking in their direction. Water is also sometimes considered a gateway to the world beyond. It is as if these mysterious bathers are emerging from the River Styx or from a stream of mythic or magical transport. Between these two bather paintings is the painting of King David playing his harp in the center of the South Wall recalling the Forty-third Psalm. In this same room, on the West Wall, we have the Port of Honfleur (1886) by Georges Seurat (French, 1859–1891) with a cross in the foreground. This image of the Port of Honfleur would catch the attention of returning warrior souls. Its name recalls the Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—“The Flanders 43 ” (between Heaven and Hell) fleur-de-lis. The name of the painting, Port of Honfleur, also suggests the concept of as the patron saint of artillerymen guarding the bathers emerging from the river on the returning to home port. The symbol of the Cross in the port of honor awaits these souls South Wall of Gallery V from the forces of hell on the North Wall. on the dock. Seurat’s Honfleur is the beacon and safe harbor for these returning souls. Near to Apple Vendor and Landscape Near Briey in the center of the Eastern Wall In Gallery V, visitors find themselves between the Rubens depicting King David of Gallery V is a painting by Franz Hals (Dutch, 1580–1666) called Dutch Burgher playing his harp in heaven on the South Wall and, on the North Wall, two paintings (1643). The Hals is a painting of a respectable-looking Dutch burgher holding a time by Chaim Soutine. One painting, Flayed Rabbit (circa 1921), is considered to contain piece that has a chain and a key. It is believed that the painting may represent the angel the face of Satan; the other, Woman with Round Eyes (1919), is considered to represent a of God described in Revelation 20:1–2 who, in the end times, is to come down from tortured soul of a cross-dresser in makeup and a feminine house coat wearing a bowler heaven with a key and a chain to bind Satan for one thousand years and bring peace to hat. The image of King David suggests heaven while the image of Satan suggests hell. the earth. In this area of The Barnes, it is as if the visitor and the returning souls are between heaven and hell. Soutine’s Woman with Round Eyes is surrounded by the flames of hell, and a scimitar with a Cross for a handle is shown hovering in the dark background, A“ nd I saw an angel come down seemingly suggesting damnation. Above Woman with Round Eyes is a Demuth called Interior with Group of People around Red-Headed Woman (1919) which suggests that this from heaven, having the key of the woman with round eyes may have company in hell. On the floor belowWoman with Round Eyes is a stag carved from polished black stone, bottomless pit and a great chain in which I believe represents the underworld. The stag is looking-up at Renoir’s Apple Vendor (1890) on the West Wall which may be a modern-day symbol of temptation as the apple his hand. And he laid hold on the vendor offers a tempting basket of apples to Renoir’s unsuspecting picnickers. The face of the apple vendor is covered, and the dog in the painting appears to be barking at her as dragon, that old serpent, which is the she offers her apples to the little innocent family assembled for a picnic. Is the dog bark- ing a warning against a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a devil disguised as an apple vendor who Devil, and Satan, and bound him a would tempt the innocent with the apples she is selling? The theme seems to be further confirmed in Renoir’s painting next to theApple Vendor on the West Wall called Landscape thousand years.” Near Briey (1899), suggesting that temptation is a thorny proposition. But there is also optimism here for the righteous as the dog in Renoir’s Apple Revelations 20:1–2 Vendor barks defensively and the beacon of the Georges Seurat’s painting Port of Honfleur appears on the Western horizon on the opposite side of the Gallery. Further West, Like St. Barbara, the Dutch burgher is another protector in this treacherous area through the doorway as we gaze into the next gallery, Gallery VI, just on the other side of The Barnes. Hals died in 1666, which date is placed on the bottom of the painting. of the door on the Northern Wall, we see another ray of hope, The Girl with Golden Eyes This number recalls the mark of the beast and is appropriately placed in Gallery V, or La Fille aux Yeux d’Or (1916) by Charles Demuth, just past Soutine’s image of Satan where Satan’s face and his gnarled horns can be seen in Flayed Rabbit on the North Wall. in Flayed Rabbit. Above the Apple Vendor is the first painting we see of St. Barbara, who This, of course, carries through nicely on the St. Bartholomew theme; the flayed rabbit is surveying the scene from a vantage point at a river’s edge. In this retablo by Jose might be placed here to represent the antithesis of St. Bartholomew, because while St. Benito Ortega (New Mexican, 1858–1941, active 1875–1907) called “Santa Barbara” Bartholomew was flayed alive, he is always shown whole and beautiful in his divine (circa 1885), St. Barbara is depicted at the bank of a river. This retablo is strategically incarnate form. On the Sistine Chapel ceiling, Michelangelo places him close to God in situated at The Barnes almost as if St. Barbara is acting as a protector near the gateway the hierarchy of saints. However, in contradistinction, Soutine’s Flayed Rabbit shows a to hell. In Ortega’s retablo, placed by Dr. Barnes above the sculpture of the faceless stag mutated soul revealing its true state now that its skin has been removed, a skin of devi- of death in Gallery V, the river where St. Barbara stands may, perhaps, represent the ant mortal conduct that failed in its presentation to the Heavenly Judge. The numeri- river Styx. Perhaps, in this location at The Barnes, Dr. Barnes placed St. Barbara here cal configuration of the chapter and verse from Revelations, ‘2012,’ that pertains to this

94 95 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—“The Flanders 43 ” (between Heaven and Hell) imagery on the far East Wall of the first floor of The Foundation strikes me as some- looks on. In the opera, Alwa uses this luncheon to profess his love for Lulu, and it is thing more than a mere coincidence especially when the far East Galleries of the second upon the strength of this profession of loyalty from another suitor that Lulu may have floor of The Foundation line up in the order, Gallery 20, 21 and 22. I acknowledge summoned the courage to murder Alwa’s father. This is a classical image of betrayal, a that this imagery is subtle but this is imagery that is found to repeat in relatively close son having a relationship with his father’s murderess. The returning soldiers of honor proximity in a painstakingly compiled and organized collection by a man who was a would understand the concept of betrayal, and they would understand why such figures trained scientist and who was wealthy enough that he could have afforded to have hung were in hell. almost anything he wanted in the exact location where we find these highly specific and I think that there is another level of interpretation that may be applied here. This symbolic images. Doctor also could have numbered his galleries in any way. I believe Gallery, Gallery V, is the point where I believe that Dr. Barnes begins a parallel set of that the precise placement of everything had some meaning for Dr. Barnes and that we imagery that begins talking about the defense of his Foundation in Merion. would be negligently remiss if we didn’t try to appreciate and understand this imagery. Lulu Schoen dining with her stepson, Alwa Schoen, in an area just above the face In my estimation, there is method to all of this. of Satan is a good way to introduce this parallel theme of home defense that seems to Also confined to hell’s regions on Satan’s side of the Apple Vendor is Woman with be evident at a number of places at The Barnes. Dr. Barnes had watched with chagrin Round Eyes, which is extremely unflattering to the concept of cross-dressing. First, the as the collection of his close personal friend, Judge John Johnson, was assumed into the painting is obviously of a man wearing a bowler hat, but he seems to have just got- city museum in Philadelphia despite Johnson’s expressed intention upon his death that ten off a stage where he has been performing. He appears to have lipstick and garish his art collection remain in his home. Leading citizens of the city had gone to court makeup on and to be wearing a woman’s robe and fingernail polish. There is a blood and had Johnson’s home declared a potential fire risk. On this basis the city museum red cross in the dark background that seems to have the unearthly shape of a curved handily gained a landmark collection. In response, Doc Barnes fire-proofed and, most sword or scimitar of retribution at the base, and the figure appears to be engulfed in likely, blast-proofed his new Foundation building in Merion, but it doesn’t seem that flames in this representation, which is something Dr. Barnes appears to have relegated he stopped at that. Instead, I submit, that you will see and have already begun to see to hell or purgatory. Further confirmation that this may be an image of hell or purga- how he has developed relationships in his pieces to tell a story to lend an air of perma- tory was pointed out to me by Mr. Phil Esco who noticed three lines in the upper right nency to The Barnes. quadrant of the painting which could suggest a pitchfork. (It is interesting to note And, now, Dr. Barnes takes it further, he shows us what galls him the most. Here, that Soutine’s Woman with Round Eyes seems to me to be unflattering to folks with non- in the deepest reaches of Dr. Barnes’s hell, Dr. Barnes shows Alwa and Lulu Schoen at traditional sexual orientations. I find it sort of ironic that some Philadelphians are ral- lunch. It is a theme of betrayal as old as time itself. It is a subject of even the Greek lying to get this image into their city after the portrayal by Tom Hanks of a young man tragedies, a father betayed by his wife and his own son. They say that art is a whore, the with AIDS in the 1993 movie, Philadelphia, written by Ron Nyswaner and directed by thoughtless concubine of the highest bidder. We Pennsylvanians are Dr. Barnes’s chil- Jonathan Demme, which cast the treatment of an AIDS-afflicted human being by an dren, have we not betrayed him by spending tens of millions in public funds to alter elite Philadelphia law firm in an extremely unfavorable light.) his legacy and his vision in Merion instead of using those same millions to preserve Above the image of Satan’s grotesque face in Flayed Rabbit is an illustration by it, promote it and make it more accessible in Merion where Dr. Barnes built it and Charles Demuth from the opera Lulu by Alban Berg. The image of Lulu and the opera intended it to endure forever? Has Dr. Barnes placed the image of Alwa with Lulu, who Lulu is important in The Barnes. Lulu was a whore. She didn’t start life as a whore, has murdered Alwa’s own father, as a statement to those who embrace the idea of the but she was a faithless beauty who sank into debauchery and ended up as a whore. The commercialization of The Barnes and of the destruction of all that the Barnes in Merion opera Lulu is a rather prominent theme at The Barnes in Merion, and it is here, in this stands for upon the profession of loyalty of a second suitor who will provide financial spot of The Barnes that represents Hell, where we are first introduced to Lulu. The security if The Barnes is uprooted and moved? In my opinion, and despite whatever Barnes collection has several illustrations made by Demuth from the opera and, in the anyone says about increasing public access, severing the art collection from the special one that we encounter on the North Wall of Gallery V above the image of Satan, Lulu American place will shatter the vision of Dr. Barnes as handily as Lulu Schoen’s pistol is shown having lunch with Alwa or Alva Schon. The painting is called Lulu and Alva in the opera shatters the life of Dr. Schoen. It seems that this image may be Dr. Barnes Schoen at Lunch (1918). This is a courtship scene between Lulu and Alwa which occurs making the first in a number of references to those of his students, his children, his immediately before Lulu murders her husband, Alwa’s father, Dr. Schoen, as Alwa trusted ones, who would sit down with those who would destroy his vision by moving

96 97 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—“The Flanders 43 ” (between Heaven and Hell) the art collection from its home in Merion to the city of Philadelphia, and the deper- when we visit there we will find only the broken images that were once a part of the sonalized sterility of the Tod Williams- and Billie Tsien-designed “new home” on the magnificent Barnes Merion. Ben Franklin Parkway. The passage in Ezekiel 43 which Dr. Barnes might be referring to here could I have already quoted from Ezekiel 43 because I think Dr. Barnes may have meant it be something that Dr. Barnes wanted to convey to those who support The Barnes to have some numerological and symbolic relevance in this area of The Barnes because Foundation Move: there are not many books of the bible that have as many as 43 chapters (Genesis 50 chapters, Isaiah 66 chapters, Jeremiah 52 chapters, 150 Psalms and Ezekiel 48 chap- ters) and because we see a wheel in the image of Christ at the Last Supper in Gallery IV A“ nd he said unto me, Son of Man, and in the cookie cutter wheels in Gallery XXI immediately above Gallery IV. Further, I believe that The Barnes hews closely in some places to T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” the place of my throne, and the which also makes reference to Ezekiel: place of the soles of my feet, where What are the roots that clutch, I will dwell in the midst of the what branches grow children of Israel for ever, and Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man, my holy name, shall the house of You cannot say, or guess, for you Israel no more defile, neither they, know only nor their kings, by their whoredom, A heap of broken images, where the nor by the carcasses of their kings sun beats, in their high places. …Thou son of And the dead tree gives no shelter, man, shew the house to the house the cricket no relief, of Israel, that they may be ashamed And the dry stone no sound of water. of their iniquities: and let them

T.S. Eliot, “The Waste Land,” “Part I- The Burial of the Dead,” measure the pattern. And if they “Collected Poems 1909-1962,” Harcourt Brace and Company, lines 19-24 be ashamed of all they have done, In my opinion, Barnes wanted to put down roots in Merion. Now we want to uproot the collection and move it into the dry and sterile city where the sun beats. And shew them the form of the house,

98 99 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—“The Flanders 43 ” (between Heaven and Hell)

Belgian, Watteau, which is a landscape with water which, again, is a means of mystical and the fashion thereof…and all the conveyance and a barrier against evil spirits. Besides Galleries IV and III, Gallery V is the only other first-floor gallery facing ordinances thereof, and all the forms East. First we have four and three placed side by side by the architect in the placement of Galleries IV and III at The Barnes, and then Dr. Barnes places a painting in Gallery thereof, and all the laws thereof: and V to echo this theme that contains four and three side by side. Since we finally see forty- three together in the background of the Hals painting, the imagery further confirms write it in their sight, that they may that forty-three may have been separated in their journey to Merion, Pennsylvania, and are now finally reunited in Gallery V, the place of returning, where Charles VII, keep the whole form thereof, and the reunifier, presides from the Southern Wall of Gallery V as the important person- ages from Flanders symbolically emerge from the stream in the two Cezannes on the all the ordinances thereof and do Southern Wall. The Hals painting faces the entrance to the Port of Honfleur, which is the place of returning for these honored knights of God’s holy battles. The angelic them. This is the law of the house; Flemish burgher and St. Barbara are there in Gallery V to protect these returning souls, and all of us, from the fires of hell. Seurat’s painting of the Port of Honfleur has a green upon the top of the mountain the mooring post in the foreground of the painting set on a beige dock. The color of the dock is similar to the color of the beige burlap material on the walls of The Barnes. The whole limit thereof round about green mooring post looks like a cross growing out of the beige of the dock of the Port of Honfleur. So, too, does redemption seem to grow from The Barnes Experience for these shall be most holy. Behold, this is the soldiers at their homecoming as they reach port, and it grows like the gardens and trees of the Barnes arboretum just beyond the exterior wall. law of the house.” To the left side of the entrance to the Port of Honfleur on the West Wall of Gallery V is a painting by Renoir called Chestnut Trees—Port Aven (circa 1892). Also on this Ezekiel 43:7–12 wall is The Well-Driller (1873–74) by Cezanne and View of a Town, Dutch Landscape by Gerrit Adriaensz Berckheyde (Dutch, 1638–1698) (circa 1670). The image of the (emphasis added) Dutch landscape may be placed here to remind the returning souls from whence they came. And, as to The Well-Driller, there is nearby, outside on the lawn, an ornamental In addition, in the background of the Flemish burgher by Franz Hals, representing or filled-in well. Is it an allegorical well of souls drilled by Cezanne’s well-driller to the angel who binds Satan, we see that the painting is dated 1643. The Burgher, there- provide a placid dwelling for those who have travelled far at his bequest? The souls fore, acts as a unifying force. Bringing together “The Flanders 43” and keeping them would know that they were very near to home in this area of The Barnes and would be from harm or, perhaps, binding Satan with the assistance of their heroic valor on the comforted because above the door on the West Wall of Gallery V that leads to Gallery battlefield winning another battle against evil. As further confirmation of the impor- VI is a painting by Horace Pippin (American, 1888–1946) of an American log cabin tance of the number forty-three, the number is depicted in this painting by the Flemish being hand-built by two figures in a landscape. It is titled Abraham Lincoln and Father painter, Hals, on the Eastern Wall of Gallery V, the last of the first-floor Galleries on Building a Cabin on Pigeon Creek (probably 1934). the Atlantic or Belgian side of the Gallery. On this wall of The Barnes, the numbers four and three are finally unified and brought together for the first time in this room of returning—recalling the placement of Galleries IV and III facing Belgium and the number of missing soldiers honored in Flanders in the Chapel dedicated to the forty- three. Above the painting by Franz Hals is a painting formerly attributed to another

100 101 Chapter 14 The Founder’s Circle—Gallery VI, Welcome Home!

hemes of welcome permeate Gallery VI. There are patriotic reds, whites, and blues in William Glackens’ Zinnias in a Striped Blue Vase (circa 1915) and TRenoir’s Roses in Blue Vase (late 1870s) on the West Wall. Also on the table at the base of the West Wall there appears to be another homage to the artillery: a wooden candle holder looking strangely like a spent artillery shell casing has been placed below Cezanne’s Portrait of a Woman (circa 1898). Cezanne’s woman is a mature, matronly fig- ure in conservative dress. She represents stable and secure home life. On the floor along the East Wall is a warrior’s chest with military and seafaring themes. And, on the East Wall, we see a painting by Francisco de Goya (Spanish, 1746–1828) called Portrait of Jacques (Santiago) Galos (1826) looking like a military man with a soldierly and athletic frame, but he is in a simple black coat without epaulets or battle dress. He seems to be retired or home from the war. Centered on the East Wall is a life-sized painting of an almost allegorical woman by Renoir called The Spring (1875), which confirms the theme that in Gallery VI these souls are reborn. It shows a woman emerging from a forest glade with a pool and a waterfall in the background. The woman in The Spring looks pale and almost like an allegorical spirit of spring gracefully emerging from the shadows of forest. She signifies rebirth and new life in this area of The Barnes as if it is through The Spring where the souls would emerge as they returned home to The Barnes. As we face the South Wall of Gallery VI, we see a painting by Paul Gauguin (French, 1848–1903) entitled Haere Pape (1892). The title is clearly written on the painting. I believe that the placement of Haere Pape works as a play on a dual theme of provid- ing welcome back to our warrior forefathers with the welcoming call “Here, Poppy!” or “Here, Father!” to you who have now returned to the homeland and of reasserting the Flanders Field poppy theme as well. Below Haere Pape is a Pennsylvania German chest of painted tulip poplar, which re-emphasizes the idea of the tulip, the fleur-de-lis. To one’s left as one looks at Haere Pape, there is a Maurice Brazil Prendergast painting Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—Gallery VI, Welcome Home! called Idyll (circa 1912–1914)— suggesting a fantastical occurrence, which a returning Above the Eastern door in Gallery VI, Dr. Barnes has placed a 1908 Pierre Bonnard of souls to Merion certainly would be. The painting above the Gauguin also confirms painting of a young lady writing a letter at a table, Young Woman Writing. We have seen the homecoming theme because it is a Study of a Woman Embroidering (Head) (1904) by some World War I imagery in Gallery II which tends to suggest Lieutenant Colonel Renoir. This study is related to The Embroiderers, which we have seen in a prominent McRae’s poem and his position as a doctor in that war in the painting Dovecote at place in Gallery III, and both recall those who remain at home waiting for warriors to Bellevue. However, we haven’t yet seen any imagery that could point to a Miss Moina return and embroidering the fabric of a stronger society. This image of an embroiderer Belle Michael figure, who wrote the beautiful response to Lieutenant Colonel McRae’s waiting is reminiscent of the long-suffering Penelope, who waited for Odysseus to “In Flanders Field” poem called “We Shall Keep The Faith.” I think that we may finally return and put off her suitors under the pretense of finishing the weaving of a burial see the imagery of this patriotic American at her table in Young Woman Writing. shroud by day and tearing it out every night. Below the table in Bonnard’s Young Woman Writing, there appears a dark area in a U On this Wall, there are also two small paintings by Seurat, Harbor of Grandcamp shape which suggests the well in the front yard of the mansion near where this painting (Four Boats), circa 1885, on the left side of the South Wall as we face it and Two Sailboats is located. As I have said before, the well on The Merion site seems to have an allegori- at Grandcamp (circa1885) on the right side of the South Wall of Gallery VI. Seen from cal purpose as a place where the returning souls may finally find peace in the homeland. across the room where one enters from Gallery V, these ships appear to suggest the On the table in Bonnard’s painting are letters spread out on the red table top and a number forty-two and seem to communicate a living welcome, as if the viewer is the strange, impressionist composition lightly dabbed in white in the center. At first, the forty-third ship who has finally come home. Looking at the South Wall one sees four white swatch of paint looks like a box of tissues or a stack of writing paper on the table ships to one’s left and two ships to one’s right. In a sense, the viewer, even today, can top; but, after further contemplation, it appears to be the white wing of a bird. Perhaps experience the satisfaction of feeling like the forty-third soul having returned home. it is the white wing of the Holy Spirit symbolizing inspiration. The letters spread out Each individual viewer is, after all, in a sense, the forty-third who has come home. If on the table could suggest the flight of the souls of soldiers back to Merion, a flight viewed just right, one can feel an individualized sense of homecoming as if any visitor of white on a field of red. On the North Wall of Gallery VI just below Young Woman to Merion in any age can experience the moment of realization that a returning soul Writing is Charles Demuth’s watercolor, mentioned in the previous chapter, called The might feel as they approach this wall and find that they have returned. And, as one Girl with Golden Eyes, which seems to me to be a respectful reference again to Miss moves closer to the small images of the ships at Grandcamp and looks closely at the Moina Belle Michael (who sees with such beauty) and to all who would keep the faith. two sailboats at rest in the harbor at Grandcamp on the right hand side of the South As I have previously mentioned, Miss. Moina Belle Michael’s poem and Lieutenant Wall, there may be another ship or boat approaching the harbor far off in the distance, Colonel John McRae’s poem became the inspiration for the poppies worn on Veteran’s and a forty-fourth even further out and hardly discernible on the horizon. The number Day in The United States, on Remembrance Day, Poppy Day or Armistice Day in forty-four refers possibly, to a Barnesian prophesy of a knight to come. The theme is Canada and around the world. One can see this theme of keeping the faith echoed in echoed in the basement of The Barnes, where these souls may ultimately reside. There, Renoir’s Portrait of Mademoiselle Murer (1877) on the same Eastern Wall as Young Woman one will find forty-four round Indian water jars, one for each of the forty-three magi- Writing: Mademoiselle Murer has what appears to be a red poppy pinned to her white cal souls, the leaders of the mythical transport, so to speak, and, perhaps, one more blouse. for another soul, a forty-fourth, perhaps Dr. Barnes, who is buried on the property or, Through the doorway we can also see a writing desk that Dr. Barnes has placed another, not born of this place, but born to this place, the number of the presidency who along the Southern Wall below the image of King David with a harp back in Gallery will preside over the beginning of the Age of the Spirit of Enlightenment in the year V. This is the only adult-sized writing desk in The Barnes and I think that this is 2012 and a great unifier of the races. These coincidences keep mounting up until they significant. This writing desk is directly below the Cezannes where we see the bathers almost seem unreal, and, there is much more. How much more does one questioning emerging from the river and where King David plays his harp. I believe that the pres- soul need to see to say that these unusual proposals that I am making have validation ence of the writing desk in close proximity to Bonnard’s young girl writing permits us in the images that we unavoidably come across in The Barnes? What lessons does it to ascribe additional significance to the young lady writing, because I believe that Dr. have for our time? I suspect that even the examination that I am undertaking of The Barnes wanted the tale of the mysteries of The Barnes told by someone and there is no Barnes imagery may just be scratching the surface of all that there is to truly see in this better way to spread this tale than by writing it down. After all, how better to write mysterious American place. than at a writing desk? And here, we have a writing desk ready for the task at hand and

104 105 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—Gallery VI, Welcome Home! right near the image of St. Anthony, the Wonder Worker, and the image of the Forty- shown the labor of home instead of the labor of war. The flame of the torch is pointing third Psalm. upward and almost reminds us of the flame of an artilleryman’s cannon, but, in this It has been said that if you look at her just right, the image of Pierre Bonnard’s girl case, the peaceful and restorative activity of preserving a fishing boat is shown. On the at the table writing looks like a white-pawed dog propping itself up on the table. This opposite side of Cezanne’s matronly woman in Portrait of a Woman is van Gogh’s dock isn’t a stretch, because Bonnard often painted dogs in his compositions. In fact, if one scene called The Factory (circa July–September 1887), showing a factory loading dock can’t accept that the girl writing resembles a dog with white paws, there seems to be filled with goods, which represents the abundance of the harvest and also, the industry yet another figure curled up in the corner behind her that definitely resembles a dog of home. After this is the seventeenth-century painting called The Annunciation after El asleep on the floor. To the left side of the writing desk in Gallery V, there is a candle Greco which shows an angel appearing to Mary. Then there is the painting by Giorgio holder which normally holds two candles, as can been seen on the original photos taken de Chirico (Italian, 1888–1978) called Sophocles and Euripides (1925) on the North Wall of The Barnes while Dr. Barnes was alive. I am told by Mr. Barton Church that the of Gallery VI. The Annunciation contains an archangel which suggests a guide and a candles were there when Dr. Barnes died but they have since been removed. When I further pointer or draw to the souls into the next gallery, Gallery VII. The imagery told him that they were only candles and asked him why they haven’t been replaced, seems to suggest that those who have gotten this far, past the fires of hell in Gallery he told me to ask the Barnes Administration. When the two candles are placed in the V and through The Spring in Gallery VI, will be guided by faith (as represented in The candle holder, the piece looks like a dog. Annunciation) on their left side and by wisdom (as represented in Sophocles and Euripides) Dr. Barnes would often assume the alter ego of his dog, Fidele, and write to people, on their right side as they pass through the door into Gallery VII and progress further signing the letter with the paw of his pet dipped in ink. He may be suggesting some- into The Barnes. thing of this nature here. The canine image here may mean the loyal ones who would The good soldier’s goal of a peaceful home life, family, and wholesome sensuality keep the faith with those who have died fighting the nation’s battles. Or, it could have are depicted in Gallery VII, where one finds paintings of beautiful, inviting women and a dual purpose and also represent Dr. Barnes’ loyal friends who would speak for him babies all around. On the apex of the South Wall of Gallery VII there is a runic metal after he was gone and convey all these hidden meanings at The Barnes. It appears that symbol of a multi-branched tree, which I believe is the Divinity Rune. The Divinity this figure of the dog is meant to remind us of loyal individuals who would faithfully Rune is thought to be a rune that moves one toward the completion of one’s pattern convey and perpetuate the meanings of liberty. It could also symbolize those who are (Sirona Knight, Runes, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 2008, p.133). Right next to the loyal to The Barnes in Merion and who would act in defense of The Foundation and in Divinity Rune, at the completion of the pattern, above the Southern door of Gallery defense of the souls that The Foundation honors by communicating their story. On the VII we see a painting by Maurice Utrillo (French, 1883–1955) of a city with a rustic other side of the writing desk is a flax or yarn winder—a symbol which, to me, signifies picket fence in the foreground (the painting is Sacre Coeur, Montmartre). This represents, circularity and the perpetuation of life and meaning. These symbols, taken together, in in my estimation, Philadelphia off in the distance, with a garden shed and a picket my estimation, mean little else other than a plea to a future generation or champion to fence in the foreground which orients the new arrival about his location by placing perpetuate the details of Dr. Cret’s and Dr. Barnes’s artistic vision by preserving them him out in the countryside and recalls the bucolic nature of the Merion Estate and its and communicating them in writing. relation to Philadelphia off in the distance. The painting Sacre Coeur, Montmartre might Also in this room there are other images of homecoming and responsible states- be placed here to help the souls get their bearings. Sacre Coeur means “Sacred Heart” manship. One of the major images of the West Wall of Gallery VI is the painting by in French. And, so, The Scared Heart of Christ helps the souls get their bearings and Manet called Tarring the Boat (July–August 1873). This painting depicts a team of shows them where they are in the countryside of Merion outside of the city. workmen engaged in the task of applying a coat of tar to the bottom of a large black Standing in Gallery VII and looking through the doorway into the Main Hall, we fishing boat on a beach. One man is holding the red flame of a rudimentary torch to the can see that we have come full circle to the place where we have begun our journey. bottom of the boat to keep the tar malleable while another smoothes this liquid tar over But, it isn’t the paintings of the Main Hall that capture our attention now. Instead, the bottom. The wind seems to be fanning the flame of the torch and the flame extends it is the large Southern window that looks out into the Garden and Arboretum of the like a flame thrower from the tip of the torch. The flame is like the eternal flame in Estate. There is a place in Gallery VII where one can stand and see only this window the context of warriors returning home and for those who will never return home. In and none of the paintings of the Main Hall. It is a very unusual design. The view of the this image of the men tarring a boat, the returning souls of the soldiers of Flanders are Garden through the Main Hall window is a placid and compelling visual breather and

106 107 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—Gallery VI, Welcome Home! a moment of profound relief from the collage of symbols and images that we have just Also in Gallery VII, the room of final return, there is a large silver samovar placed experienced. This effect is enhanced because the window of the Main Gallery is clear in the Northwest Corner with its spigot facing the room. Here, in Gallery VII, we no glass while the Gallery windows of II through VII are covered with curtains and consist longer need to look for our water in the paintings, for we may now find it in the three- of a more opaque, cut glass. The effect is that we are emerging from a darker place into dimensional world in a large container for its use. The large silver samovar dominates a lighter place. (And, not only is it a lighter place but the garden beyond is an earthy the craftwork in the room. The Conduit, an 1879 Cezanne painting also on the Northern and peaceful place framed by the large bay window fronting the garden to the South.) half of the West Wall of Gallery VII, repeats and confirms the symbolic purpose of And, as a result, it always seems that the window of the Main Gallery is suffused with water as a mystical transport in this arrangement. We also find on the Northern half an even brighter light, which the eye picks up on and which helps to draw the viewer of the West Wall a painting called Brooksville, Maine, River and Rocks (1908–1910), by forward and outward, welcoming a traveler home to relax upon the placid grounds of Maurice Brazil Prendergast, and Renoir’s Nude Wading (1880s). On this same wall is the garden and arboretum. the beautiful painting of home life by Monet called Mrs. Monet Embroidering (1875), As we get closer to the door between Gallery VII and the Main Hall, Matisse’s which recalls for a third time in this sequence of galleries the concept of The Embroiders La Danse comes into view above the large window facing the Garden to the South. waiting for the return of the warriors like Penelope, who waited for Ulysses to return Matisse’s figures dance above the vista of the Garden and the Arboretum in an area from Troy. infused with the light of these open spaces. To dance is the aim and the culmina- Next to Mrs. Monet Embroidering is the painting by Gauguin called Mr. Lou Lou, tion of all these vibrant life forces that we have encountered in Galleries II through which suggests, once again, the opera Lulu. Here, the circle completes as we have pro- IV, and it stands for joyous Resurrection and the wellspring of eternal life for these ceeded from the copper urn or samovar near the painting of Renoir’s Pourville in the returning souls. The symbolism of “La Danse” signifies that these souls are welcome Main Gallery, past the water bucket in Manet’s Laundress in Gallery II, past the copper to Dance forevermore in peace and joy in Merion as welcome inhabitants of The urn and wash tub in the Chardins in Gallery III, through the flowing water of Galleries Barnes. Near the door frame that opens into the Main Hall from Gallery VII, there is IV and V, to the harbors of Honfleur and Grandcamp in Galleries V and VI, out of the a picture of two saints with an animal that at first seems to be a dog playfully jump- sparkling water of the forest glen in The Spring in Gallery VI, and, finally, to the real ing up at one of the saints. At second glance, we realize that what we first thought silver samovar against the same Western Wall where Dr. Barnes has placed Gauguin’s was a playful dog begging for attention is, in fact, a lion, and that the saint is St. Mr. Lou Lou. As we shall see, the opera Lulu is about the circularity of things. The music Jerome. It seems that even the lions of the world are dwarfed by the greatness that of the opera Lulu rises and falls like a crescendo. And, like the music of the opera Lulu, is the spirit of art and artisanship of the garden, grounds, architecture and ensem- each living thing rises and falls through the seasons of life like a crescendo, a flickering bles of The Merion Barnes. We are all mere mortals in the face of such incomparable candle. And, the present is always the place where the past pushing us forward meets beauty. the future rising before us. The dead are now reborn. Here, they meet the living and Returning to Gallery VII, we find further confirmation of the effect of using light are pulled back by them and remembered. To faithfully learn the lessons of our dead, as a directional in the placement of paintings by Dr. Barnes. The light falling from we must first meet them. Let us greet them here, now and forever. Here, atMr. Lou Lou, North to South leading us toward the Main Gallery is accentuated by the selection of The Founder’s Circle is complete. As the presence of the Divinity Rune suggests, this the paintings arranged from North to South on the East Wall of Gallery VII. The light pattern is complete. in each of these paintings falls from North to South or left to right, as you look at them. Above the silver samovar is a strange humanoid-looking form fashioned from It is not particularly easy to see this effect, because I think that it is clearer at night metal. The head of the figure is formed from a propeller, which would make it easy for than in the day when The Barnes is not usually open to the public, but it is a generally such an entity to move through water. Next to this metal figure is the second time that discussed feature of The Barnes. The cumulative effect of this arrangement is to give we see an image of St. Barbara in The Barnes. She is now shown in a fine oil on canvas the appearance of light falling over the room in the direction of the Main Gallery and by a Rhenish master (1475–1480) and is portrayed standing with St. Mary Magdalene, the wall-sized glass window facing the Garden beyond. The way that Dr. Barnes orga- carrying a vessel which could signify her role as the myrrh-bearer. When shown as the nizes the paintings is a great example of his immense, perceptive, and organizational myrrh-bearer, Mary Magdalene is honored for her role in witnessing and reporting powers as an artist himself. The light-fall moves us toward the Main Hall as it falls in the good news of the Resurrection. Following the Sabbath, a group of women went to that direction. anoint the body of Jesus following his crucifixion. When they arrived they found the

108 109 Barnes Rune 2012 stone rolled back and two men in shining garments said to them: “Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen” (Luke 24: 1-10). She is a fitting and proper image here for the returning souls who will live once more in the hearts and minds of Americans everywhere in this special American home. This image looks back through the doors of Gallery VI and V from whence we have just emerged and looks straight at the retablo of St. Barbara on the East Wall of Gallery V. This imagery is not accidental for Dr. Barnes, because St. Barbara protects the soldiers from the gates of hell Chapter 15 in Gallery V until they have come completely home in Gallery VII. And, if they would proceed out into the Main Gallery, directly on their left on the East Wall of the Main The Founder’s Circle—The Circle Complete Gallery is a painting by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (French, 1796–1875) of Mme. Lemaistre nee Blanche Sennegon, Niece of Corot (1831) which suggests to me that, upon their final returning, the souls of the soldiers, passing under the Sacred Heart, Sacre n the name of each chapter associated with Galleries II through VII of The Barnes, Coeur, above the doorway between Gallery VII and the Main Hall would be cleansed I have been referring to the galleries as part of the Founder’s Circle. I believe that or “blanched” of any sin and they would be able to dwell peaceably here in the peace Iit is helpful to think of the trail of images in this area of The Barnes as tracing a and comfort of the Spirit of Christ. In the center of the same East Wall of the Main complete circle for at least two reasons. First, I believe that the lesson of this area of The Hall near where Dr. Barnes has placed Blanche Sennegon, he has also placed a rosy-faced Barnes is about animating memories of the veterans of our modern wars and forming an child dressed all in white in Renoir’s The Artist’s Family (1896), which some liken to unbroken circle with them by commemorating them in a permanent memorial written the image of the Christ Child. He waits here for us all in the sacred heart of Merion. in the masterpieces of the modern age. Second, I believe that another lesson of this area of The Barnes is about imparting the knowledge of mankind’s past to the generations of the future in the timeless circle of the human experience. The artistry of Dr. Albert Barnes in cobbling together masterpieces to convey these themes reinforces the power of the message, and it is a highly innovative, symbolic approach to education that, to my knowledge, has never before been seen in human history. In my opinion, Dr. Barnes has progressed exponentially beyond all prior notions of communication and has come up with a formula all his own to create a symbolic treatise formed by found images. Dr. Barnes studied in Germany at the beginning of the twentieth century. I believe that, as a young intellectual, he would have been highly sensitive to the artistic and philosophical developments of the time. At that time Germany was a leading figure in cultural development. I like to think that Barnes was in some small way a prod- uct of that extremely important time in the development of Western culture. Picasso himself, in a letter from 1987, expressed that he would have liked to attend school in Munich, Germany, as the artistic evolution of that city at the time was so well respected. Unfortunately, somehow Germany went off the rails in the twentieth century, and that once-fertile culture has only now begun to recover from the vicious arrogance of its leading factions one hundred years later. We can only hope that America doesn’t have a similar failure of leadership. I mention all this because I believe that we can understand Dr. Barnes better in the context of what was going on around him in his formative years and in understanding the tastes of the time. I believe this is particularly the case when he himself points to certain things. One of the things that Dr. Barnes points to several times is the opera Lulu.

110 Barnes Rune 2012 The Founder’s Circle—The Circle Complete

From this cutting-edge German culture which I have just described came a German it has to do with who has the most money. I believe that Dr. Barnes tried to protect his Jew, Alban Berg. Berg was a close friend of the artist Gustav Klimt and is thought to pieces from this cycle by creating this utopian place and by challenging Pennsylvanians be one of the most important composers of the twentieth century. Berg created an opera to honor that wish to keep inviolate The Merion Barnes. However, in my opinion, like called Lulu, which was published posthumously. This opera is said to have been created some kind of dysfunctional parent, the state of Pennsylvania has neglected this inno- by the jealous Berg to scold his wife, Helene, for what he perceived to be her infidelity cent, desirable child and has allowed money to take this child and to have its way with with his mentor, Arnold Schoenberg. In the opera, the femme fatale Lulu turns from a her. Indeed, Pennsylvania tax dollars are even being used to help procure the result. decent figure to a shameless whore. The opera was never performed during Berg’s life. On the second theme—that The Barnes may be modeled in part upon the structure It is a story of a woman’s rise and fall. In Act I, Lulu lives in relative ease and outward of Lulu—it seems that like Berg in Lulu, Dr. Barnes built his own “play within a play” in respectability, but she begins to sow the seeds of her own destruction as the promiscu- the architecture, garden, arboretum, grounds, and galleries of Merion. The arboretum is ous wife of Dr. Schoen, who she kills in the final scene of Act I. The interlude of Act a play within the fence of the Merion Estate; the garden is a play within the arboretum; II is a film (which is, of course, highly unusual for an opera). The film of Act II shows the building is a play against and within the natural setting of the garden, arboretum Lulu’s arrest, imprisonment, trial, and subsequent escape from imprisonment to begin and grounds; and the art inside the Galleries is a play within the Gallery building. The a life as a common whore. The opera has been performed infrequently. Aside from the art ensembles can even be viewed as plays within the collection as a whole. Within the subject matter, the interesting thing about Lulu is that it is a mirror of itself: the same telling of his tale, Dr. Barnes creates structures in the golden triangle wall formations of characters that play Lulu’s suitors in Act I play her sexual customers or “johns” in Act his art ensembles similar to Berg’s own palindrome structure in the musical score for the III. The film of Act II, which is atypical in any opera, is a play within a play and has a interlude of Act II. In his triangular wall ensembles, Barnes, the artist and composer, musical score that accentuates the mirroring interplay going on between Act I and Act seems to work the pieces of his art collection to a crescendo, pushing and pulling the III. At the middle of the film’s musical score in Act II, there is a piano arpeggio that sides of the triangular art placements against the center and, as we shall see, he even ascends to a crescendo and then descends in the exact same fashion on the musical scale. knits the symbolism of the West Wing of The Barnes to the East Wing. This crescendo in the musical composition can actually be seen on the musical score Berg, like a Picasso of modern music, expanded the vocabulary of his art form of because the notes that create the arpeggio form two sides of an equilateral triangle. The musical composition and performance art. Barnes, like a Picasso of art collecting and structure of Lulu in both the mirroring interplay between Act I and Act III and in the art arrangement, expanded the role of curator and the presentation of an art collection composition itself has been called a palindrome or a circle. into a performance piece. Seeds of Berg’s and Barnes’s innovation can be found in the I think Lulu appealed to Barnes, because he incorporates both the imagery of Lulu aspiration of human beings to transcend their past and to progress in new and chal- the whore and the genius of Berg’s palindrome into the imagery of The Foundation. lenging ways: to do something that hasn’t been done before. Berg found inspiration in As to the first theme—that art is a whore, a courtesan of the highest bidder—it things that he found, and then he sought to say something new in a new way. So, too, seems that this theme appealed to Dr. Barnes. Whatever sophisticated ideas that Dr. did Dr. Barnes seek a new way to discuss art. He sought to make vast educational con- Barnes, Dr. Cret, John Dewey, William Glackens and a host of other philosophers, nections in the inspiration that he found in the art that he collected. He made design artists and educators of the times worked out in Merion and left for us there, Barnes connections, he made color connections, he made historical connections, and he made established his Foundation first and foremost by besting the field of potential buyers in symbolically illustrative connections. In this way, Dr. Barnes is unlike any other collec- the auctions, galleries and art market of Europe. So, in my opinion, if you’re buying the tor in the history of the world. Just like the opera Lulu, The Barnes is about circularity art of recognized artists like Dr. Barnes was, you know that it is money alone that takes and a returning of the same characters in every time. Every age has the wise man, the the day in the art world. The common people don’t get a say because art is controlled child, the mother, the soldier, the worker, the entitled ones and the less fortunate. They by the wealthy. The wealthy are the taste setters and the wealthy sit on the boards of the are all here at The Barnes. There is a little game that some of the people I have come museums. In the art world, just like in the marketplace for high class whores, it isn’t to know at The Barnes like to engage in; they like to find themselves in the imagery. the person who has the higher ideals who gets the most desirable whore, it is the person I don’t think that they are that far off. with the most money, plain and simple. In my opinion this Barnes Move is simply his- While it takes a great deal of study to understand what is going on at The Barnes, tory repeating itself and the same art that was brought from Europe will now just make by the time that we have reached Gallery VII we are well enough equipped to begin to another very expensive trip to Philadelphia. In my opinion, this Move has nothing to do discuss the structural theme of the East Wing of the first floor as a theme of circular- with who knows best or with what is right for preserving the American cultural trust, ity. This is why I have been calling these beginning chapters “The Founder’s Circle.”

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Water circulates through The Barnes, starting with Renoir’s Pourville placed by Dr. Barnes in the Main Hall next to the entry to Gallery II. The water theme starts with Pourville and the diver on The Raft who prepares to jump into the Barnes Experience at the entry to Gallery II. The water theme continues all the way through Gallery VII, where we see the metal man with the propeller for a head. In the circle of the water in Galleries II through VII, we see a young child holding a bucket with a circular top in Manet’s Laundress in Gallery II. The water from Pourville might pour into this round Chapter 16 bucket. The water imagery then continues through Gallery II with Renoir’s woman having her hair combed out near a stream in La Toilette on the North Wall and then St. Through the Eyes of a Child Hyacinth, the protector against drowning, on the East Wall. Beside the door to Gallery III is a receptacle for Holy Water and just inside Gallery III, visible through the door, is Prometheus chained to a rock in the midst of a sea of water on the South Wall. Water think there is a final set of symbolic connections that tie Galleries II, VI, and VII continues through the imagery of The Nursemaid on a beach on the South Wall and then to one another, and it has to do with the implied sight lines of the child holding through the image of the Chardins on the East Wall of Gallery III, where the boy in one I the bucket of water for Manet’s Laundress. of the Chardins blows a bubble toward Gallery IV where the open mouth of a stein or One of the oddest things about The Barnes is not just how certain contiguous gal- tankard faces into Gallery IV from the South Wall. On the North Wall of Gallery IV, leries may relate to one another to tell a story, but how some galleries blend together above the door, we see the image of a canal by the artist Canaletto. On the other side of even though they don’t have doorways between them. This is a new concept and it is the door, on the South Wall of Gallery V, we see The Flanders 43 stepping from a river sometimes difficult for people to accept. In my opinion The Barnes is what is known in Cezanne’s two bather paintings and close to these images is the Port of Honfleur on as a “memory palace.” This phenomenon has been noted to occur with owners of large the West Wall. Opposite the West Wall of Gallery V, on the East Wall of Gallery VI collections. A book by a similar name—The Memory Palace of Isabella Stewart Gardner, we have a woman emerging from a forest waterfall in The Spring and numerous water by Patricia Vigderman, (Sarabande Books, February 2007) —was recently released on paintings on the South and West Walls, including Idyll, Haere Pape, Tarring the Boat, another private collection that the people of Boston had the decency and integrity to and near the door between Gallery VI and Gallery VII, we see Three Figures in Water faithfully keep in its home. The Barnes is a little different than most, but any large, (1916) by Charles Demuth. On the East Wall of Gallery VII, we have Nude in a Brook stable collection allows one familiar with it to move from room to room merely by (1895) by Renoir, Conduit by Cezanne, Nude Wading by Renoir, and Brooksville Maine recalling a mental picture of each room. What is different about The Barnes is that Dr. by M. B. Prendergast on the West Wall of Gallery VII. In the Northwest corner of Barnes placed his art in such a way that he could connect the pieces even across tradi- Gallery VII we also see the large silver samovar on the floor with the metal figure with tional boundaries such as walls or floors, between separate wings of The Foundation, a propeller for a head above. The metal figure with a propeller for a head has his arms and even between The Residence and The Gallery proper. If one looks at the constitu- outstretched like the diver on The Raft, which is visible through the doorway in the ent placements of the paintings in the galleries, Dr. Barnes’ placement seems to develop Main Hall; and, in the background of The Raft, a little propeller-driven motor boat cuts or expound upon the parallels between the paintings in many rooms and, particularly, through the water in the direction of Gallery II, fully completing the circle. the continuation of themes through rooms. The circle of running water envelopes us and protects us. The circle is like the This practice eventually becomes an exercise in pure memory, but if one becomes round bucket top that the child in Manet’s Laundress grasps as he looks forward toward facile enough with it, it is as if one could look through the walls of The Barnes. In the future. The copper urn that appears in the painting near Pourville next to the door writing this book, I wanted to try to accelerate a visitor’s understanding of these con- between the Main Hall and Gallery II is within sight of the actual silver samovar in the nections and to try to help that process along, because in the complexity of The Barnes, Northwestern corner of Gallery VII. So, too, do the outstretched arms of the diver on it is likely that even the most dedicated students would never catch the meanings and The Raft remind us of Karl Preibe’s blue lady with two connected worlds in her hands, the cross-gallery correspondences that I am going to explore here. Talking about the just below The Raft inside the door in Gallery II. Everything suggests the unification paintings in the way that I am doing in this book—as an understandable, interre- of past and present, memory and aspiration, the imagined and the actual, the present lated whole—is the best way to develop a precognition of The Barnes and should help and the future.

114 Barnes Rune 2012 Through the Eyes of a Child viewers when they travel there. This examination should help the viewer to surmount wisdom characterized by the Giorgio de Chirico painting of Sophocles and Euripides on what can otherwise just be pure visual and intellectual oversaturation as a result of the Northern Wall of Gallery VI, representing wisdom and equanimity, which are, or being confronted with so many challenging images at once. should be, the ultimate goals of and guides to any statesman and, certainly, to any good Getting back to my story, there is a larger-than-life key placed near a large door child, citizen, and soldier. Above Sophocles and Euripides is a waiflike image by Charles handle on the South Wall of Gallery VI. It is the only time in The Barnes where lock Demuth of a woman in a flowing gown with her arms outstretched, surrounded by two and handle seem to meet. The giant key and the large metal door handle suggest that floating figures, called Three Figures in Water. The head of the woman forms the top this wall separating Gallery VI from Gallery II might lift up. As we stand in Gallery or apex of a triangular shape and her arms that reach out to the figures that flank her VI, we can see this theme of the connection between Galleries II and VI confirmed or form the sides of the triangle. This central woman, with her outstretched arms, looks reinforced by a painting on the right side of the same South Wall of Gallery VI. The strangely like the musical score of the piano arpeggio in Berg’s opera Lulu as the score painting is a painting by Renoir of a nude lady turning as if she were looking back reaches its ascending and descending crescendo that marks the opera’s mirror or palin- over her shoulder from the direction of Gallery II. This nude looking over her shoul- drome effect. It is a lesson to the child, perhaps, of the ebb and flow of life. der by Renoir seems to look in the same direction as the child in Manet’s Laundress in Returning to the West Wall of Gallery II, which contains the Manet of the laun- Gallery II. If we went into Gallery II, we would see the child looking at the North dress with her little charge, the bright-eyed child holding the wash bucket, I would Wall of Gallery II and beyond into Gallery VI, through the nude woman looking over like to note that above the child is a metal image which looks like a tarot spread for her shoulder on the South Wall of Gallery VI. Gallery II and Galleries VI and VII are what is known as “the loving cup,” which seems to suggest that the bucket that the separated by a wall, but one can almost imagine that this wall has been removed and child is holding is symbolic as a vessel of the good and wondrous things that one the child looks right through Cezanne’s painting of terracotta and flowers on a table on generation can offer to another. The laundress lovingly wrings out nourishing water the North Wall of Gallery II and through the eyes of Renoir’s nude looking over her into the vessel held by the child. The symbolism is one of circularity and perpetuation shoulder on the South Wall of Gallery VI. through the generations of mankind. Dr. Barnes seems to suggest that the continuum The laundress or washerwoman appears to be wringing the life force into the bucket represented in this imagery and in his ensembles associated with the sightlines of this held by the child, who is looking off into the future. This child appears to be looking child may act as a lesson plan to every generation of the values embodied at The Barnes. through the wall from Gallery II into Gallery VI at a series of paintings extending in And, while we first described the child as looking through the painting of Cezanne’s a line of sight from the eyes of the child northward along the West Wall of Gallery IV. terracotta and flowers and at the imagery of Gallery VI, the child may also be looking If the Wall between Gallery II and Gallery VI is removed, the child first sees patriotic at and through the eyes of van Gogh’s Postman into Gallery VII behind him. reds, whites and blues in the composition of flowers in a vase on the West Wall of The child’s bucket also may represent the traditions of liberty and a legacy handed Gallery VI, then Manet’s Tarring the Boat, then a portrait of a matronly peasant woman down over time. Manet, of course, was French, and to the French, women as the by Cezanne, and van Gogh’s industrial scene in The Factory of loading docks overflow- matrons of liberty, have an additional meaning, for it was the women’s revolt (known ing with goods which, respectively, represent the red, white, and blue of liberty, team- as the March of the Women) that led the citizens of France to the gates of Versailles work, domestic strength, and industrial productivity. and doomed the debauched and arrogant aristocracy of their time represented by King Tarring the Boat might be an allegorical painting depicting the revolutionary work- Louis and his court. The laundress may represent one of the women from the women’s ing class, the conscience of France, applying fire to the belly of the ship of state. These revolt imparting that hard-won liberty to a new generation. At the time, American laborers and all that they represent are an example to the child. democracy and French democracy were closely aligned. If we mentally remove the wall Cezanne’s woman in Portrait of a Woman,” also on the West Wall of VI, may repre- separating Galleries II and VI, it is as if these two galleries could be one large one, and sent the value of a stable home life. The child may also look beyond Cezanne’s woman to the child looks then not just at van Gogh’s Postman, which may represent his forbearers, the painting by Vincent van Gogh called The Factory, which is next in the left-to-right the old guard of the republic, but through the postman’s eyes, through the wall, across (or South to North) sequence along the same Western Wall of Gallery VI and which the fall of light. I have said before that the light on the East Wall of Gallery VII falls in shows the fruit of a productive state and the bounty of honest labor. Further, the next a North-South direction to mimic the light coming in from the Northern window and painting, a painting after El Greco called The Annunciation, might signify the child’s to lead us into the Main Hall. If instead of thinking about this light as coming from spiritual enlightenment. And, finally, the child’s eyes rest upon the representation of the window, we think of this light as emanating from the area of the child’s face in The

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Laundress and then extending through the wall to fall on the East Wall of Gallery VII, the light may be viewed as being reflected outward from the face of the child in The Laundress and lighting the child’s way as he or she looks from South to North. As we go into Gallery VII and look at the East wall, we see what the child may see if he had the power to look through the wall. The paintings on the East Wall of Gallery VII are illuminated from the South in an expanding beam of light that expands like light emanating from a pinpoint source in a darkroom or like the light of a northbound Chapter 17 train in a dark tunnel shining a light all the way across the Eastern Wall of Gallery VII in a South to North direction and falling on the Northern Wall of Gallery VII. The Interlude There we see two identical large antique pliers on the North Wall which Dr. Barnes has affixed to the Wall in such a way that their pincers are interlocking and they appear to be grabbing one another. Frozen forevermore in this position, the pliers seem oddly allery VII is the tension point or turning point in The Barnes. On the Northern like the hands of the laundress wringing out her traditions into the bucket held by the exterior wall of The Barnes, just outside Gallery VII, there are two bas-reliefs child. In this sense, the light reflected off of the face of the child inThe Laundress shines Gby Jacques Lipchitz. These are cubist masterpieces. They are sculpted of stone on the pliers and, as such, the pliers represent the solidarity of the prior generation but might as well have been crafted of butter. I have attached photos of them. Barnes (represented by the laundress) with the future generation (represented by the child). So, was not a big collector of what we would call cubist pictures, but these bas-reliefs are too, does The Barnes represent an unbroken circle and a connection between the past, the exception. They are an important educational aspect of the art collection that the the present, and the future. This connection is symbolized in the unbroken circle of the state of Pennsylvania will leave behind when it breaks the art from its home. The first top of the bucket that the child grasps so tightly in his little hands. So, too, can each bas-relief is to the viewer’s left as he or she enters The Barnes, and it appears to show new student, each new visitor to The Barnes in Merion, and each new generation grasp two hands cupping little circular bolts, a jagged line, three rows of bolts and an arm within their hands the “brass” ring of the message of The Barnes and hold within their holding what could either be a saxophone or a wrench. The composition is set upon a hands the circle of life represented in this magical American place. field of lines that Lipchitz might have employed to suggest motion or to mimic the bars All this seems to be undeniable evidence that the Gallery, art placement, and gar- of a musical scale or score in the background of the bas-relief. The wrench doubling as den setting are intentionally designed to unify and form an exceedingly sophisticated a saxophone could represent the labor of building something or the pleasure of making symbolic conceptualization of an allegorical, earthly way station on the path to heaven, music, as if both pursuits are similar. This image is appropriate for The Barnes given where our warriors may return to find comfort in a place of honor and dignity, where that hard work has created the harmony between art and nature that is The Barnes. students of democracy in every age may come to thrive in the heart of human spiritual- The bolts that the two hands joined together are cupping may be iron workers’ ity, natural beauty, and wonder: a place made by human hands as a golden gateway to a bolts for the joining of Dr. Cret’s structural steel. Or, they could represent objects of art font of inspiration as timeless and natural as the garden and arboretum beyond. that the hands of Dr. Barnes collected and used to build his Foundation into an edu- Before we enter the next Gallery, Gallery VIII, we will pass Leda and the Swan cational and musical symphony. In the center of the composition is a jagged line and, in the Main Hall. The union of Leda and the Swan (Zeus) resulted in the birth of a then, three uniform rows of what seem to be approximately ten smaller bolts or rivets half-human, half-god ‘star-child’. In this image by the door to Gallery VIII, Zeus is per row. The jagged line could represent the energizing force and dynamism necessary pulling on Leda’s arm…pulling her to what? Are there lessons here for special ones who to get hard work done and the rows of smaller bolts or rivets could indicate the project can hear them? What further concepts still remain misunderstood here which may help that is being worked on. to guide the human race? What is Pennsylvania really taking from mankind? The Lipchitz bas-relief on the exterior of The Barnes seems to mirror the imagery inside Gallery VII. Gallery VII represents the culmination of The Flanders Field theme where the remembered ones would be encouraged to pass under the Sacred Heart and to enter the garden of Mrs. Laura Barnes. So, if we apply this imagery to The Flanders Field theme, perhaps the bolts in the cupped hands represent the souls of our war dead

118 Barnes Rune 2012 The Interlude cupped in the loving hands of a guiding spirit. The jagged edge or line going through have two female torsos by Renoir that mirror one another like the cupped hands in the center of the composition could symbolize the miraculous lightning of St. Barbara. the relief: first we have the large central Renoir called Torso (1875), and then a smaller The uniform rows in the center of the composition could be rows of military graves. Renoir, right next to the first, called Nude Wading (1880s). Both figures have their The jagged lightning line ends at the bottom of the wrench or saxophone. The end of hands raised to their hair as if they are primping in a classical pose. What is intriguing the lightning appears to touch the bolt in the mouth of the wrench suggesting that from the perspective of the imagery of the East meeting the West at The Barnes is that if the remembered souls are thought of as bolts, each is a bolt that joins together the the female in Torso is facing East while the female wading in the brook is facing West structural core of The Merion Foundation with a strength galvanized by the miraculous in exactly the same pose. The nudes seem to meet or mirror one other in the mind’s eye. lighting of St. Barbara. The right arm and left hand of an unseen figure are sculpted to Here, East may also meet West in the Flanders imagery because Gallery VII is where appear as if the right arm is holding the wrench/saxophone and the left hand is guiding the energy of The Barnes may be focused to give the pliers just inside on the North the wrench or playing the keys of the saxophone. The arm muscles the wrench while Wall a pull powerful enough to symbolically pull the remembered souls from Flanders the hand caresses the keys of the saxophone. And, the ensembles that Dr. Barnes has Fields in Europe back to Merion in North America. The symbol of that energetic action wrenched together form beautiful music for the saxophone, the music of a melodic necessary to symbolically give a helping hand to The Flanders 43 may be reflected in call to remembrance from the symbolism of the ensembles of the walls of the Merion the action of the arm appearing to be levering the wrench in the bas-relief. The concept garden mansion. of pulling souls back home is emphasized by Dr. Cret’s use of Pouillenay stone in both On the other side of the Main entry door is a bas-relief showing a composition The Flanders Field Memorial Chapel and The Barnes. which, reading from left to right, starts with what appears to be the edge of a scroll. The torsos facing in completely different directions seem to mark the highest ten- The curve of the scroll then seems to form the mouthpiece of a conical megaphone sion point at The Barnes like the apex or high point in Alban Berg’s arpeggio in Lulu. I standing vertically in the left side of the composition. Next is part of an upside down believe that to emphasize this idea that this is an area of tension in The Barnes, on this bass violin. In the middle of the composition is a construct that looks like it has vertical same West Wall where Dr. Barnes has placed Torso and Nude Wading, he has also placed slats: at first it looks like it might be a harp, but, upon closer consideration, it seems Gauguin’s Mr. Lou Lou. Consistent with this, we can see some evidence in the bas-reliefs more like a wrought iron handrail for a stairway with a bolt in the center. Above this that there is release from left to right or from East to West as the music in the second handrail are what appear to be stars. Does this represent a stairway to heaven? In the relief to the viewer’s right on the exterior North façade flows through the second bas- far right of the composition is a hand cupping what could be a pear. To the ancient relief in a westerly direction and culminates in a disembodied hand holding up a pear. Chinese the pear symbolized immortality. (source, mythencyclopedia.com) Below the The musical score in the background of both reliefs suggests the harmony that can be hand holding the pear are two horizontal lines similar to the field of lines that we see found in the intersection and unification of the planes of earthly experience in this place in the first bas-relief. of art, architecture, nature, and spirit. The horizontal field of lines in the first bas-relief and the apparent continuation What could the nude turned away from us in Renoir’s Nude Wading be looking at as thereof in the second bas-relief, suggest that both of these compositions are resting she faces West? What more could we possibly find as we continue our journey through on sculpted planes that seem to be intended by Lipchitz to resemble sheet music. The The Barnes and into the Western Wing? The next gallery in the sequence is Gallery compositions appear to be music emerging from a musical score. The reliefs also seem VIII, which formally marks the beginning of the first floor of the Western Wing of to suggest that the musical score is The Barnes, and that the music she makes for us are The Barnes. To the left of the door from the Main Hall into Gallery VIII Dr. Barnes her lessons. This is a powerful image upon entry because these bas-reliefs command a has placed a piece of metal which looks like a reptile or a squiggly line. This seems visitor’s approach. It can seem as if a grand performance is unfolding upon entry due to to resemble the “SOWILO” Rune. According to Sirona Knight, this rune originally the images in both bas-reliefs on either side of the Main entry. represented “the divine solar wheel” or “a thunderbolt.” She sees this rune as one that The Lipchitz reliefs suggest that there is a relationship between the exterior imag- “[m]oves you toward enlightenment” or “[h]elps your patterns come to fruition” Sirona ery and the imagery found inside. Two images in Gallery VII are a particularly good Knight, Runes, Sterling Publishing, 2008, pp. 140-143. example of this relationship between the art found outside in the bas-reliefs and the art Inside, on The Bridge, equidistant between the two Lipchitz bas-reliefs, at the key- found within. The West Wall of Gallery VII is almost perfectly aligned with Lipchitz’s stone of The Bridge, Dr. Barnes has placed the Baule granary door which has become first relief with the cupped hands holding bolts. On this West Wall of Gallery VII we the symbol of the Foundation. The door depicts a dancing turtle god with two plump

120 121 Barnes Rune 2012 birds of plenty facing one another and hovering about his head. The turtle is a symbol of the slowly-changing but nearly immutable earth. Shown dancing on the granary door between two birds, this turtle god is depicted as part of a tribal totem of fertility and increase. With the exception of an image of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, this granary door is the only object which occupies this important central space at The Barnes. The birds facing one another above this dancing turtle recall the pyrami- dal shape of the arpeggio of the Opera Lulu. It is as if Dr. Barnes’s placement of this Chapter 18 magical door at the keystone of the bridge is a symbol to all of Pennsylvania that the Keystone State, in its role in the formation of democracy, stands as a door to freedom for A“ ngels and Horses in Hilly Landscape—Fantasy ” all. The presence of this image here also suggests that, like the keystone, the arpeggio of Lulu is a binding symbol in The Barnes and ties it together. The Barnes is a pathway to help us to better understand life. And, life, in a sense, is about living. Living beings alleries VIII, IX, and X contain many paintings, but I will not go through are always rising to some challenge or responding to some external stimulus. And, as each gallery in a serial fashion as I have tried to do in Galleries II through VIII we have seen even in our struggles of today, the maintenance of peace, freedom and Gbecause the symbolism of the next six galleries, Galleries VIII through XIII, progress require constant vigilance. Mankind shall always be locked in its immortal usually involves fewer paintings in each Gallery. I will point to a number of pieces in dance, like the dance of Dr. Barnes’s Baule turtle god, and a push and pull, like the these galleries that add to the symbolic narrative that I am exploring; however, I will ascending and descending notes in the arpeggio of Lulu. And this dance, this struggle, be more likely to move back and forth through the galleries to discuss their symbolism this progress, shall always demand the bravery of mankind’s warriors and adventurers, rather than to just stay in one gallery. As we enter the Western Wing of The Barnes, the commitment of its workers and the decency of its leaders. we should, however, take detailed note of Cezanne’s Bathers at Rest or The Small Bathers (1876–77) in the center of the Eastern Wall of Gallery VIII, which is the first gal- lery that we enter in the West Wing. Some say that Bathers at Rest represents the very birth of the modern design perspective given the painting’s strong psychological ele- ments and employment of reductive form to achieve that psychological message. Much like Alban Berg in Lulu and Dr. Barnes in his compositional experiments in Merion, Pennsylvania, Paul Cezanne had a talent for utilizing his artistic abilities to expand the envelope of the modern design vocabulary to increase how an artist can address and portray the human experience. An example of how Cezanne achieves this may be found in the central bather of Bathers at Rest. This central bather appears to be peering into himself as if his chest contained a mirror, a TV screen, or a canvas. There are five figures in the canvas, as the viewer looks from right to left. The central figure is an introspec- tive figure. He is surrounded by four other figures. I like to think of these four other figures as different psychological states of the central bather, with the central bather contemplating all of the states of mind or states of being shown in the painting as he looks within himself. There is a figure hunched over to the viewer’s right in the left- hand corner of the painting; then, second, there is a classical figure standing in a stream and looking over his shoulder at the viewer; and, third, there is the central bather peer- ing into himself, which I first described. Following this central bather, there is a fourth figure prone on the ground with an arm covering his head. Finally, there is a fifth figure,

122 Barnes Rune 2012 A“ ngels and Horses in Hilly Landscape—Fantasy ” a standing figure, with his arm outstretched and cocked above his head, who appears to The muscles in the partly exposed arm of Daumier’s Water Bearer ripple with the be looking into a lime green aperture or pathway. strength of granite and echo the architectonic landscape paintings of shaped color by It is my belief that the figures that surround the central bather are each of us at Cezanne of the Bibemus Quarry that are also housed in Gallery VIII. Dr. Barnes has different phases of our lives. The hunched-over figure near the stream in the lower left- hung two of these paintings of the Bibemus Quarry on the South Wall (Rocks and Trees hand corner of the painting is us in our uncertainty as we struggle in our quest for the [1904] to the viewer’s left and Bibemus Quarry [1895] to the viewer’s right) and one on meaning of life. The next figure is set in a classical pose like a figure from the golden the West Wall of Gallery VIII called Bibemus (1894–5). Here, the great Cezanne land- age of antiquity. He is standing in the stream and represents the classical ideals to scapes of the Bibemus Quarry show Cezanne striking some of the most strident and which we all strive in our lives. The prone figure lying on the ground is us in our times precipitous contrasts between greens and oranges that he has ever constructed. of defeat, sorrow, or prostration in our times of need or in times of our recognition of Daumier’s Water Carrier is positioned at the doorway between Gallery VIII and our own fallibility. The figure in the background looking into a lime green aperture is Gallery IX, and he appears to help take up anew the trek of understanding as the visi- like a person looking into a mirror. This final figure looking into the aperture may be tors who are following an order from Galleries I through VIII go more deeply into the an enlightened figure who has finally seen what he or she is and who has accepted the second sequence of the first floor. A painting by Charles Prendergast called Angels and mystery of life. Horses in Hilly Landscape—Fantasy (circa 1917) very near to Daumier’s Water Carrier and There is an interesting connection between Cezanne’s Bathers at Rest and the two above the doorway between Galleries VIII and IX shows angels leading a young man by classically posed Renoir torsos in Gallery VII. In Gallery VII one torso is facing East the hand in a fantastic, colorful landscape. What yet may he have to learn? Perhaps this while the other is facing away from the viewer and looking toward the West. Here, young man is the alter ego of the hardened water carrier, who, at times, is struggling the body of the classically posed figure in the stream is twisted. The body is facing under his burdens on a course of realization and, at other times, is being led by angels East while the head is facing West toward the viewer and is looking West in the same with a light and uplifted soul on a course of realization. Perhaps both individuals shall direction and along the same course that we will be pursuing as we head further into be role models to us on our own course of realization, a course of realization similar to our Barnes Experience. This figure facing West and standing in the stream inBathers at the one that the central bather in Bathers at Rest has embarked upon. Perhaps the paint- Rest is thought to be modeled upon a classical image of Hermes by the ancient Greek ing is an allegory for the experience of the beauty of The Barnes in the hilly landscape sculptor Lysippos. Cezanne has his figure of Hermes standing in the stream posing in of Merion, where angels of natural beauty and artisanship lead us on our quest of dis- a classical pose. This image of Hermes is integrated into the Flanders Field theme at covery. The angels appear to be leading the boy on his course of enlightenment deeper The Barnes Foundation in a most unusual way because, among other things, Hermes into The Barnes from Gallery VIII into Gallery IX and beyond. Daumier’s water carrier was the shepherd or guide of the dead. Is it possible that Barnes has chosen to place appears to be there to provide earthly strength on the journey, while the angels provide this image here to suggest that we are now in the land of the living, having passed the spiritual strength and inspiration. through the mystical lands of the dead in Galleries II through VII? Strangely, Galleries True to the symbolism of a course of realization, the rest of the first floor galler- VIII through XIII, the remaining galleries on the first floor, always seem lighter to me ies, Galleries IX through XIII, are very much learning galleries. In these galleries we than Galleries II through VII. I believe that even this aspect of the Merion experience can learn in depth about many of the various styles of the postimpressionist and early is intentional. modern artists. But there may also be something more: an opportunity to dedicate In this same room, on the West Side of Gallery VIII beside the door between ourselves to the path of enlightenment that the figure in the lime green aperture of the Gallery VIII and Gallery IX, there is a painting by Honore Daumier (French, 1808– Bathers at Rest has found as a mirror of his or her soul; a challenge to protect a pathway 1879) called Water Carrier. This is the first time that we see the image of a person bear- to enlightenment forged during the height of America’s great era of the 1920s; and, a ing water, but it will not be the last. In this picture Daumier has painted a strongly lesson for all time as to the limitless possibilities of the human mind and the human muscled figure with his back partially turned to us. The man is bent under the burden spirit, contained in the Gardens, Grounds and Galleries of Merion, Pennsylvania. of a heavy bucket of water, and Dr. Barnes has placed him in such a way that he appears to be carrying this bucket of water up an incline. The water carrier seems to be leading the way for the viewer from Gallery VIII into Gallery IX.

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hile Galleries IX and X are the next in line, I think that the imagery of how these galleries and the rest of the galleries of the first floor of the WWestern Wing relate to the first floor of the East Wing may be most easily explained and understood if I first discuss Gallery XI, which is one of the Westernmost galleries at The Barnes. Gallery XI is two galleries away from Daumier’s Water Carrier, but understanding Gallery XI helps us to see the imagery in the intervening galleries in a much clearer way than if I tried to take the reader through Galleries IX and X without giving them the background of The Pirate’s Gallery, Gallery XI. The Pirate, by Giorgio de Chirico, hangs on the Westernmost Wall of The Barnes in Gallery XI. The Pirate is a highly abstract composition. It is very difficult to sort out its imagery until one becomes accustomed to it or until the imagery is otherwise explained. The focal point of The Pirate is a large eye in an abstract composition wearing an old-time straw fly fishing hat. There are a number of items grouped together in the painting including a carpenter’s square, foundation blocks, building material, a pirate’s map of an unfamiliar coastline with a dotted line traversing it, the back of a large painting positioned with its face away from us, and a block and tackle for construction. It seems to me that Dr. Barnes had all of the attributes that de Chirico renders in The Pirate, and that is why I think that if The Pirate isn’t a portrait of Dr. Barnes, it is certainly symbolic of a number of fundamental features of his personal- ity. Dr. Barnes was a great builder who undertook to build his Foundation in Merion; he was an avid world traveler; he was a rapacious collector; and, like a fisherman or a pirate captain, he loved to brag about some of his more daring or hard-won acquisi- tions. Dr. Barnes was seen by many of his time, and probably even by himself, as a wily pirate who had commandeered an immense cache of the world’s greatest late nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century masterpieces. He was a builder and an edu- cator. As an educator, he was also, in a sense, a fisher of men. If we imagine for a moment that de Chirico did The Pirate with an art collector or artist in mind, then in Barnes Rune 2012 Becken Backen this painting we can see a great example of how effectively modern representational Chardin blows his bubble of psychic transport through the clock mosaic and maybe the abstraction, or cubism, can explain the many characteristics of a subject at once: in this round mouth of the tankard on the Temple Gallery Wall. case, through the genius of de Chirico, The Pirate may help us to see the many elusive It is interesting to note that Gallery XI is directly opposite Gallery IV in The characteristics of this art collector or artist in ways that we could not otherwise have Barnes. Gallery VI is in the middle of the three Eastern facing Galleries on the first seen. floor and Gallery XI is in the middle of the three Western facing Galleries on the first In addition to revealing something about the collector, I believe that The Pirate floor. The presence of the image of a tankard in each room, Gallery IV and Gallery XI, reveals something about the symbolism of the art collection as well. The Pirate’s one The Temple Gallery and The Pirate’s Gallery, respectively, is one of several notable cor- large eye surveys Gallery XI from its West Wall. One time while I was discussing this respondences between various East and West facing Galleries. It is also important to painting with the head of security at The Barnes, Phil Esco, he told me how unusual he note that in Gallery VI we see the tankard in a painting and in Gallery XI we see the thought it was that the eye seemed to follow you around the room. I agree with him. tankard in three dimensions and crafted in metal. Sometimes something may be found The eye is like a large watchful eye. The West Wall is the side closest to The Residence in the imagery of the Western Wing that helps us to understand the imagery that we where Dr. and Mrs. Barnes slept, which underscores the possibility that Dr. Barnes, at see in the Eastern Wing; and, if we look closely, we shall see that there are a number of least, meant The Pirate’s eye to be his own. The Pirate’s eye seems to scrutinize each such images just in Gallery XI alone that build upon the imagery that we have seen in visitor that enters Gallery XI. I like to think of the eye as an all-seeing eye. Another the Eastern Wing. security team member is fond of saying that “Dr. Barnes is watching” as he counsels us The tankard itself, for instance, just inscribed with the words “Becken Backen” to be on our best behavior—I wonder if there isn’t more truth to that than he might without more, would be merely wishful thinking unless The Pirate also had some power think? and instrumentality to effectuate his wish to beckon souls back to The Barnes and to The Pirate is done by Giorgio de Chirico, who is the same artist who painted Dr. win them. The answer may lie in the imagery of The Pirate painting itself. In that Barnes’ portrait which hangs in The Residence about thirty feet away from and in a painting we see the block and tackle, which represents physics and the amplification diagonal line directly across from the spot where The Pirate hangs. This is the first of force to move mass through space. In addition, we see a carpenter’s T-square and the relation between a painting hanging in The Residence and a painting hanging in The back of a painting canvas, which suggests that the building of a place associated with Barnes Galleries. Both are by de Chirico, so I like to think that The Pirate symbolically art, like The Barnes, may have something to do with the process. The one-eyed Pirate represents an abstract extension of the Portrait of Dr. Barnes from The Residence into is in a fly-fisherman’s hat as if he is the allegorical fisher of men. And, finally, we see a the Galleries. If Dr. Barnes left little to chance, his image, the image of The Pirate, star- dotted line traversing a map. This dotted line could represent The Pirate’s many travels ing from the direction of The Residence, occupies an auspicious place in the ensembles or, it could say something specifically about The Barnes in terms of the imaginary sight as he faces out from The Residence where de Chirico’s other, more conventional portrait lines or sight vectors that we encounter here. of Dr. Barnes is situated. On the last topic of imaginary sight lines or sight vectors, the West Wing of The Dr. Barnes has placed an object on a small stand directly in front of The Pirate in Barnes and the connection between the West and East Wings of The Barnes are emi- Gallery XI, which is a stein or tankard with the German word “Becken” on the front nently more understandable on a symbolic level if we discuss them in terms of imagi- of the lid and the words “Backen” and “Win” on the body of the stein. The use of the nary sight lines or sight vectors. Dr. Barnes was a baseball player. At batting practice words “Becken Backen” marks the first place where the imagery of The Barnes con- a baseball player is told to visualize his swing and to hit for the fence. In a way, The tains something of Dr. Barnes’s Pennsylvania Dutch heritage. Does The Pirate “becken” Pirate is like a baseball player standing in the batter’s box. With his all-seeing eye, (beckon) souls “backen” (back) to The Barnes? What is The Pirate meant to help “win”? perhaps he sees through walls and into all the first floor Galleries of The Barnes swivel- Is he meant to help win humanity’s hearts and minds in the struggle to keep The ing his eye like a surveyor’s azimuth or an artilleryman’s sighting device. But before we Barnes in Merion? Is he meant to win against even death itself by creating a place of examine what he sees past the Wall of his Gallery, we will look at what The Pirate sees eternal peace and life at The Barnes? This is not the first place that we have seen a tan- as he surveys the Walls of the Gallery that he occupies. The first image that he sees if kard in The Barnes. The first place has been in Gallery IV as part of the clock mosaic he looks from left to right from his position on the West Wall would be the image of on the South Wall of Gallery IV. There, the tavern maid’s tankard carries the water of St. Rita di Cascia on the East Wall of Gallery XI, and next to her is a painting by Joan mystical conveyance into Gallery IV, the Temple Gallery, as the boy in the painting by Miro called Group of Personages.

128 129 Barnes Rune 2012 Becken Backen

This image of St. Rita di Cascia is called Santa Rita de Cascia by Pedro Antonio large, loop-shaped pliers with round shapes. Has The Pirate, through the figure of the Fresquis (New Mexican, 1749-1831). St. Rita, of all things, is the patron saint of bather looking through the lime green passage in the Bathers at Rest, been transformed impossible causes. The fight to save The Barnes often seems to be an impossible cause into the substantive, three-dimensional propeller-headed metal figure to help grasp because all the forces of the rich and powerful have seemingly aligned against the the pliers on the North Wall of Gallery VII? I believe that Dr. Barnes intended this preservation of Dr. Barnes’ vision in Merion. St. Rita is also known for miraculous metal humanoid form to represent an incarnation of The Pirate who now has a three- transport. It is said that St. Rita, a widow who had suffered years of abuse and domestic dimensional form and who can reach out across the confines of space and time and even violence at the hands of her husband, approached a convent to devote herself to prayer across the river of Death itself in order to grab the handles of the pliers that face West after the death of her husband and sons. However, the nuns of the convent turned her on the Northern Wall of Gallery VII to help pull the souls of America’s warriors to this away and bolted the door because they thought she was too comely to be in a convent. place of peace in the Galleries and Gardens at Merion. Perhaps these pliers also pull at Weeping, she curled up on the ground outside the door and went to sleep. One of her our own souls and draw us into the heart of Merion as Dr. Barnes reaches across time miracles is that at night, while the nuns slept, St. Rita was transported, through the and death to inspire us to see and feel more deeply. intercession of St. John the Baptist, through the locked convent door and was found On the North Wall of the next Gallery, Gallery VI, even farther to the East, we see asleep inside on the convent floor in the morning. The story of St. Rita suggests the a drawing by Charles Demuth called Three Figures in Water. It is as if the metal figure miraculous transport that I have proposed previously in connection with my discussion on the West Wall of Gallery VII is meant to pull these three figures from or through of the Flanders Field theme in Galleries II through VII. It is the miraculous power of the water, unifying East with West. This ties-in with the imagery of the Lipchitz bas- God through his saints, in this case, St. Rita, who gives The Pirate the power to win relief on the façade of the East Wing outside Gallery VII and, once again, with the souls back to The Barnes. The Pirate is a helper in the mystical transport of The Barnes Lulu imagery. I have noted before that the arpeggio of the opera Lulu is like a triangle that is suggested in the imagery of St. Rita. that falls off in the same manner that it builds which makes the musical score look However, The Pirate is just canvas; he would have to have some materiality to con- like a mirror of itself when this crescendo ascends and descends. The focal point of duct such a difficult operation as pulling souls back into The Barnes. This is where the The Pirate’s energy and the place where the pulling is to take place is the West Wall metal figure on the West Wall of Gallery VII comes in. The head of the metal figure of Gallery VII. That is where we find the metal figure with what could be a propeller on the West Wall is formed by what looks like it could be part of a propeller blade, for a head. If the Pirate is to assist the passing of souls into the Merion Garden, then suggesting that this figure may be particularly well suited and designed for transport we would expect some confirmation of this on the West Wall of Gallery VII near the through water. A painting by Henri Rousseau (Fr. 1844-1910) on the East Wall of doorway out into the Garden visible through the windows of the Main Hall. I think we Gallery XI under the retablo of St. Rita di Cascia, called The Laundry Boat of the Pont find confirmation of this in the portrait ofMrs. Monet Embroidering near that doorway. de Charenton (circa 1895) recalls the name of the boatman, Charon, who ferried souls When I mentioned the idea of the opera Lulu to a Barnes educator, Michael across the River of Death, the Styx. We have already seen imagery of the River Styx Rossman, he compared it to impressionism and the building up of paint strokes, one in The Barnes in several places associated with The Flanders Field Theme. We see it alongside of the other, into a crescendo of color to form an image – sort of like the ris- first in Gallery V in the River of Death in the two Cezannes on the South Wall from ing crescendo of the opera Lulu. He specifically used the example of the painting Mrs. which “The Flanders 43” emerge; then, we see it again in Gallery V in the image of St. Monet Embroidering because it seems that the painting is made-up completely with Barbara standing on the bank of the River of Death on the East Wall. Now, we seem to brushstrokes and without the use of line at all. This painting of Mrs. Monet Embroidering have crossed the River of Death as we look at Hermes looking over his shoulder at us on is an image of a placid and warm home life. It is an image of Mrs. Monet sitting in an the River edge as he stands partially immersed in Cezanne’s river in the Small Bathers or enclosed sun porch knitting quietly in the sunlight. Although she appears to be sitting Bathers at Rest on the East Wall of Gallery VIII, the beginning of the Western Wing on indoors, she is a vision of domestic tranquility surrounded by a canopy of effusive color the first floor. Is the metal figure with a head that could be a propeller blade a ferryman that seems to suggest foliage. It is an unusual effect. The effusion of color on the periph- of The Barnes assisting The Pirate to bring the honored souls home? ery of the painting gives the illusion of movement and this makes Mrs. Monet in the Also in Gallery VII, on the North Wall, there are two large open interlocking still center of the painting seem even more placid and still than if we did not have this antique metal pliers which cryptically reach for one another from two different direc- contrast. I think that the placement of the painting goes nicely with the Lulu theme tions, the West reaching for the East and the East reaching for the West. The pliers are because it is as if in this area, at the spot of the focal point where East meets West, that

130 131 Barnes Rune 2012 Becken Backen home and the garden would come into focus for the passing souls. It is here that the seem as if they would mesh perfectly with one another, sort of like the pliers that meet invisible hand of The Pirate would come to help grasp the pliers to help complete the one another in Gallery VII on the other side of The Foundation. These implements passing of the souls. From there they could proceed under Sacre Coeur, Montmartre, to are the instrumentality by which The Pirate succeeds in pulling the souls back into The the garden beyond where they just might find their own placid vision of tranquility. Barnes and in meeting the challenge Dr. Barnes has set before him. Right next to the metal figure which looks like it may have a propeller for a head on the West Wall of Gallery VII is a drawing by Joan Miro (Spanish, 1893–1983) on the North Wall of Gallery VII called Two Women Surrounded by Birds (1937). Some of Miro’s looped constructs look just like the large loop pliers on the opposite side of the window on the same North Wall of Gallery VII. Other constructs in the painting could represent spirits. It is as if the Two Women Surrounded by Birds are part of this cross-gallery correspondence as the interlocking pliers meet each other in The Pirate’s cross-gallery sight vector. This extended imagery tied to the pliers in Gallery VII sug- gests that Gallery VII is some sort of lock, like an air-lock, that facilitates or actual- izes the transference of the souls of the remembered to the garden visible through the Southern doorway of Gallery VII and the large windows of the Main Hall just beyond. These pliers in Gallery VII are the same pliers that the child in The Laundress contem- plates. The child is the hope for the future and the vessel for the perpetuation of the lessons or times past. From his position in the garden of The Laundress the child wit- nesses the continuum of time and the passing over of the souls through this utopian place. Miro’s Two Women Surrounded by Birds suggests not only the pliers but the images in Miro’s Group of Personages in the West Wing of The Barnes on the West Wall of Gallery XI, The Pirate’s Gallery, as if those Personages have magically appeared there from Gallery VII or are part of the magical continuum of this cross-gallery conduit of The Barnes, having been pulled through The Barnes by the energy of The Pirate. Above Two Women Surrounded by Birds is Sailboats, Crete by Alexis Gritchenko (Ukranian, 1921). Have the sailboats of Gallery VII brought the group of personages from that East Wing gallery to the West Wing Gallery XI? If so, we might expect to see some sailboats in Gallery XI. And, of course, we see in Gallery XI the paintings by Raoul Dufy (French, 1877–1953) on top of both doorways that show sailboats in water called The Departure of the Six-Meter Boats (circa 1936) on the South Wall and August 15 at Deauville (1931) on the North Wall. Gritchenko’s and Dufy’s sailboats underscore the concept that a conveyance through water is taking place. And if the reader thinks that this theme of metal implements for pulling the souls into The Foundation is just a coincidence or an accident, back in the same room as The Pirate and Group of Personages, Dr. Barnes has placed a second set of metal grabbing implements on the North Wall of Gallery XI. There he has placed two identical metal tools with curled ends and handles that seem to be grabbing tools. At first, there seems to be no explanation for these utensils, but, upon further examination, these utensils

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lso on the East Wall of Gallery XI that The Pirate’s eye looks at eternally from his location on the West Wall of the same gallery is a large Matisse called ABlue Still Life (late 1907). This painting is important from an educational perspective at The Barnes because it is a major example of Matisse’s use of implied lines in his art. Michael Rossman, an educator at The Barnes, talks about Blue Still Life as containing passages through the painting by virtue of its many horizontal and vertical implied lines that extend from one end of the canvas to the other. If this is so, then the painting is an appropriate choice for a room where I contend that Dr. Barnes meant to be a symbolic passageway. Here, on the same Wall with St. Rita and Miro’s group of personages, we find a painting that primes an educator to talk about passages. Some say that Blue Still Life has two heads hidden in the imagery and that these heads look at one another; one head is in the lower left corner of the painting and the other is said to be hidden in the alabaster water jug in the upper right middle part of the painting. Is The Pirate the face in the water jug, and has Dr. Barnes placed this painting here to confirm that The Pirate himself is looking across The Barnes, and per- haps across space and time, for others who are represented by the face in the lower left corner of the Blue Still Life? If the face in the jug is the reflection of The Pirate, is it The Pirate’s abstract face that we see or Dr. Barnes’s own reflection? And, if that reflection is Dr. Barnes looking for something, is it possible that he looks across the span of The Barnes for the homeward-bound souls of our battle dead in every age until we make war no more. And until then, perhaps he and Dr. Cret offer The Merion Foundation as an allegory of honor to all who die in the service of this nation and a beacon to show them a way home on that same mystical path of remembrance traversed by the dead of The Great War. In my estimation, there are many paintings in Gallery XI that suggest passages not just because the room was meant to teach the subject of implied line in artisan- ship but also because The Pirate requires many secret passages to carry out his tasks at The Barnes. Next to Blue Still Life is a painting by Henri Rousseau called The Family Barnes Rune 2012 Passages

(1890–1893 or 1897–1900) which is another good example of the use of implied line. The vine reminds us of the vine in the implied sight line of the vine in Rousseau’s The In The Family, we see a group of people sitting in front of a house. On the wall of the Family, which is also on the East Wall of Gallery XI. And the lacy blue flowers which house is one creeping vine of ivy that extends horizontally across the face of the house. seem almost connected across the top of Rousseau’s bouquet also suggest an implied At the center of the house is an open doorway. The vine crossing the face of the house connection. The lacy blue flowers also remind us of the creeping vines ofWisteria sinen- stops abruptly at one side of the open doorway, disappears, then reappears and contin- sis in the Garden that connect the natural aspects of the Garden to The Residence and ues out of the other side of the black of the doorway as if nothing happened. The vine which suggest memory and remembrance. seems to have gone behind the open doorway and emerged out of the other side. We There are many such passages in the paintings of this room. A few good examples know that this is illogical in reality, but the illogical continuation of the vine doesn’t of paintings that imply transit are Raoul Dufy’s sailboat paintings above both door- upset the viewer’s eye at all and, instead, seems perfectly natural in Rousseau’s paint- ways. Dufy’s boats seem to emerge from areas of color as if the areas of color are optical ing. On the opposite side of the Matisse Blue Still Life is a small painting called Mullion passageways. On the South Wall, we see two paintings by Chaim Soutine (Group of Cove (1933) by Jean Hugo (French, 1894–1984) which shows a canal passing directly Trees [circa 1922] to the viewer’s left and Landscape of Gourdon [circa 1920-21] to the through the painting from the foreground to the background. viewer’s right) that are a swirl of dark colors but that have ‘passages’ of the color black Mullion Cove shows an aqueduct without water. There are ships in the dry aqueduct that extend from the bottom to the top of each painting. At the apex of the same South but they are beached and without any water to float them. If we traced a line between Wall of Gallery XI where Dr. Barnes has placed the aforesaid Soutines, there is a paint- the Portrait of Dr. Barnes in The Residence diagonally through the eye of The Pirate on ing by Pablo Picasso of a group of objects arranged on the background of a black circle the West Wall of Gallery XI and the image of St. Rita on the North Wall of Gallery in a painting called Violin, Sheet Music, and Bottle (circa 1914). The black circle in which XI, this extended line of sight or sight vector would fall on Daumier’s Water Carrier on the violin, sheet music, and bottle are located seems to suggest that these objects are the West Wall of Gallery VIII. As The Pirate looks at the dry canal in Mullion’s Cove, is resting in the hollow of a wall. The hollow in the wall could also suggest a passage. it he who sees the need for water and, so seeing, does he beckon or ask Daumier’s water I mention this imagery of passageways at this juncture because I believe that the carrier from Gallery VIII to bring water from the River Styx to the dry canal? After all, eye of The Pirate is a focal point of the energizing force of The Barnes that traverses what is a Pirate without ship or water? How can this Pirate, a guardian of The Barnes, the courses and passageways of The Barnes to bring the music and the meaning of The operate without water? Barnes to life. The force that the eye of The Pirate is focusing can actually be found by Mullion Cove is placed by Dr. Barnes within a different sight line or sight vector going outside and onto the grounds of the Merion Estate. There, on the Northern exte- that extends diagonally from the Portrait of Dr. Barnes in The Residence, through the rior of The Residence, is a stone sculpture that looks like a basin for an eternal flame. Eye of The Pirate on the West Wall of Gallery XI, through the aqueduct of Mullion Cove There is no fire in the basin but here at Merion, in this place of wonder and imagina- on the East Wall of Gallery XI, through the figure standing in the stream in theBathers tion, the flame burns within the mind’s eye. The flame burns with the force of eternal at Rest on the East Wall of Gallery VIII and, ultimately, back to the Eastern Wing of remembrance. It seems to sanctify this special American place. The Barnes through a sight line that might fall between Renoir’s Torso looking East and Renoir’s Nude Wading looking West, which are both on the West Wall of Gallery VII. This sight line begins to tie the Flanders Field theme in the East Wing to The Pirate in the West Wing. Is the water that the Water Carrier is bringing to Mullion Cove the water of understanding through baptism, mystical transport and protection to assist the pirate in his guardianship of The Barnes? In this way the imagery of the Western Wing of The Barnes begins to meet the imagery of the Eastern Wing of The Barnes, much like the hands cupped together in the Lipchitz relief meet one another on the exterior wall outside of Gallery VII. In this same area of the East Wall below Mullion Cove, Dr. Barnes has placed a painting by Henri Rousseau called Bouquet of Flowers (1909–10), which has little blue flowers gracing the top of the bouquet like a crown with a vine in the tablecloth below.

136 137 Chapter 21 The Eternal Flame, the Soldier, and the Knight by Jacques Lipchitz

irectly above the stone fire basin on the Northern façade of The Residence is a Jacques Lipchitz bas-relief that seems to have a face and a torso of a figure Dwith a hat on its head. The hat resembles either a tricorne hat worn by the Minutemen, America’s militia of the American War of Independence, or a bicorne hat, worn by military officers of the nineteenth century. I believe that Lipchitz has purpo- sively crafted the hat in this sculpture so that it could be interpreted to be either the tricorne hat or the bicorne hat for a reason. And, furthermore, he has masterfully shaped this very cubist-looking sculpture to make it seem as if the hats have merged and are one and the same. This is a significant concept both for the relationship between America and Europe and for The Barnes/Flanders Field Memorial Chapel relationship. The Minutemen fired the shot heard ‘round the world and brought about the great experiment in democracy which is the Republic of the United States. The bicorne hat is often associated with Napoleon but has also been the official dress of the officers of many great European armies and navies. The connection between The Barnes and France is undeniable because a great deal of the art in The Barnes is by artists with a French origin or connection. Further, America’s concept of “liberty” in its Revolution became the French cry of “liberte” in that country’s Revolution, which explains Jacques Lipchitz’s cubist welding of the images of both countries in The Residence bas-relief. Napoleon’s ascension to power was a watershed event for Europe because it marked the end of the civil instability of the French Revolution, and he and his officers brought order to the French Republic. The French still utilize the Napoleonic Code as a basis for their legal system. Napoleon was a brilliant military tactician. One of Napoleon’s greatest adversaries, the Duke of Wellington, is quoted as having said that Napoleon’s hat on the battlefield was worth fifty thousand soldiers; so, his hat was definitely an important one in world history. In a larger sense, The Barnes, as we have seen, marks a Barnes Rune 2012 The Eternal Flame, the Soldier, and the Knight by Jacques Lipchitz site of communication of souls, so to speak, between America and all of Europe in The in America to the struggle for democracy in Europe. These images mark the single Barnes/Flanders Field connection. most important purpose of The Barnes, which is to unify the old world and the new in The Jacques Lipchitz bas-relief on the North Wall of The Residence can also be the grandeur of this American country estate where these great stone reliefs by Jacques interpreted to unify these grand images of America and Europe into one image, the Lipchitz preside over this magnificent place of world peace. image of the Minutemen, the soldiers of the great American army of the eighteenth In The Pirate’s Gallery in the center of the South Wall near the tankard that con- century who responded to the call of liberty that rang forth from America’s colonies, tains the words “Becken Backen” is a painting by Amedeo Modigliani of a thin demure and the image of all the great European armies of the nineteenth century which formed woman in a white blouse with short red hair. On the small table before her, Dr. Barnes the alliances and sowed the seeds of modern Europe. While the hat on the head of has placed two candles which are the same color as her blouse. The thinness of her Jacques Lipchitz’s bas-relief looks like a soldier’s hat, the torso of the figure is shaped frame and the shock of red hair on her head reminds us of a candle. This symbol of a like a bird or a dove. The image of the dove suggests that it is the soldiers of democ- candle so near to The Residence fire basin repeats the unmistakable image of an eter- racy and liberty that bring peace. Perhaps the soldiers of liberty in this coming Age nal flame. The candle imagery seems to conclusively tie Gallery XI to The Residence of Enlightenment will finally win an everlasting peace. At least it is something the fire basin. And, since the other imagery in Gallery XI in the West Wing ties Gallery utopian-minded Dr. Barnes would challenge us to strive for. XI back to the East Wing, the imagery of the first-floor East Wing of The Barnes, the The dove-shaped torso seems to have a very strong arm extending from its right first-floor West Wing of The Barnes and the north façade of The Residence all seem hand side. You can tell it is an arm because there are fingers at the end. The other arm to tie together to form a comprehensive allegorical whole, a living message of eternal circles around from the left hand side of the torso and seems to end in a point. Lipchitz remembrance from America’s past. has placed the torso itself on a central pin, fulcrum, or swivel point as if this fulcrum It should be noted that I have often felt that the image of this cubist Knight on the will provide the strength of the torso’s granite arm additional leverage for pulling. Keystone of the walkway connecting The Residence and The Galleries might also rep- Behind the torso are striated carved lines that could be meant to be wings, tense, and resent those citizens of Pennsylvania, The Keystone State, who will step-up to defend poised for flight. The Barnes in Merion. It is never too late. As far as I know, they are not replicating This bas-relief and the fire basin are in a straight line with The Pirate in Gallery The Residence, the fire basin or the aforesaid bas-reliefs at the Barnes on the Benjamin XI. Between the bas-relief, the fire basin, andThe Pirate is another bas-relief by Jacques Franklin Parkway site which, in my opinion, will compromise the entire message of Lipchitz in the keystone position on the outside of the stone archway that connects The The Barnes. Residence and The Galleries. This keystone bas-relief could be a knight with a shield on an armored horse. To the viewer’s left in the bas-relief is what appears to be the head of a horse. In the center of the bas-relief is a shield. At the top of the bas-relief is a dia- mond shape which could be the armored head of a knight. In the middle of the relief appears to be a weapon the knight holds in his hand. In the bottom half of the bas-relief appear to be horses’ hooves as if the horse is charging forth across the passage of the archway from The Residence to The Galleries. This second bas-relief may signify that the image of the soldier in the bas-relief is a new knight and a modern Templar who is honored at The Barnes. And as a modern knight, Dr. Barnes may intend that he be an agent of the miraculous reanimation and remembrance of all the warriors of democracy and peace to whom the Flanders Field theme in Galleries IV and III of The Barnes and the Flanders Field Chapel in Belgium are dedicated. Does this modern soldier exercise his duties through the agency of The Pirate? The interlocking images in these two bas reliefs not only connect the imagery of The Residence, in Merion, Pennsylvania, to the Flanders Field theme in Galleries IV and III and to the Flanders Field Chapel in Waregam, Belgium, but they also connect the imagery of the struggle for democracy

140 141 Chapter 22 The Passage of A Group of Personages through a Dry Canal

he Group of Personages in Gallery XI has been described by The Barnes scholars on their Corbis CD as “magic humanoid forms.” We also see these same forms Tin the painting by Joan Miro called Two Women Surrounded by Birds all the way back in Gallery VII, which confirms, in my estimation, that Dr. Barnes has placed these two similar pictures where he has to accentuate a cross-gallery correspondence between Gallery VII and Gallery XI, and that The Pirate somehow ties into the concept that the souls of the remembered war dead are meant to have been magically brought back to The Barnes and are welcome additions thereto. A further element of this theory is the utensils that I have described in Gallery XI which suggest the interlocking pliers in Gallery VII and seem to reinforce the theme that The Soldier of Liberty through the agency of The Pirate will reach across the River of Death to help pull the souls of The Remembered home again. There is one final aspect to this imagery: The Pirate in Gallery XI is next to Gallery X, which has been termed ‘The Elbow Room” because it houses many paintings showing figures with bent elbows. For instance, there is A Soutine in the Center of the East Wall of Gallery X called Blue Woman (1919) which has a bent elbow. To the viewer’s left of the Soutine is Matisse’s Green Dress (1919) which has a woman with a bent elbow. Picasso’s Girl with a Cigarette (1901) in the Center of the South Wall of Gallery X also has a bent elbow. Matisse’s Odalisque (1920-21) and Reclining Odalisque (1928) on the South Wall both show figures with bent elbows. Other paintings with bent elbows are Pierre Bonnard’s Evening under a Lamp (1903), Modigliani’s incredible Red-headed Girl in Evening Dress (1918), Picasso’s Young Acrobat, Picasso’s Woman on Striped Floor (1903) and Modigliani’s Pink Nude Caryatid (1913). This list is far from inclusive. The idea of The Elbow Room in the context of The Pirate in the adjacent Gallery, Gallery XI, and of the Pliers in Gallery VII is important, because if The Pirate had to perform a strenuous task like Barnes Rune 2012 energizing The Barnes and pulling the honored dead of World War I into The Barnes, he would need some elbow room to give a really strong pull. The Elbow Room, Gallery X, provides the metal man, with his arms positioned on the wall above the samovar in Gallery VII, through the agency of the Pirate in Gallery XI, with extra strength to reach for the pliers in Gallery VII and to grasp them with all the might that Dr. Barnes can conjure (like pulling on a lifeline in a hurricane) to pull the souls of our decease service personnel who sleep in foreign lands back home to Chapter 23 Merion, back to a place of eternal peace. The Synapse

f there is a cross-gallery correspondence going on through multiple galleries, there should be evidence of this in Gallery IX which is between the Westernmost IGalleries and the Easternmost Galleries. I believe that if we go into Gallery IX, we find further evidence of this cross-gallery correspondence because the imagery of East meeting with West is emphasized in Gallery IX. In Gallery IX, if one looks at a Renoir called Landscape with Figures near Cagnes (1910) on the Eastern Wall which is the paint- ing that is second from the Southeast corner of the Eastern Wall of Gallery IX where it meets the Southern Wall of Gallery IX, one sees a tree with limbs that seem to form a canopy in the Northern side of the painting or in the left side of the painting from the viewer’s perspective. This canopy extends from the Northeast to the Southwest. The painting closest to the same corner on the Southern Wall of Gallery IX is Claude Monet’s House Boat, (1876) which also shows branches of a tree extending through the painting. In the case of House Boat the tree branches are extending from Southwest to Northeast or from the right side of the painting. The branches in these two paintings seem to be reaching for one another like nerve endings in a synapse or like energized electricity in the lightning of a cloud burst. Also in Renoir’s tree canopy there is an image of a disembodied “S” on its side, which is somewhat reminiscent of the revolu- tionary war image of the snake on the flag stating “Join or Die.” The message seems to be that we must join with our forebearers or all that we stand for as a society will perish. There are three Renoir figures of women on the South and West Walls that seem to look at this synaptic connection between the trees in Landscape with Figures near Cagnes and House Boat. These women all seem to be looking East in the same direction as the imaginary sight line or sight vector of The Pirate as if they suggest a continuation of this sight line of The Pirate. And, not only are they looking East, but they seem to be looking at what is going on in the tree canopies in Landscape with Figures near Cagnes and House Boat as if drawing our attention to the correspondence between these two paint- ings and the cross-gallery connection these paintings may represent. Perhaps they are spectators hoping that the Pirate will make the connection between the East and West

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Wings of The Barnes. The first such portrait of a woman is Girl on Balcony at Cagnes (1911) in the Southeast corner of the South Wall directly above House Boat. The second portrait of a woman is Woman with Hat, Reading (circa 1917–19) on the Westernmost corner of the South Wall. And the third portrait of a woman is Woman in Muslin Dress (circa1917-18) on the Southernmost portion of the West Wall of Gallery IX. The magic of the cross-gallery correspondence may be echoed in a painting by Renoir that is also on the South Wall to the viewer’s far right called Autumn Landscape Chapter 24 (circa 1884), for if we look at this painting one can recognize a blurring created by Renoir’s brushstrokes in the center of the painting as if the wind is whipping up or as The Pirate, The Cyclops, and if there are spirits upon the path in the painting where we can see a subtle translucent suggestion that something unearthly or magical is occurring. I would note that in the The Cauldrons of “Ker-Feal ” middle of the synapse, Monet’s house boat drifts placidly in the water of mystical con- veyance. Monet used his house boat as an open air studio. Through the open door of the house boat, we can see Monet toiling away at his craft as he drifts silently across the he energy of The Pirate’s Gallery flows from the West toward the East while the water. In this way, Dr. Barnes’s placement of House Boat could be seen to be an allegory Water of the Water Carrier may come from the water imagery in the East Wing of The Barnes in Merion, a vessel of conveyance where we may labor to find peace. Tflowing from the East to the West. What comes from The Pirate’s Gallery is In the center of the South Wall of Gallery IX is an 1877 painting called Sevres Bridge the strength and energy to accomplish the task of reanimating the stories of the dead by Alfred Sisley (French, 1839–1899) that serves to emphasize the bridging phenom- and of a more authentic spiritual time in America now long past. How this is done is ena that may be taking place in this gallery. The Sevres Bridge implies that we would through understanding of the imagery of The Barnes. As I have said before, I believe expect water to play a role here as a conduit of this magical activity and Dr. Barnes does that The Pirate is a major linchpin of The Foundation. I think the painting is special not disappoint us because he has placed two life-sized Renoirs in the center of both the for several reasons. The first reason is that it represents the first of two instances that we South and East Walls of Gallery IX that seem to suggest water imagery. In Renoir’s see an integral connection between Dr. and Mrs. Barnes’s Residence and the rest of The painting Sailor Boy on the center of the East Wall, the water is in the background and Foundation. Second, I believe that The Pirate is part of a connection of The Foundation the boy is in a sailor suit. In the Renoir on the center of the South Wall, there is water to the imagery of “Ker-Feal,” the Doctor’s mysterious country farmhouse near West imagery in the buoyant blue of the blue dress worn by the Girl in Blue with Jump Rope Chester that, like The Residence, the current administration keeps closed to the public. (1876). To the East of Girl in Blue with Jump Rope is the first of two Matisses showing Third, I believe that The Pirate is important because it connects the Western Wing of the water of the sea and the beach at Etretat, with the first calledBeach at Etretat (1920) The Foundation back into Gallery VII in the Eastern Wing of The Foundation. and the second, on the same South Wall but to the West of Girl in Blue with Jump Rope I will briefly take the visitor miles away to West Chester, Pennsylvania, to Dr. called Etretat, the Sea (1920). Barnes’s country home, “Ker-Feal,” which is Celtic for “The House of Fidele” and which In Beach at Etretat, the water level appears higher than in Etretat, the Sea. The differ- is named for a favorite family dog that Dr. Barnes rescued from a place on the coast of ing water levels may suggest that Honore Daumier’s Water Carrier by the door leading France called Port Manech and who he named Fidele de Port Manech. “Ker-Feal” is into Gallery IX from Gallery VIII is slowly filling up Gallery IX until the water level a historically accurate pre-Revolutionary War farmhouse in West Chester. There Dr. reaches dry Mullion Cove in Gallery XI beyond. The energy in the tree tops suggests a Barnes fashioned figures that appear to be upright dogs from found metal objects and conduit that may permit travel in both Eastern and Western directions: the water that placed them in at least two places on the bare white walls. Dogs that can walk should Daumier’s Water Carrier brings flows toward The Pirate and the dry canal in Mullion remind us of the Egyptian priests who wore the black masks of the guardian Anubis as Cove while the energy and understanding of The Pirate flows back toward the Flanders they prepared the bodies of the dead for burial. Field Galleries to guide the souls back to The Barnes. “Ker-Feal” has an odd feel to it. I have included in the appendix some of the pic- tures that are available of “Ker-Feal” through the Library of Congress in the Gottscho- Schliesner collection. As private as Dr. Barnes is often accused of being, he actually

146 Barnes Rune 2012 The Pirate, The Cyclops, and The Cauldrons of “Ker-Feal ” permitted pictures of “Ker-Feal” to be made a part of the Library of Congress. I am not appears to be a correspondence both to the theme of the two metal Cyclops images sure why he did this, but I suspect that he may have wanted to let the scholars among at The Barnes as well as to the theme of Anubis who we see in the coffin fragment in us into a little secret that might not have otherwise been permitted to us. The public Gallery XVI directly above The Pirate. If this is the case, is this correspondence or com- is currently not permitted access to “Ker-Feal,” and even students are not allowed to munication between The Barnes in Merion and “Ker-Feal” in West Chester an indica- go upstairs at “Ker-Feal,” allegedly due to structural concerns at this historic place tor of a new mythology taking shape, a modern mythology of rebirth and powers from which are apparently not being corrected by the current “trustees” or by Pennsylvania beyond the grave? Governor Rendell or the Pennsylvania Legislature, even while they are dedicating The one-eyed metal dog affixed to the East Wall of “Ker-Feal” in one of the period, untold millions to dismantling The Barnes in Merion in the name of the public good. un-electrified rooms is only one of several strange decorative elements of an otherwise I am taking what I know about “Ker-Feal” from the Library of Congress records traditional eighteenth century farmhouse. The unusual nature of some of the things one and from a brief private tour that I had of the downstairs and the grounds of the West sees at “Ker-Feal” seems to suggest that they have a symbolic meaning far beyond com- Chester estate. What one sees at “Ker-Feal” is an eerie white-walled farmhouse made of mon understanding as if they were ritualistic or talismanic. For instance, Dr. Barnes has hand hewn timbers and indigenous stone. There are several fireplaces, and one in par- two cauldrons set up at “Ker-Feal” in identical and unusual compositions or ensembles. ticular in the kitchen that a person could easily stand inside and is of the size that would The cauldrons are upstairs as well as downstairs at “Ker-Feal” and each cauldron is be required to warm an eighteenth-century farmer’s family in the hard Pennsylvania placed between two chairs and two candle stands, which suggests to me at least the pos- winters. The fireplace that I am talking of is adorned with a massive collection of pre- sibility that Dr. Barnes could have been using these as props in some sort of primitive, Revolutionary utensils and iron work. It reminds one of a forge. mystical ritual of rebirth or to see the future. One of the most interesting things about The Pirate in Gallery IX of The Barnes Cauldrons have played prominent roles in Celtic mythology and include the is that the Pirate’s single eye is like the eye of the Cyclops. This theme of the Cyclops Gundestrup Cauldron, the Cauldron of Bran the Blessed, and the Cauldron of Cerwiden. is played out in other parts of The Barnes as well as in “Ker-Feal.” There are two one- The Gundestrup Cauldron, unearthed in Denmark in 1891 and dated to the first cen- eyed cyclops masks in the antique crafts on the Southern walls of two upstairs gal- tury BC is the largest known example of early European silverwork showing what is leries, Gallery XXIII in the East Wing and Gallery XIV in the West Wing. Three thought to be a pantheon of Celtic gods. The Cauldron of Bran the Blessed is very Cyclops outfitted Zeus in his fight against the primitive Titans from whom he wrestled interesting to me in the context of The Barnes because it was said to have had restor- dominion and control of the world. It is said that while working at their forge, the ative powers. The bodies of warriors killed in battle were thrown into Bran’s cauldron three Cyclops create thunder in heaven as they craft Zeus’s thunderbolts. They are the and would emerge reanimated to resume fighting. Is Dr. Barnes conjuring a reborn or patrons of Freemasons because they were renowned builders of the Peloponnesian Wall reanimated warrior-guardian of his own in the imagery of this area of The Barnes? at Mycenae. They are often depicted at the forge. Dr. Barnes has placed a figure of the guardian, Anubis, in the upstairs gallery of The Around the large kitchen hearth at “Ker-Feal,” Dr. Barnes seems to have accentu- Barnes that is directly above The Pirate. Are these two images intertwined in the sym- ated the theme of the use of the hearth as forge for the hearth is surrounded by antique bolism of the galleries of The Barnes? Does the presence of Anubis signify the rebirth metalwork hung from the ceiling and hearth. But there is something even more unusual of a defender or defenders of The Barnes emerging from Bran’s restorative cauldron to at “Ker-Feal.” The Cyclops were three siblings, and, one would think that if two in The do battle for the principles espoused at The Barnes and the souls honored therein? Do Barnes were made of metal that there should be a third also made of metal. While there the sculpted stone reliefs by Jacques Lipchitz of the charging knight and the colonial is a canvas one-eyed Pirate in the collection at Merion, a Cyclops made of this canvas soldiers unify in the gleam in the eye of The Pirate to represent the champions of The would not be that good at withstanding the heat necessary to forge the thunderbolts Barnes in every age? Is it possible that Dr. Barnes is thinking of reincarnation given his of Zeus. Instead, we only see two Cyclops made of metal in The Barnes. Where, might links to Edgar Cayce who was a leading proponent of the theory of reincarnation? Truth you ask, is the third? may be far stranger than fiction in these quiet country estates. The third metal Cyclops can be found in a metal figure on a first floor Eastern Wall In another Celtic myth, the mythical figure Cerwiden, the mother of the bard of “Ker-Feal” that faces toward The Barnes in Merion. This figure on the East Wall of Taliesin, uses her cauldron filled with water to tell the future. This is called “scrying.” “Ker-Feal” looks like the Egyptian dog Anubis with pointed ears, but has only one eye Cerwiden was thought to be the mother of Merlin, the magician of Arthurian legend. socket, a Cyclops. This image at “Ker-Feal” of a Cyclops in the form of a black dog Merlin also used a cauldron as a source of his mystical power. Dr. Barnes uses images of

148 149 Barnes Rune 2012 The Pirate, The Cyclops, and The Cauldrons of “Ker-Feal ” water throughout the galleries of The Foundation. Water has many positive connota- Woman Writing. It almost seems that Dr. Barnes is conjuring something in these cor- tions at The Barnes. And, both his properties, “Ker-Feal” and Merion, have bodies of responding images of dogs both above the writing desk at “Ker-Feal” and next to the water upon them. As we will see, Dr. Barnes also uses the image of a water carrier or writing desk in Gallery V. Loyalty and faithful action in expressing the defenses of The water bearer at several places in the galleries. Is there some relation between the Breton Barnes is required to fend off those who would move or disturb the Barnes. Loyalty and or Celtic name “Ker-Feal,” the cauldrons of “Ker-Feal,” the mythical image of the caul- fidelity are the noblest qualities of the dog. dron in Celtic history, and the images of Water Bearers at The Barnes? And, if so, what On the opposite side of the same writing desk in Gallery V is a yarn winder which is the connection? The name “Ker-Feal” means “The House of Fidele,” which seems to is identical to one placed in the second floor hallway at “Ker-Feal” beneath a window imply that it is the house of the loyal or faithful one. Perhaps the imagery is to sustain, and between two chairs facing one another. To me, the yarn winder represents action, animate, and energize those who will remain faithful to The Barnesian Experience and infinity, movement, reanimation or a returning through time. The Pirate reaches out who will preserve and defend The Barnes in Merion against those who would appropri- across the galleries that tell his story bringing energy to the tale and inspiring it to be ate her for their own purposes. spun like an old sailor’s yarn. There are other correspondences between the images that we find at “Ker-Feal” and I don’t think that you can discount anything in the imagery of The Barnes. If Dr. at The Barnes. For instance, there are writing desks in both places. There is a full-sized Barnes was conjuring loyal followers to fulfill a mission to peacefully save his institu- writing desk in The School Master’s Desk Room at “Ker-Feal” and one in The Roberts tion and to reveal the mysteries therein to the thinking world at large who might Chest Room at “Ker-Feal.” There is only one full-sized writing desk in The Barnes hear such an appeal and raise a hue and cry to preserve The Barnes in Merion, then which is in Gallery V of The Barnes. (There is a small student desk in Gallery X and the connection of the loyal dog image above a writing desks at “Ker-Feal,” a house one in Gallery XVII, but I believe that that these are related to those galleries as student dedicated to Fidele, his dog, and the presence of a similar image next to a writing rooms which have many helpful teaching examples of works of the early painters in the desk in Gallery V at The Barnes would be further evidence in support of such an collection.) I believe that there is a correspondence between the full-sized writing desks assumption. that we see in “Ker-Feal” and The Barnes because Dr. Barnes seems to have left nothing The images of dogs suggest that it is the mission of those loyal to The Barnes to to chance. Beside the writing desk in Gallery V of The Barnes is a candle holder where protect The Barnes like the guardian Anubis and to reveal its mysteries. And, if the two candles have gone missing. If we compare the present state of Gallery V to the goal is communication and defense, there is no better medium than water. Water is picture cards which accompany the Galleries that were taken when Dr. Barnes was still the symbol of baptism in the Judeo-Christian tradition. It is the symbol of mystical alive, we note that the candles are missing from this candle holder. I often wonder who transport in African tradition and in Edgar Cayce’s spiritualism. And, it is the symbol removed the candles from the candle holder and why the present Administration have of protection against evil spirits in the Anglo-Saxon tradition, such as in the protec- not had them replaced. It is not as if replacement candles are difficult to find. Is this tive aspect of the running water that evil spirits cannot cross, as in the Scottish beliefs image of two candles in a candle holder next to the writing desk disturbing to the cur- enunciated in Burns’ poem about the tam-o’-shanter. rent Administration at The Barnes? What is the message of this image? If candles were Dr. Barnes would most certainly have been able to tell us where every painting in put back in this candle holder, the low placement of this candle holder would make it The Foundation hung with his eyes closed. So, too, does The Pirate’s all-seeing eye seem look like a dog with ears sitting next to the writing table in Gallery V. to watch over matters at The Barnes from Gallery XI without the limitation of walls Dr. Barnes has placed the writing desk at The Barnes along the South Wall of or dividers. “Ker-Feal” is to the West of the Barnes, and The Pirate on the Westernmost Gallery V, the same wall where the forty-three missing soldiers are shown to symboli- Wall of The Barnes seems to be a canvas extension of the metal-rimmed eye of the cally emerge from the river in the two small Cezanne bather images that flank King Cyclops on the Easternmost Wall of “Ker-Feal” many miles away. The Portrait of Dr. David at his harp. The writing desk at The Barnes is also within sight of Bonnard’s Barnes in The Residence looks through the East Wall of The Residence toward the West Young Woman Writing in Gallery VI, which seems to double for an image of a dog with Wall of the adjoining Gallery building where The Pirate hangs. Does the Pirate’s eye his paws up on the table. Dog images are connected to the writing desks in both loca- suggest that Dr. Barnes as well as a mystical guardian from “Ker-Feal” watches across tions, at “Ker-Feal” and at The Barnes in Gallery V. The dog image at “Ker-Feal” is in the span of space and time through The Pirate’s eye, always guarding The Foundation? the metal figures on the walls above both writing desks there. In addition, Dog images The eye of The Pirate may be an important focus of the deeper meanings in the painting at The Barnes are found both in the candle stand next to the writing desk and in Young and craft ensembles throughout The Foundation.

150 151 Barnes Rune 2012 The Pirate, The Cyclops, and The Cauldrons of “Ker-Feal ”

On the same West Wall of Gallery XI where The Pirate is located, Dr. Barnes has year following his death in 1231 AD at the age of thirty-six. He is the patron saint of placed an image of the Archangel Raphael, a holy defender, who is placed here perhaps lost things, the patron saint of the oppressed. He is the patron saint of the American as an example or as an aide to The Pirate. In addition, St. Rita is the patron of impos- Indian. He is a patron of the mail and he is the patron of those struggling against cor- sible causes. As such, is The Pirate, like the Cyclops of old who outfitted Zeus in his ruption in government. In 1946 St. Anthony was named a Doctor of the Church. The epic battle against the Titans, able to outfit the defenders of The Barnes with the ability miracles associated with his name or obtained by his intercession are so great that in the to reveal the symbolism of The Barnes and her pride of place in Merion put here by Dr. hierarchy of the saints he is considered “The Wonder Worker.” Barnes to help to dissuade the modern-day Titans from moving her to Philadelphia? This image of St. Anthony in close proximity to the writing desk on the South The Archangel Raphael is known best for his assistance to the Israelite Tobit and Wall of Gallery V and within view of Pierre Bonnard’s Young Woman Writing suggests his son, Tobias. Raphael guides Tobit’s son, Tobias, on his journey to Media protecting him in his role as a patron of the mail (may all your creations in defense of The Barnes him and helping him to secure his inheritance and return it to his father’s house. Tobit, in Merion come to fruition). If this young woman writing writes on behalf of The a righteous man, had been blinded by bird droppings that fell into his eyes as he slept. Barnes and that the image of Charles the VII above suggests Charles’ role in driving Raphael provided the means by which the cataracts were removed from Tobit’s eyes so out the enemies of France, restoring the Templars to legitimacy and ending the official that he could see. In the Islamic rite, Raphael sounds the horn known as “The Blast of oppression of the Order, then the image of St. Anthony acts as a Patron of The Barnes, Truth” which marks the beginning of Judgment Day. Has Dr. Barnes placed the image which has been oppressed by the action of the Pennsylvania Legislature which would of Raphael here with the hope that he will be able to help cleanse the eyes of those who not come to its aid and instead would encourage its dismemberment. If the figures cannot see the value of the Merion experience? (Is Dr. Barnes telling Americans not in the Cezannes above the writing desk are representative of soldiers returning home be blinded by any pro-Move hype or bird excrement which might be clogging their and King David, praying to heaven, is praying for restoration to the Temple, then St. eyes and obscuring the true value of his Foundation?) Is Raphael also placed here to Anthony may be a Patron of The Lost guiding them home to America. And, if, through aid those who seek to explore the deeper layers and greater relevance of The Barnes by the intercession of St. Anthony, The Barnes would ultimately be preserved intact in sounding a blast of truth? Merion, St. Anthony would be a Wonder Worker. In Gallery V there is a painting of the Temptation of St. Anthony above the candle holder that looks like a dog from which the candles have been removed and have not been replaced as of the publication of this book. The dog is like a sentry protected by St. Anthony. It is said that this image of the Temptation of St. Anthony may be a copy of an original Hieronymus Bosch. It is interesting to me that of the three known cop- ies in this entire collection of hundreds of pieces original art, Dr. Barnes has placed two of these copies in Gallery V almost next to one another on the same South Wall of Gallery V. The first is the all-important painting of the friend to the Templars and St. Joan of Arc, Charles VII, above the doorway in Gallery V where one enters from the Templar Gallery, Gallery IV, and the other painting is right next to the same doorway and it depicts the Temptation of St. Anthony. Is Dr. Barnes, by the strategic placement of these copies, suggesting or appealing to heaven that a defender or defenders will be reborn or replicated in the scheme of things who will advocate for and defend The Barnes like St. Anthony defended his faith against corruption and like The Dauphin, Charles VII, restored and defended France against her English enemies? It is also note- worthy that this same South Wall of Gallery V is where The Flanders 43 emerge from the river of Cezanne’s two small bather paintings. St. Anthony’s works were so extensive during his life and his efforts so great on behalf of the Franciscan Order that Pope Gregory IX enrolled him as a saint within the

152 153 Chapter 25 The Monkey Puzzle Tree

t times the imagery of The Barnes seems to fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, with each piece having a place. In the front yard on the West side of AThe Residence, there is a tree called “The Monkey Puzzle Tree.” The Monkey Puzzle Tree is a Chilean Pine Tree, Araucaria araucana. It is an unusual tree because its branches seem to be composed entirely of smaller uniform fragments like sharp fish scales that fit together into an abrasive puzzle. It is probably called the Monkey Puzzle Tree because it might be difficult for a monkey to comfortably climb and inhabit a tree with such formidable bark. The bark would most likely hurt the hands of any monkeys who would try to climb it, and when the monkeys got into the higher branches, they would find that the branches grow from the trunk in an inexplicable frenzy with some extending straight and others curving sharply up or down. This one lone tree marks due west along the façade of The Residence. The Gallery closest to the tree, Gallery IX, seems to recall this tree in a painting by Henri Rousseau on the North Wall called Monkeys and Parrot in the Virgin Forest (circa 1905–1906). Rousseau’s painting shows two monkeys and a parrot in a dense jungle. I believe that this imagery suggests that the knowledge of The Barnes must be put together and then communicated or “parroted” to achieve the purpose of The Foundation, which is to inspire the generations with the creativity of the story told by Dr. Barnes. This isn’t an easy proposition. It is a hard proposition and is as difficult to scale as the Monkey Puzzle Tree itself. The degree of dif- ficulty of this task is echoed by another painting directly under theMonkeys and Parrot in the Virgin Forest of a woman in a white dress standing in a clearing of a leafy jungle. It is called Woman in an Exotic Forest or Portrait of Madame Isard (1905). Is the imagery of the Monkey Puzzle Tree employed by Dr. Barnes to discourage those who he might have thought to be comparable to monkeys for trying to move The Barnes from doing so? Do the multiple layers of meaning associated with The Barnes make The Barnes in Merion as enigmatic and difficult to scale as the Monkey Puzzle Tree is for the monkeys of the Chilean jungles? Did Dr. Barnes plant this Monkey Puzzle Tree here as a symbol to discourage any proponents of The Barnes Move from keeping their grip on this compelling but elusive place? Barnes Rune 2012 The Monkey Puzzle Tree

If anyone ever asked me what the answer to the puzzle of The Barnes was, I would Lesson on a visit to Merion and then used them in the La Danse mural. Henri Matisse, a take them to Matisse’s Music Lesson (1917) which occupies the center of the North Wall great citizen of the world, took a lesson from The Barnes and used it to give something of Gallery XIX. In this large oil on canvas Matisse gives us a female music teacher and back to increase the splendor of the place. In contrast, all the Move supporters and a child sitting at a grand piano. The music teacher is larger than the other figures in the politicians can seem to do is to use their money to dismantle and to take from Merion. composition. She has soft features and a powder blue dress. The pair at the piano sit facing We shall see that Dr. Barnes may also give us something back from beyond the grave, a the viewer. Their torsos are visible through an elegantly scrolled wooden music rack. The possible solution to a mystery of modern art. What other puzzles, lessons and answers scroll of the music rack spells out the word “PLEYEL”, a well-regarded piano maker. A might lie in store for a visitor here in Merion? window behind them looks out on a red clay yard and a garden beyond. A second woman sits in a chair in the red clay yard. She appears to be knitting or staring at her hands. A man in a suit is sitting in the interior in the foreground listening to the music lesson and reading. To the rear of the clay yard is an ornamental lawn fountain—a sculpture of a reclining female nude with water flowing from it. A violin resting on a red handkerchief in its open case lays on the piano. Underneath the window is a radiator whose fins have the same shape as the streams of water flowing from the sculpture. What does the similarity of the shape of the radiator fins and the water streaming from the statue into the red clay earth tell us about this composition? What does the radiator give the room? Heat. What do the flowing streams from the fountain give the parched red ground? Moisture. Do heat and water share any common characteristics? They both nourish and sustain life. The red clay earth in the background is echoed in the violinist’s red handkerchief in the foreground. These two compartments of warm red set off the teacher in cool blue in the middle. Like the red clay yard, the violinist’s red handkerchief may also be enriched by water, the perspiration of diligent practice. The red color of the handkerchief also recalls the radiator’s heat, but in the case of the handkerchief, the heat may be the heat of the violinist’s passion and inspiration. The beautiful music rack defines the central or intermediate area of the painting where the music lesson is taking place. The Barnes is like the beautifully scrolled music rack. It is the medium or platform where the music is read, learned and made. The music is formed with the heat of inspi- ration and the perspiration of practice and desire. This, in my opinion, is the nature of the music lesson. How to use the lesson to fashion our own music according to our talents is each our own monkey puzzle. I encourage each of you to visit The Barnes in Merion to see what you might learn. Matisse himself seems to have had the occasion to learn from The Music Lesson. One day as our “Traditions” class was sitting with Mr. and Mrs. Church and contemplating The Music Lesson, Mr. Church noted that the pink, blue and black that we see on the top of the piano in The Music Lesson are precisely the same pink, blue and black used by Matisse in La Danse in the Main Hall. Inch for inch, The Music Lesson and La Danse are two of the biggest works in the foundation: The colors of the grand piano in The Music Lesson play the tune of the silent dance. Matisse probably saw these colors in The Music

156 157 Chapter 26 St. Michael Defeats the Devil

here is another reason why I believe that The Pirate on the East Wall of Gallery XI is an important party in the interpretation of the ensembles and imagery Tat The Barnes. If he were seen as looking straight ahead, he would be looking at two windmills and a retablo containing an image of St. Michael the Archangel on the South Wall of Gallery XI called San Miguel (circa 1840) by Jose Raphael Aragon (1796–1862). In my estimation these windmills could suggest more motion and a gear- ing-up by The Pirate for travel along a new course or direction that is defined by the Southern Wall of Gallery XI and extending into Gallery XIII. If The Pirate is thought of by the reader as looking past the retablo of St. Michael the Archangel and through the Eastern Wall of Gallery XI into Gallery XIII, what he sees there, on the Eastern Wall of Gallery XIII, is a painting called St. Michael Defeats the Devil (probably 1850) by Eugene Delacroix. The idea that the Pirate’s line of sight continues from the West Wall of Gallery XI through its East Wall and into Gallery XIII is reinforced by the fact that Dr. Barnes has hung Renoir’s Landscape—Lane (1911) on the West Wall of Gallery XIII in a direct line between the eye of The Pirate and the painting of St. Michael defeating the Devil. Did Dr. Barnes organize these paintings to suggest that this lane or path shall be the way of The Pirate and that at its conclusion he will triumph over evil? Between Landscape—Lane and St. Michael Defeats the Devil are, among other paint- ings, a painting of a beach with a boy looking over another boy’s shoulder (Beach Scene at Geurnsey, Renoir [1882]), a van Gogh of an older man smoking (Peasant Man [1888]), a Cezanne showing a well and cistern in a forest (Well: Millstone and a Cistern Under Trees [1885-87]), a woman with a child by Renoir (Mother and Child [1881]), the paint- ing of two ladies on the island of Noirmoutiers by Renoir (Noirmoutiers [1892]), and a painting by Renoir of a picnic with two dogs (Picnic [1893]). Perhaps this image of St. Michael defeating the devil means that Dr. Barnes wanted to defeat evil in general and looked for a time that the world would live in peace. Is the evil he sought to defeat the possibility that future generations might be ignorant of the sacrifices of the past and apathetic lack of spirituality? Barnes Rune 2012 St. Michael Defeats the Devil

The images leading from the lane to the image of St. Michael defeating the devil about in childhood fables. Under the desk, where the cadet’s legs should be, we don’t may speak of things that would occur prior to final victory. I like to think of the one see human legs, but only an odd motion in the geometric folds of blue cloth where his boy looking over the other’s shoulder in Beach Scene at Guernsey as Dr. Barnes looking feet should be. The motion in the folds of cloth suggests the hooves of a horse rearing over our shoulder. I think of van Gogh’s man smoking as a thinking individual who up or of a bull readying for a charge. Perhaps Cezanne meant the painting to reflect the will be sensitive to the importance of keeping The Barnes in Merion or preserving the hope that he had for the studious youth of the upcoming generations to use the lessons values for which those commemorated here gave their lives. The cistern in the forest of the past to guide them to do great and wondrous deeds in the brave new future. He suggests Dr. Barnes’s burial place in the forest of The Arboretum on the Foundation’s may have thought the brilliance of their promise as bedazzling and magical as a fable. grounds and the importance of this place among the towering trees in Merion. The Perhaps Dr. Barnes placed this painting here to encourage us to think deeply about mother and child may represent the care and concern we should have for preserving The The Barnes and to consider that it might, in fact, be worthy to be thought of as a special Barnes in Merion and the ideals it espouses as if it were our own child. And, the term and immutable American Place. If the painting holds such a meaning, it is made even “Noirmoutiers” means “the flower of the sea,” which may symbolize The Barnes as, more positive by virtue of the circumstance that it was painted in the middle of the perhaps, a flower of the world, an isle of tranquility in a sea of self-interest and shallow Industrial Revolution in a time of great hope for the future. But it is not just relevant as vanity. The painting of the picnic shows persons of high fashion in a landscape. Has Dr. a comment on the Industrial Revolution, I think it has a timeless quality and is instruc- Barnes placed Picnic here to represent those of us who have been lulled into compla- tive to students in every age. It is Cezanne’s hope for students everywhere in every age. cency and by so doing pick “Nick” (an archaic term for the devil) in our indolence and Perhaps Dr. Barnes grouped this painting with the St. Michael painting to accentuate allow the erosion of our values or The Barnes to Move without objection? Maybe Dr. the desirability that in every generation we should link energetic action with morality. Barnes is giving us some betting advice and telling us that it’s starting to look like we If the goal is honorable defense of The Barnes, then this is further symbolized in the should lay our bets on “Nick” winning? There’s still hope, however, because Picnic also ceremonial dagger near the door of Gallery XIII. I would note that in this gallery we see has watchful dogs in the foreground who may maintain a watchful eye to preserve our Renoir’s Luncheon (1879) on the West Wall. This painting shows two people at lunch values and to preserve The Barnes in Merion. just like in Demuth’s Lulu and Alwa Schoen at Lunch above the face of the devil in Gallery And, finally, we see the image of St. Michael defeating the devil. Is the placement of V. Here, however, the people seem wholesome and good. Is it these kinds of people, this painting in this sequence meant by Barnes to be an allegory for the defeat of igno- instead of the people in Demuth’s watercolor of a sinner’s luncheon, who, with the rance or of the defeat of the forces that support dismantling The Barnes? Has Barnes assistance of St. Michael, shall help the young cadet in Man and Skull defeat the devil? placed it here to represent the triumph of the spirituality represented in the art, garden In this room, Gallery XIII, you also find a painting by Jules Pascin (American and grounds over apathy and ignorance? Next to the painting of St. Michael defeating and Bulgarian active in France, 1885–1930) called Cuban Hospitality (1915), which the Devil in Gallery XIII, there is a painting by Cezanne called the The Allee at Marines shows dark-skinned islanders seated around a dinner table with a young white child. (1898) which plays upon the theme of remembrance of our warriors and of conflict and This painting most likely is a comment upon Dr. Barnes’s idea of having The Barnes defense. Next to this is Man and Skull (1896–98), a painting by Cezanne of a young Foundation stewarded by the trustees of Pennsylvania’s state run Lincoln University. I man sitting at a table reading. Cezanne painted this image of a young man, a soldier, think that this is a good time to introduce the idea that The Barnes may comment upon in a cadet uniform later in his life, and it is almost a retrospective piece by Cezanne. It itself. In Gallery XIII we now see for a second time the concept of black adults with seems that Cezanne may have intended that this painting act as an instruction to future white children. I believe that the image of black adults and the little white child is generations to dedicate themselves to intent study. important because I believe that, in Dr. Barnes’ view, this symbolism has something to The student might be in the uniform of a military school cadet. The cadet is shown do with the guardianship of his Foundation. As far back as the ancient Anubian guards reading intently at his book-filled desk with his hand supporting his head. There also in Egypt or as recently as Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim, blacks have been cast in archetypal seems to be a letter on the table. Is it a letter home? Are they orders for war? Maybe he roles as special guardians. I think Dr. Barnes views blacks in this role at The Barnes. is thinking of the lessons and sacrifices of those who have gone before him. If we look The first time we see this image of blacks guarding a white child is in Gallery III in a closely, there appears to be some hidden imagery in the painting. There appears to be painting next to the Eastern Door of Gallery III by Milton Avery of two black-skinned one long thin branch extending from the cadet’s brow. It is like a branch from the tree of adults with a white-skinned child. The Eastern door of Gallery III is the magic door knowledge growing from his brow or the single horn of a mythical unicorn we’ve read where the souls of the remembered warriors would be expected to enter The Barnes

160 161 Barnes Rune 2012 St. Michael Defeats the Devil under the Flanders Field imagery. The second place that we see black-skinned adults clotheslines in the center of The Laundress, some say that they see a face looking down with a white-skinned child is here on the South Wall of Gallery XIII, where we see benevolently at the scene of the laundress wringing out water into the bucket held by black-skinned friends all around a table with a white-skinned child. Gallery III is a the child. Perhaps Dr. Barnes saw that face as well in The Laundress and thought of it as special entry point at The Barnes, and Gallery XIII is a defensive or protective point at the mind’s eye of the young cadet in Gallery XIII gazing upon and contemplating the The Barnes. These are the places where the guardians are most needed. scene of Manet’s laundress in Gallery II wringing out the nourishing ideals of the past We do not see the image of the archangel St. Michael often in The Barnes, but republic into the child’s bucket, the vessel of the future republic? The Pirate surveys we see St. Michael here in Gallery XIII in a painting showing his victory over evil all of these scenes from his vantage point on the Westernmost Wall of the first floor. next to the “allee” or path “at”, or, maybe for Marines and for the Flanders Doughboys and our nation’s many other warriors. In my view this is protection symbolism plain and simple: protection of the remembered souls who gave their lives in the defense of freedom. The importance of the imagery of St. Michael in Gallery XIII is underscored because it is a part of a larger connection started in an image of St. Michael that we see in Gallery XI that is in a straight line through a painting of a lane on the West Wall of Gallery XIII. If Dr. Barnes wanted to impart a lesson to future generations on the importance of righteous valor and also the importance of understanding his institution and defending the precepts that it memorializes, his best choice to symbolize that task would be in the form of St. Michael. Like St. Michael, the young cadet in Man and Skull may represent a guardian as he ponders his duty and the lessons of the past. But there are other guardians here as well. Each is placed here, in my estimation, to invoke his loyalty against forces that would seek to dismember The Barnes or disturb it. In my opinion the imagery of this room operates to encourage those who wish to preserve The Barnes. Perhaps Dr. Barnes, through the eyes of The Pirate, seeks the intercession of St. Michael to grant him thoughtful, energetic, and loyal champions like the cadet in every generation who will defend The Barnes in Merion. And, if so, it is a message that each of us who show an interest should make great efforts to sort out The Barnes, to defend The Barnes, to bring accurate knowledge of its secrets to the world, and to act rightly upon those secrets. The image of the cadet contemplating a skull in Cezanne’s painting in the center of the East Wall of Gallery XIII seems to recall the skull in Gallery II. The cadet is dressed in a blue uniform similar, in a way, to the child in the magical doorway of the Chardin in Gallery III, but now we see him as a man. Is this cadet from Gallery XIII a new warrior thinking of the old? Has Cezanne’s skull from Gallery II been brought out by Cezanne for contemplation by this new successor and placed on the cadet’s writing desk in Gallery XIII? Does the skull from Gallery II represent the dead of Flanders and of all our nation’s wars? If so, what is the cadet thinking as he contemplates the sacri- fices of so many who have gone before? If we return briefly to Gallery II, the painting that occupies the same central position in Gallery II that Cezanne’s cadet occupies in Gallery XIII is Manet’s The Laundress. In the top of the painting between the two pieces of hanging laundry on the

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allery XII at The Barnes is sometimes thought of as “The American Room” or “The Garden Room” because it contains paintings made only by artists paint- Ging in America, and many of the images are bright and colorful images that recall the Garden of Mrs. Laura Barnes and the Arboretum of Joseph Lapsley Wilson. This room stands at the opposite side of The Barnes from The Flemish Gallery, Gallery III, which contains many images of Netherlandish painters. This is as it should be in the symbolism of things, for The Barnes is, in my opinion, a connection between Flanders and Merion and Europe and North America. This room is the closest first floor gallery to The Residence and has a private entrance from The Residence side. It would have been the first gallery that family and staff might use to enter from The Residence or the Garden and Arboretum. In fact, by the door is the image of an exhausted man at a table who I believe might represent Dr. Barnes. The Garden Room contains bright images of a number of American scenes and many horticulture images. Laura Barnes is the Mother of American Horticulture and this room seems to radiate her energy. There are paintings of flowers and gardening implements. There is a self-portrait of Dr. Barnes’ boyhood friend, William James Glackens, who helped build the collection. There is a painting by Glackens of women of the 1920s on a park bench with tall tree trunks in the background that seem to look like the trunks of the trees in the Arboretum. Several other colorful paintings by Glackens, Maurice Prendergast, and others show women in the attire from that first quarter of the twentieth century. The room transports the visitor back to the Roaring Twenties and brings you back into that wonderfully innocent time when The Barnes was built. The ensembles in this gallery seem particularly tailored by Dr. Barnes to draw a distinctive comparison between the colorful images inside and the beauty of the flora on the grounds of the Arboretum just outside. We see the shapes of a Square and a Compasses cleverly concealed in a simple gar- dening still life above the North Door of Gallery XII that recall that grand time and vision when Dr. Cret and Dr. Barnes embarked upon an effort to create a great archi- tectural event in American history. These builders of modernity would tie together two worlds in silent commemoration of those who died for country. It would be a feat Barnes Rune 2012 The Circle of Heaven and Earth in Merion that would span two continents. The Square and Compasses are the universal symbol One day P. Timothy Gierschick II, one of the conservators at The Barnes, during of Freemasonry. The Masons teach that “[t]he Compasses exemplify our wisdom of a course he taught on spiritual images at The Barnes, took a class that I was attending conduct... the strength to “circumscribe our desires and keep our passions within due into Gallery XII. During his class Mr. Gierschick drew our attention to another tool in bounds.”” “The Square is an emblem of virtue in which we must “square all our actions this gallery. It is a semicircular cutting tool on the wall facing the garden. The tool has by the square of virtue with all mankind.”” It is said that “when these two tools, wis- a heart cut into the metal flanked by two stars. The heart points to heaven, as does the dom and virtue, are put together “peace and harmony result.”” (source, www.masonic- metal portion of the half-circle. The piece crowns a series of paintings by Glackens and lodge-of-education.com) I believe that it was Dr. Cret’s and Dr. Barnes’s intent to create Maurice Prendergast that Mr. Gierschick believes to suggest a spiritually transforma- in The Barnes in Merion, a living symbol of the peace and harmony that can result tive experience. The tool that Mr. Gierschick singled out is in the shape of a half-circle, from the unification of the world’s wisdom and the world’s virtue. I wonder how many but in the lesson for the day Mr. Gierschick was talking about how the eye naturally Freemasons of today are working to dismantle this heroic American vision. wants to complete the circle. Gallery XII is not the only gallery where the Square and Compasses appear. In my estimation, the tool that seems to impel the eye to complete the circle is Dr. Barnes has also placed the image on the South Wall of Gallery X. Gallery X placed in this gallery for two reasons: First, it is in this gallery that the art is bright is “The Elbow Room” which, with its suggestion of strenuous activity, further suggests like the flowers in the Garden and this room seems to complete the circle of the Art the hardworking values of the Freemasons. Gallery X or “The Elbow Room” is also Galleries of The Foundation with the other half of the circle, which is the Garden and the best place in The Barnes to see how the Gallery Walls in some places are designed Arboretum of The Foundation. Second, the tool, with stars and heart carved into the like the Square and Compasses. If you stand in the Northwest corner of Gallery X, broad semicircular blade, seems to complete the circle between The Barnes and the and look Southeast, you are standing at the intersection of two lines formed by the starry firmament of heaven, and this suggests that the tool symbolizes that the living Western and Northern exterior walls of The Barnes. This is the Square. And, if you message of utopia in the Galleries may find completion in heaven. The tool reminds us are standing in the corner, you are standing in the center of the angle formed by the of the circle of life that Dr. Barnes has given to us, the circle of life that is The Barnes: Square. When you look straight ahead from this position in the corner, you are looking circles in heaven above tied to circles on earth below. at another angle in the Southeast corner of Gallery X which would be the apex of the Another educator at The Foundation, John Gatti, likes to point out another corre- Compasses. spondence between the garden and the art at The Foundation: there is a painting in on One of the most popular pictures of the interior of the Barnes that has been repro- the North Wall of the Main Hall by Cezanne of a tree. The painting is above a record duced in one of their promotional brochures is a photograph from this vantage point. player. The tree looks just like a tree planted outside the window. According to him, Photographers seem to favor this vantage point because from this place you can see not the effect of this is to emphasize the harmony between the inside and the outside at only the East and South Walls of Gallery X, but, also, through the doorways on either The Barnes and to suggest the musical harmony between the art and the natural setting side, you can see portions of Galleries VIII, IX, XI and XII all at the same time because of The Barnes in Merion. As one contemplates these respective images, the beauty of the angles of the Compasses stack upon themselves revealing a highly complex archi- the outside comes flooding in. Nancy Herman, a local artist, shot a film called Barnes tectural vista within the space. I think it would be interesting to do some survey work Reverie, which is available on the Internet. In this film Ms. Herman shifts between shots from the angles of the two rooms containing the Square and Compasses. I suspect that of the garden and shots of works of art. Sometimes it is hard to discern which shots are we might find that these angles may have relationships to the geographical locations of the garden and which shots are of art. In my opinion, Ms. Herman’s film captures the of the places that I discuss in connection with The Barnes as a place of remembrance essence of how the mind’s eye engages in the subtle interplay between art and nature (specifically, I believe that the Southwest Corner of the Foundation might align with at The Barnes. Waregam, Belgium and that the apex of the Compasses formed by the Eastern and Dr. Barnes, Dr. Paul Cret, Mrs. Laura Barnes, Jacques Lipchitz, Violette de Mazia, Southern Walls of Gallery X might face toward Calumet, Michigan and introduce William Glackens, The Prendergasts, Henri Matisse and all the artists and philos- a second theme of remembrance which we shall soon encounter). It should be noted ophers that have had a part in shaping The Barnes seem to strive in this complex that The Pirate on the Western Wall of Gallery XI is visible from both Gallery X and arrangement to show the interplay between earth and heaven, heaven and earth. This Gallery XII. The Pirate contains block, tackle, square and a map with the points of a magical effect upon the spirit when one experiences how The Barnes in Merion can help compass. The imagery constantly seems to be reinforcing itself. a visitor to complete the circle of life between art and nature will be lost forever if the

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Art Collection is moved. The circle of this harmonious American place will be broken Painted many shapes and figures, forever by the proposed Move, and the heart of this magnificent vision for America will And each figure had a meaning, be shattered without so much as a whimper by the American people. Each some word or thought suggested. Many great writers have sought to describe the telltale power of art. What … Dr. Barnes may have been trying to do in leaving a narrative in the placement of his And the last of all these figures art, is picture writing. We have seen this in all of our earliest cultures. It is something Was a heart within a circle, ancient within us, the visceral, elemental urge to record what we have learned, seen and Drawn within a magic circle; done and to pass that along as a lasting contribution or memoir in this world. I think And the image had this meaning : that Dr. Barnes used the images of his time and the setting of his Foundation to com- “Naked lies your heart before me, pose a lasting communication to future generations. Henry Wordsworth Longfellow in To your naked heart I whisper!” the “Song of Hiawatha” may best describe this human need to record and communi- Thus it was that Hiawatha, cate wisdom and events. Writing from the vantage point of a Native American Indian In his wisdom, taught the people provides the perfect backdrop for Longfellow to convey the beautiful nobility of that All the mysteries of painting, original wish of the great mythical Chief, Hiawatha. I often think that Longfellow’s All the art of Picture-Writing… description of the practice of the great Hiawatha might aptly provide us a glimpse into the practice of a great real American, Albert Coombs Barnes, and act as a great solilo- If the reader accepts the concept that the Barnes Foundation is a purposive under- quy for him as well at the midpoint of The Barnes experience: taking as I have proposed, wouldn’t the only conceivable reason for such an undertak- ing be that the founder wants to create a place where one is uplifted and transported Picture Writing into a state more conducive to contemplation and learning? Did Dr. Barnes hide his In those days said Hiawatha, secret message in the way that he did to open a person’s heart? And, when naked lies “Lo, how all things fade and perish! your heart before him, does he whisper to it tales of faith, honor, remembrance and From the memory of the old men spiritual rejuvenation: tales from America’s Merion heart? Pass away the great traditions...

“Face to face we speak together, But we cannot speak when absent, Cannot send our voices from us To the friends that dwell afar off; Cannot send a secret message, But the bearer learns our secret, May pervert it, may betray it May reveal it unto others.” Thus said Hiawatha, walking In the solitary forest, Pondering, musing in the forest, On the welfare of his people. From his pouch he took his colors, Took his paints of different colors, On the smooth bark of a birch-tree

168 169 Chapter 28 “While the Children Were Smothered on the Stair by the Door ”

fter Gallery XIII, one finds oneself back in the Main Hall and ready to go up the stairs to the Second Floor. I believe that this area of The Barnes, consist- Aing of The Stair and The Bridge (or The Balcony) together with elements of the Main Hall, is dedicated to an American labor tragedy. If our military warriors remembered in this place in Merion, Pennsylvania fought for anything, it was for the domestic liberty at home and against the tyranny of others against weaker groups of people in foreign lands. Here, in The Stair, it is the deaths of women and children that Dr. Barnes commemorates. In this case, Dr. Barnes also symbolically welcomes souls to The Barnes’s heart in Merion. The tragedy that I am talking about occurred in Calumet, Michigan, in 1913 during an ore miner’s strike. From the summer through fall of 1913, the miners of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula copper mines were protesting working conditions and wages. The strike garnered national attention and labor leaders such as Mother Jones intervened on their behalf. Tensions were high in these small communities that dotted the northernmost reaches of Michigan as the strike workers often found themselves fac- ing police who themselves sometimes served as scab miners. The strike was going full force over the Christmas holiday of 1913. The Western Federation of Miners provided strike relief to these miners, and this allowed them the resources to put on a Christmas party for their families and children. Perhaps this outside support by the mine work- ers union did not sit well with those opposed to the strike. On December 24, 1913, the striking miners gathered with their families in a place called the Italian Hall for a Christmas celebration. The dance floor of the Italian Hall was on the second floor, which was accessible by a steep set of stairs. On Christmas Eve, during the crowded miners’ celebration on the second floor, it is said that someone opened the door at street level and yelled “Fire!” The cry of alarm caused people at the Christmas party to move toward the stairs and the safety of the door below, but when the people, mostly women Barnes Rune 2012 “While the Children Were Smothered on the Stair by the Door ” and children, tried to exit, they could not get out, and many were suffocated in a crush of the Molly Maguires in the 1860s and 1870s. The Civil War had hardly concluded of bodies in the stairwell by the door. Seventy-three died that night, and a seventy- and, once again, it was neighbor against neighbor as strike breakers and company men fourth, an infant, died the next day, Christmas Day. clashed with union members and their families. The labor struggles were a new, inter- It has never been clearly determined who yelled “fire!” that night; some said that necine struggle that nearly tore the country apart into class warfare. Labor parties and it was a passing vagrant, others said it was a member of the company-sponsored police unions sprung up; the IWW (the International Workers of the World) were so popular force. It is also not clear why the people could not leave the building. A rumor was at one point that they almost swept their candidate into the White House. I believe spread, perhaps by the mining company, that the rush of the crowd stopped the doors, that while Dr. Barnes was a very successful capitalist, he always remained a populist and while others ascribed a more sinister act that suggested the egress doors might have a friend to labor. For instance, he always treated the employees at his factories better been held closed from the outside. The evidence establishes that the doors did not open than average, including teaching art classes at the factory, and he is said to have often inward, but opened outward. A picture of the doors and the steps of the old Italian given preference to working-class people who sought admission to his private galleries. Hall shows that the doors clearly open outward and would not have impeded egress A man like Barnes, with his populist tendencies, must have been seriously affected unless they were held closed by someone from the outside. The miners and history place by the violence he saw against the working people of his beloved country, particularly the blame on the company’s civilian police force, who sometimes worked as company in the latter part of the nineteenth and the early part of the twentieth century. Dr. enforcers and at other times competed with the striking miners as scab company min- Barnes was a working class kid who rose up out of the rough and tumble working class ers. The building itself was razed a short time after the incident, which obliterated any neighborhoods of Philadelphia. He was a self-made man and a wealthy industrialist tangible evidence of the event. Less than six years later, Chief Justice Holmes, writing who rose from the rank and file to the very top of a young, brawling nation and then for the United States Supreme Court in Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919), to the very top of world society. He was a wealthy populist at a time when it was more set out what has come to be known as “the clear and present danger doctrine.” In the fashionable for the wealthy of his time to be detached and aristocratic. He preferred the case, Justice Holmes wrote “the most stringent protection of free speech would not workers in his factories to the Philadelphia aristocracy. He found in the everyday people protect a man in falsely shouting ‘fire’ in a crowded theater.” The doors in Dr. Barnes’s the soulful power of America, and he found himself leaning away from the privileged of Foundation open outward. his time, who he may have seen as not holding with his own populist ideals. Woody Guthrie, the nation’s bard of the twenties, thirties, and forties, wrote a song These populist ideals appear to have played out in his design of the Art installation about the incident called the “Italian Hall Massacre,” Woody Guthrie, The Woody and architecture of the Merion Mansion and School. In certain art placements at The Guthrie Foundation. America’s bard of the latter half of the twentieth century, Bob Barnes, I believe that Dr. Barnes laid out a commemoration to the American worker Dylan, also recorded a version of Woody Guthrie’s song. for all time to come. I believe that part of The Barnes was constructed and laid out to The Italian Hall Massacre occurred early in the twentieth century at a time when commemorate the Italian Hall Massacre of 1913 and that Dr. Barnes, a noted devotee of tales of company abuse of workers’ rights ran rampant in the United States. Laborers’ social justice, was moved to dedicate his foundation to the souls of those men, women, rights were almost nonexistent at that time. Around the same time, Upton Sinclair and children who died during that strike in Calumet, Michigan, on Christmas Eve wrote The Jungle, chronicling the labor and health abuses occurring in the Chicago nearly one hundred years ago. In a sense, part of The Barnes stands for all who would slaughterhouses. In some ways, the class distinctions of capitalism in America were make labor conditions and wages better and continue to aspire to do so in this age of never clearer than in that age when the poor were wretchedly poor and the wealthy were globalization for all the laborers of the world. The imagery is subtle, but I don’t believe rising to dizzying heights. Union organizers were viewed with suspicion and animos- that it lends itself to differing interpretations. However, as in every other part of this ity by the company bosses. In those hard times, several incidents resulted in violence book, you don’t have to believe me; you can go check it out and decide for yourself. and became rallying points for those who wished for change in strong-arm company As one enters The Barnes through the Main door, one notices the Main Hall first, practices. Certain events captured the hearts, minds, and imaginations of a generation, but, following that, I believe that the visitor will notice how narrow The Stair to the and the Italian Hall Massacre was just such an event. right is. It is as if The Stair isn’t designed as much for a public building as it is for Most likely, this issue hit home for Dr. Barnes who lived less than ninety miles a home. As you ascend The Stair, you can count the wrought iron rungs of the rail- south of the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania, where major labor abuses had taken ing. Counting the rungs that reach from the top rail to the bottom rail (known as the place against Welsh, Irish, and Eastern European miners, resulting in the formation “spikes” in the wrought iron industry) and the two anchor posts at the very bottom,

172 173 Barnes Rune 2012 “While the Children Were Smothered on the Stair by the Door ” we will see that the number totals seventy-three. I believe that each iron rung and each If, slightly winded as you gain the top of the steep stairs, you stand just by the post represents each and every man, woman and child who died in the Italian Hall on railing as it turns to snake its way to the West Wall of The Stair, at the very top of Christmas Eve in 1913. The Stair, holding on and closing your eyes for a moment, then opening your eyes and There are also two smaller posts that extend from a bottom crosspiece at the base looking out from The Bridge into the Main Hall and back to The Joy of Life, then back of the stair between the larger anchor posts. These two smaller posts are only an inch again, you can experience a sense of lightheadedness or vertigo which makes you feel or two high. One small post goes all the way down to the marble step and the other, like you, too, have joined the dance between these two monumental Matisses, La Danse curiously, in this place which is otherwise so precisely laid out, does not reach the in the Main Hall and The Joy of Life in The Stair. This is, in my estimation, the first marble: the second small post is, instead, suspended in midair. I believe that the rea- interactive art experience in the history of art. son that this last little post doesn’t meet the floor isn’t because Dr. Barnes ran out of There is more. As you step closer to the rail and peer over into the Main Hall, you money or because the maker of the wrought iron made a mistake. Instead, I believe will note that below La Danse is Matisse’s colorful Riffian, a painting that is thought to that the last little post purposively doesn’t meet the floor because Barnes would not describe the artistic device of asymmetric symmetry and employs boxes and triangles let it touch the floor as a symbol. There may be two reasons for this. The first reason to create form. The body of the Riffian is a triangle, and his seat is a box. A triangle is that the manner in which one of the little posts hits the floor and the other doesn’t placed upon a box is reminiscent of a tree. The festive colors of his jillala (Bedouin sash) symbolizes the march of strikers (even the children of Calumet marched in the Copper and the clothing that he is wearing make him look like he could be a Christmas tree, Country strikes). A second reason may be that in some of the legends that have been much like the celebratory miners had in the Italian Hall on that tragic Christmas Eve handed down is that an unnamed infant, a seventy-fourth, died on the following day, in 1913. Christmas Day, making the total Italian Hall death count seventy-four, as the last little Directly across from The Riffian in The Bridge above the entry to Gallery XIX, a post would number. And, so, one little post does not touch the floor and one does. The little girl sits at a piano in a painting by American Arthur B. Davies that I like to call composition of one little post that touches the floor and the one that doesn’t represents “The Recital.” This little girl also recalls Woody’s song: “Well, a little girl sits down by the immortal march of these innocents through the annals of the history of American the Christmas Tree lights, to play the piano so you got to keep quiet...” labor. What is odd about the Davies painting is that the piano is set in an open field with The Stair itself recalls the song “The Italian Hall Massacre,” written by Woody sheep in the background which look on while a group of luminously dressed women Guthrie. Woody sets the scene: “I’ll take you through a door, and up a high stairs...” are engaged in a concert. The luminous figures and the blue sky in the background As you ascend The Stair you will see the flutists, the lovers, and the dancers, dancing are reminiscent of the Titian located on the West Wall of Gallery III of the shepherd in a ring, in Matisse’s The Joy of Life, which is hung at the first landing in The Stair. sleeping with his flock of sheep. In my opinion, the shepherd in Gallery III welcomes The imagery of figures dancing and playing musical instruments in The Joy of Life also the souls of Flanders back to The Barnes. In the symbolism of The Barnes, I believe recalls Guthrie’s song: “Singing and dancing is heard everywhere...” As you reach the that this sleeping good shepherd with his sheep in the background is reminiscent of balcony or the bridge that looks over the Main Gallery, there are a number of figures the miraculous transport legend of St. Barbara. In the same way, here in The Bridge, both in sculptural form and in the paintings and tapestries of The Bridge. There is a I believe that the ethereal forms in the Arthur B. Davies painting of the girl at the large tapestry by Joan Miro of dancing forms or spirits. There are dancing sculptures by piano with a flock of sheep in the background have also been symbolically transported Jacques Lipchitz on The Bridge and other statuary representing figures that could be from Calumet where they died suffocating in the stair of the Italian Hall. Here, in The members of a party. At the top of the stair there is a bronze based on a design by Renoir Barnes in Merion, these young women are depicted as being outside, where they are of a mother nursing her child. To the visitor’s right, just inside the doorway of Gallery finally free to breath. XIV on the South Wall of Gallery XIV and visible from the steps, is a van Gogh scene Back to back with this painting on the other side of the door in Gallery XIX is a of a group socializing in a public room as the families might have done in the Italian painting called The Red Church, by Chaim Soutine. The placement of The Red Church by Hall. Opening up before you at the top of The Stair is a panoramic, larger-than-life Dr. Barnes above the Gallery XIX doorway to the Main Hall Bridge from Gallery XIX view of Matisse’s La Danse that commands the entire Main Hall which makes us recall seems to commemorate The Merion Barnes as a monument to modern labor. the words of Woody Guthrie’s song: “Before you know it, you’re friends with us all, and Below the painting by Arthur B. Davies is a statue of St. Stephen. The Feast Day of you’re dancing around and around in the hall.” St. Stephen is December 26, which would have been the first day of healing following

174 175 Barnes Rune 2012 “While the Children Were Smothered on the Stair by the Door ” the Italian Hall Massacre because Christmas Day would have been a day of great shock, will the ceiling to open, so that these pictures suggest to the imagination that they are sadness and outrage as the word of this tragedy spread across the United States. The spread out across the limitless sky…blurring the boundaries between ceiling and sky Feast of Stephen is also famous for St. Wenceslas I, Duke of Bohemia (907–935), who, and unifying the art inside and the fantastical arboretum and garden outside. with his page, is said to have gone out barefoot in the snow on the Feast of Stephen to I believe that we see confirmation of this second major theme of The Barnes in the give alms to the poor. St. Wenceslas’s page was about to abandon the journey because second Lipchitz bas-relief flanking the Main entry door of The Barnes. The relief is on of the frigid cold when he found that he was miraculously warmed by the heat emanat- the façade of The Barnes on the outside wall of The Stair and back to back with The ing from Wenceslas’s footprints in the snow. We, too, are warmed by the heat emanat- Joy of Life. I have described the bas-relief earlier in Chapter 19 as perhaps suggest- ing from the footprints and the sacrifice of all who have gone before us in this “Red ing a stairway to heaven. Now, the reader can see why the relief suggests a stairway to Chapel,” this wonderful symbol of America that is The Barnes Foundation in Merion, heaven. The connection between this exterior architectural bas-relief and the interior Pennsylvania. We are warmed by the blood sacrifice of the Labor Union dead and the art placement emphasizes the permanency of The Foundation and the inexpressible Allied war dead; and, we are warmed by the deep respect for these souls commemorated honor that doctor has paid here by symbolically placing this wonderful painting where by the likes of Dr. Barnes and Woody Guthrie. only the smothered souls can see it best. The scroll in the bas-relief might be the roll of Picasso’s biographer John Richardson, comments in his book regarding Picasso’s the names of those suffocated and crushed innocents. The megaphone might represent early years that perhaps the most pivotal piece of Modern Art, Henri Matisse’s The Joy the striking mineworkers. The hand holding the pear is reminiscent of the crouching, of Life, is “buried” in The Barnes Foundation (John Richardson, A Life of Picasso, The obsequious figure inThe Joy of Life on the wall just inside who holds out the same kind Early Years, 1881–1906, Knopf, 2007, p. 414). Indeed, that statement is perhaps more of humble offering to the muse of inspiration and immortality. apropos than Mr. Richardson could have imagined. Ever since it became widely known There is also some other miner imagery in the Main Hall which suggests that this that Dr. Barnes hung the The Joy of Life in the high Stair of The Barnes Foundation, one Italian Hall theme may spill over into the Main Hall and unite there with the Flanders of the contentions leveled against The Barnes was that no one could ever really seem to Field theme from Galleries II through VII. Particularly, on the North Wall of the Main figure out why Dr. Barnes put what is one of the more important paintings of Modern Hall, there is a Cezanne of a man holding a spade who could be a miner. Also there is a Art in The Stair. Some say that The Joy of Life hangs in The Stair to represent that the painting of Cezanne’s working class men, who could easily be miners, playing cards in joy of life is in the process, in the becoming, or in the climb. I think that its placement Cezanne’s The Card Players on the West Wall of the Main Hall. also serves a second purpose. I believe that Dr. Barnes placed it there in The Stair of his Reflecting upon all that we have seen the reader can begin to see that the Italian Foundation in recognition and remembrance of the pride and life of America’s labor Hall theme and the Flanders Field theme are unified in the Main Hall. All we have to movement that died in the stairwell of The Italian Hall on a cold Christmas Eve in do is to look at the Main Hall. It is their allegorical abode of grandeur and peace. The 1913 when those men, women, and children lay crushed and suffocated on the stairs in higher up we go in the Main Hall, the more ethereal and beautiful the scenes are, as if Calumet, Michigan. If Dr. Barnes put it there for those who died in Calumet in 1913, we are rising toward heaven. The massive windows of the Main Hall open up upon the did he feel that they who died would find comfort in it if they ever found their way to Arboretum with the entrance to Mrs. Laura Barnes’s Garden visible beyond. Come, let the heart of Merion, as it seems that he wished that they would, and that it would be us sit in the shade of Laura Barnes’s lilac arbor and remember these little ones. Water- with them there, forever? themed paintings are placed over each door of the Main Hall as if to keep any pos- I have mentioned the painting by Arthur Bowen Davies before as containing the sible evil spirits out of the Hall and away from our Garden sanctuary. Both Cezanne’s luminescent fairy with a magic wand willing The Barnes into being. This little paint- Bathers and Seurat’s Models which command the Main Hall have water themes. It is a ing is also important to the general theme of the Main Hall in that this painting shares safe, warm and inviting place. Above the door between The Bridge and Gallery XIV the top tier of the Main Hall with Matisse’s Danse. In the colorful blue sky of the paint- is a painting by Luigi Settani of colorful figures floating in water as if they are spirits ing, we get the impression that the sky has opened up in the topmost rafters of The engaged in a weightless dance—free at last. Barnes and that, like Matisse’s dancers, these figures in the open air in Davies’ painting A visitor can discern an interesting rhythm and harmony in all of these images The Recital suggest that the ceiling of the Mansion will open as if unto heaven, just like which seems more than just coincidental. Like the Mayan and other ancient civilization the proto-martyr, St. Stephen, who stands below the Davies painting saw the heavens symbols placed in the shape of a clock in The Chapel or The Templar Gallery, Gallery open as he died from stoning. Indeed, all these images in the top tier all seem to almost IV, so, too, in The Bridges near the entry to Gallery XIV there is a grandfather clock

176 177 Barnes Rune 2012 “While the Children Were Smothered on the Stair by the Door ” which sits at the top of The Stair and behind it there is an American Indian blanket Wing. It seems to mark a time shift as we enter the Western Wing, a passage back hung on the wall. Looking at the clock and the busy designs on the blanket behind it, through time. The Western Wing is not a place for clocks. It is a place frozen in time, one’s eyes start playing tricks: it is as if time itself is blurred behind this clock—like and it defies time. It is a place for moral instruction in which one can take whatever the spinning visual intro to the 1960s Twilight Zone TV series. To me, the effect is time one needs, and it contains a gallery, Gallery XVI, wherein Dr. Barnes may crypti- not unintentional, because the mysterious Barnes in Merion is like a time capsule or a cally propose a perpetual returning to life in spite of time. looking glass that blurs time and space and draws the viewer instead into a continuum There is another image on The Bridge of the Main Hall that is worth noting. It is thereof. Like Woody Guthrie’s words, “Take a trip with me in nineteen thirteen to a wooden altarpiece in the center of The Bridge on the North Wall showing Christ in Calumet, Michigan, in the Copper Country...” The passage takes us back to 1913 and the Garden of Gethsemane with the sky above him and a cup radiating light from on beyond, challenging the boundaries of time and drawing us into a world composed high. The altarpiece has all the components of the scene of the Agony in the Garden: solely of conceptual propositions, symbolic narrative and, perhaps, a little magic. there are the waiting companions, the cup that Christ wishes would pass from him as Aside from the clock in the alcove, which has a utilitarian purpose, clocks and time- he awaits Judas’s Betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Angel of the Lord pieces always seem to be presented in dramatic settings by Dr. Barnes and, in my estima- who comes and gives him strength. “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tion, they never seem to represent just ordinary themes. Instead, they always suggest a tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and shift in time and almost draw the viewer into an interaction with them. At some level, prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, I propose that when we look at a timepiece as a symbol in a painting or otherwise, we not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:38-39.) always find ourselves thinking of the limits of time. I think that part of what the doc- There is also another unusual connection of the Gethsemane theme to The Barnes. tor may have wanted to show us in touching upon the hands of time in this area of The In the closely guarded Galleries, one antique object has gone missing: it is a pewter cup Barnes is that time may mean very little in the context of memory and that remembrance missing from Gallery XIV on the other side of the Western Wall of The Stair. According can penetrate time and render it meaningless. To this end, I believe that he wished this to the photo cards taken while Dr. Barnes was still alive, a cup used to sit at the base place to stand as a timeless memorial and a window looking back through time. of the image by Renoir of a Breton family on the beach at Berneval which shows three The effect of the placement of timepieces in the cosmology of The Barnes as I am rosy-faced children and their young mother or older sister. The painting is the Mussel interpreting it shows how Barnes may have been striving to achieve a way of showing Fishers at Berneval and it hangs in the center of the East Wall of Gallery XIV. Some say the unities of the intellectual and the natural in a way that encouraged a viewer to leave the cup was stolen, but the security is pretty tight, and the School doesn’t allow bags the spiritual apathy of the Modern Industrial State behind and to continue to value or even loose clothing which would permit it to be spirited away. I like to think that spiritual wonder. We have already seen the first timepiece, the mysterious clock com- these children in Renoir’s painting represent the Italian Hall victims and that God or posed of the Pre-Columbian or Mayan Mask in Gallery IV which is another timeless some kindly spirit of The Merion Barnes has symbolically taken this cup away from place of remembrance. Now we see the second floor grandfather’s clock under equally these children. Perhaps this cup has not gone missing but instead has been taken away thought-provoking circumstances. Even the first floor grandfather’s clock makes an by some magical force at The Barnes—that in the Gardens and Galleries of Merion, unforgettable first impression on the visitor with its soft warmth against the cool stone God takes the sting out of death and grants a vision of everlasting life. Jesus goes to a of the stark mansion foyer and its distinctive cascading chimes that sound like the garden to pray in his last hours on earth. So, too, does Dr. Barnes seem to give us this strains of a heavenly chorus as they reverberate through the Galleries. We shall see one garden to try to bring us nearer to what is important in life. last image of a clock which is equally mysterious when we get to Gallery XX. The altarpiece stands at the center of The Bridge where the keystone of the bridge In my opinion, Dr. Barnes’s Mansion, Arboretum, Garden, and Galleries are a might be. Perhaps, like the tam-o’-shanter, we will pass the keystone of The Bridge vibrant, breathtaking vehicle, like a charmed version of H. G. Wells’s fantastic Time and The Barnes in Merion will finally be safe once we have convinced enough of the Machine or his submarine Nautilus as a transport to a time, an experience, and a world rich and powerful to say, “Not as I will, but as thou wilt,” and to preserve this gift in that we had never seen before and could barely imagine—a world we will never see Merion, this special, spiritual place wrought not just by the hands of Dr. Barnes, but again once it is dismantled and moved. by so very many others. The grandfather clock on The Bridge that is placed before the Navajo blanket faces to the Eastern Wing and it is on the visitor’s right as the visitor enters the Western

178 179 Chapter 29 The South Wall, Gallery XIV (A Scene from a Dry Canal)

allery XIV is the first second-floor gallery. It is the next in line in the normal sequence of galleries and is at the top of the stairs and to the right. If we enter Gthe Gallery in the normal course of a tour, our attention is first drawn to the South Wall of Gallery XIV. Gallery XIV is important in my interpretative approach because it is a glossary of sorts to The Barnes. The first painting to which I would like to draw attention is a painting that I believe could be interpreted to represent The Barnes. It is in the middle of the large South Wall of Gallery XIV. The painting is an image of an alabaster cathedral dome against a deep blue sky. The color of the dome is remarkably similar to the pale splendor of The Barnes against the deep blue sky of Merion. The painting is above the doorway leading from Gallery XIV to Gallery XVIII. Called Lunel—Seen from the Canal (1942), the Jean Hugo painting is a partial view of a cathedral from a distance. In the foreground of the painting is a dry canal bed through which a figure is trans- porting what appear to be bricks that have been formed in the canal toward a cathedral dome visible in the background of the painting. All we can see of the Cathedral is a sun-washed, broad, round dome. The walls are obscured by the lush greenery that sur- rounds the dry canal, and the artist painted the Cathedral as if he was standing below it and at a distance from it. In this case Dr. Barnes has placed the painting in a high spot in the ensemble seemingly to accentuate the sense that the viewer already has that he or she is standing in the canal. As you look up above the doorway at the luminous dome of the Cathedral in the painting, it is as if you are looking up at the moon. The dome of the cathedral is round like the moon, seems to be made of iridescent ivory against a dark blue sky, and appears to rise from the earth like a large moon rising above the tree line. In my mind, the feeling the viewer can have when looking up at the Cathedral, Lunel, is similar to the elevated feeling one has as one approaches Matisse’s Joy of Life in the Stair and Matisse’s La Danse as you reach the top of the stair. Like Lunel—Seen from Barnes Rune 2012 The South Wall, Gallery XIV (A Scene from a Dry Canal) the Canal, both The Joy of Life and La Danse are hung above our heads as we approach of the South Wall. These paintings are much smaller than the painting of Lunel by Jean them. And, like the dance that you are welcomed into as you attain the top of the Stair, Hugo, but I propose that they are part of two ensembles arranged by Dr. Barnes that Gallery XIV also welcomes visitors into even more intriguing layers of meaning. signify places where the water of inspiration may be found in The Foundation. I also I believe that this painting depicting manual labor with a magnificent cathedral think the choice of two paintings after Guardi are not accidental because it is here that I dominating the background has an allegorical or symbolic meaning in both the context believe the themes that The Barnes must be guarded are set out in the symbolism of the of the painting and in connection with Dr. Barnes’s ensemble on the Southern Wall of ensembles on the South Wall. The East Side of the South Wall of Gallery XIV describes Gallery XIV. the past and recaps the imagery from where we have come in our tour from the Main Water, as we have already discussed, is a major theme for Dr. Barnes. Water is so Hall and Galleries II through XIII and The Stair. The West Side of the South Wall of important to the symbolism and imagery of The Barnes that as we enter Gallery XIV Gallery XIV describes the future and the imagery of what we will see as we continue from The Balcony or Bridge, we actually are even made to feel as if we are afloat in further on through The Barnes. The ensemble on the West Side of the South Wall will the experience of the Dance as we reach the top of the steep flight of stairs and stand provide additional knowledge of The Barnes and allow us to continue our journey. between the “La Danse” Mural, The Joy of Life in the Stair and the painting by Luigi I believe that Dr. Barnes has placed these two paintings showing channels of beau- Settani of dancing figures suspended in a field of blue water which is hung above the tiful blue water to suggest that the paintings underneath them describe themes that door as we enter Gallery XIV from the Stair. But, here, above this very next door, we form the building blocks of Dr. Barnes’s conduit or channel to convey the water of inspi- seem to have come to a dry place where there is only labor and no water. Worse, there ration to the viewer of the lessons and meanings of The Barnes. The viewer becomes the is a dry canal bed but no water. So, there must have been water and something must humble mason with a cart of bricks approaching the great Cathedral looming in the have happened to it. Has there been a drought? Has someone drained the water away? near distance over the tops of the lush green trees that fill the horizon of the painting. The gravitational pull of the rising moon on the tides might change things. It might Like this mason, the visitor or student is given building blocks of understanding here bring the water. We must look more closely for the water. Let us hope that the building in the ensembles of the South Wall of Gallery XIV that help him or her to interpret the materials and the effort being expended bringing the materials through the canal are imagery of The Barnes. for the erection of a conduit to bring the water back into the canal. The Isola della Beata Vergine del Rosario crowns the first series of paintings on the I keep asking myself, why was this symbol of faith in Hugo’s painting, a cathedral East side of the South Wall of Gallery XIV. By the door nearest The Stair, the first filling the horizon, important to Dr. Barnes? I keep thinking that the cathedral among painting we encounter on the South Wall of Gallery XIV (reading the wall from the the trees in the painting is a symbol for The Barnes, which would be as dry as the canal viewer’s left to right) is an oil on panel painting of a noble woman of the sixteenth but for the spiritual symbolism within that I have been talking about and that fills century, Portrait of a Woman (circa 1560) by a painter in the circle of Francois Clouet it with warmth and splendor. In this place, The Barnes, where water symbols are so (French, circa 1516–1572). I believe that Dr. Barnes has placed this painting by Clouet very important, it is a matter of some moment that a dry canal bed is shown in such a here to suggest that the ensembles of this South Wall of Gallery XIV represent clues to dominant position above the doorway. However, on either side of the Lunel painting, at deciphering the major themes of his painting ensembles elsewhere in the Galleries. He the apex of each ensemble of paintings on either side of the large double South Wall of starts with this oil on panel from the circle of “Clouet” as if what follows were “clues” to Gallery XIV, there are smaller paintings that depict islands surrounded by water. These his meanings. If, as I suggest, the great themes of The Barnes that I discuss are spelled paintings that flank the Lunel painting present a complementary state to the dry canal out in a variety of oil paintings placed on the walls of The Barnes Foundation, this because they now show paintings that depict channels of water. In my estimation, Dr. painting is aptly placed because this Gallery and its ensembles may contain clues to or Barnes has placed these water paintings to suggest that the images underneath them confirmation of both The Flanders Field theme and The Italian Hall theme. And we may bring nourishing insight and import to The Barnes experience. It is as if there is find confirmation of both themes in the paintings on the East Side of the South Wall now water where there specifically had been none. of Gallery XIV. The paintings on either side of Hugo’s painting of Lunel are Isola della Beata Vergine Below the Clouet is a painting by van Gogh of card players or revelers in a hall del Rosario (nineteenth century) by an imitator of Giacomo Guardi (Italian Venetian, in a reddish background which recalls the festive aspect of the Christmas celebration 1764–1835), which is on the East Side of the South Wall, and Capriccio of an Island in of the mining families in The Italian Hall just before the tragedy on Christmas Eve, the Venetian Laguna, also by an imitator of Giacomo Guardi, which is on the West Side 1913. And, in the center of the East Side of the South Wall is a painting of St. Francis

182 183 Barnes Rune 2012 The South Wall, Gallery XIV (A Scene from a Dry Canal) contemplating a skull as a fellow monk, Brother Leo, looks on. The painting, entitled of Gallery XIV. The magical effect of Renoir’s painting on the eye echoes the kind of Saint Francis and Brother Leo Meditating on Death” (circa 1600–1605) is possibly by El magical shift that it would take to make The Italian Hall Massacre and The Flanders Greco (Greek active in Spain, 1541–1614). The individuals in this painting look like Field transport themes come alive in Merion. It is appropriate that this painting is from knights dressed in the monkish woolen garb commonly said to be worn under a suit of the same time, at the beginning of the twentieth century, as the two tragedies that it armor by the Templars of old. In the sky above St. Francis is what appears to be a bolt transforms or translates into Merion. of lightning. This lightning bolt recalls the St. Barbara miraculous transport theme in Following Landscape at Cagnes we have a painting of an idyllic scene, The Holy the Flanders Field ensembles of Galleries II through VII. The knight theme combined Family With St. John and an Angel (1630s) by the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens, which with the presence of lightning and a human skull in this memento mori painting recounts shows not only the infant Jesus in his mother’s arms, but also an older child who is most the Flanders Field theme in Galleries II through VII. likely meant to be St. John the Baptist reaching up to play with the infant Christ Child Between the painting suggesting The Italian Hall and the painting suggesting the as Christ’s mother, Mary, looks on lovingly. The placement of this Rubens underscores Templar knights, Dr. Barnes has placed a painting showing figures on a road leading to the Christian theme in each of these threads of remembrance; but, more importantly, it a mountain: Cezanne’s Toward Mount Sainte-Victoire (1878–79). I think that the place- does so by inserting a symbol of the early innocence of the Holy Family. ment is relevant because the martyrdom and heroism celebrated in both The Italian Although the lives of the Holy Family would subsequently be torn apart by the Hall Labor theme and The Flanders Field theme were the sacrifices made on the road to martyrdom of both St. John and Jesus for the sake of bringing humanity to The Light, victory in our nation’s labor conflicts (in the former) and in our nation’s involvement in I like to picture all of these individuals in heaven as Rubens has rendered them in war (in the latter). Perhaps Dr. Barnes has placed Cezanne’s painting of figures on the this pure and innocent state where their sufferings are no more. In my opinion, this road to Mount Sainte-Victoire as an allegory for America’s own difficult road to victory Rubens of The Holy Family is a fitting metaphor for what Dr. Barnes hopes will be over domestic and foreign forces of oppression. the harmonious state of grace to which the deceased of the Calumet, Michigan, Italian I am told by a docent at The Barnes, Ms. Nancy Barth, that Cezanne made 141 Hall Massacre and the young soldiers of the Ypres Salient, Flanders Field, Belgium, attempts at painting Mount Sainte-Victoire, so I suspect that Cezanne’s own road to will return when they have come to rest in Merion. By dedicating this place in Merion, Mount Sainte-Victoire was a long one. The difficulty of Cezanne’s journey to fully Pennsylvania, to those who have died as a result of man’s inhumanity to his fellow man, capture his elusive Mount Sainte-Victoire would not have been lost on Dr. Barnes. Dr. Barnes’s hope appears to have been not just that those deaths would represent an Cezanne’s love affair with the magnificent Mount Sainte-Victoire might very much be example to those who come after that we must strive to end all such conflicts between like the spiritual and temporal journey of the philosophers, dreamers, artists, students, classes and nations, but that the deceased would be rejuvenated and made perpetually and friends since the 1920s that made the formation and perpetuation of The Barnes youthful again in the glade of this wondrous country state. Foundation in Merion a reality. In a sense, The Barnes in Merion is modern America’s In the second tier of paintings above Cezanne’s Road to Mount Sainte-Victoire and and the modern world’s Mount Sainte-Victoire. In my opinion it is the apex of the mod- above Renoir’s Landscape at Cagnes on the Southeast Wall of Gallery XIV, there are ern philosophical experience and the greatest modern approximation of King David’s two additional Renoirs. Above the Cezanne, to the viewer’s left of the center, there is a “Holy Hill” in existence today. And, as much as certain souls with unbridled power Renoir, Two Girls with Hats (early 1890s), and above Renoir’s Landscape at Cagnes, to the may wish to compromise the Barnes Merion Experience by moving the art, so, too, in viewer’s right of center, there is another Renoir of one girl, Reading (1890). The com- the end, it is my hope that the art collection will be returned by more preservation- parison of the two figures inTwo Girls with Hats to the single figure inReading suggests minded Pennsylvanians on a road of triumph and victory to its Merion Home. the unification of the Italian Hall theme and the Flanders Field theme into one theme After the painting attributed to El Greco, we have a magical Renoir called Landscape as the threads describing both come together in the great Main Hall of The Barnes and at Cagnes (early 1900s). This late landscape is one which I believe could easily be called culminate for both in Matisse’s celebratory La Danse in the Main Hall. The placement one of Renoir’s most daringly impressionistic paintings. The painting consists almost of La Danse represents resurrection and an everlasting life free from pain for all these entirely of an effusion of strokes of pure color dappled on a canvas. It is done in a wildly souls, the kind of life that is depicted in the image of the young Holy Family at play impressionistic style which is rarely seen in Renoir but which he executes with con- following the transformative Landscape at Cagnes. fident mastery to absolute perfection. Landscape at Cagnes seems to suggest a magical Directly above the Rubens of The Holy Family is Portrait of Frederick the Wise, Duke shift at the point that Dr. Barnes has placed it in the wall ensemble on the South Wall of Saxony (circa 1525) by Lucas Cranach the Elder (German, 1472–1553). Dr. Barnes

184 185 Barnes Rune 2012 describes the painting on page 196 of The Art in Painting as containing “considerable decorative value due to the varied and striking color contrasts between figure and back- ground.” The painting of Frederick the Wise in this position represents a fatherly fig- ure, perhaps even a divine figure, God, The Father, to whom the Barnesian architectural and artistic combine of Merion with its considerable decorative value and its striking contrasts between figure and background may be dedicated. The image of Frederick the Wise completes the East Side of the South Wall of Gallery XIV and looks to our right Chapter 30 toward a painting by Titian across the gulf of a doorway on the West Side of The South Wall of Gallery XIV. The Titian painting is of a father and a son. The Double But before we delve into new secrets and themes of The Barnes, we should medi- tate briefly upon the proposition that Dr. Barnes makes to us in his description of Cranach the Elder’s Portrait of Frederick the Wise in The Art in Painting. If we think of he next theme is set forth on the West Side of the South Wall of Gallery XIV. part of the ensemble in Gallery XIV as a glossary of things that are going on at The This theme is about education and, possibly, the rebirth of future doubles of Barnes at an underlying or symbolic level of meaning, Dr. Barnes’s discussion of the TDr. Barnes who will assist in the defense of The Barnes and those remembered Cranach and his placement of the piece here in this highly communicative ensemble, in the Barnes heart in Merion. This wall is capped by Capriccio of an Island in the Venetian seems to be a confirmation by Dr. Barnes that something more is hidden under the Laguna. I believe that the West Side of the South Wall of Gallery XIV is a symbol of surface at The Barnes. Dr. Barnes describes the Cranach in “The Art In Painting” as The Barnes educational experience. There are two images that give me this idea. The containing a striking contrast between figure and background. Barnes tells us that this first, in the center of the wall, is calledPortrait of a Gentleman and Son and is attributed painting is an example of how both figure and background in a composition can have to Titian (Italian-Venetian, 1488–1576). The second is Renoir’s Writing Lesson (1905) separately important roles to play. Similarly, my focus is not on the outer commercial to the viewer’s left as one looks at the Titian. Both images show a mature figure with beauty or “figure” of The Barnes, but on its “inner” or educational and philosophical an adolescent figure. In both cases, the more mature figures are guarding or encircling “background” beauty. My focus is on what lies beneath the surface of The Barnes, or the the adolescents. possible hidden meanings at The Barnes. Perhaps Dr. Barnes’s description in The Art Accompanying these images of adults and adolescents are the images of two saints, in Painting of Cranach’s portrait of Frederick the Wise is a guideline of how Dr. Barnes St. Catherine in Blue Robe (fifteenth-century German) and St. John with Red Robe (fif- would have us look at the multiple levels of his Foundation. teenth-century German), which Dr. Barnes has placed on either side of Titian’s Portrait The layers of meaning in the painting of Frederick the Wise could be considered to of a Gentleman and Son. Dr. Barnes has placed St. Catherine between Renoir’s Writing be a paradigm of The Barnesian experience that I am proposing. For, to borrow from Lesson and the Titian, and he has placed St. John on the opposite side of the Titian on the Dr. Barnes, there may be, in the figural surface, a striking contrast to what is going viewer’s right-hand side as one looks at the Titian. Both of these saints, St. Catherine of on in the background. Frederick the Wise represents an elder statesman and a wise Alexandria and John the Baptist, were great educators and eloquent orators of the early man—as such, he is particularly suited to this ensemble as representing a father figure Christian religion. So, if this wall is an allegory of The Barnes, this portion of the wall protecting the mysteries of The Barnes and the departed souls that may reside there in is about education and spreading the message of The Barnes. John the Baptist prepared Merion. To an eye looking for symbolic meaning, his solid, clearly defined figure may the way for Christ. He baptized Jesus and spread news of his coming throughout the be a pathway to the quiet background and the subtle images of spirituality and soulful Holy Land. St. Catherine of Alexandria is credited with having converted all of pagan wonder that reside beneath the surface at The Barnes. Rome to Christianity with her eloquent powers of persuasion. Unfortunately, these saints were also martyrs. The lessons that they form are wrought in a circle of blood. St. John the Baptist was beheaded on the whim of Herod at the bidding of the corrupt dancing girl Salome. And, St. Catherine of Alexandria so exasperated the pagan emperor Maxentius because she had converted all of his advis- ers and even his empress that he ordered her killed by torture. The emperor ordered

186 Barnes Rune 2012 The Double

Catherine placed on a horrible instrument called the breaking wheel. However, as she On either side of the central painting by Titian of the Portrait of a Gentleman and was taken to be strapped upon the wheel, she touched it and it fell to pieces. Then, like Son, there are nineteenth-century Chinese ink on silk pieces after Qiu Ying (Chinese, John the Baptist, St. Catherine was beheaded. circa 1494–1552) depicting a Woman in Garden, Woman in Circular Window (to the The image of John the Baptist that we see here is the image of St. John of the Red viewer’s left) and Woman on a Bridge, Woman at Window (to the viewer’s right). To me Robe, which is part of the imagery associated with John the Baptist’s patronage of the this imagery suggests that the elders of any generation have a circle to complete with Knights of the Order of St. John. This painting is a fifteenth-century German portrayal the future generations, a social obligation, if you will, which requires that we impart of how John the Baptist might look in heaven. St. John is shown here in a regal Red our knowledge to the adolescents or students among us. When we have provided our Robe (which the hermit John would not have worn in his lifetime in his humble minis- youth this window, then the circle is complete. The stories of the lives of the saints try). John is shown here holding a lamb, symbolizing the Lamb of God. John is shown and the learning represented therein reflect this hard-won knowledge and demonstrate pointing to his left toward the Western rooms of The Foundation with his right index highly respected traits in our culture, including the courage to passionately advocate finger while holding The Lamb with his left arm. and to peacefully sacrifice even our very lives for selfless motives. In imparting these The image of St. Catherine of Alexandria is painted in striking blue, gold, and lessons, the circle is made complete by an act of education, which, I submit, provides a black, with a skin tone as warm and beautiful as Renoir’s warm reds in the Writing bridge to the past. Lesson, which is immediately to the viewer’s left of this image of St. Catherine. St. In another sense, this act of bridging between past and present may mean that Catherine of Alexandria was one of the most eloquent keepers of her faith, and she is we should never forget the lessons of the dead to whom The Barnes is dedicated. This here depicted with a beautiful black stylus or pen in hand resting nonchalantly against theme of completion of the circle is echoed in the two small Renoir landscapes, the a breaking wheel. It is St. Catherine of Alexandria who St. Joan of Arc, the restorer of first of which is above The Writing Lesson to the viewer’s left on the West Side of the France, claimed was one of the saints that spoke to her after The Archangel Michael South Wall and the second of which is another Renoir on the viewer’s far right on the appeared to her. Westernmost part of the South Wall of Gallery XIV. The first landscape is an ordinary St. Catherine’s finely drawn pen in the painting seems to stand ready to scribe the landscape with a blue sky. The second landscape has a blue mountain in the back- lessons to mankind that The Barnes presents for the youthful seeker. As a comple- ground. In my estimation, the blue mountain represents the idea of a goal or aspiration ment to the image of the eloquent St. Catherine, The Writing Lesson describes a warm, and the completion of the circle with heaven. Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed all had enveloping place, the incubator in Merion where the Barnesian education may take their mountains to which they went to reflect and to approach nearer to their God. We place in calm, quiet safety. In both The Writing Lesson and the Titian that flank the have also seen that the remembered souls on the East Side of the South Wall followed painting of St. Catherine, we see adults shepherding and protecting adolescents. In a road to their own Mount Sainte-Victoire. Here, in this imagery, students, educators, this imagery of protection, we get the impression that this place that we have come to historians, and philosophers may also have a mountain of their own to attempt to on the second floor of The Barnes is a safe harbor of peace. At first, it may seem odd ascend, and Dr. Barnes seemingly provides the pathway. The small Renoir landscape that these peaceful, protective images of adults watching over children are set along- with the blue sky has sharply delineated features, and it contrasts dramatically with the side pictures of saints that have died such violent deaths. But, the lessons of the saints’ blurred Renoir landscape of the same size with the blue mountain in the background. lives might be meant by Dr. Barnes to stand as examples to the youth of principled These two small Renoirs seem to suggest some type of progression or motion under- and faithful lives well lived, the kind of lives to which students in every age should lying the intent and purpose of the wall ensembles and hint that a metamorphosis is aspire. In a sense, there can be no better lessons to future students of The Barnes than occurring in front of our eyes. the examples presented in the lives of these religious figures. For instance, Catherine Below Renoir’s Landscape—Blue Mountain at Upper Left (1915) is Renoir’s Girl of Alexandria taught with such great zeal and learning that the pagan Roman Empire Seated under a Tree (circa 1914). In the background of Girl Seated under a Tree is a gate fell at her feet. And, John the Baptist proclaimed his faith so vigorously and coura- that looks oddly like the Gate to The Barnes, or even like the gate to Flanders Field geously after he emerged from the barren wilds that he paved the way for an entire Memorial Cemetery. Is this a new type of Golden Gate of which we have already spo- Christian civilization. Dr. Barnes may have also hoped for such dedicated advocates and ken in the context of Joachim and Anna at The Golden Gate in Gallery III? Is it here that defenders when his Foundation came under siege as it has today during the writing of we finally near the place of realization at The Barnes? The painting Girl Seated under this text. a Tree practically abuts the West Wall of Gallery XIV. At first, there seems no place

188 189 Barnes Rune 2012 The Double to go. However, maybe we are meant to go through the wall, since walls are not bar- If the larger metal image above the central painting of Titian’s Portrait of a Gentleman riers at The Barnes. If we go to the other side of the West Wall of Gallery XIV into and Son is interpreted from a Runic perspective, it could represent a bird in flight. Gallery XVI, there may be a secret of great value to a person seeking the knowledge If so, this could represent the way that the protection Rune “ALGIZ” is said to look of The Barnes in Merion. Dr. Barnes seems to suggest that a visitor should look in the when it is shown laying on its side. “Turned on its side, Algiz looks like a flying swan direction of the West Wall of Gallery XIV and beyond into Gallery XVI, because the or goose. The polarity involves protecting yourself while you are in those initial stages image of St. John the Baptist that he has placed right next to Girl Seated under a Tree is of flight, before you master your wings” (Sirona Knight, Runes, Sterling Publishing, pointing his finger toward Girl Seated under a Tree, the West Wall of Gallery XIV, and 2008, p. 139). I find this appropriate when I think about this area of the Southern Wall Gallery XVI beyond. as a comment on education and the nurturing of future generations. The rune might Two images with additional symbolic relevance on the West Side of the South Wall have been placed here as a talisman to give the novice peace and protection to grow in of Gallery XIV are the two pieces by Qiu Ying. On one side of the Titian is a woman at a stable, peaceful island of calm at The Barnes. a circular Window looking into a garden and on the other side of the Titian is a woman A second metal image in close proximity to the first further suggests that runic looking at a person on a Bridge in a garden. What both images share is the garden set- symbolism may be at play here. For, if the metal image of the lightning or a bird in ting. It seems that Dr. Barnes is attempting to equate the idea of a garden with the idea flight is runic, then that would explain the second piece of metal just below it. The of a bridge or a window. This is an important concept, as it is my proposition that the other piece of metal that I am talking about is directly above Titian’s Portrait of a Garden of Mrs. Laura Barnes outside is a bridge or a window to some greater message Gentleman and Son and directly underneath the metal shape that could be interpreted as we wind our way further into The Barnes. to be a bird in flight. This second piece of metal forms the shape of an M. The symbol But, before we leave this wall to go further into The Barnes, it is appropriate to resembling an M is reminiscent of the Runic Symbol “EHWAZ,” a symbol that stands note that above the Titian and crowning the ensemble on the West Side of the South for “projecting the double.” It is also a symbol of the Valkeyries, who were Odin’s fetch- Wall of Gallery XIV is a piece of antique metalwork which seems to be either a part wives who escorted the dead and brought them to Valhalla (Runes, p. 162). of a blade of an axe, the silhouette of a bird in flight, or a bolt of lightning. Each of This symbol “EHWAZ” may have a benign meaning as an educational symbol these symbols (blade, bird, and bolt of lightning) has significance in The Barnes. If the because educators educate students by instruction and example. They project, so to piece of metalwork is interpreted as the blade of an axe, it could represent the axe of speak, “a double,” a student. Matthew the Evangelist, the instrument of his martyrdom, as well as the instrument of But, if you think of the placement of an “EHWAZ” Rune in the context of the the martyrdom of the two eloquent proponents of the Christian faith depicted on this possibility that Dr. Barnes may have placed this symbol here as a symbol of Odin’s wall, John the Baptist and St. Catherine of Alexandria. fetch-wives, this throws a slightly different slant on the nature of the individual to If the metal image is interpreted as the image of a bird in flight, then it is a symbol whom the education may be intended. If this is a runic symbol with the meaning that of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which would fit in with the education theme. it may guide the dead, it may mean that good tidings are being extended to a worthy If it is a lightning strike, its placement above the Titian showing a mature man soul being escorted after his or her death. The placement of these images all together and a boy grouped together could suggest the galvanization of the ideals of the present should begin to raise flags in the mind of the viewer. Why is the image of the lightning generation in the youth of the next generation. This transfer of the ideals of the past to or divinity rune protection coupled with the fetch-wives theme? Why are there ado- the youth of the present is an idea we first saw in Gallery II in Manet’s painting of The lescents and adults portrayed together with the adults almost encircling the children? Laundress wringing out water into the bucket held by a bright-eyed, forward-looking, Does this have something to do with reincarnation? What is behind the Western Wall young child. Also, if this metal image is thought of as lightning, it could signify a of Gallery XIV where the gate in Renoir’s Girl Seated under a Tree leads? How is the transfer far more miraculous, like the lightning that struck Flanders Field Memorial Garden a Bridge? Chapel and the legend that it may have transported the souls of the Allied war dead And, so, we begin to see another mystery being posed as we find ourselves just past back to Merion. the midpoint of The Barnes Experience. There is another way to interpret the metal image: it could be runic. One of the Is there an answer to this new mystery just beyond the Western Wall of Gallery most noteworthy places that we see the metalwork as suggestive of runic imagery at XIV? What lies behind that wall where St. John is pointing? What answers are there to The Barnes is, I believe, in the metalwork on this part of the South Wall of Gallery XIV. be found? Where have we seen that gate before? Is it the gate through which we passed

190 191 Barnes Rune 2012 The Double as we entered The Foundation’s campus? Is it the gated entry to the grounds of Flanders to other ancient relics of Egypt and other ancient civilizations. The Egyptians believed Field Memorial Chapel in Belgium? Is it both places? Is there any difference, symboli- in reincarnation. Did Dr. Barnes? cally, between the two places in Waregam and Merion? Does the gate signify not just On July 24, 1951, Dr. Barnes took a drive in the country in his Packard open tour- an entry to a modern Valhalla in Merion Station but, also, perhaps, an entrance to or an ing car with his constant canine companion, Fidele du Port Manech, by his side. He exit from a burial place? The imagery creates tantalizing prospects from an interpretive had left the city for a few hours for a drive to his Chester County country home, “Ker- standpoint. What can possibly be next? Feal,” where his wife was working with her gardening staff. He stayed a short time Next to the Titian is an image of St. John of the Red Robe, which is part of the and left to return to Merion. As he approached an intersection, it is said that he did imagery associated with St. John the Baptist’s patronage of the Knights of the Order not stop at a stop sign and was struck by a ten-ton truck and killed. One of his biogra- of St. John. St. John is shown here pointing toward the West Wall of Gallery XIV, phers recounts that his body was thrown into the air and landed on the macadam near behind which is Gallery XVI. In Gallery XVI, one will see that on the North Wall an where the truck that struck his vehicle came to rest (Mary Ann Meyers, Albert Barnes image of Jesus in a red robe is pointing the same way St. John is pointing in Gallery And The Science of Philanthropy, Art, Education & African-American Culture, Transaction XIV, as if he, too, is giving some sort of direction. These two particular galleries are Publishers, 2007, p. 287). Legend has it that before responders could try to reach Dr. offset, so while the image of Jesus is on the Northern Wall of Gallery XVI and the Barnes’s crumpled body, a trooper had to shoot the badly wounded Fidele. If this is to image of St. John the Baptist is on the Southern Wall of Gallery XIV, in the mind’s be believed, it is unclear why Fidele was so fiercely provoked. eye, they seem to be hung in a straight line with one another. The way that the gal- One thing that always troubles me is why Dr. Barnes would not have been more leries are laid out allowed Dr. Barnes to accentuate these kinds of communications careful at this dangerous intersection. Dr. Barnes had been instrumental in having the between galleries. In this case, the offset walls allowed Dr. Barnes to hang these two township authorities install the very same stop sign that he allegedly went through images as if the figure of Jesus is a continuation of John the Baptist, even though they at this intersection. He had requested that stop sign because he had considered the are facing in different directions. The images to which the figures in these two paint- intersection extremely dangerous. How is it possible that Dr. Barnes would recklessly ings are pointing are a painting by Claude Lorrain of a picnicking couple in a field race to his death through the very same stop sign that he demanded that the Township with a city far off in the distance and a painting of St. Catherine of Siena addressing install? Or, is it possible that there was foul play? Did Dr. Barnes, for instance, stop his Pope Gregory XI. vehicle at the stop sign but get pushed by another vehicle into the path of an oncoming These two paintings of John the Baptist and of Jesus, both in the regal red robes vehicle by an opportunistic assassin? Would someone have wanted Dr. Barnes assas- of their heavenly triumph, hung in two distinctly different galleries and pointing in sinated? He had alienated many people. He was obstinate, callous, and rude. He pre- the same way as one another, evoke a sense of correspondence between the two galler- cluded a number of people from seeing his collections, and he had threatened to hand ies. This image of correspondence is further emphasized by the placement of a paint- off the care of his Foundation and probably the most important private collection in the ing immediately to the right of the pointing figure of St. John on the South Wall of world to Lincoln University, which was and is primarily composed of black students. Gallery XIV. It is a Renoir painting of a child with a straw hat at a gate that seems to You have to remember that at this time in the United States, they were still lynching open right where the wall closes—this is the gate that looks like the main entrance blacks in the South and burning crosses in the Pennsylvania farming communities. gate to The Barnes, or possibly the main entrance gate at the cemetery at Flanders Field Walter Annenberg’s Philadelphia Inquirer ran what has been described as a par- Cemetery in Belgium. Is the image of the gate, located here so close to Gallery XVI, ticularly “gruesome photograph” of the body being removed from the scene and, upon an exit for one to come from Gallery XVI through the West Wall of Gallery XIV, or is hearing of Dr. Barnes’ tragic death, Carroll Tyson, a collector and a major supporter of it an entrance for the visitor as he or she delves further into The Barnes? Does it serve the Philadelphia Museum of Art and one of the many Philadelphia philanthropists that both purposes depending on the circumstances? If it is also for one who will come, the Dr. Barnes had alienated, is noted to have joked to Fiske Kimball, another wealthy and being that may come may be a Double, bearing knowledge and bringing nourishing prominent son of Philadelphia, that he (Tyson) was “in hopes that the town of Merion insight which will protect The Barnes in Merion. will put a highway directly through [the] Barnes place and his pictures will have to find Gallery XVI, on the other side of the wall if we could pass through Renoir’s gate, a custodian, some place, for instance, like the Philadelphia Museum of Art” (Meyers, is the only gallery in The Barnes that contains an Egyptian coffin fragment in addition Albert Barnes and The Science of Philanthropy, p. 288–289). It seems that Carroll Tyson is

192 193 Barnes Rune 2012 finally getting his wish made upon hearing the news of the good doctor’s death nearly sixty years ago. Immediately prior to his death, Dr. Barnes had made it known that he intended to remove the University of Pennsylvania as a future guardian of the Collection and replace it with Lincoln University. Under the terms of his Indenture Lincoln University would have a controlling interest in the fate of The Foundation. Dr. Barnes succeeded in making the necessary changes to his Indenture before his untimely death. At the Chapter 31 time, race relations were not as good as they are now, and it would most likely have been shocking to some that one of the world’s most desirable art collections would have The Crypt been left to the control of blacks. Eventually, this was altered with the assistance of then Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell and the apparent approval of Attorney General Michael Fisher when Lincoln University’s board agreed that its voice on the f we were to go through the garden gate shown on the South Wall of Gallery XIV board of The Foundation could be diluted as part of the plan to Move The Barnes to in Renoir’s Girl Seated under a Tree, otherwise known as Child in a Straw Hat by a Philadelphia. IGarden Gate, we would enter Gallery XVI, which I call “The Crypt.” I believe that According to his wishes, Mrs. Laura Barnes had Dr. Barnes’s body cremated. The Gallery XVI is the next place to go in the symbolism suggested by the sequence of Dr. doctor’s good friend, Chief Nulty of the Narbeth Fire Department, the head gardener Barnes. We shall ignore for a moment Gallery XV and the rest of Gallery XIV. Instead, at The Foundation, and a female assistant interred the ashes of Albert Coombs Barnes holding in our mind’s eye the image of St. John the Baptist pointing at the garden gate, in the heavily wooded area of the Merion Arboretum and with him they buried his I request that the viewer walk through Gallery XV and into Gallery XVI. There, on loyal dog, Fidele de Port Manech (See, generally, Meyers, Albert Barnes and The Science the North Wall of Gallery XVI, Dr. Barnes has placed an image of Christ stepping out of Philanthropy, p. 288). of a tomb. The image is called Resurrection and is believed to be German or Austrian from the fifteenth century. In this image, Christ is also pointing in the same direction as John the Baptist. Christ appears to be pointing the viewer to the image of a country scene and to a woman reading a letter to an authority figure seated on a throne. Also, where the image of Christ appears to be looking is important. Christ is looking from his place on the North Wall of Gallery XVI toward the South Wall of Gallery XVI, where there is an assembly of images which may suggest reincarnation or rebirth. Directly across from the painting of the risen Christ is what appears to be an ancient stone sculpture without a head. The ancient sculpture or statue looks like it came out of some archeological dig. It is the only statute of its size in Gallery XVI. Also in Gallery XVI are a number of artifacts from ancient Egypt, including three painting-sized stone reliefs with various Egyptian figures and hieroglyphics. People who enter this room may wonder why Dr. Barnes chose a headless statue to place along the South Wall of Gallery XIV. I always like to think that if Dr. Barnes did not have a reason for wanting this par- ticular statue, he certainly could have afforded one that had a head from the period that he was seeking to represent. I can’t help but think that Dr. Barnes could have afforded nearly anything to place within the walls of his Foundation, and that he was selective and discerning in his collecting habits. Why wouldn’t he have bought a complete piece of statuary rather than this fragment unless he had some purpose behind using the head- less fragment of a statue? There are two noticeable things about the statue. The first is that the statue is a figure that has no head. And, the second is that this figure is carry- ing what appears to be a water vessel under its arm affixed by a sling over its shoulder. 194 Barnes Rune 2012 The Crypt

Directly above the headless stone sculpture of the ancient Water Bearer is a paint- on the Easternmost part of the South Wall formed of encaustic on wood from the Third ing by Chaim Soutine called Still Life with Flowers (circa 1919). As the visitor looks at Intermediate Period (1075–712 BC) that Dr. Barnes has placed on the Westernmost part this Still Life with Flowers, he or she will notice that there appears to be a skull hidden in of the South Wall of Gallery XVI. The coffin fragment is on one side of a large chest, and this painting. Further, the painting is hung in such a way that the skull completes the the headless stone sculpture and Soutine’s Still Life with Flowers are on the other side. On headless stone sculpture on the floor below. This appears to be why Dr. Barnes chose a the coffin fragment are a number of colorful hieroglyphics as well as the image of a black headless statue when he could have afforded to have any statue his heart desired. Is the dog with a long snout. This black dog represents Anubis, the Egyptian Guardian of the purpose of the placement of the stone statue under the canvas with a skull to express Dead. In this image on the coffin, Anubis appears to have a harness or loop around his the unification of canvas and stone at The Barnes? neck. This harness or loop reminds me of the old vaudevillian hook that would pull per- As one looks at the ensemble along the South Wall of Gallery XVI, the headless stone formers off the stage. The harness encircles Anubis’ neck in a way that is very much like sculpture is seemingly given a new life as canvas and stone meet, canvas above and stone the way that the woman’s arms encircle the child in Renoir’s Writing Lesson on the South below. At first one does not notice the image of a skull laying on a table with a vase of Wall of Gallery XIV or the way the father appears to encircle the child in the Titian- flowers in Soutine’s still life. Soutine’s painting is done in places with heavy brushstrokes attributed painting Portrait of a Gentleman and Son also on the South Wall of Gallery XIV. and garish color mixes that often characterize Soutine’s work, but, when the viewers’ The coffin fragment with the image of Anubis has been placed next to the Western eyes adjust to the style of the artist, the image of the skull is unmistakable. And, as one Wall of The Barnes that faces some of the wildest parts of the Estate. It is as if Anubis who is familiar with Soutine’s imagination might expect, Soutine even manages to paint is being pulled into The Barnes from that wild area of The Garden. Has Anubis himself a unique skull. Soutine’s skull isn’t shaped to suggest the ominous death’s head style. been called or conjured into service in support of The Barnes? Does he represent some- Instead, the skull doesn’t seem ominous or fearful at all; but, is, rather, a kindly skull, if one or something buried in the Garden? To carry through on the theme of The Double one could imagine such a thing, because it seems to be smiling and is not at all frighten- from the Runic symbolism in Gallery XIV, does Anubis protect or usher in a Double? A ing or morose. It even has an elongated snout much like a dog or the bleached skull of a Double who is willing to learn, to advocate, and to advance the lessons that The Barnes horse or steer that you would find in some romanticized desert of America’s Wild West. holds? Is one or many of these doubles being protected and nurtured now, in our time, The headless stone sculpture stands on the floor against the South Wall of Gallery to reveal the mysteries that The Barnes holds and to defend its mission in Merion? XVI, and the painting with the image of the skull is directly above it. They are a The unification of canvas and stone in Gallery XVI, which is on the Garden side perfect match and form one image, canvas meeting stone. I am sure many eyes have of The Barnes closest to where Fidele and Albert Barnes are buried, may symbolize glanced over this painting by Soutine without ever realizing that there is a skull in the something even greater: It may symbolize how canvas and stone—the stone of Dr. Paul painting. The skull in Still Life with Flowers is hidden in plain sight, much like the Philippe Cret and the bedrock of the garden, and the canvas of the art collection—com- secrets of The Barnes are hidden in plain sight. At first, the skull may not even look like bine into a greater whole to bring the spirit of Dr. Barnes back to life. a skull, which adds to the subdued manner in which Dr. Barnes employs the painting There is a low place close to the heavily wooded portion of the Garden, just past the to subtly accentuate the stone statue standing on the floor below it by giving it an oil West Wall of Gallery XVI and down a slight incline, Professor Gatti talks about it as a and canvas head. Soutine uses broadly sweeping brushstrokes in his flower composition, place where it seems that one has touched bedrock itself. This low place seems to cor- which make the vase of flowers the first feature of the painting to attract the eye. There respond to the concept of a coffin or a tomb that we see in The Crypt Gallery, Gallery is, however, a flat patch of white that catches the viewer’s eye in what I would describe XVI, and makes the symbolism of that gallery easier to understand. Here, in this low as the second focal point of the painting. This white flat patch contrasts with Soutine’s place, the area is cooler, firmer, and deeper than most any other part of the landscape. garish swirl of flowers. The viewer’s eye almost has to resolve the patch of white lying This place is at the very base of the descending garden before the garden itself ends and on the table next to the vase of swirling flowers. As this second focal point comes into opens up into the welcoming woods. The lush grass in this low place is buoyant but it view, one clearly sees how the white helps to form a solid line that helps establish the doesn’t spring quite as much as one might expect when looking at it because there is plane of the table top in the painting in the midst of Soutine’s otherwise busy composi- only a thin bit of earth beneath it, and it seems to rest virtually upon rock. It is darker tion, and the eye then discerns that this white composition is a bleached skull laying and cooler here and much more recessed than in the rest of The Arboretum and even the on the table next to the vase of flowers. nearby forest itself. High above this spot, The Residence and The Gallery seem far away. The skull and the statue are actually at the end of the reincarnation or rebirth imagery One could compare stepping into this place as becoming a part of the earth. Maybe this in Gallery XVI. The reincarnation imagery begins with a fragment of an Egyptian coffin portion of the garden is purposefully dug to the bedrock for this very effect. The best way

196 197 Barnes Rune 2012 The Crypt to experience this sensation is to take Gatti’s Visual Literacy class and have him take you flying triumphantly, and an actual piece of a coffin. It is the tomb in the painting of the on the tour, but if you don’t have the time, you can start at the flagstone path and enter the risen Christ that Christ has just emerged from that bears the most striking resemblance garden through the Arbor by the South Gate near Lapsley Lane and St. Joseph’s University. to the tomblike planter in the Garden. From there you walk down through the garden until you hit this very low place. One can Returning to the theme of death, rebirth, and resurrection in the Garden, as I have actually feel a perceptible reduction going on in the quiet beauty, as if layers of stress are mentioned before, on the South Wall of Gallery XVI is a piece of an Egyptian sarcopha- being diffused and peeled away as you descend lower and lower through the descending gus affixed to the wall. On that sarcophagus fragment is a hieroglyphic of Anubis, the levels of the garden. I am not sure how it is achieved, but as you arrive at this lowest place Egyptian Guardian of the Dead. In this representation, Anubis is shown as a sleek black after having descended through the multiple garden levels, the sensation is noticeable dog. Anubis is often shown as a black dog or as a man with the head of a black dog and can have a freeing effect as you seem to settle at rock bottom. There is a sculpted rock because dogs in Africa were often associated with places where the dead were laid to rest. planter there at the lowest spot that looks like a large, low bench. The planter itself is lower Anubis came to be known in Egyptian mythology as the Guardian of the Dead. Priests than a coffee table that barely reaches midcalf, which serves to enhance the effect as you preparing the body for its journey to the afterlife would wear masks representing Anubis. find yourself in a low spot next to something squat and solid, like a giant in a dollhouse. As I have said before, in this particular fragment, Anubis is drawn with what appears The planter is about the size of a man—the size of a small sepulcher—but it is open to be a leash that seems to encircle his neck without touching it. The leash ends at a at the top and, in the warmer seasons, the planter has vegetation growing from it. The point beyond the coffin fragment in the direction of the rest of the galleries. It almost effect of the squat, sculpted planter in this low area of the garden amplifies one’s sense seems that the leash is harnessing or pulling Anubis into The Barnes. Below and slightly of the lowness of the place. This area of the garden is probably described best by Barnes to the left of the coffin fragment depicting Anubis, there is a canopic jar with the title Foundation professor John Gatti in his first-year classes as a place of transition. As Mr. “Ka Anubia.” The head of the jar appears to depict a baboon which, at times, is associ- Gatti describes it, one should think about the effect of the landscape architecture as a ated with the Egyptian god Thoth and, at other times, with one of the sons of Horus, place of transition; it is a transition that has a freeing effect on visitors and helps them Obeneusheof. Thoth was the god of writing and wisdom. Obeneusheof is often depicted to leave their old thoughts behind as they leave the noise and bustle of the City behind on these Egyptian embalming jars containing the vital organs of the deceased in the and now look forward to walking up the steep tree-lined hill to enter the galleries high Egyptian burial rite. It is my understanding that jars dedicated to Obeneusheof held above this low place. The effect of this design is about freeing the mind to enter the the lungs of the deceased. In Egyptian lore, the Ka is the immortal spirit that preserves Gallery Experience, and it is also about preparing one’s mind to be able to more fully the attributes of a person forever. Often, a very important person was said to have more experience and understand some of the deeper themes associated with the Gallery. than one Ka. Ramses II, it is said, claimed to have had nine. Dr. Barnes was cremated When I enter Gallery XVI from Gallery XIV, I actually feel refreshed here at a place and his ashes are somewhere on the Merion Campus. I often wonder if Dr. Barnes left more than midway in my journey through The Barnes, because the Garden experience any part of his Ka at the Merion Gallery. Is it possible that he himself is here waiting is always in my mind as I enter these rooms. I like to think of two of the three rooms to be reborn, his lungs ready to cry out against moving or disturbing his Foundation? of the second floor West Wing as the Upper Garden Rooms, particularly Galleries XV On the wall above this statute of Thoth and the Anubis fragment, there is a paint- and XVI. Galleries XV and XVI are the two rooms along the western wall on the sec- ing by William Glackens of his daughter, Lenna, called Lenna with Basket of Flowers ond floor of The Foundation where the sunlight seems a little brighter than in any of (circa 1915–16). Interestingly, the flowers in Lenna’s basket look more like eggs than the other second-floor rooms. These rooms are the ones closest to the low spot in the flowers. If they represent eggs, like eggs in an Easter basket, this area would be further Garden that I have just described. As much as Gallery XVI may seem like an Egyptian confirmation that this area of The Barnes is associated with the concept of rebirth. Crypt, when one thinks of The Garden it is almost uplifting to be in Gallery XVI, Easter is thought of as one of Christianity’s most holy holidays. Easter commemo- which is so close to that special earthy place just outside the window. Also, Gallery XVI rates Christ’s Resurrection. On the South Wall of Gallery XVI and at places around has pastels, gold, brass, and precious carved materials, with Gallery XVI and Gallery Gallery XVI, the Egyptian theme continues. The next Egyptian image is in the center XV seeming to get the most natural light through a Western window. of the Wall on which the sarcophagus fragment is located. The image is in the form Galleries XV and XVI are the only places in all of The Barnes where we find statu- of a Pennsylvania Dutch watercolor of a bird on a twig in profile that looks oddly like ary in the glass display cases. These stone and terracotta objects emphasize and accentu- Horus, the son of Osiris and Set, and the Egyptian god of the sky, the god of truth, the ate a correspondence to the coffin like planter in the garden below. In Gallery XVI, the god of the light, of protection and of war. Horus is the half-brother of Anubis, the son visitor also finds the picture of Christ rising from the tomb with a Christian standard of Osiris and Isis. The bird, possibly meant to be Horus, commands one of the highest

198 199 Barnes Rune 2012 The Crypt spots in the ensemble. Directly above the bird’s head is a metal sculpture in the form Barnes following Dr. Barnes’s death. (Briefly, I think it is important to note that there are of a sunburst with the image of a face in the center. The sunburst probably represents two paintings in The Barnes called The Offering, one by Charles Prendergast in Gallery Judeo-Christian concepts of immortality and rebirth into the heavenly body. IV and the one by Monticelli in Gallery XVI. I believe that both paintings are at critical It is an unusual set of images, and the theme is tied to many others of ever increas- junctures of The Barnes where there may be a symbolic entry of a spirit or spirits into ing breadth that seem to radiate through the galleries like ripples in a pool. The myth- The Barnes. Curiously, they are at opposite ends of The Foundation.) ological elements are very dense in this portion of The Barnes. To Dr. Barnes, Monticelli’s blurring of the image in The Offering of Gallery XVI As your eye travels along the wall in a right-to-left direction from the Western Wall may be meant to represent a magical or miraculous shape shifting of The Water Bearer toward the East Wall of the Gallery, next to the piece of the coffin and above the Ka into existence. Above The Offering, Dr. Barnes has placed a painting of goats by Alexis Anubia statute of Thoth, there is a painting called The Offering, by Adolphe Joseph Thomas Gritchenko (Ukrainian, 1883–1933) called Tree and Goats (1921). Often ancient bibli- Monticelli (French, 1824–86), which depicts children and adults grouped around two cen- cal peoples would slaughter animals as an offering to God in the pursuit of a miracle. In tral female figures that are sitting on what could be an ancient stone ruin in an idyllic for- its depiction of goats, this painting serves to reinforce the theme of an offering taking est setting, with the focal point appearing to be something that one of the sitting women place. If the vertical construct in Gritchenko’s Tree and Goats is a tree, it is the most in the center is holding in her arms. The garden setting recalls the garden outside on the unlikely and inhospitable-looking deformed tree that anyone could imagine. As such, grounds of Dr. Barnes’ Merion country Estate. We cannot make out what the lady is hold- is it an image of The Cross and a site of sacrifice, crucifixion, and resurrection? ing in her arms. Perhaps she is holding a child wrapped in a white blanket, but we can’t be As we progress right to left along the South Wall of Gallery XVI from the West sure. Perhaps it is a soul about to be reborn? The act of making an offering is the subject of Wall of Gallery XVI, on the floor next to the statute of Thoth is a trunk with a mor- Monticelli’s painting. The setting of the figures inThe Offering recalls the placement of the tar and pestle on top of it, with old water jugs on either side of the mortar and pestle. figures in Peter Paul Rubens’s painting of The Holy Family in Gallery XIV. Perhaps Dr. And, on the other side of the trunk, to our left, is the stone statue without a head with Barnes has placed Monticelli’s painting here to also symbolize that a child or children or a water vessel slung over its left arm, The Water Bearer. To a pharmaceutical mag- students are being consecrated to a special task and that something spiritual is occurring. nate like Dr. Barnes, the mortar and pestle would have special significance, as they Is the child or student being consecrated to the perpetual defense of The Barnes? would be the tools of his trade. It is with these tools that the pharmacist or physician The title of the painting suggests a religious offering. Perhaps it is meant by Dr. or researcher makes a palliative or finds a cure. It is here that that quickening, so to Barnes to represent an offering to God and a supplication that He work a miracle to speak, of one who would be reborn would take place. I suggest that the composite aid The Barnes in Merion and to save it from those who have set out to dismantle and theme of this ensemble suggests that what is being consecrated in The Offering is a remove the art from its Merion home. Monticelli uses reds, blues, and even orange in bearer of nourishing and protective water, a Water Bearer who has been newly reincar- the garments and figures of the people, and contrasts them to browns and yellows in nated and reborn who is then represented in the marriage of canvas and stone that is the wooded background. While the forms in the painting have a definite weight and formed by the headless Water Bearer sculpture and Soutine’s skull in his Still Life with substance, there is no clear separation between the figures in the foreground and the Flowers. woods in the background. The artist uses white in both the foreground and in the back- Above the mortar and pestle is a nineteenth-century portrait of the Chinese callig- ground, which has the effect of making the same white color penetrate both foreground rapher Ono nodo fu with pen in hand and characters written above him. I would think and background. This technique gives the effect of blurring the image. The forms are that if this room is designed to bring forth water bearers, teachers, and champions to tell discernible, but all of the features of both background and foreground are noticeably the secrets of The Barnes, then who better to invoke than the spirit of Ono nodo fu, the unclear. It is like looking at the painting through an automobile windshield in a pouring magnificent Chinese calligrapher who wrote with pictures, much like the people who rain before activating the windshield wipers. This blurring of the image gives the viewer tell stories of the symbolism of The Barnes Experience? One either side of the calligra- the impression that Monticelli is suggesting that something magical is in the process pher Ono nodo fu are Chinese images showing six figures on the Western side and seven of occurring in the scene depicted in The Offering. Symbolically, I think Dr. Barnes puts figures on the eastern side. It is as if, in a right-to-left reading of the images, another this painting here in this sequence to suggest the same thing, that something magical figure, a seventh, has formed after the interaction of the mortar and pestle. Above Ono is taking place in this area of The Barnes and in this sequence of paintings. The magic nodo fu and below the Pennsylvania Dutch bird image that I like to call Horus is a might bring about the incarnation of a teacher or a champion or of many such teachers Chinese Fan showing a mountainous landscape by Wang Shimin dated 1665. The name or champions in every age, with the strength of an Anubis or a Thoth, to defend The is oddly reminiscent of the word “Shaman,” which, in some Native American and South

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American cultures, describes a medicine man or a soothsayer. Dr. Barnes seems to intro- the headless stone sculpture combined with Soutine’s skull represents a newly born duce the word “Shimin” here to invoke the magic of the mortar and pestle. defender and bearer of knowledge of The Barnes, the first place such a figure would look The still life by Chaim Soutine immediately above the headless stone statue of the would be at the image of Christ pointing to this country landscape. Water Bearer forms the head of this reconstituted Water Bearer where a head would not And, if The Water Bearer’s eye is meant to follow the direction in which Christ is otherwise exist. And above Soutine’s still life there is another painting by the Ukrainian pointing, then this is where the physical location of The Foundation becomes impor- Gritchenko called Amphitheater (1921). In ancient times the stone amphitheater was tant to The Water Bearer. Once The Water Bearer realizes that the painting by Claude a place for theater, politics, gamesmanship, and combat. Is The Water Bearer’s or the Lorrain is Dr. Barnes’s message that The Barnes should stay in its suburban pastoral champion’s purpose to advocate on a grand scale on behalf of The Barnes in Merion? If home, then The Water Bearer’s eyes are directed to his education about what he must do so, she draws her strength from the soulfulness of the message and the nobility of the to try to keep it in Merion which I believe can be found in the direction in which one of Institution she defends. Water is a unifying theme in The Barnes. Did Dr. Barnes intend the figures in the Claude Lorrain painting is pointing. This pointing figure may direct this image of a reconstituted Water Bearer to be a unifying, nourishing and protective the attention of The Water Bearer back through the North Wall of Gallery XVI and force to galvanize public support for the defense of The Barnes in Merion? The Wall back into Gallery XIV to a potential life lesson written on the North Wall of Gallery ensemble ends on the Easternmost portion of the South Wall of Gallery XVI in a black XIV. I will return to this inter-gallery educational correspondence in a moment, but and white drawing above the door by Matisse painted, of all places, in Collioure (1905). first I will analyze some of the other images in Gallery XVI. It is as if The Water Bearer, having been reborn, must choose his own palette and Before I leave this room and start looking for meanings through walls, I will exam- Dr. Barnes, having willed him to life, can do nothing further for The Water Bearer but ine Gallery XVI more closely. On the opposite side of the image of Christ (to Christ’s to guide him or her in lines already laid down and within which he or she should color. left and the viewer’s right) there is a stone Egyptian Tablet with a woman indicating And, where are these lines of guidance and education to a new Water Bearer? Well, with both of her hands toward the East Wall of Gallery XVI where Dr. Barnes has placed Gallery XIV, where there are so many images of education and adults nurturing chil- a series of archetypal scenes. I think that the East Wall of Gallery XVI is also part of The dren, would probably be a good place to start. There, after all, is where we first see the Water Bearer’s orientation and education, as if The Water Bearer was a newly formed concept of The Double being projected. If one wants to know what lessons The Barnes child. The East Wall of Gallery XVI contains a number of small pieces which might be may hold for the newly reincarnated Water Bearer, I think that it is helpful to visualize considered to serve as The Water Bearer’s education and a greater explication of his or oneself in the position of The Water Bearer, standing in the shoes of the ancient stone her purpose. I would note that it appears that this is not just a Christian lesson because sculpture at the base of the South Wall of Gallery XVI. If you are such a newly reincar- I believe Dr. Barnes felt that great warriors of the future would fight not to impose or nated entity and you couldn’t remember your purpose or needed to learn your purpose, defend religious beliefs but for freedom and to right injustice. The first scene on the you could look at the paintings before you to orient you in your purpose. The first place East Wall of Gallery XVI is the Circumcision of Christ from the Book of Hours (1470– The Water Bearer would look is probably directly back at the image of Christ rising 1480), and below it is a scene from the life of the great Islamic warrior, Rustam, from from the grave. This image of Christ before an open tomb would be a familiar one to the Persian Rustam and Askabus Legend, particularly Rustam Lifts Qanun from His Horse a newly formed Water Bearer who has been similarly raised up. The image of Christ (1550). Above the painting of the Circumcision is a colorful painting called Hills (circa would serve to orient The Water Bearer, because the first thing The Water Bearer 1908), by Alfred Henry Maurer (1868–1932). In the next column there is a Chinese pic- would notice is that the figure of Christ in the painting is pointing to the viewer’s left ture called Dogs (from 1082 to 1135). Following these images are The Pentecost or Descent and to His right at the painting by Claude Lorrain (French, active in Italy, 1604–82) of the Holy Spirit (from the Book of Hours) and a Battle Scene from Iran or Turkey. The further West on the North Wall of Gallery XVI. aforesaid columns of the East Wall contain an image of youth (circumcision), and images The painting by Claude Lorrain to which the image of Christ is pointing shows of legendary warriors inspired by the fire of the Holy Spirit of the Pentecost. Moreover, a group of figures in a pastoral landscape with a town far off in the distance. I like to we see that Dr. Barnes has placed an image of dogs near a hilly landscape, which seems think of Lorrain’s pastoral landscape as an orienting painting for the newly born Water to me to represent loyal Barnes students and supporters, educators, philosophers, and Bearer. It would seem that the perspective that The Water Bearer would take upon his art lovers everywhere who have battled to keep The Barnes in the hills of Philadelphia birth is that The Barnes should stay in the suburban countryside of Merion Station, in Merion and who will continue to do battle for The Barnes in Merion in all future because The Water Bearer’s perspective seems to be the same as the figures in Claude generations to maintain the art in its true home in Merion, or, if the art is ever success- Lorrain’s country landscape, looking at the city far off in the distance. If the image of fully removed, that it be returned to its rightful home in Merion. This is the one tenet

202 203 Barnes Rune 2012 The Crypt of the guardian, The Water Bearer, in every generation. Her weapon is her faith in the the world’s torment, there is An Equestrian Princess Departs from a Palace (Iran/Turkey). legitimacy of her task and the wondrous knowledge and insight about The Barnes that The second to last column from top to bottom are The Assumption of The Virgin from the she imparts to those whose hearts and minds she will win. Book of Hours (1470–1480), A Poet On A Mule, a copy after Wang Wei (Chinese, circa In the next column there is an image of The Crucifixion (German, circa1430) and 701–762), and Rustam Confronts Ashkabus (circa 1550). The last column is Tree and Rock below, there is a drawing depicting The Qazi of Hamadan and a Youth (Indian [Mughal], by Alfred Henry Maurer, a Korean image from the seventeenth century, and a Persian seventeenth century). We then have a lengthy set of religious images in a row consist- battle scene (circa 1550). In this last series I always return to the image of the poet on ing of Marriage Scene (circa 1400–15), The Nativity (German, fourteenth century), The a mule: as The Water Bearer instructs the crowd, the way The Water Bearer will ulti- Enthroned Virgin and Child (German), The Nativity with Joseph, Angels, and Worshippers mately win is by exhibiting the eloquence of a poet and the stubbornness of a mule. (German), and four New Testament scenes, including The Annunciation, The Visitation, This image by Wang Wei is one of only three copies in The Barnes. I believe that The Nativity, and The Annunciation to the Shepherd (German). These are standard reli- all three copies are related. The other two copies are in Gallery V: the first copy is of gious symbols directing The Water Bearer in the lessons of religion and Christianity. Charles VII, the Dauphin, who St. Joan of Arc restored to the French throne and who, In the very center of the Wall, in the middle of this string of religious oriented in turn, repatriated the Templars to France; and the second copy is the painting of the images, we have what Dr. Barnes describes as a “Leaf from Book of Hours with Temptation of St. Anthony, who is called the Wonder Worker and who is a patron Historiated Initial D” depicting Christ before Pilate. Does Dr. Barnes suggest here that against oppression. Taken together, these images seem to suggest that great things are the purpose of The Water Bearer is to play “D” or to play Defense against any Pilates expected of The Water Bearer and that his or her task is extremely important to the in the high places in local, state, or national government who wash their hands when future of society. On the latter point, I think historians will agree that if France had called upon to preserve The Barnes in Merion and, instead, defer to a small but influen- stayed under the rule of the English monarchy, the world might have become a very tial group of political supporters who claim that The Barnes Move will somehow serve different place. Some say that the American Revolution owes its success in part to the the public interest? (Is the suggestion of Dr. Barnes in these images that through the support that the American colonies received from France. If St. Joan of Arc had not suc- blindness, apathy, and lack of courageous leadership of these public officials, the pride, ceeded in restoring an autonomous French king to the throne of an independent France honor, love, and integrity of human aspiration that is represented in The Merion Barnes in the 1500s, the history of the Western world may have been different in 1776, and experience will be destroyed in much the same way that Pilate apathetically favored the American Revolution may have not succeeded. (So, too, we do not now know how a thief over Christ?) Next, there are four scenes from the Biblical Book of Genesis, history will be changed if The Barnes is altered by The Move.) including The Creation of Eve, The Marriage of Adam and Eve, The Temptation and The These images would, it seems to me, act as a good moral education to any child who Expulsion From The Garden of Eden (German thirteenth century). Following this are The would come into the world. Above these images in the center of the East Wall of Gallery Nativity with God the Father, Joseph, and Angels (German). After this are The Visitation XVI is a large Arcadian image of a man and a woman on a horse surrounded by angels (English, 1200), The Enthroned Virgin and Child (German), De Corpore Christi (left), and, and prancing dogs and all sorts of wonderful sights called Figures and Mules by Charles A King Instructing a Crowd (right, French, fourteenth century). The last image of a king Prendergast (1915–1917). Figures and Mules appears to be done on panel but with exten- instructing the crowd suggests that this is truly what government officials should do: sive use of gold or gold leaf. On either side of Figures and Mules are what appear to be instruct the crowd in the importance of preserving our special American places instead boats floating in the air by Marsden Hartley (1877–1943). The boat on the viewer’s left is of being ruled by special interests. Maybe instructing the crowd about the secrets of Movement, Bermuda, and the boat on the viewer’s right is also called Movement, Bermuda (circa The Barnes is how The Water Bearer can play “Defense.” 1916). Above Figure and Mules is a third Marsden Hartley entitled Flower Piece (1916). We then begin to get into columns again, but the religious theme continues through The eyes of The Water Bearer finally come to rest on the Arcadian vision before him the center of the remaining part of the wall ensemble in a predictable fashion. In the in Figures and Mules, for in the center it shows a man and a woman in the prime of their first column after the religious string which begins to bring the wall to conclusion, we lives riding on a single horse through an idyllic world while angels celebrate their exis- have a German piece called Christ as the Man of Sorrows (circa 1430) on the top of the last tence. Underneath this image is another piece, a statue by Prendergast that also appears three columns of the East Wall. This small religious image shows Christ with a knife, a to be done in gold or gold leaf. Prendergast’s statue is of two nude figures and is placed noose, and other torments surrounding Him. It accentuates all the horrid and troubling by Dr. Barnes atop a glass case that contains sculptures from ancient history. It seems that things that human beings go through in this life, and it helps us to feel Christ’s constant Dr. Barnes has placed the gold figures by Prendergast here to suggest that the Arcadian or pain at all of these things. Below the image of Christ as the Man of Sorrows experiencing utopian image of the painting by Prendergast above is actualized here in Merion.

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The placement of sculpted figures by Prendergast under a painting by Prendergast The second image, situated behind the figure and in the direction that the open question is the second example of a correlation between two-dimensional paintings and statues mark is facing, is a six-sided geometric construct suspended in mid-air which looks like it in Gallery XVI, which suggests that something is becoming actualized in this gallery: could be a flying saucer or UFO. Behind the hovering hexagonally shaped image are what first, Dr. Barnes forms a Water Bearer from a canvas skull and a stone body on the South appear to be two land masses connected by a lane or bridge with arrows on it. The land Wall, and second, on the East Wall, Dr. Barnes places these Prendergast figures below a mass at the bottom of the tapestry is unfamiliar to me. But, the land mass to which the Prendergast painting as if to suggest that these figures are “stepping out” of the paint- bridge is heading appears to resemble The Louisiana Purchase. It is the strangest thing. ing into The Barnes. Perhaps this Prendergast sequence in the Western Wing “Garden” I suspect that this tapestry is the reflection of some sort of earth/spaceman theory side gallery, Gallery XVI, is a play on the marriage between the Garden and Galleries predating Erich von Däniken’s book Chariots of the Gods? (1968) about the relationship at The Barnes, because Figures and Mules immediately above the sculpted golden fig- between extraterrestrials and human myths and legends. The tapestry may suggest that the ures shows a specific idyllic place, and these sculpted figures on top of the cabinet seem fellow with a question mark for a head riding on the camel is a wayfaring amalgamation of to have just arrived in the Galleries from the magical, gardenlike spot depicted in an ancient astronaut and a human (although he barely looks human at all). The Bridge from Prendergast’s painting. The feeling is that the place the figures have just entered is as an unrecognizable world to The Louisiana Purchase may suggest that the New World is the wondrous a place as the place from whence they have come. It is as if The Barnes and place to which the past will lead and which will be a site of importance in a future time. the splendor of its Merion setting are just as idyllic as the land of milk and honey in the I suspect that von Däniken and his colleagues would have an interesting visit to Prendergast painting. If this is a lesson to The Water Bearer about the true nature and The Barnes. They can make what they want of it all until Pennsylvania dismantles it, purpose of The Barnes, there could be no simpler expression of Dr. Barnes’ ideals than but I’m not going to get off the track talking about things that von Däniken and his this: that here in Merion he has brought utopia to life. colleagues can discuss far more authoritatively than I. I do find it interesting that we To make a place perpetual in nature and to direct that it not be touched is a momentous find a pyramid here in the tapestry and a question mark in connection with something decision and there seems to be an aspect of permanency to this place that should not be taken that resembles an interstellar craft. If we look to the stars, some think that The Pleiades lightly. After all, if modern society had pyramids, wouldn’t The Barnes qualify? Dr. Barnes resembles a question mark. The Pleiades is a very important star cluster in myth and is interred here. The place is a repository of the knowledge of his time and a conduit of the in legend. The Pleiades has become the subject of some renewed interest because some sensibilities of an age. Dr. Barnes and his friends brought the lessons of the Old World back have claimed that photographs of the Martian surface at a place called Cydonia appear to the New World where they built a modern utopia. The Barnes is a storehouse of their to reveal a set of non-natural fabricated constructs that seem to resemble pyramids legacy, just like the tomb of a modern pharaoh. This leads me to another noteworthy image in the configuration of The Pleiades. Some who subscribe to the theory think of the of a figure riding through a landscape in The Barnes which is probably appropriate to men- alleged monument complex as a kind of sign or sign post. Many of these theories are tion at this juncture because it may shed light upon The Barnes compilation. recounted in Wayne Herschel’s book The Hidden Records (1997). The image that I am talking about is on the interior wall of The Bridge in The It is of some currency and interest to discuss the potential relevance of The Pleiades Main Hall. It is a tapestry. I always feel funny about mentioning the subject matter of imagery that we find in The Barnes because there are a number of correlations that exist this tapestry because it surprised me to find this tapestry here. The tapestry has to be at on this earth between our mysterious ancient cultures and The Pleiades. The Ancient least early twentieth-century, but it could be earlier. If it is earlier, that could be very Mayans, for instance, thought they came from The Pleiades. The central complex at the site strange—especially, as we shall see, if it predates The Louisiana Purchase. The central at the Mayan City of Tikal is said to bear some resemblance to The Pleiades. Stonehenge figure in the tapestry is riding a camel. The figure has the torso of a man, but his head is thought to resemble The Pleiades. It is thought that the Egyptians built the pyramid doesn’t look human at all. Instead, the head looks like a question mark surrounded complex at Abusir (in Egyptian “Abu sir”) to mirror The Pleiades. The Pleiades is also by a series of concentric semi-circles. The legs of the figure could be animal legs with known as the “Seven Sisters” and it is thought that the seven rays in the tiara of the Statue hooves instead of feet, a magical shape-shifter or, like Romulus and Remus, half human of Liberty commemorate the star cluster. The Pleiades is referred to in the Bible and it and half divine. This combination of man and beast reminds me of the hoof-like foot of may be a part of the repetitive imagery of the number seven in Revelation. Although the Cezanne’s pensive cadet in Man and Skull in Gallery XIII—as if the cadet were prepar- stars of The Pleiades are called ‘seven’ as a result of lore, only six are now visible to the ing to charge. It is unusual to encounter such things in our art. naked eye. The seventh may have been visible in a far more ancient time. The figure riding the camel is situated between two images: the first image, in front The pyramid complex at Abusir is dedicated to the Egyptian god, Osiris. Osiris is of the camel and in the direction in which the camel is walking, is an Egyptian pyramid. the god of resurrection and the afterlife. Like the green men of reincarnation at Rosslyn

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Chapel, he, too, is often shown with green skin. He is often depicted in a field of wheat. Wheat is reminiscent of heaven, resurrection, or the Elysian fields. In European and sub-Saharan African cultures The Pleiades came to be associated with the harvest. In the Ukrainian language, the word for The Pleiades is derived from the word for ‘gra- nary’ or ‘storehouse’ which calls to mind the Baule granary door which Dr. Barnes has placed near to this tapestry on The Bridge. The dancing turtle god totem imagery of the Baule granary door also has been built into the spectacular Enfield tile-work in the Chapter 32 entry of the Foundation to warmly greet visitors and to serve as ushers on this amaz- ing and enriching journey. Before the 2010 logo change on The Barnes letterhead, the The Water Bearer’s Formal Education Baule turtle god totem was the proud symbol of the Barnes Foundation. The configuration of The Barnes in Merion, Pennsylvania, The Italian Hall, in Calumet, Michigan and The Flanders Field Memorial Cemetery in Waregam, Belgium f you follow the order that Dr. Barnes has left, it seems that the concern on arrival may also approximate The Pleiades. Merion would correspond with the star Atlas. of The Water Bearer would be orientation. The new arrival becomes oriented as Calumet, would correspond with the star Pleione. And, the four points of the Crusader’s Ito morality as he or she faces the religious symbolism on the East Wall of Gallery Cross would be the stars Alcyone, Maia, Electra and Merope. XVI. The arrival becomes oriented as to the kind of place he is in when he sees the In addition to the tapestry and the Baule granary door, there is additional reinforce- Prendergast statute placed directly in front of the Prendergast painting and he recog- ment of the theory in the imagery at The Barnes that there may be some correspon- nizes that the purpose of the place he is in is to actualize an Arcadian vision on earth. dence between The Barnes and The Pleiades. Specifically, at many places throughout Then, as The Water Bearer surveys the Prendergast duet, The Water Bearer would see the galleries Dr. Barnes hangs fancy decorative hinges. He almost invariably hangs the Historiated D on the leaf from the Book of Hours and realize that it is his or her these hinges horizontally instead of vertically and they always seem to resemble ram or goal to play defense of this Arcadian place. bull horns. What is interesting about the symbolic importance of ram and bull horns Then, on the center of the North Wall of Gallery XVI, directly across from The is that they could represent the horns of Aries and the horns of Taurus. The Pleiades lies Water Bearer, is the pastoral landscape by Claude Lorrain. And, as odd as it may seem, between the horns of Aries and the horns of Taurus. this painting may present an orientation as to position and how to proceed to the The comparison between The Barnes and the pyramids is probably not inappropriate. arrival. To the viewer’s right of Lorrain’s painting is the painting of the risen Christ The pyramids are great instructive monuments of some unknown time that have inspired pointing back to the pastoral landscape. In this pastoral landscape are figures in the human fascination and aspiration to this very day. I think that The Barnes configuration center of the composition with a city far off in the distance. It appears that one of the may be intended to be a modern counterpart of those ancient monuments. And, if it is so figures is pointing The Water Bearer through the wall and back into Gallery XIV. intended, it may aspire to teach forevermore something of great and enduring value about If we were to return to Gallery XIV and view it from The Water Bearer’s perspec- modern life. In my view, what an eloquent expression of respect it would be if Barnes, tive as he stands along the South Wall of Gallery XVI, we would be looking from a van- Cret and those others who may have been involved in this construction really did mean tage point that involves a sight line through the image of Christ rising from the grave to dedicate all of this to those of their deceased brothers and sisters who died violently on the North Wall of Gallery XVI and continuing into Gallery XIV. We would now be in the cause of democracy and then to show it all back to the heavens for all time. Most facing the North Wall of Gallery XIV instead of the South Wall of Gallery XIV, which poignantly of all, I think of how, if the four points of the Crusader’s Cross form the central we have already discussed when we first entered Gallery XIV. We are now on our return cluster of the stars of The Pleiades, then the Flanders Field Memorial Chapel itself would trip to Gallery XIV in Dr. Barnes’s fantastic journey. Now, the viewer is oriented as if form the center and would be cradled in those stars forever. It would be a fitting memorial he or she were looking out of the eyes of Renoir’s Girl Seated under a Tree that hangs on to those who have sacrificed their lives for honor, for their countrymen and for the cause the South Wall of Gallery XIV. Looking out of the painting of Girl Seated under a Tree, of liberty and peace throughout the world. “And, being turned, I saw seven candlesticks. the reader would have an excellent view of the opposite wall of Gallery XIV, the North And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, . . .and he had Wall. If Dr. Barnes’s arrangements are purposive and the images of the pointing figure in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his in the Claude Lorrain landscape is a pointer or a directional arrow or indicator to The countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.” Revelation I, 1:12-16.

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Water Bearer, then the pointing finger should be thought to lead to something past but on Christ. When the centurion’s lance pierced Christ’s breast, there came forth not the East Wall of Gallery XVI and back into Gallery XIV where, looking through the blood, but water, which became a symbol of Christ’s triumph over death. Forevermore, eyes of the girl seated under a tree, we should expect to find a lesson there on the North water became the symbol of everlasting life, the Eucharist, and the New Covenant of Wall of Gallery XIV. Did Dr. Barnes intend that the child in a straw hat at a garden Christianity. In what I believe is one of the most important images of the communica- gate in Renoir’s Girl Seated under a Tree represent the personification of a new arrival at tion to The Water Bearer about his or her mission in support of The Barnes in Merion, The Barnes represented in the newly formed Water Bearer, maybe even Lenna Glackens Dr. Barnes symbolically offers The Water Bearer the peaceful water symbol in the form herself who died in 1943? of this magic of the Holy Lance in Odilon Redon’s painting of St. George and the And, as we might expect, on the North Wall of Gallery XIV we do find many images Dragon, a lance with which to protect his Foundation in Merion. In the case of The which seem to have an allegorical flavor. The first set of images begins with Portrait of Barnes it is the nourishing story of everlasting life in the context of modern legend, a Man, or Charpentier, by Renoir (circa 1879). Below this is a painting called St. George mystery, and miracle in Merion that may save The Barnes. If the water symbols of The and The Dragon, by Odilon Redon (French, 1840–1916). The man in Charpentier is Barnes are to be interpreted as symbolic of the Eucharist, St. Paul taught that it was a dressed in what appears to be a military uniform, and the symbolism behind the story great sin to desecrate symbols of the Eucharist. (Is the drastic alteration of the symbol- of St. George slaying the dragon is clearly a warrior theme. St. George is a legendary ism of The Barnes that would occur in The Barnes Move a sin of desecration toward a defender of the Christian faith. This warrior image emphasizes that Dr. Barnes’s lesson modern symbol of the Eucharist?) to The Water Bearer appears to be a warrior’s lesson. The legend of St. George is that Odilon Redon’s painting of St. George occupies the first space on the North Wall a fearsome dragon was terrorizing a town. St. George happened upon the scene and of Gallery XIV as we read from our left to our right as we face the North Wall. Above offered to slay this dragon if the town would convert to Christianity. The dragon is this painting is Renoir’s Charpentier, a man who appears to be attired in a military commonly depicted in Christian symbolism as evil. Perhaps Dr. Barnes saw the dragon officer’s uniform. This imagery, at this stage, is almost uncanny, because The Water as representing those who would seek to Move or disturb The Barnes and St. George as Bearer would be a soldier in any cause to save The Barnes Foundation and to keep it a champion who would defend against this. Dr. Barnes would most assuredly have con- undisturbed in Merion. Next to this first set of paintings on the Western portion of the sidered it to be wrong to disturb his collection in Merion, especially when viable alter- North Wall is a birth or initiation image: the unforgettable rendition of the Baptism natives such as National Landmark status and State-financed support for preservation of Christ by Paolo Veronese (Italian-Venetian, 1528–1588) with Christ standing in could have been explored. In the painting by Odilon Redon, St. George is shown rid- a wooded stream and angels watching over the event. In this image by Veronese, we ing a horse and slaying the dragon with a spear. The spear reminds me of the Lance of again see the symbol of water. Here we see water pouring over Christ as the symbol of Christ. Antioch was the site of a great battle that ended the first crusade. The Knights His and our acceptance of man’s covenant with God and the formal initiation of Christ Templar are said to have won the battle because they carried before them the Lance of into His mature life and His earthly mission. Above the baptism is a retablo from the Christ, which was thought to be the Lance that pierced the breast of Christ which had American Southwest of the Santo Nino (the Christ Child). Next to Veronese’s baptism been delivered to them immediately before the battle by crusader Peter Bartholomew. in a sequence reading from left to right is a painting called The Square Watch-Tower, There is no spear in The Barnes, but there is a steel spear tip in Gallery IX, which is by Jan van Goyen (Dutch 1596–1656). The Square Watch-Tower depicts a stone fortress the Gallery directly underneath where Odilon Redon’s painting of St. George slaying with a cannon in front. It is guarded by water and a garrison of soldiers. This paint- the dragon is located. Gallery IX is in one of the sight lines of the Pirate and is where ing could represent The Barnes in Merion that The Water Bearer, in the symbol of the synapse of the Pirate’s connection to Flanders Field is made, which I referred to in the water fronting the fortress, is reminded to guard. Above The Square Watch-Tower is my discussion of Gallery IX. Perhaps an education about the mysteries and symbolism Cezanne’s Girl with Birdcage (1888), which further symbolizes the concept of keeping of The Barnes will act just like a holy spear or holy lance to help the defenders of The things secure. Barnes against overwhelming forces and to inspire the great ones of the Modern Age Next, in a series from the viewer’s left to the right, there is a portrait of a gentleman not to dismantle The Barnes or Move it from Merion. by Jacopo Tintoretto (Venetian, 1519–1594) that has a window in the background fac- The Lance of Christ is uniquely important in Christian mysticism. In my estima- ing the Jan van Goyen fortress to the viewer’s left and a mature man with a gray-black tion, the Lance of Christ is one of the most beautiful symbols of Christianity, because beard sitting next to this window. Tintoretto has placed the man against a backdrop even though it became one of Christianity’s greatest weapons, it was not used by Christ, that looks a lot like the jungle in the next painting to the viewer’s right, which is Scout

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Attacked by Tiger by Henri Rousseau (1904). In the image of Rousseau’s scout warding that The Barnes will stay where it is on the Western side of the river (opposite the off an advancing tiger and saving a comrade, it is said that we can find an allegory for Philadelphia side of the Schuylkill River where The Move supporters wish to Move the an epic battle between conscience and temptation, or examples of the Freudian ego, collection) if the loyal Water Bearer or faithful students, teachers and champions of The superego, and id. Set in a jungle backdrop resembling a psychologist’s ink blot in the Barnes are successful. Or it could mean that loyal Water Bearers in every age will bring negative space of the dark jungle, Rousseau shows a scout under attack being saved by the light and education of The Barnes to the people that cross the river to come to visit another who is on horseback like the warrior, St. George. It appears that Dr. Barnes may The Barnes in Merion. have placed this Rousseau in this sequence as a further allegory of The Barnes under Above this late-period, highly impressionistic Renoir of the Red Boat, Argenteuil assault by those who would Move her and a Water Bearer coming to her aid. is an Old Master. The Old Master above and the new below are merged together here Above Rousseau’s Scout Attacked by Tiger is the Palace of The Popes, Avignon by Maurice where the Water Bearer is to tell the story of The Barnes, which is a construct of the Utrillo (1883–1955) signifying, perhaps, the sanctity of the warrior’s cause in his fight Modern Age which also contains the traditional imagery and symbolism of The Old to save The Barnes, and that the Scout on horseback may be a defender of The Barnes Masters. The Renoir has a little dog barking on the dock and an orange row boat sail- against those who would move The Barnes to Philadelphia that the Tiger may repre- ing forward toward the East Wall of Gallery XIV and The Stair beyond the East Wall sent. I would note that in the actual Palace of the Popes in Avignon, art displays were wherein hangs The Joy of Life. The joy to life may be in deciphering the mysteries of life often held, which further reinforces the idea that this image of the Palace of The Popes in general and the mysteries of The Barnes in Merion in particular. may suggest The Barnes. Farther to the right of Rousseau’s Scout Attacked by Tiger is a Interpreted in this way, these walls may be a message left by Dr. Barnes to a living Courbet with a woman holding two doves, doves of peace, which may signify the pos- Water Bearer to inspire her, him, or them to defend The Barnes and to instruct said sibility of harmony between ego and id and both sides of the struggle when the battle is being(s) how to do so and why it is important to so do. Perhaps the Flemish gentleman over. It may be the hope for a promise of a transformative peace when the battle is done. and the aristocratic society women in the Red Boat at Argenteuil below him are the peo- Following this is a painting of Jesus at the well with the Samarian woman. And above ple whom The Water Bearer must appeal to and convince to keep The Barnes in Merion the image of Jesus at the well is a painting of The Virgin Mary, and Saints Peter, Paul, because the beauty of this place and all that it represents leads to a true understanding John the Evangelist, and Catherine of Alexandria appearing to St. Martin. We have not seen of the joy of life. After all, it is the moneyed philanthropists who are behind this move St. Martin yet in the wall ensembles, but he is a very important image in The Barnes, and who have the resources to either preserve The Barnes in Merion or to force The in part, because he is a patron saint of the poor. Here, St. Martin is apparently being Move. The Water Bearer is like the little dog on the dock, barking at the consciences consecrated to the task before him as one of the representative saints of The Barnes. of the people of polite society in the painting of the women rowing the orange boat at Next in line is a painting by Chaim Soutine called Woman in Armchair (circa 1919) Argenteuil and asking them to please, please, refrain from moving The Barnes. with a figure poised as a thinker with one hand set to her chin with a hat that looks like The East Wall of Gallery XIV may represent the hoped-for terminus of a successful the opening of a tuba or a horn. In my estimation, the hornlike hat suggests that the Water Bearer, the successful completion of The Water Bearer’s tasks. On the East Wall thoughtful person will project her thoughts in defense of The Barnes. Above this is the of Gallery XIV are two paintings by Giorgio de Chirico (Italian, 1888–1978). The image of the eloquent orator of the working man, San Ramon Nonato, who was a mem- first is called Gladiators in the Arena (undated), and the second is called End of Combat ber of the Mercedarian Order founded to ransom Christians from the Moors of Africa. (undated). Both paintings depict gladiators fighting a surreal battle without weapons. The Moors bored a hole through San Ramon’s lips with a hot iron and padlocked his The first painting,Gladiators in the Arena, shows a human figure fighting a stone figure, lips together to prevent him from preaching. The images of both saints suggest the but they are depicted as just barely touching. The second painting, End of Combat, has eloquent and fearless expression of thoughtful views in defense of The Barnes. Finally, the figures more tensely joined. InEnd of Combat, some figures appear to grow out of the we have a painting of a Flemish gentleman placed over Renoir’s Red Boat, Argenteuil ground and seem to clutch at and grab the standing figures to immobilize their com- (1888) which shows a dog barking from a dock at two finely attired women of polite bat. What is odd about the paintings, in addition to their chalky, dreamlike color, is society in a sleek red row boat. The red boat looks curiously like a scull boat of the kind that the subjects fight as if they have weapons in their hands even though they do not. that is rowed for sport on Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River. It should also be noted that In the background of End of Combat, a spear is prominently shown in the background the painting shows a view of a river or body of water from its Western boundary with leaning against the wall while the combatants’ hands are empty. This is sort of like the a dog standing on the dock—perhaps Dr. Barnes placed this painting here to suggest Lance of Christ that is used as a symbol of peaceful overcoming as opposed to a weapon

212 213 Barnes Rune 2012 The Water Bearer’s Formal Education of violence. The artist, de Chirico, a modernist, was deeply into abstract expressionism. In The Bridge or Balcony of the Main Hall, just beyond the door of Gallery XIV The paintings may represent de Chirico’s take on Freudian psychology. In one case, that leads back into the Main Hall and, quite appropriately, after we pass The Joy of Life, Gladiators in the Arena, may represent a battle of the ego and the id. And, in the other there is an image of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. In the upper left of the image case, End of Combat may represent a harmonious interplay between the ego and the id. of the Agony in the Garden, a cup is elevated to heaven. This cup hauntingly recalls the On the wall that they share, they flank (on either side) one of Renoir’s largest and most missing cup from the East Wall of Gallery XIV. God would not take the cup of sacrifice idealistic of paintings—Mussel Fishers at Berneval (1879), which shows three children away from his Son, Jesus Christ, because Christ’s death was necessary to save humanity; and their older sister or young mother in working clothes on a rocky beach. The chil- however, someone has thought it fitting to remove the cup of sacrifice here in Merion. dren stare out directly at the viewer with beautifully ruddy faces and bright round eyes. Does this mean that at The Barnes we are meant to suffer no more and to pass our days Although they are dressed in the clothes of the working class, one cannot imagine a in joyous life? If Dr. Barnes had wanted to tell a story to a student, wouldn’t a good more healthful and youthful aspect than that which Renoir has captured in this paint- lesson be about Christ’s sacrifice and of the beauty of the redemption of souls that this ing. The children at Berneval are caught between de Chirico’s combatants, which frame utopian place in Merion may symbolize? At the End of Combat and after The Joy of Life, them on either side. They could be the innocents of The Italian Hall Massacre. They we find a spiritual state brought about by Christ’s sacrifice where all suffering and the are caught between war and peace, so to speak. So, too, is the Water Bearer caught in sting of death has finally been removed. That spiritual state may be represented by the a place he or she would much rather not be. He or she would rather live in peace and splendor of The Barnes experience. quiet in Merion, but he or she has been forced to combat. I think the choice of the name for the big Renoir painting, Berneval, may have sig- nificance in this Gallery, because the Gallery itself is packed with religious and moral themes and Berneval may, perhaps, remind one of the words “burn evil.” The painting seems like the complete antithesis of evil as if it, with the small, bright-faced, innocent, mussel-fishing children clasping hands on the beach, represents to all involved in this controversy on either side a challenge to find a better way to resolve their differences and to still preserve The Barnes in Merion. Below the de Chiricos are two Cezannes. To the left and underneath Gladiators in the Arena is Cezanne’s Hunting Cabin in Provence (1888–1890). To the right and below End of Combat is Cezanne’s Autumn Landscape (1883–1885). The correspondence in the titles seems appropriate. We hunt “in the arena,” so to speak. And, in the autumn of our lives, we find that we are nearing “the end of combat.” At the bottom of the ensemble is a Pennsylvania German eighteenth-century chest where the pictures of the Galleries taken while Dr. Barnes was living show that a cup that had been placed on the chest by Dr. Barnes has gone missing. A visitor to The Barnes using the original catalogue cards will see that the picture of the East Wall of Gallery XIV taken while Dr. Barnes was alive shows two cups. This missing cup mysteriously disappeared despite rather strict regulations that no bags or loose-fitting clothing are permitted in The Barnes and despite very tight security that would not permit one to go undiscovered if attempting to remove such a large item. Perhaps the cup wasn’t stolen but has, instead, been removed by an auspicious guardian angel of Merion, a guardian angel who has, perhaps, symbolically taken the cup of suffering and death away from us all, as did Christ, the original vessel of redemption. Is this the true purpose of The Barnes, to burn evil?

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here are a number of other directions for The Water Bearer to look to find infor- mation at The Barnes. For instance, if back in Gallery XVI, The Water Bearer Twakes-up and he is not in the pastoral landscape depicted in the painting by Claude Lorrain of Figures in A Pastoral Landscape on the North Wall of Gallery XVI, but, instead, finds himself in some city Barnes On The Parkway museum, then the next image that figure of Christ points to is calledSt. Catherine of Siena before Pope Gregory XI (undated) by Blasco de Granen (Spanish Aragonese, active 1422–1454). St. Catherine of Siena may represent guidance to The Water Bearer if the Water Bearer finds that he has been or is about to be taken from his Merion country home. The painting of St. Catherine of Siena portrays her appearance before Pope Gregory XI, where she read a letter that she wrote while the wealthy city-states of Italy were rebelling against the church and the Holy Father, the pope, who had moved his seat of power to Avignon to placate the French. The French had wanted the seat of the pope, the Holy See, to be located on French soil, but this did not sit well with the Italians, who did not want to be ruled from France. The Italian city-states were also rebelling against strict doctrine and looking for a more liberal interpretation of the doctrines of the Christ. (Doesn’t this sort of sound like what happened when The Barnes Move Petition was filed? That Petition sought a more liberal interpretation of The Barnes Indenture of Trust.) In her letter, St. Catherine implores the pope to use peaceful measures to avert the Italian city-states from their rebellion without resorting to the use of violence. The following is an excerpt from her letter:

“For I reflect, sweet my father, that the wolf is carrying away your sheep, and there is no one found to succor them. So I hasten to you our father Barnes Rune 2012 The Barnes Curse?

If you consider that Dr. Barnes may have viewed his creation as a manifestation of and shepherd, begging you on behalf heaven on earth or a way to gain a better appreciation of heaven on earth, then it is not too far a stretch to imagine that, like St. Catherine defending the Church, Dr. Barnes of Christ Crucified to learn from would see those who would carry away his art as beings in rebellion against God, who Dr. Barnes seems to glorify in every rock, plant, tree, building, and painting ensemble Him, who with such fire of love in Merion. Would Dr. Barnes deem The Move supporters to be similar to the rebellious cities of which St. Catherine spoke to Pope Gregory? Would Dr. Barnes, if he were gave himself to shameful death of alive, say of an effort to move his collection, as St. Catherine says of the effort of the Italian city-states to secede and start their own church, that those who would disturb the most holy cross, how to rescue his creation in Merion, “through man’s rebellion against God they were holding him for their own possession”? lost sheep, the human race, from the Like St. Catherine, Dr. Barnes first seems to counsel peaceful entreaty with the rebellious states. Dr. Barnes’s first effort from beyond the grave to enjoin the effort to hands of demons; because through move his collection from its home in Merion to Philadelphia is a peaceful one. First, he would try peaceful means through The Water Bearer to implore The Move propo- man’s rebellion against God they nents to desist from their course of conduct, and he would speak in a manner similar to Catherine of Siena, who asks the pope to learn from the forgiving and peaceful Christ were holding him for their own crucified “how to rescue lost sheep, the human race, from the hands of demons.” But if any of the Trustees or Barnes insiders exploited their special relationship to encourage possession.” the destabilization of The Barnes or if they sat on the sidelines with their money and power not doing anything when something could have been done to save this special St. Catherine’s Letter to Pope American place in Merion, would Dr. Barnes have something more to say to them? After reading a letter aloud to Pope Gregory, it is said that St. Catherine of Siena con- Gregory veyed a secret message to Pope Gregory that no one would have known but God: St. Catherine, it is said, whispered in the ear of Pope Gregory this message: “Fulfill what The subject of St. Catherine’s correspondence is of the wolf carrying away the sheep. you promised.” Is this what Dr. Barnes would himself tell those who had a chance to use She writes of how to rescue lost sheep from the hands of demons and from those who their influence, their money and their talents to make a difference and preserve the would hold God for their own possession. Did Dr. Barnes place this passage here to pristine splendor of America’s artistic home, this mansion of American philosophy in describe the efforts of the proposed Move supporters to bring about the carrying away Merion, Pennsylvania? of the Art of The Barnes from its home in Merion? Despite what the mouthpieces of And if The Water Bearer cannot divert the Trustees from their trust deviance, The Move supporters may say, I believe that the popular wisdom is that Dr. Barnes maybe Dr. Barnes himself has added something to the mix, like a modern-day pha- did not want his collection moved to the city of Philadelphia. The Move supporters raoh’s curse. The painting of St. Catherine of Siena in Gallery XVI with her plain- always point to a paragraph in the trust that if all else fails, that The Foundation should tive supplication seems to be “backed,” so to speak, by a more serious set of images, associate with an institution from the Philadelphia Region, but, with due respect to a curse. all involved, it seems to me that this clause encourages an association to preserve The Directly behind the St. Catherine of Siena painting on the South Wall of Gallery Barnes in Merion, not to move it. Is it therefore possible that Dr. Barnes placed this XV is what I like to call Dr. Barnes’s “Sequence in Blue.” Blue, to me, often represents painting of St. Catherine of Siena here as a caveat or warning to those who would take melancholy and sadness. A curse would make a God-fearing person sad, and if it is a his property against his wishes? St. Catherine asks the pope to use the peace of Christ curse, it is a curse of last resort. The blues here in Gallery XV are some of the most beau- as an alternative to making war with the Italian secessionists. tiful blues one could ever imagine. First, in the center of this sequence, tucked away

218 219 Barnes Rune 2012 The Barnes Curse? in this out-of-the-way second-floor gallery of The Barnes, in the Northwest Corner of even asking the public? Is it a curse such as the curse of King Chryses in the form of the stately Mansion Galleries, is the fantastic Matisse lady in The Red Madras Headdress a plague that Agamemnon brings down upon the Greeks? Is it a curse, such as The (1907). An icon of Modern Art, the lady in The Red Madras Headdress is a woman posed Curse of The Ring made of the stolen Rhinegold that consumes all who would hold it on a chair with a beautiful red turban. In the background of the painting are equally selfishly, including gods? divided quadrants of two very different shades of brilliant blue. To the viewer’s left, In Wagner’s Gotterdammerung (The Twilight of The Gods), only the return of the sto- the background of the painting is a lighter blue, and, to the viewer’s right, the blue is len Rhinegold to the Rhine by Brunehilde and the selfless love and the dramatic expia- darker. Even though she is one of the more recognizable pictures associated with The tory deaths of both Seigfried and Brunhilde break The Curse of The Ring and restore Barnes, oddly, she does not dominate the South Wall of Gallery XV where Dr. Barnes the natural order. And, in Hesiod’s poetry, only the return of Chryseis to her home has placed her. Instead, she fits in subtly and neatly in the center of an ensemble of breaks the curse upon the Greeks. Nothing else, except restoration, is acceptable to the paintings that seem to suggest her status and vision but at the same time envelope her natural order. Leaving the treasure of The Barnes alone, or returning it to its rightful in soft hues of blue…like an aura. home in Merion if a Move does take place, are the only accepted possible outcomes in To the viewer’s left of The Red Madras Headdress is a painting done in master- the imagery of the room to bring peace to Pennsylvania and to Philadelphia. Otherwise ful blues and called Seaport with Ulysses Restituting Chryseis to her Father Chryses (after it seems that this room may suggest something ominous. Claude Lorrain, eighteeenth or nineteenth century). The work depicts the cool blues of Directly above The Red Madras Headdress, there is a painting by Jean Hugo (1894– a moonlit sea and sky as the barge of the hero Ulysses enters the majestic kingdom of 1984) called The Flight (The Beginning of The World) (dated by Barnes early in the Great King Chryses bearing Chryseis back home. By restoring Chryseis to her father, Ulysses Depression as May to August 1931). The Flight shows fantastical colorful beasts that breaks King Chryses’ curse and ends a ten year plague upon the Greeks by returning would not normally be seen together, domestic animals and wild; one is in high heels, the King’s daughter, Chryseis, after Agamemnon took her away from her father’s home another is carrying a purse, and all are in a surreal blue background. They are all flee- against her will. The theme of taking a prized child away from her home is oddly simi- ing something just out of view. Is this what the lady in The Red Madras Headdress sees lar to what some contend the Barnes On The Parkway Project to Move the Collection in her mind’s eye? Does she see the beginning of the end of all time or does she see to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway will do by forsaking Dr. Barnes’s primary wish that another Great Depression such as the one occurring at the time when Jean Hugo did The Foundation remain intact in Merion. The interesting part of the symbolism of the this particular painting in the summer of 1931? What sets off the new cataclysm? Are placement of the seaport painting is that is described as being “after Claude Lorrain,” we already in it? Can further problems be avoided? The question starts to arise when and the only Claude Lorrain in the public galleries at The Barnes is on the opposite side looking at this cryptic imagery whether or not Dr. Barnes or his acquaintances were of the same wall which shows the city far off in the distance. It seems that this times the able to foresee that the time leading up to The Move would be wracked with troubles— curse to occur if the view of The Water Bearer is no longer of a far-off city but instead which it seems to have been? Is The Move something that Dr. Barnes is focusing on in is one that suggests that the art has been moved to the city. this room? To the viewer’s right of the fortune-telling lady in The Red Madras Headdress, Dr. There are some other features of this room that are important. First, on the same Barnes has placed the second painting in Gallery XV that recalls the theme of a Curse. wall where we are already looking, the South Wall of Gallery XV, there is a painting that This circa 1660-65 painting depicts an ideal vision of the deep, blue, mysterious Rhine is reverse painted on glass on the wall to the viewer’s left by Angelo Pinto (American, of legend called Rhine River View near Rhenen by Salomon van Ruysdael (Dutch, circa 1908–1994) called David and Goliath (circa 1942). Perhaps this room carries a reference 1602-1670). It is what lies in the Rhine that recalls yet another curse, the curse recited to the champions who would save The Barnes against seemingly overwhelmingly pow- in the story of Richard Wagner’s Rhine daughters of his operatic cycles called Der Ring erful forces. This painting is directly above a painting by Lenna Glackens (American, des Nibelungen. The Rhine daughters dwell in the cold depths of the river of the German 1913–1943) called Woman and Dog under Tree (1922). What is remarkable about that heartland guarding the Rhinegold. image is that in the very next room, Gallery XVI, we have already seen a painting by In both of these paintings flanking the lady inThe Red Madras Headdress there William James Glackens of his daughter, Lenna, sitting in a grassy forest clearing with seems to be a prophecy. Is it a prophecy of the fate of the circle of powerful ones who a basket of eggs or flowers directly above the coffin fragment depicting the black dog unilaterally determined to move the art collection of The Barnes Foundation by modi- Anubis. This is where the image seems to become symbolically repetitive. In the paint- fying the Indenture of The Foundation without seeking a less radical alternative or ing by William Glackens on the South Wall of Gallery XVI, Lenna appears to be sitting

220 221 Barnes Rune 2012 The Barnes Curse? under a tree. Also, Gritchenko’s painting Tree and Goats is above her and to her right. the Garden and Arboretum? Does Lenna or the spirit of a new protector come from the The coincidence between Gallery XVI’s painting by William Glackens of Lenna sit- Garden? ting under a tree combined with the black dog representing Anubis on the coffin frag- On the North Wall of Gallery XV there are also other references to protection. Dr. ment underneath her and Gallery XV’s Woman and Dog under Tree by Lenna Glackens is Barnes has placed the images of two saints on the North Wall. The first is on the viewer’s remarkable. The image of Lenna and a black dog play a role both in the formation of the far upper left. It is an image of San Miguel in the form of a retablo by the School of mysterious Water Bearer or champion of The Barnes along the South Wall of Gallery the Quill Pen Santero (active 1830–1850, New Mexican, circa 1840). This image is St. XVI and also in Gallery XV, where this Water Bearer may look to find his or her educa- Michael the Archangel. I find it interesting that Dr. Barnes has chosen an image from tion or purpose in life. In Gallery XV, the drawing by Lenna Glackens with a black dog the school of the Quill Pen Santero, which suggests to me that the way that the David is directly under the image of David and Goliath. Did Dr. Barnes intend this Water of The Barnes will overcome Goliath of those who would disturb The Barnes in Merion Bearer to be a David who will convince the Goliaths of politics and philanthropy that is by writing and communicating. On the floor underneath this image by the School of are moving The Barnes to reconsider their plans? In my estimation, these images are the Quill Pen is waist-high sculpture of a guitar-playing man in the sailor suit by Jacques references to protection. We see images of dogs which are traditionally companions and Lipchitz who appears to be entering through the Northwest Corner of The Barnes. I think guardians, as well as an image of Anubis, who was the ancient Egyptian Guardian of Barnes has placed this image to recall an eloquent poet defender of justice, America’s dust the Dead. We have an image of Lenna Glackens putting eggs carefully in a basket, and bowl bard, Woody Guthrie, who adopted the attire of a sailor when he served in The we have David slaying Goliath. Dr. Barnes even repeats the theme of a girl and a black Merchant Marines during World War II. There is also another saint, San Acacio, on the dog again in a painting on glass on the Western side of the same South Wall of Gallery opposite side of the same North Wall also in retablo, by Antonio Molleno (New Mexican, XV where an unusual reverse painted naïve scene on glass of a little girl riding on a big 1800). San Acacio was a Roman general who converted to Christianity and was crucified. dog is now depicted. It is as if these are the rooms of the protectors. He is said to protect the home against intruders. Would Dr. Barnes see the current circle Near to the image of the girl riding on the dog is a metal tablet with an inscrip- of people and donors who have entered The Barnes to Move The Barnes as intruders? tion that appears to be written in Attic Greek. There are also two rudimentary figures The ensemble of the South Wall of Gallery XV which contains The Red Madras with crowns on inscribed on the tablet. While it has been nearly thirty years since I Headdress in the center faces the North Wall where Dr. Barnes has placed a painting studied Attic Greek, this ancient inscription celebrates the happy event of a royal mar- in the center called Psyche, or Bather Reflecting In Water (circa 1910), by Renoir, which riage. It appears to contain an exclamation of admiration that “they are truly meant is another play on the psychic or clairvoyant theme. To the viewer’s left of Psyche is a for one another.” The inscription appears to use a derivation of the Attic Greek term Renoir, Girl in A Garden (1917–1919) and to the viewer’s right of Psyche is Renoir’s διληκυθον which can mean “double.” Is the placement of this tablet in this location Landscape With Woman And Dog (1917). meant by Dr. Barnes to be a magical amulet, a marker of protection or reanimation The arrangement leaves one wondering if something about the future struggles of incantation that calls into being a protector of The Barnes? The Foundation was revealed to Dr. Barnes by a psychic, because we see that theme Equally important is how we first got into this Northwestern area of The Barnes. again on the East Wall of this Gallery. The painting called Huy (Valley of The Meuse) If we remember our discussion of the first series of paintings on the second floor on the (1941) by Jean Hugo is another reference to psychic powers. First we have Matisse’s South Wall of Gallery XIV, we will remember that we accessed Gallery XVI through lady in The Red Madras Headdress who looks like a fortune teller, then Renoir’s Psyche, the gate in Renoir’s painting Girl Seated under a Tree, which shows a girl seated under and then Hugo’s Huy (Valley of the Meuse) all in the same gallery. Each image of clairvoy- a tree next to a gate on the South Wall of Gallery XIV. Is this girl in Renoir’s painting ance seems to build upon the other. intended by Dr. Barnes to be Lenna Glackens or a reincarnation of Lenna Glackens? On the floor along the North Wall of Gallery XV, across the room from The Red Is Lenna Glackens “The Double” now reborn to guard The Barnes and to reveal her Madras Headdress, is the image of another great theme of a warning from ancient times. mysteries? Did Dr. Barnes receive some sort of suggestion from some psychic reading It is a statute by Jacques Lipchitz of Laocoon, a Trojan priest of the Greek god Apollo, or clairvoyant that caused him to pin his hopes on Lenna Glackens or a reincarnation wrestling with a sea serpent. Laocoon is famous for warning the Trojans of the danger thereof as a future defender of the Barnes in the next generation, or does this image of the Trojan Horse. It is he that says: Equo ne credite, Teucri/Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos represent a new loyal child to The Barnes of the modern generation to take Lenna’s et dona ferentes.” (Do not trust The Horse, Trojans/ Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks, even place because Lenna herself died an untimely death in 1943? What comes to us from bearing gifts.) The popularization of this is “Beware Greeks bearing gifts.” The statue

222 223 Barnes Rune 2012 The Barnes Curse? depicts Laocoon wrestling with a sea serpent, the instrument of his divine execution by Poseidon for desecrating Holy ground. Poseidon sent his serpent executioners while And some spake of the temple, how Laocoon recited his warning regarding the Trojan Horse. The serpents carried Laocoon away and killed him while he was sacrificing a bull in praise of Poseidon. The Trojans it was adorned with goodly stones misinterpreted Laocoon’s death as punishment for rejecting the horse and striking it. As a result, they took the Trojan Horse into their city and were destroyed. and gifts, he said,/ Above Lipchitz’s sculpture of Laocoon Dr. Barnes has placed an image of St. Acacio, protector against home intruders. Is it possible in this imagery of the Trojan Horse As for these things which ye behold, that Dr. Barnes is issuing a warning to future generations of attacks from within his Foundation? After all, isn’t it the supposed financial protectors and “insiders” of The the days will come, in which there shall Barnes, its trustees, who are at the forefront of separating the art from Merion? Haven’t even the governor and government of Pennsylvania acted against preserving this special not be left one stone upon another, American place in Merion? Also, by recounting the punishment of Laocoon for des- ecrating holy ground, is Dr. Barnes also issuing a warning against intruders and those that shall not be thrown down./ who would desecrate his Foundation in Merion? Is Dr. Barnes telling us to beware of philanthropists bearing gifts? Does he refer to those who now claim that they must And they asked him, saying, Master, destroy the vision of Merion to save it? At the top of the ensemble on the North Wall of Gallery XV, Dr. Barnes has placed but when shall these things be? And a Renoir, Portrait of Mr. Lucas (1918) directly above Renoir’s Psyche, Bather Reflecting in Water (circa 1910), flanked by Renoir’s Woman Leaning on Chair (1891) to our left and what sign will there be when these Renoir’s Girl in Red Reading to our right. (Is the girl in red reading cards or the future?) Is the presence of Mr. Lucas a warning? Is Mr. Lucas the Luke of the Bible and is the girl things shall come to pass?/ in red reading the Bible? Does the chair have a symbolic relationship to the chair that supports the bucket whose circular top symbolizes the circle of life in Manet’s Laundress And he said, take heed that ye be not in Gallery II? Does this chair act as a reminder to those who have custody of The Barnes to maintain and support the Barnesian circle of trust unbroken? deceived: for many shall come in my For folks who know a little about the New Testament of The Bible, the image of Mr. Lucas could be St. Luke, especially when this image of “Mr. Lucas” is tied to the name, saying, I am Christ; and the time image of Rubens’ young Holy Family with a young John the Baptist which is within sight of the painting of Mr. Lucas through the doorway on the South Wall of Gallery draweth near: go ye not therefore XIV, because St. Luke was the only Gospel writer who discussed John the Baptist’s early life. (Luke recounts in his Gospel the beautiful story that when Mary told Elizabeth after them./ that she was with child, John the Baptist jumped in Elizabeth’s womb.) This image of St. Luke may also be tied to the image of Laocoon and Laocoon’s role in the fall of Troy, But when ye shall hear of wars and because St. Luke, perhaps most eloquently of the Gospel writers, related the Story of Jesus foretelling the fall of Jerusalem. Has Dr. Barnes placed him here to foretell what commotions, be not terrified, for signs are to come in the times when the people of Pennsylvania and America have for- saken him and allow his temple to be thrown down? Luke’s account of Jesus foretelling these things must first come to pass; the fall of Jerusalem is as follows: but the end is not by and by./

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Then he said unto them, Nation shall friends; and some of you shall they rise against nation, and kingdom against cause to be put to death./ kingdom: And ye shall be hated of all men for And great earthquakes shall be in my name’s sake./ divers places and famines, and pes- But there shall not a hair of your head tilences; and fearful signs shall there perish./ be from heaven./ In your patience possess ye you souls./ But before all these, they shall lay their And when you shall see Jerusalem hands upon you, and persecute you, compassed with armies, then know delivering you up to the synagogues, that the desolation thereof is nigh./ and into prisons, being brought before Then let them which are in Judea flee to kings and rulers for my name’s sake./ the mountains; and let them which are in And it shall turn to you for testimony./ the midst of it depart out; and let not them Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to that are in the countries enter thereinto./ meditate before what ye shall answer:/ For these be the days of vengeance, For I will give you a mouth and wis- that all things which are written may dom, which all your adversaries shall be fulfilled./ not be able to gainsay nor resist./ Luke 21:5-22

And ye shall be betrayed both by par- There is something else. On the East Wall of Gallery XV, Dr. Barnes has placed one of Cezanne’s famous “incomplete” masterpieces (circa 1892–1894). This painting ents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and is a half-finished scene of a table full of fruit and plenty. The painting is incomplete

226 227 Barnes Rune 2012 The Barnes Curse? and there are large bare spots of canvas in places. The effect of the bare spots seems to gave $70,000.00 in political contributions to Barack Obama). We have even seen urban be a cloud of blank or negative space overcoming the table of plenty. If you are think- terrorism that focuses on densely populated areas like the September 11 attacks and the ing catastrophes, this picture makes one think of a dust cloud overcoming the table. Mumbai massacre of tourists. It appears that every time a person turns around recently Is it possible that Dr. Barnes placed this painting here to suggest the dust bowl of the that one hears about more bad things happening. Perhaps this acceleration of misfor- 1930s or a new period of dryness and devastation which the event of The Move may tune in the world at or around the time of The Move were foreseen in Dr. Barnes’s time mark? On April 7, 2007, Randolph E. Schmid, an Associated Press science writer, and he uses that uncertainty to leave us a message, in the image of Mr. Lucas, that the reported that a study led by Richard Seager of Columbia University’s Lamont Doherty one thing that we should do in connection with The Barnes Move is what Luke tells us Earth observatory found that the reduction in rainfall due to climate change, accord- to do in our own lives, and that is that we should possess and treasure our souls. So, in ing to Mr. Seager, “could reach levels of the 1930s Midwest dust bowl.” On April 14, this great time of uncertainty, shouldn’t we cherish the soulful Barnes in Merion, where 1935, on Black Sunday, a dust storm began that swept the United States from the it is in its magical suburban setting, and let it be? Great Plains to the Atlantic Ocean. No one knows how many lives this storm claimed. There is a painting above the door between Gallery XIV and Gallery XV by Ernest People thought this was the beginning of the end of the world. This was less than a Lawson (American, 1873–1939) called Hot Beds (circa1912) on the same West Wall generation ago, and we have forgotten nature’s cataclysmic power already. The dust as Cezanne’s incomplete masterpiece. On the other side of Cezanne’s incomplete mas- bowl and the dust storms of the 1930s were brought about through human ignorance terpiece, which suggests a cloud of dust blowing over a table top of fruit and plenty, and over farming. Is Dr. Barnes counseling in these images that the bounty and beauty is a painting of an arid plain of Vence called Landscape—Vence (1932) by Biagio Pinto of The Barnes would also fall victim to human ignorance if a plan to move it is put (American, 1911–1982). Vence was where Matisse created his famous decorated cha- into effect? pel, which was one of the most ambitious projects of permanent art installation of its In addition to this imagery of a cataclysm, does this gallery contain a prophecy scope and detail in the annals of modern art with the exception of Matisse’s work at from the dead generation to the living? Is it, perhaps, a predestination of present times The Barnes. The plain of Vence is arid and dry in Biagio Pinto’s picture as if there is seen in the past? Is the controversy over moving The Barnes only a time marker in a no art or spirit left. Under the interpretive line that I am following, I would suggest futurescape that some clairvoyant acquainted with Dr. Barnes informed him of at some that Dr. Barnes chose to place a painting of the arid plain of Vence on the East Wall time very long ago? It is even possible that this imagery isn’t about the destruction of of Gallery XV to demonstrate what the art of The Foundation on the plain of center The Barnes but is due to someone in Dr. Barnes’ time foreseeing that the time when the city Philadelphia will be like if the mansion, the garden, and the trees of Merion are Barnes Move is proposed will be a time of great upheaval. It is possible but purely spec- removed…that, even though there may be beautiful art, it will be installed in an cold ulative that these cataclysms will mark a time of change when we will become a better concrete and steel place with all trace of Dr. Barnes’s humanity, artisanship and nature’s people and seek to preserve our natural resources and treasured places like The Barnes beauty removed. in Merion instead of cheapening and degrading them through commercialization. There is something else connected to the complex imagery in this room and else- After all, this time of The Barnes Move has been marked by cataclysms all over the where that may explain the placement of The Flight (The Beginning of The World). Taking world, like the earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, Tijuana, and China; like the Eyjafjallajokull this title literally may suggest a positive message. Although this time of change may volcano in Iceland that began erupting in April 2010, bringing air flight across Europe be marked by great challenges, so, too, may we be at the threshold of a new beginning to a grinding halt and filling the air with toxic ash; like the April 2010 Deepwater for the world, a time of enlightenment. There is something that might help the reader Horizon oil spill that devastated the pristine beaches, wildlife habitats, and fisheries understand The Barnes’s further potential relationship to our world. Throughout the of the Gulf of Mexico; and, finally, like the Exelon Corporation Oyster Creek Nuclear Galleries we see a number of Southern scenes. This had meant very little to me until Power Plant’s April 9, 2009, leak of 180,000 gallons of radioactive water that alleg- I visited Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I became interested in the place because of the edly reached a major Southern New Jersey aquifer, the Cohansey aquifer, in May 2010 Glackens holdings of the Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale. Glackens, of course, was Dr. (Exelon is listed as a supporter of The Move who, in my humble opinion should apply Barnes’s lifelong friend and had acted as Dr. Barnes’s personal agent on site in Europe their excess funds to lowering their customers’ public utility rates)(According to www. for Barnes’s first series of major art purchases. When Glackens died in 1938, his wife, sourcewatch.org which cites an October 2006 article from Harpers, from 2004 to 2006 Edith Glackens, the former Edith Dimock, a Barnes friend whose work hangs in the Illinois-based Exelon which also runs Three Mile Island and other nuclear power plants Barnes Foundation, sold no Estate art and subsequently articulated an intention to

228 229 Barnes Rune 2012 The Barnes Curse? create a comprehensive bequest of her husband’s work. Her son, Ira Glackens, through edifice that might be astronomically related? The Tequesta Indians of Fort Lauderdale the Sansom Foundation, a non-profit founded by he and his wife, Nancy Glackens, real- have historically been associated with this area where The Miami Circle was discovered, ized his mother’s wish at the MoA Fort Lauderdale. Founded in 1958 and occupying but the speculation is that it could be Mayan or Omlec, another ancient civilization. a building designed by architect Edward Larrabee Barnes, The MoA Fort Lauderdale The question is, what other discoveries might await us in this southern scene? Are Dr. claims to have 500 works given to it by Ira Glackens and the Sansom Foundation. In Barnes and his confederates pointing us to some greater mystery or a possible solution 2001, the museum opened a 10,000 square foot addition called “The Glackens Wing” defined by this southern point? Is our attention being directed south along some sort which displays a selection of Glackens’s paintings from an inventory so comprehensive of modern day ley line extending from Dr. Barnes’s home to, through or near the home that it includes even his first and last paintings, Philadelphia Landscape (1893) and of Glackens’s collected works? We have heard of the undersea Bimini Road and Fort White Rose and Other Flowers (1937). At Fort Lauderdale Beach, you will find an estab- Lauderdale is near to Miami, the western apex of The Bermuda Triangle. We have seen lishment called “H20 Café”, 101 S. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd, between one called the discovery of The Miami Circle in 2001. And, even more mysterious was the dis- “Elbo Room”, 241 S. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd., and one called “Lulu’s Bait Shack”, covery in July of 2000 of the megalithic ruins of an ancient city on a massive undersea 17 S. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd. These places are Fort Lauderdale Beach institutions. plateau between Cuba and Yucatan, with intact buildings, tunnels and bridges includ- The names of these establishments are strangely similar to the themes we’ve been talk- ing at least one pyramid 115 feet high, in 2,200 feet of water. Wouldn’t it be odd if ing about in the imagery of The Barnes. I have no explanation of why this may be so, the plateau upon which this ancient undersea city is constructed is the same shape as but it sure is an odd coincidence. As you sit in the open air beach café at H2O Café and the inexplicable land mass in the curious tapestry in The Barnes Bridge that seems to look past the palm trees at the blue water, you feel as if you are in one of Jules Pascin’s depict a UFO, a pyramid and The Louisiana Purchase? What wondrous discoveries Southern scenes. If there is an intentional relationship between The Glackens and The might The Barnes help us to see? Barnes, it would probably have something to do with the potential psychic or ancient The 1930s was a time of great spiritual significance and a time which was thought by civilization issues that I have touched upon. Fort Lauderdale is the site of the New many to be the end of times. If we think of the dust bowl, the images of clairvoyants that River Settlement which was populated by the Tequesta Indians. The Tequesta Indians appear in Gallery XV make us think of the fortune tellers that were popular in those times; were a small tribe thought to have inhabited Fort Lauderdale and its environs for over and, if we think of the cloud of controversy surrounding the Barnes Move in connection 4,000 years. The territory of the Tequesta included modern day Miami. In 2001, in with the images of clairvoyants in this room, doesn’t it seem that there must be some Miami, excavators working for a real estate developer unearthed a perfect circle 38 prophecy at play here, because how could Dr. Barnes have foreseen all this controversy over feet in diameter formed from cylindrical holes dug into the bedrock. They call it “The his Foundation so very long ago? He died, after all, nearly sixty years ago in 1951. Miami Circle.” There is one hole every square foot. At first, I understand that they When I think of clairvoyants, I think of T. S. Eliot, who wrote “The Waste Land” tried to dig or chisel it out and move it so they could proceed with the real estate devel- in 1922, in the very same year that Barnes commissioned architect Dr. Paul Philippe opment project. I believe the odd proposal to dig this ancient monument-like circle Cret to design his Merion Art Galleries. T.S. Eliot writes: from the bedrock has since been abandoned. The Miami Circle has been compared to Stonehenge in composition. If this is so, then the imagery may recall The Pleiades. Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyant, What is unusual about The Miami Circle is that, over time, the holes themselves filled with what is known as dura crust. It literally takes thousands and thousands of years Had a bad cold, nevertheless to form dura crust. When this Circle was first discovered in 2001, a member of the Florida Geological Survey told The BBC that the layer of dura crust could be prehis- Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe toric. Subsequently, two tool blades made of volcanic basalt were found in the holes. One was buried deep in the bottom of one of the holes like a commemorative corner- With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she, stone. It was determined that this basalt was volcanic and not indigenous to the region. This is an amazing discovery. Previously we thought that prehistoric man was living Is your card, The drowned Phoenician Sailor. in caves. Now we find that the humans of this time were traveling vast distances with volcanic basalt axes and carving cylindrical foundations in the bedrock for some sort of (Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)

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T.S. Eliot, “The Waste Land,” “Part I – The Burial of the Dead,” to bring upon those in high places who idolize the art in Merion and wish to possess the Collected Poems 1909-1962, Harcourt Brace and Company, lines 43-48 art for Philadelphia? The figure is naked, but there is a hole where his phallus should be. I don’t think the mighty mite’s phallus has been removed for the sake of modesty, With his Foundation under siege, perhaps our goodly doctor, if he could, would because right next to this little warlike figure Dr. Barnes has placed a stone figure of a show to us the pearls of his mind’s eye. This vision composed of these many ensembles man with a long phallus which is quite remarkably different from the more modestly and relationships between architecture, sculpture, garden, grounds, and art are the endowed sculptures of The Renaissance. The long phallus on the mini warrior’s neigh- pearls that were Dr. Barnes’ eyes: Shall we take away his pearls? bor might act as a theatrical foil to accentuate that the little warlike creature seems to have no phallus. Perhaps this foil leaves us to ask where the phallus of the little war- like creature could be. I think this little warrior’s missing phallus is on the opposite “Neither cast ye your pearls before swine, side of the East Wall of Gallery XVI in a painting called The Ribalds on the adjoining West Wall of Gallery XIV. This warlike stone carved figure is within a sight line of the lest they trample them under their feet and canvas and stone Water Bearer in Gallery XVI. If The Water Bearer looked through this little figure and through the Wall into Gallery XIV, his or her sight line would turn again and rend you.” fall directly through The Ribalds (1848–49), by Honore Daumier, which Dr. Barnes has placed on the Western Wall of Gallery XIV. Matthew 7:6 The Ribalds depicts two women running from something. The women are clearly peasant women; one has her arm raised to seemingly shield her from something behind If we idolize these pearls so much that we lose sight of the spirituality of place her, and both women seem to be fleeing from something and looking back at the in Merion, does Dr. Barnes wish upon us the same fate as the idolators of Israel in sky behind them. In my estimation, the women in this painting look like they are Ezekiel? running. The first thing that I thought of when I saw this painting was the almost archetypal image of the daughters of Lot running from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. “Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon In the upper right-hand side of the painting, to the viewer’s left as the viewer would look at the painting, is a long narrow sheath or large elongated grain sack hang- you, and I will destroy your high places. / ing over the edge of or shelf on the side of a building. The elongated sheath or sack seems to resemble a three-foot-long uncircumcised flaccid phallus. This huge phallic And your altars shall be desolate,/ and your form might be that from which the women are running in fear. Dr. Barnes may have placed this painting here with its phallic symbolism to represent the little sword- images shall be broken; and I will cast down wielding warrior’s missing phallus that has been transformed through the magic of the Barnes into a thing of gargantuan and fearsome prowess. Obviously, the imagery your slain men before your idols.” in the painting is subject to interpretation, but the artist, Honore Daumier, is no stranger to painting graphic phallic imagery. One of his most recognizable and famous Ezekiel 6: 3-4 pieces is Rue Transnonain (1834), which is in the collection of the British Museum. Rue Transnonain was the site of a massacre of common people to quell a revolt under Louis Consistent with the theme of a little David struggling against a mighty Goliath, Philippe. The image is of a murdered man in his nightshirt with a child laying dead Dr. Barnes has placed a little stone carved figure in the center of the top row of a glass underneath him. Even in the man’s death, Daumier accentuates a large engorged phal- case along the East Wall of Gallery XVI. The figure is a small warlike figure with a lus just under this murder victim’s loose-fitting shirt. The idea is that the indomitable frightening war mask much larger than his body. This mighty mite is also wielding a spirit of the French people has greater virility even in death than the cowards of the great sword above his head. Is this the agent of retribution that Dr. Barnes would like government who would sneak-up on people and murder them in their sleep. Would Dr.

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Barnes feel the same way about a government that passed secret earmarks to dismantle sitting on Dora Maar’s right shoulder, also has a large multi-colored cat hidden in Dora his Foundation? Does Dr. Barnes seek to convey a similar theme here by his placement Maar’s torso.) The reason I mention Picasso’s use of sexuality in Les Demoiselles is that of The Ribalds in proximity to the little sword-wielding warrior that even when laid Modern Art is partly about how artists began to break the bonds of nineteenth-century low in defeat, the people of Pennsylvania are stronger than their faithless government shyness about sexuality. This leads me to believe that The Ribalds also may have been a who passes laws behind their backs? similar exploration in sexuality, and that it is, in fact, Daumier’s masterpiece or original Of course, the title The Ribalds suggests that there is an undertone of sexuality in idea behind the composition instead of a study for the benign painting The Miller’s Son the painting; and, certainly, placing a huge phallus in a painting would lend a strong Riding a Mule, and in fact that work might have been Daumier’s cover piece—so to undertone of sexuality to the painting. At first, when one looks at the painting, one speak—for the ribaldry of The Ribalds, with the real point being a way to introduce and has no idea what it depicts. If this painting shows the daughters of Lot running from explore the concept of naked male sexuality in art. Perhaps Dr. Barnes saw this aspect of a great cataclysm, this subject may be important as a carry-through of the themes of The Ribalds, and this is why he included it in his carefully chosen collection and placed Gallery XV and Gallery XVI back into Gallery XIV. If viewed this way, the painting it where he did. sort of becomes more ominous because the two women in The Ribalds are running from Above the Southern doorway in Gallery XV is a painting by Biagio Pinto of a fam- the direction of Gallery XV, which contains the curse image of which I spoke before, ily playing dominoes, putting the pieces together, like pieces in a puzzle. The Barnes and Gallery XVI, which is “The Crypt” where The Water Bearer comes to life and itself is like a coded domino set that can be aligned to form a sometimes ominous where the little stone warrior stands at the ready. prophesy. Hopefully the reader will put some of the many pieces of The Merion inter- The Ribalds on the West Wall of Gallery XIV is located within feet of Gallery XV pretation together. “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; and to him and shares a mutual wall with Gallery XV and Gallery XVI. The little warlike figure that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:7). However, folks might not like what in Gallery XVI seems to be an instrument of Dr. Barnes’ wrath, and the fearsome phal- they see when the door is opened. lus hanging over the wall in The Ribalds seems to be a symbol of his dramatic virility, which he shows unabashedly to all who would compromise The Barnes. As an aside, The Ribalds is considered by many in the mainstream art community to be a study for The Miller, His and The Donkey or The Miller’s Son Riding A Mule (1849- 50) by Daumier. But, I’m not so sure that The Ribalds of 1848 is a study. Instead, I think that the later piece was a cover piece. Daumier was no stranger to sexuality, but he was painting in nineteenth-century France at a time when morals were still rela- tively conservative. It is likely that if he was going to paint a large phallus, that he would at least try to conceal it in some subtle way. Any student of art should know that one of the things that is unique about Picasso’s 1907 breakthrough piece, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, is that it shows a coupling between a massive erect penis and vagina hidden in the design in the lower right quadrant of the painting. Les Demoiselles is widely thought to be a painting of a sexual patron or “john” entering a bordello. The sexual element of a penis entering a vagina in Picasso’s sexually charged scene of a man entering a bordello is almost like a subtitle in a movie. The use of this kind of substrate imagery or double entendre in Picasso’s work, while not a common trait for Picasso, is also not uncommon for him. For example, we see something like this again in La Reve, or The Dream (1932), where the woman’s lips meet a subtly hidden penis that forms one half of her face. (Another very good example of hidden imagery by Picasso doesn’t involve sexual organs but it can be found in a painting called Dora Maar Au Chat (1941), which, in addition to a small black cat seen

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here is nothing further that I wish to say about the symbolism of Gallery XV and the surrounding galleries with respect to the possibility that the images Trecite a curse except that some strange coincidences have occurred involving certain parties who have supported altering The Barnes. Are these occurrences merely coincidences or some tragic substantiation of the curse theme of Gallery XV? Is the Founder’s curse already at work in defense of The Barnes in Merion? On September 24, 2002, a Petition To Amend The Charter and Bylaws of The Barnes Foundation to permit the Trustees to Move The Foundation to Philadelphia was filed in the Orphan’s Court of Montgomery County by the then Trustees of The Barnes Foundation. This was something that had the backing of Walter H. Annenberg. Within one week of the filing of The Petition to Move The Barnes, on October 1, 2002, Walter H. Annenberg, a leading supporter of The Move proposal, died. Six years later, on March 12, 2009, which I believe to be the same day that the archi- tects of The Barnes on The Parkway building came to Merion Station to complete their final drafts of the plans for the Barnes On The Parkway building, Walter H. Annenberg’s wife, Lenore Annenberg, died. Goldman Sachs co-founder, John Whitehead, is said to have originally introduced Barnes Move proponent, Walter Annenberg, to a former Barnes CEO, Richard Glanton, who appointed Walter Annenberg, a man with whom Dr. Barnes did not get along, an honorary advisor at The Barnes. In 2010 Goldman Sachs was the target of a highly publicized investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission involving fraud in the sale of mortgage-backed securities, related civil suits, and a criminal investigation. On May 15, 2008 Montgomery County Judge Stanley Ott refused to grant stand- ing to The Friends Of The Barnes who were attempting to block The Move; and, on June 1, 2008, almost two weeks to the day that the Friends had received notice of their dismissal from the case, Anne d’Harnoncourt, CEO and director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a leading figure in the Philadelphia arts community who advocated Barnes Rune 2012 The Accursed? and even testified in support of The Move, died unexpectedly at the relatively young his office searched by the FBI in 2010 and has announced that he has decided to retire age of 64. from the Senate. Ex-Pennsylvania Senator Robert C. Jubelirer, the former President Pro On October 7, 2009, the Barnes Move Trustees applied for approval of the new Tempore of the Senate, the husband of a Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Judge, Barnes On The Parkway Design to the Philadelphia Art Commission, and in the very and another powerful co-sponsor of SB 1213 of 2002, lost a contentious bid for re-elec- same week, a bankruptcy judge ruled against local interests who had put up nearly tion in 2006 after he voted for another unpopular measure, the infamous Pennsylvania $515 million to try to keep the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News legislative pay raise, becoming one of the first top-ranking Pennsylvania Senators to locally controlled as they had been when owned by Walter Annenberg. The judge’s lose a primary in over 40 years. decision cleared the way for Walter Annenberg’s former papers to be given into the To all those state senators who may have supported this Barnes Move without ever hands of their secured creditors, thereby delivering the former Annenberg newspapers taking the time to talk with the opposition to the Move or to even hold a single public to auction to the highest bidder. hearing on the Barnes Move appropriation with notice to all the parties concerned, Are these correspondences more than mere coincidences? It almost seems like bad would Dr. Barnes say? karma or something. On December 19, 2009 Tbilisi upset the world by defying a United Nations resolution condemning the destruction of World War II memorials by blowing- up The Glory Memorial in Kutaisi, Georgia. In an unexpected twist of fate, a mother “Woe unto you lawyers: for ye have and her eight year old child were killed by one of the many large chunks of concrete sent hurtling over the area by the explosion. It sometimes seems that the dead exact their own taken away the key of knowledge: price from the living. In my opinion, like Tbilisi, Harrisburg is destroying a War memo- rial by participating in the Barnes Move. I suppose it would take a U.N. resolution to get ye entered not in yourselves and Pennsylvania politicians to act fairly to preserve The Barnes. On July 14, 2009, ex-Senator Vincent Fumo, a former member of the Philadelphia them that were entering in ye law firm of Dilworth Paxson, a major state senator behind The Move in the Pennsylvania State Capitol in 2002 and the man who co-sponsored the unpublicized and un-debated hindered.” $107 million dollar Pennsylvania State Legislative earmark in SB 1213 of 2002 that quietly promised taxpayer matching funds to the Barnes On The Parkway Project, Luke 11: 52 which arguably makes The Move possible, was convicted of fraud on an unrelated mat- ter having to do with the abuse of the public trust and sentenced to spend fifty-five On the opposite side of The Barnes in the same position of the East Wing that months in a federal prison. Another powerful sponsor of SB 1213 of 2002, Senator Bob Gallery XV is in the West Wing, Dr. Barnes has placed a painting of a man in an Mellow from the Scranton, Pennsylvania, area, was also the target of a highly public eerie Mardi Gras mask called “Interior Scene—Masked Party” by an imitator of Pietro investigation for misuse of public funds regarding the lease of office space and subse- Longhi (Italian Venetian, 1702-1785) in Gallery XX on the South Wall. The man in quently decided to retire instead of seeking his Senate seat in 2010. In 2010, a state the mask is depicted as standing between two mirrors and pointing to a clock. This senator from Western Pennsylvania, who lauded Fumo’s support of The Move in Senate painting is located on the same wall near a crayon on paper by Cezanne of a famous Resolution 365 of 2008, was criminally charged for using public resources to support French mountain region called The Chaine de l’Etoile Mountains and the Pilon du Roi Rock the campaign of her sister, a Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice. Another state senator (1885–86). The French words in the title suggest the English for “chain” and “toil” of from Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, another powerful person who praised Fumo for his the “king.” A sketch of Dr. Barnes by de Chirico hangs on the West Wall of Gallery support of The Move (per Senate Resolution 365 of 2008), died on October 18, 2008, XX and surveys the images of the man in the mask, The Chaine de l’Etoile Mountains as a result of injuries sustained in an auto accident. This senator died within three days and the Pilon du Roi Rock eternally. Maybe the man in the ominous Mardi Gras mask of the October 15, 2008, Barnes On The Parkway groundbreaking. Senator Raphael is intended by Barnes to represent Dr. Barnes, and he is asking that we respect his toil Musto, another supporter of The Barnes Move (per Senate Resolution 365 of 2008), had and the ties that bind it to Merion?

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Like the ensemble surrounding the lady in The Red Madras Headdress in Gallery had to close firehouses, close libraries, or cut back library hours, and couldn’t even XV, the ensemble involving Longhi’s masked man is also on the South Wall of the fund police protection for the signature New Year’s Masonic event, The Mummers’ Gallery it occupies. If is as if both ensembles are part of the curse theme. Dr. Barnes parade. The city has had to raise sales taxes, making it less competitive with its sur- seems to be very aware of accentuating cross-gallery correspondences—meaning that rounding suburbs, and has had to cut pension contributions. In August 2009, less a feature, for instance, of galleries on the West side of the building will often be mir- than a year after the Barnes On The Parkway ground was broken, Mayor Nutter was rored in a feature in the opposite galleries in the East side of the building. A good threatening to enact a “Doomsday” budget that would cut almost three thousand example of this is in the sculptures by Lipchitz in Gallery XV and Gallery XX. In jobs and bring even the city Court system (that is already having trouble convict- each gallery, there are two Lipchitz statues of the same general size placed in the ing violent criminals) to a skeleton level. Barnes has bulls’ horns set on the walls same place along the North Walls in both Gallery XV and Gallery XX. Nothing is throughout the Galleries. Does he see the integrity of his Merion Foundation as the accidental in The Barnes, so this correspondence between these galleries, which are sacrificial bull being put to death for the sake of the city? Is he cautioning a city that separated by the entire span of the building, is a pointer to a mirroring phenomenon would support an effort to Move The Barnes? going on in the painting and object placements between similarly situated galleries On October 15, 2008, the governor of Pennsylvania, Edward G. Rendell, attended in the two different halves of the building. Once again, it is like the mirroring of the a ceremony to officially inaugurate The Barnes On The Parkway Project, and less than opera Lulu with each set of images having a related set of images in the opposite sides three weeks prior, while The Barnes On The Parkway groundbreaking was being of The Foundation. We also see the mirroring phenomenon clearly articulated in the planned, on September 29, 2008, the Stock Market Crashed in a way not seen since piece containing the masked man by Pietro Longhi because this painting actually has the 1930s. In the summer of 2009, Edward G. Rendell found himself in the most mirrors opposing or opposite one another. The imagery seems to suggest the passage contentious budget battle in Pennsylvania history. That year, within one year of the from one world to the next, like The Barnes is some sort of portal through which the Barnes On The Parkway groundbreaking, Pennsylvania’s budget was 101 days late and dead and the living come into contact with one another. Maybe this type of powerful Pennsylvania became the last state in the union to have a budget passed in 2009 by magic fuels the curse if there is one. virtue of which incumbents across the State of Pennsylvania found themselves falling Is it also possible that the presence of Jacques Lipchitz’s carved statue of the Trojan out of favor with voters and losing the respect of the public. Laocoon back in its mirror gallery, Gallery XV, the Gallery of The Curse, is a caveat to Clearly the city has the suburb where The Barnes is located outnumbered in terms an entire city? A modern scholar, S. V. Tracy, wrote of the lesson of Laocoon, “Laocoon, of influence and clout, but might does not always make right. When I think of this ostensibly sacrificing a bull to Neptune on behalf of the city (201), becomes himself the imagery, I don’t always take it literally. For instance, when I think of a calamity that tragic victim, as the simile (lines 223-24) makes clear. In some sense, his death must could affect the city if The Barnes is moved, I think of what the Move does to us all as be symbolic of the city as a whole” (S. V. Tracy, “Laocoon’s Guilt,” The American Journal human beings. In my opinion, it lessens us and divides us. It diminishes our cultural of Philology (Autumn 1987), pp. 451-454). I often wonder if Dr. Barnes wasn’t trying connection with our past and it demoralizes us as a community, as a region and as a to convey a similar message to future Philadelphians who might support moving his state. That’s the kind of calamity about which I am speaking and the kind of calamity Foundation. Is this why he placed Lipchitz’s Laocoon in The Curse Gallery? that I think Dr. Barnes foresaw. What is the first thing that a demoralizing conqueror Some business organizations in Philadelphia seem to support this Barnes Move, does? He takes control of or destroys a country’s institutions. For many reasons, there- despite Dr. Barnes’s stated wishes and the magnificence of the Merion Estate. I sup- fore, it is best to leave The Barnes alone. pose that they think a Move would bring the art closer to the downtown. However, President Theodore Roosevelt had his famous charge up San Juan Hill that captured does the effort to move this art collection augur or portend some calamity that would the minds of Americans and propelled him to the presidency. But, there is another, befall the city that Dr. Barnes may have foreseen? Certainly, ever since ground was lesser known San Juan in American History that may be applicable to The Barnes con- broken on the Ben Franklin Parkway for The Move, even the city of Philadelphia has troversy. That place is San Juan Island National Park. It is the only national park that experienced bad luck. Hoping to bring a new museum to Center City do they unwit- honors the peaceful resolution of a conflict between neighbors. Located on an island off tingly bring bad luck upon themselves? For instance, within a year of the time that the coast of the State of Washington and on the border between the United States and Mayor Michael Nutter spent over $12 million dollars to move the youth study center Canada, the inhabitants became divided over national loyalties, some wishing to go from the Parkway to clear a place for the “Barnes On The Parkway” project, the city with Canada and others wishing to go with the United States. Rather than have a war

240 241 Barnes Rune 2012 between the two countries a peaceful solution was reached, and the place was made a national park standing forevermore for the peaceful resolution of conflict and dedicated as such. Perhaps we should accord The Barnes and its Art Collection similar status and make it a national park in Merion, a memorial to peaceful resolution of a conflict between people, Pennsylvanians, who are supposed to be neighbors. Chapter 35 The Three Wise Men

n Gallery XV, almost under Biagio Pinto’s Domino Players (1934) but on the Western Wall of Gallery XV near the window, there is a picture by Mary Cassatt I(French. 1844–1926), circa 1905–1908, showing a mother nursing a babe and a portrait of a bright-eyed young man from the American School attributed to the artist John Goodhue Chandler (American, 1813–1884), circa 1850. The young man in the Chandler painting is dressed in the suit of a nineteenth-century gentleman. I think that this Chandler painting represents ambitious, scholarly youth in every generation. He is a kind of Everyman who must, like the domino players in the painting above the door, put together the pieces of the scholarly, philosophical adventure that is The Barnes. I believe that this painting attributed to John Goodhue Chandler is actually the first in a series of three paintings placed in a right-to-left sequence along the Westernmost Wall of The Barnes in the West Wing that tie to themes that cross the entire length of The Barnes and end on the Easternmost Wall in the East Wing. The three paintings are the John Goodhue Chandler painting on the West Wall of Gallery XV, a more modern twentieth-century painting by Chaim Soutine called The Pastry Chef (Baker Boy) (circa 1919) on the West Wall on the other side of the door frame in the adjoining gallery, Gallery XVI, and a later postmodern, mid twentieth-century painting called Negro Figure (circa 1940) by Luigi Settani (American 1908–1984) also on the West Wall of Gallery XVI on the other side of the Gallery XVI window. Each of these paintings, in my estimation, constitutes the starting point of symbolic sight lines that extend from them and continue all the way to the opposite side of The Barnes. I believe that my interpretation of the potential importance of these three figures on the Westernmost Wall is confirmed in an Egyptian bas-relief stone tablet affixed to the wall below the last figure, the Negro Figure painting by Luigi Settani. In this Egyptian bas-relief are carved three regal-looking figures that could be pharaohs, counselors, or mythological figures standing side by side. Just like the three pharaohs, these three paintings placed by Dr. Barnes on the Westernmost Wall of his Foundation form a corresponding set of three Barnes “wise

242 Barnes Rune 2012 The Three Wise Men men.” The three wise men of The Barnes represent three loyal guardians of The Barnes. of three guard dogs in the room, on the East Wall of Gallery XIX. The first two dogs The first wise man, the young man in the painting attributed to John Goodhue are in Roualt’s Acrobat and Two Dogs (1922), by Georges Roualt (French, 1871–1958). Chandler, stands for justice; the second wise man, the pastry chef, as we shall see, stands Roualt’s acrobat, by the way, seems posed like Superman with his chest out and his for unity between the races; and the third wise man, a waiflike negro figure situated hands on his hips. And, the biggest, meanest-looking dog is right next to the painting further down the Western Wall of the Gallery, may represent the cyclical rebirth of the Madame Matisse: Madras Rouge in a painting by Giorgio de Chirico called My Dog, Baby Garden and the rebirth of the Spirit of Dr. Barnes through his teachings. (1934), which Dr. Barnes has placed above the doorway leading from Gallery XIX into The First Wise Man (The Bridge to Justice) Gallery XX. I like to think about The Barnes in terms of sight or memory lines and correspon- This dog, Baby, is not your ordinary family pet; he is painted curled up and sleep- dences through walls, because a collection of images knows no real boundaries in the ing in a wild, barren, desert landscape. Dr. Barnes’s dog Baby has a fiercely gleaming mind’s eye. If this is the case, then the John Goodhue Chandler of a young American set of teeth which makes it seem like he is not sleeping at all, but is instead more awake gentleman may be looking out from the West Wall of Gallery XV through the com- than asleep and vigilant against any intrusion. He would be the kind of dog we would mon wall between Gallery XV and XIV and all the way across the longest sight span expect Dr. Barnes to have. He is a guard dog of a fierce disposition ready to defend his of The Barnes to a painting on the East Wall of Gallery XIX called Acrobat and Young family home. Dr. Barnes’s dog Baby, when coupled with Matisse’s study for the lady in Harlequin. As we shall see, the symbolic imaginary sight line of the young American The Red Madras Headdress, suggests that the East Wall of Gallery XIX near the entry to in the Chandler painting may continue through the acrobat in Picasso’s Acrobat and Gallery XX and, perhaps, Gallery XX itself, is another component of a curse guarding Harlequin and continue into Gallery XXI, where the Barnes Curse imagery may The Barnes. Underneath Matisse’s study for The Red Madras Headdress is Picasso’s Blue continue. Baby, suggesting that the guard dog Baby may have a counterpart in human form, a First we shall examine Gallery XIX. At this point West meets East for the first time child. An image of San Acacio, the protector against intruders which we first saw in in my interpretation, and this interpretation is empirically confirmed in a painting on Gallery XV in the Northwestern area of The Barnes, is also seen here in a retablo by the South Wall of Gallery XIX near where the South Wall and East Wall meet. The Jose Aragon on the North Wall of Gallery XIX. All of these paintings—San Acacio, painting is The Meeting (1944), by Jean Hugo. Also, on the opposite wall, the North Picasso’s Blue Baby, Matisse’s study for The Red Madras Headdress, and de Chirico’s My Wall of Gallery XIX, there is a painting by de Chirico called The Arrival (1912–1913) Dog, Baby—are on the East Wall of Gallery XIX near the entry to Gallery XX. We which also signifies an entry into the Eastern Wing from the Western Wing. shall see that Gallery XX contains further elements of the curse theme. If Chandler’s painting of the young gentleman represents an Everyman juror, then I think of Gallery XIX as “The Family Room” (it is also called “The Music Room” where he is looking may have relevance to a greater understanding of The Barnes. The because it contains the Music Lesson). The images in Gallery XIX are those that probably correspondence of this East Wing gallery back to the West Wing is underscored by a most resemble Dr. Barnes’s personal archive. All of Gallery XIX might be considered painting on the East Wall of Gallery XIX called Madame Matisse: Madras Rouge (1907). “The Family Room” because many of the paintings are portraits as opposed to landscapes. This painting by Matisse is a study of the same fortune-telling lady in The Red Madras There are two paintings by Picasso, one of young men and the other of a baby. On the Headdress that we saw back in Gallery XV, from whence we have just come and where East Wall, in the center, is Picasso’s Harlequin or Acrobat and Young Harlequin (1905); Dr. Barnes has placed the young gentleman in the painting by John Goodhue Chandler. and, to the viewer’s left, is his Blue Period Blue Baby or Child Seated in a Chair (1901). This seems to be a clear correspondence between the two galleries in separate wings of On the South Wall of Gallery XIX, we have a painting called Confidences (1921–22) by The Barnes. Matisse which suggests an intimate friendship or sisterhood. On the North Wall, we The theme of Gallery XV seems to be purposefully echoed here in Gallery XIX by have an 1899 painting called Past and Present or Philosophical Thought (or Heirlooms) by the placement of Matisse’s study for The Red Madras Headdress. For a moment we think Henri Rousseau which shows a husband and wife in a landscape on their wedding day. of the curse articulated in the imagery of Gallery XV, and then we realize that we have Of the portraits in the room, there are two striking portraits by Modigliani of two of come here based upon an imaginary or psychic line that extends from the Chandler his friends on the Eastern Side of the South Wall of Gallery XIX, the Portrait of Leopold painting that, itself, is hung in Gallery XV. We begin to realize that this area in the Zborowski (1919), a poet who became Chaim Soutine’s and Amedeo Modigliani’s art East Wing of The Barnes may be an extension of the West Wing, and that it may have dealer) and Portrait of Beatrice Hastings (1916), one of Modigliani’s mistresses. These more to say about The Barnes Curse. Just like the three wise men, there are images paintings look at other portraits on the North Wall including Boy in Sailor Suit (1917)

244 245 Barnes Rune 2012 The Three Wise Men by Modigliani and Man in Blue (1921) by Soutine on the North Wall. The paintings on that this place, this Barnes rune, is a letter from a man who dedicated his life to see- the Eastern Wall of Gallery XIX look out upon even more portraits. ing the art in painting, Dr. Barnes, now rendered sightless by death. It is his offering Opposite the paintings on the Eastern Wall is Matisse’s triptych The Three Sisters to Venus. He might have wished that those who would further his goal of preserving (1917), which shows three women in various stages of their lives—youth, maturity, and this offering to Venus be guided by the saints that we see in the nearby Family Room. seniority. It is as if the placement of The Three Sisters on the Western Wall of Gallery There, we see San Acacio, the protector against home intrusions and Santa Rosalia de XIX is an instruction to Picasso’s blue baby on the Eastern Wall of Gallery XIX bear- Palermo. One of St. Rosalie’s most notable miracles took place many years after her ing the lesson that all time passes—even for those as charming and timeless as Matisse’s death when a citizen of Palermo received a revelation that if he disinterred the body of three sisters. There are many interesting features of Gallery XIX. For instance, on Rosalie and paraded it through the town, Palermo would be saved from The Plague. the South Wall we have small goldfish in a goldfish bowl sitting on a table next to When the body was disinterred it was found perfectly preserved and can be seen in this a reclining statute in Matisse’s Interior With Goldfish (1912); and then, on the North state to this day. Like the legend of Santa Rosalia, it appears that we, too, are forced to Wall of Gallery XIX, in Matisse’s The Music Lesson, (1917), we have a large pond that raise up our dead to show the world - to shame the world - if necessary, to reconsider is dominated by a life-size version of the very same reclining statute that we see on the the importance of The Merion Barnes. On the North Wall of Gallery XX is an image table with the goldfish bowl in the Matisse across the room on the South Wall. This of Lazarus covered in boils and surrounded by dogs. He reminds the visitor of all these replication of themes suggests that we are at one time looking into the fishbowl and, things that we have seen and are yet to be seen. One is reminded of the words of T.S. at another time, that we may be part of the fishbowl. Perhaps Gallery XIX is the same Eliot in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, (1917): “’I am Lazarus, come from the dead,/ way. We may think while looking at all the paintings of “The Family Room” that we Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all’….” are looking at or into a fishbowl, but among so many life-sized images our perspective Between the image of Santa Rosalia on the North Wall of Gallery XIX and the can shift and we begin to feel that we have become a part of the family of images in this image of Lazarus on the North Wall of Gallery XX is an image by Matisse called Seated gallery. Has the child represented in the Soutine far away in Gallery XVI now become Odalisque – Legenou levé (1922-23). Is all this the legend that Dr. Barnes has left? What a part of The Barnes? Has he also become a part of the family? Will he be good family? more might be found by new eyes after having seen the fundamentals of the Foundation In a way, those who defend The Barnes in Merion or those who fully accept the experi- that I have now shared? ence offered there ultimately become family. On the East Wall of Gallery XX, which is the Easternmost Wall of The Barnes My concern, in terms of the communicative symbolism of The Barnes, is primarily Foundation, are two watercolors by Charles Demuth based on Emile Zola’s books with the East Wall of Gallery XIX, with de Chirico’s portrait of an ornery-looking dog L’Assommoir and Nana. The petulant, materialistic, poor girl from the squalid Parisian in his painting My Dog, Baby above the door to Gallery XX. Dr. Barnes’s dog Baby tenement that is the setting of L’Assommoir turns into a whore in Zola’s sequel, Nana. guards the entrance to Gallery XX (which I believe further expounds on The Curse On the right side of the window on the Eastern Wall, we see Nana and Her Men (1915– of The Barnes and is the room which I believe to contain a message from Dr. Barnes 16), and on the other side of the window, we see Nana with her elderly lover, Count to future sons, daughters, and defenders of his Foundation in Merion). In Room XX Muffat, watching her reveal herself to another man in Count Muffat Discovers Nana with we find evidence of a more personal archive of Dr. Barnes. For example, on the West the Marquis de Chouard (1915). In Nana, Emile Zola paints a character so self-engrossed Wall of Gallery XX, we find a preparatory sketch for the famous canvas portrait that and avaricious that she consumes everyone who becomes smitten with her. The image de Chirico made of Dr. Barnes. If an imaginary straight line were drawn across The of Count Muffat watching as Nana flaunts herself to another man is disgusting. It is an Foundation from West to East, the sight line of the young gentleman in the painting affront to the doddering fool who tolerates this transgression, and it is an affront to the attributed to John Goodhue Chandler would fall through the figure of the acrobat in concept of authentic love and trust. Picasso’s Acrobat and Young Harlequin on the East Wall of Gallery XIX and continue It is these images of the soulless Nana that are the terminus of the John Goodhue through that figure in a straight line to the West Wall of Gallery XX, which contains Chandler sight line, and I think that this speaks to the whole sad soulless tale of The a preparatory sketch for de Chirico’s portrait of Dr. Barnes. Barnes Move itself. It has been said that art is a whore. As such, art is the remorseless Above de Chirico’s preparatory sketch for the portrait of Dr. Barnes is Picasso’s courtesan of the highest bidder. In this case, hasn’t The Barnes as well become the Letter and a Blind Man and Dog (1903). In the center of the same wall is Pascin’s Offering object of the affections of those who would use it for their own purposes? Even though to Venus (1922). I believe that this is a series of communicative symbols that suggest the pro-Move people like to say that they are furthering Dr. Barnes’ wishes, are they? If

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Dr. Barnes had wanted to Move his Foundation to the city of Philadelphia, he had the I sometimes wonder if this ominous masked figure pointing to a clock is a warning resources to have done so during his lifetime. The rich and powerful are rich and power- to the modern day princes and princesses of American capitalism assembled against ful enough that they can buy a whore, but by so doing, don’t they participate in helping The Barnes in Merion. Is it Dr. Barnes’s wish that, in learning of a potential curse of to strip a child of her innocence and her soul? In L’Assommoir, Nana turned her back The Barnes and seeing some of the strange coincidences that have occurred in the lives on her family and the friends of the frugal and principled simplicity of her childhood of those affiliated with the effort to move The Barnes, that those who would dismember and turned, instead, to a seamy and superficial life in Parisian gala society. InNana , his The Barnes would do as the kings of Psalm Forty-eight did upon seeing Zion, “[t]hey sequel to L’Assommoir, Zola tells the tale of the tragedy of Nana and her ultimate decline saw it, and so, they marveled; they were troubled, and hasted away”? The Forty-eighth as one who loses all sense of herself as she is exploited by those who would possess her Psalm talks about Mount Zion, the city of the great king to the north of the city of and learns to exploit those whose lifestyle and flattery she would likewise possess. Jerusalem, much like The Barnes is to the north of the city of Philadelphia. The psalm The story of Nana is a tragedy of a poor child perverted by the glamour of the city goes as follows: that wishes to possess her beauty without any regard for her soul. So, too, isn’t the Barnes Move also a tragedy for art and for The Barnes? Is it this theme which the young gentleman juror and Everyman in the portrait attributed to John Goodhue Chandler God is known in her palaces for a surveys forever from across The Barnes, a tragedy in the making? Is this the example that we want to give to our children? refuge. Within the line of sight from Chandler’s painting to the Eastern Wall of Gallery XX, we find the painting by Pietro Longhi on the South Wall of Gallery XX of a man For, lo, the kings were assembled, in black with a serving girl and two finely dressed women in ball gowns and Mardi Gras masks assembled around a table called Interior Scene—Masked Party. Longhi’s favorite they passed by together. subject was the opulent leisure class of the eighteenth century. The man in black is a cryptic figure; he wears a half black, half white Mardi Gras mask and seems to make a They saw it, and so, they marveled; sweeping gesture pointing to a clock on the table. Do his outstretched hands beckon to something ominous, perhaps part of the curse imagery carried over from Gallery they were troubled, and hasted away. XV? The clock on the table appears to read eight past four. Directly below this gal- lery is Gallery V. Dr. Barnes has placed Longhi’s masked man in the exact same central Fear took hold upon them there, position on the South Wall of Gallery XX as the painting of King David playing his harp occupies on the South Wall of Gallery V. I often think that the number eight past and pain, as of a woman in travail. four or 4:08 might suggest the Forty-eighth Psalm, as the image of David playing his harp for God in the gallery directly below recalls the Forty-third Psalm. Longhi’s finely Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish dressed women are holding black masks in their hands. One would not expect such finely dressed women to have such simple black masks at a marvelous costume party. with an east wind. Perhaps these black masks are death masks and the clock represents the sweep of time that waits for no one and nothing, not wealth, not power, not beauty. This clock is also As we have heard, so have we seen. . . covered in gilding which is reminiscent of the style of antique clock called a ‘death clock’ (a term used even today and seen most recently in the 2010 History Channel series “Pawn Stars”) because of the toxic mercury used in the process of making it. This clock is between two mirrors that are hung facing one another, which, in European Walk about Zion, and go round superstition, was thought to enable souls to pass between life and the afterlife. This is consistent with the themes of the passing over of souls seen elsewhere in The Barnes. about her: tell the towers thereof.

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Glackens of a woman shaking her fist called She Gave her Darter-in-Law a Piece of Her Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider Mind (1909) from the North Wall as if to scold those who enter the gallery and perhaps those who would move the doctor’s property. Here, also on the West Wall, we have an her palaces; that ye may tell it image by Francesco de Goya depicting Dogs Chasing a Cat on Top of a Man on Top of a Donkey (circa 1812–1820), which seems to sum up the tenacity Dr. Barnes might expect to the generation following. of family members in fighting an effort to disturb or Move the Barnes Foundation. In this Goya, a frightened cat who is being chased by a pack of dogs has climbed atop the For this God is our God for ever head of a man. The panicked cat appears to have his claws dug into the scalp of the man. What makes matters worse for the man is that he just doesn’t have a screeching cat and ever: on top of his head with the cat’s claws about to dig into his scalp, but the man is also seated on a donkey who appears to be about to buck the man as he positions himself to he will be our guide even unto kick at the pack of dogs leaping around him and nipping at his hooves. The situation is particularly humorous because it seems to give the perfect example of what one would death. consider to be a person who is in a “dither” if such a word still exists in our vernacular. The dogs that have “treed” the cat are nipping at the heels of the excited donkey while Psalm 48:3-14 the man tries to balance the cat and keep control of the donkey so he is not scalped by the terrified cat if the cat begins to fall from its precarious perch as the donkey bucks. Again, above the Longhi on the South Wall of Gallery XX, there is Conte crayon As we all know, donkeys, dogs, and cats are not easily controllable. This image is Goya’s drawing by Cezanne called The Chaine de l’Etoile Mountains and the Pilon du Roi Rock unforgettable image of being between the proverbial rock and a hard place. which is the image that de Chirico’s sketch of Dr. Barnes surveys for all time from its It seems to me that this Goya is a good allegory for the fate that Dr. Barnes would place on the West Wall. To me, Gallery XX is one of the most profound and evoca- wish for those who would seek to dismantle or to move his foundation. Indeed, for some tive places of The Barnes. The Barnes is a product of the doctor’s labor, his toil. Does of the politicians that have advocated for The Barnes Move, the proposed Move has he wish us to mark well the bulwarks of this temple dedicated to human spirituality turned into a potential hot potato and a political nightmare. The state of Pennsylvania to the north of the city of Philadelphia and to respect the ties that bind and his toil? and the city of Philadelphia are divided over The Move, and, in my estimation, few Certainly, if the reader takes the time to compare what is written here to what is seen at students in the art world seem to think The Move would be a good thing. The Move The Barnes, one might agree that as you have heard from me, so you have seen in The is fraught with controversy that knows no borders and has become a source of national Barnes. Mark well her bulwarks friends, and keep her in Merion. and even international opprobrium. The supporters of The Move seem to have no elo- Also on this South Wall of Gallery XX, the portrait of Dr. Barnes looks out upon quent way to back away from The Move even while the Move is sapping precious tax- a drawing called Hallijuliah! by Elaine Bailey (1945). It is as if he eternally praises payer dollars from the elderly, the disabled, higher education, and police security in the God for the bounty set before him. Further on, the image of Dr. Barnes also surveys a midst of this economic downturn. This fellow atop the donkey reminds me, in a way, of series of Bermuda paintings by Demuth which, from right to left, are Bermuda Stairway Governor Rendell as I watched him try to preserve his legacy of public school education (1917) with Bermuda Rooftops Through Trees (1817) underneath it; then Bermuda Trees and through Pennsylvania’s ongoing budget debate in 2009 and the inevitable revisions to Architecture (1916–17) as we continue East; Bermuda Houses (1917) further East; and, the same. In 2010, as I completed this manuscript, he was facing the most significant finally,Bermuda Houses Seen Through Trees (1918) with Bermuda Trees (1917) below. These tax revenue drop-off since the Great Depression. The governor was stuck trying to get Bermuda paintings seem to symbolize the Barnes in its country setting in Merion. The Pennsylvanians to agree to more taxes at a time when he has dedicated at least $25 mil- painting by Longhi is set in the middle of the sketches of nature, and these sketches of lion to The Barnes Move and has shuttered other historic Pennsylvania places, includ- nature are like the boundaries of Zion in Psalm Forty-eight. ing a favorite of schoolchildren, the site of Washington’s crossing over the Delaware As the guard dog Baby hovers above the entryway to Gallery XX, the first image River. He has desperately tried to muster political support for a tax increase to pay for we encounter is just over the threshold into Gallery XX and is a drawing by William his budget, so much so that the state of Pennsylvania enjoyed the dubious distinction of

250 251 Barnes Rune 2012 The Three Wise Men being the last of the fifty states to enact a budget in 2009, when Pennsylvania suffered death. It may be a victory of eternal life over death in the temporal life, or it may rep- the longest budget impasse in its history even though it is constitutionally mandated resent the victory over those who would wish death to The Barnes in Merion and who to have a balanced budget in place by June 30 of each year. On June 11, 2010, Fox would see it dismantled and moved to Philadelphia. The sleeping stag may suggest News ran an interview with Governor Rendell wherein he said that something to the that either a person on a spiritual journey at The Barnes or even the defenders of The effect that the location of The Barnes in Merion was a “disgrace.” I wonder if the gover- Barnes will ultimately be victorious, and that the vigilant canine sentinel that we see in nor’s constituents would have the same definition or a different definition of “disgrace.” an uneasy sleep in the barren wilderness in de Chirico’s My Dog, Baby above the entry Above the door cut in the West Wall of Gallery XX facing back out into Gallery to Gallery XX may finally sleep victoriously at the end of his watch, like the quote XIX is a painting by Alo Altripp (German, 1906–1991) called Head in Red (1938) from the great football coach Vince Lombardi: “I firmly believe that a man’s greatest which has the sign of the cross emblazoned on a red abstract face. From this doorway, moment is when he lies prone and exhausted on the field of battle, victorious.” The looking up at Head in Red, one can see a painting above the doorway in Gallery XIX sleeping stag may sleep a very sweet slumber, triumphant over death itself. Next to (as we face back toward the Main Hall) called The Red Church (circa 1919) by Chaim the door on the South Wall of XX, just below the sleeping stag, is a pencil-drawn face Soutine (active France, 1893–1943). These two paintings recognize the significance by Modigliani of a young man called Raimondo (1915) beside the door that leads from of the red blood of sacrifice and resurrection in Dr. Barnes’s brand of faith. They seem Gallery XX to Gallery XXI. Raimondo may represent a ray of light in the battle for to be placed in the way that they have to add a spiritual dimension to this area of The The Barnes and the hope that it will not be disturbed. Above Modigliani’s Raimondo, Barnes as we look back in the direction from whence we came. Everything is very Dr. Barnes has placed My Portrait (circa 1949), by Mary Eileen Chalmers (American, solemn when it comes to matters of faith in Merion. The Red Church is a descriptor, born 1927). I believe, for The Barnes as a memorial to the World War I dead of Flanders and the The Second Wise Man (The Bridge between the Races) dead of a Miner’s Strike in Calumet, Michigan. In addition, The Red Church may refer to In the next gallery in the sequence, Gallery XXI, are martyrs and other holy fig- The Barnes’s Founder’s dedication to and encouragement of the everyday people of the ures, but I will reserve this until we return to the Western Wing of The Barnes from world without regard to race, creed, or class. It dramatically underscores and immortal- whence we have originally come as we followed the line of sight of the Everyman juror, izes the Social Democratic and populist values of Dr. Barnes. the young man in the John Goodhue Chandler painting on the West Wall of Gallery As an aside, it is sort of ironic and more than a little humorous that so many great XV as he looked all the way to the Eastern Wall of Gallery XX on the very opposite capitalists are fighting to promote The Barnes, which, in my estimation, is a memorial side of The Barnes. Like this Everyman juror in the Chandler, so, too, does Dr. Barnes to labor unions and social democrats. The President’s Files of The Barnes Archives list seem to ask each of us to form our own judgment of the motives and actions of those a 1922 Folder regarding the Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee, presumably about a who would break with Dr. Barnes’ legacy and Move the art of The Barnes Foundation donation. Sacco and Vanzetti were executed for their alleged role in a payroll robbery from Merion to The Barnes On The Parkway location. in South Braintree, Massachusetts in which two payroll clerks lost their lives. Many We have seen how opposite sides of The Foundation are connected to one another in in America thought that the highly politicized legal proceeding which brought about the comparison between the Chandler painting on the Western Side of The Barnes and their end was questionable and that the rush to execute them may have been based Demuth’s illustration of Nana on the Eastern side of The Barnes directly opposite the more upon their involvement in organizing labor than in any involvement in a rob- Chandler painting. This is the first of three examples at The Barnes where we see this bery and killing. Woody Guthrie sang a song about it called “Two Good Men.” In it he relationship between the Western and Eastern portions of The Barnes on the second claims that Vanzetti “told the workers “Organize”/ And on the electric chair he dies.” floor. The second line of symbolic perception starts in a painting next to the Chandler He also gives an unflattering account of the legal proceeding: “The judge and lawyers painting, and it is called The Pastry Chef (Baker Boy) by Chaim Soutine. strutted down,/ They done more tricks than circus clowns.” “Two Good Men,” Woody If we were able to stand at Renoir’s gate in Gallery XIV and look through the wall Guthrie, The Woody Guthrie Foundation. into Gallery XVI, we would be staring directly at Chaim Soutine’s pastry chef on the Back into Gallery XX and above the doorway between Gallery XX and XXI on Western Wall of Gallery XVI. Likewise, if the pastry chef emerged from Gallery XVI the South Wall of Gallery XX there is a sleeping stag called Deer (1913), by Maurice through the West Wall of Gallery XIV, he would exit through Renoir’s gate on the Sterne (American, 1877–1957), which I believe symbolizes that it is here in Gallery Southern Wall of Gallery XIV. The pastry chef is a painting of a young boy dressed in XXI that death sleeps. I think that the sleeping stag may also represent victory over a chef’s hat and white tunic. I like to think that this may be a self-portrait by Soutine

252 253 Barnes Rune 2012 The Three Wise Men of himself as a boy. It is recounted in the history of Dr. Barnes’s acquisitions that this for us to peacefully and spiritually transcend any perceived differences between peoples is the painting by Chaim Soutine that first captured the Collector’s eye. It is widely and races. It is a place to withdraw from our prejudices and preconceptions and to join thought that Barnes’s interest in Soutine catapulted Soutine to importance. Barnes had together in peaceful harmony. I know that we all like to consider ourselves better than a significant collection of this artist’s works and many examples of Soutine’s works are the prejudices that plagued our country and our world through the twentieth century, found in The Barnes. The pastry chef looks very much like a young boy. I think that it but at the time that The Barnes was built, men, women and even children of African is curious that this child is found in the same room where Dr. Barnes also forms The descent couldn’t even use the same bathrooms and drinking fountains as Caucasians Water Bearer. The pastry chef by Soutine may represent the child that Dr. Barnes never in America. It was extremely innovative and an important statement to a prejudiced had. This child may represent a surrogate child or children who Barnes wished would country and world for Dr. Barnes to place the care of his Foundation and one of the arise to defend his Foundation. world’s most important art collections in the hands of Americans of African descent Like the painting of the young American gentleman by Chandler, the pastry chef’s despite the fact that they subsequently ceded control of The Barnes. Although I am line of sight could be deemed to carry all the way from the West Wall of Gallery XVI in rarely interested in unobstructed lines of sight, as I tend to talk about imagery that the West Wing of The Barnes into the East Wing. In this case, the pastry chef’s sight line extends through walls, I wanted to note that the sight line between the white child in would pass through Roualt’s Acrobat and Two Dogs on the East Wall of Gallery XIX in the The Pastry Chef and Kaldes’ black man in a suit in Absorbing Art in part includes a sight East Wing and into Gallery XXI, which is one of the three Easternmost galleries in the line that extends through Gallery XIV across the balcony or bridge and into Gallery East Wing of The Barnes. This imaginary sight line might enter Gallery XXI through XIX, which is the longest unobstructed sight line of all of The Barnes. I like to think the West Wall of Gallery XXI, where Dr. Barnes has placed Modigliani’s charming Pretty that this is poetically symbolic—that it is the farsighted among us who realize the House Wife, La Jolie Menagere (1915) with the heart in her eye. And, then, the extension of value and importance of the unity of the races and their shared destiny in this brave this line of sight would trace through the eyes of The Pretty Housewife and fall upon a paint- new world. ing called Absorbing Art (1941), by painter Aristodemos Kaldes, which occupies the East When I think of Gallery XXI, I think of it as a distinguished place of honor in The Wall of Gallery XXI on the opposite side of The Barnes. Absorbing Art features a black Barnes. In Gallery XXI we find all of the twelve apostles and even Christ himself. It male tucked into his suit and looking as if he feels strangely out of place in the middle of is interesting to me that the museum visitor is found in this area of The Barnes that an art museum. In my estimation, this sequence from the white pastry chef to the black seems to be reserved for the leaders and founders of the Church. The man “absorbing museum visitor suggests the beginning of a new harmony between the races. art” must represent very worthy company to Dr. Barnes to be a part of this ensemble. This line of sight between the white pastry chef and the black museum visitor in Perhaps the man represents a great person or persons who has or have done or who Absorbing Art runs directly across “The Bridge” at The Barnes. At the time that Dr. may do lasting, important, and worthy things. Is it possible that Dr. Barnes foresaw Barnes was putting The Foundation together and engaging in his racial activism, black or was consulting with people who foresaw the important role that black Americans and white were completely segregated in America, and there was a great deal of ten- would play in the future of the world, and that he wanted to begin to pave the way for sion still existing in their affairs. This sequence showing a white young man on one this possibility back in the 1940s and 1950s to begin the long and arduous process to side of The Barnes and a black young man on the directly opposite side of The Barnes elevate black Americans to a place of equality in the United States? is a simile for this separation, but it may also represent a poetic connection, a bridge As we return to the East Wing, Gallery XVI is particularly interesting because between the races. The two images are unified by a heart that Modigliani painted in streams of symbolic meaning seem to flow from it across The Barnes. Gallery XVI is the eye of Modigliani’s humane Pretty Housewife, and they are unified by the heart of Dr. important because, under the theory of The Barnes that I am expounding, the newly Barnes and his Foundation in Merion, which they span. The Barnes unifies the races reincarnated or reconstituted Water Bearer formed of canvas and stone would need a like a bridge that connects them forevermore. It is my feeling that this imagery was place to learn his or her lessons of the world in which he found himself. This is con- intentionally placed by Dr. Barnes to suggest that pure humanity, unfettered by racial firmed not only in the religious tales on the Eastern Wall of Gallery XVI but also in preconceptions or predispositions, may ultimately unify the races and bring them into the bull’s-eyes that appear in the two Marsden Hartley paintings that flank either side unreserved harmony without regard to their differences. of the Prendergast painting Figures and Mules. These “eyes” are like two symbolic eyes This is the essence of what The Barnes represents. What few seem to understand is of The Water Bearer and appear to suggest the imaginary sight lines that form through that the purpose of the art, architecture, and the placid grounds is to set a utopian scene these eyes as they peer into the adjoining galleries. The Marsden Hartley paintings

254 255 Barnes Rune 2012 The Three Wise Men are both called Bermuda Movement. If we remember, I have opined that Dr. Barnes’s that we first saw slung under the headless Water Bearer’s right arm in Gallery XVI have placement of Demuth’s Bermuda pictures in Gallery XX around the Pietro Longhi made it to the West Wall of Gallery XXIII and are resting on the table top before they suggested The Barnes and its Merion campus. If this is the case, then the placement of go any further. Following this we have Picasso’s Figures with Goat (1906) on the North the two paintings by Marsden Hartley describe pathways for movement through The Wall of Gallery XXIII which shows a boy walking in a processional fashion from West Barnes. We would expect, of course, to find some confirmation in this if one traced the to East in the same direction as our sight line and carrying a water jug on his head. sight lines out through the adjoining galleries, and we do, first in the line of sight of The processional line concludes at a drawing by Demuth called A preparatory Sketch for the second wise man of The Barnes, The Pastry Chef, and second in the line of sight of “There Was Edward Bickford’s Racing Cup” (1909), which shows a large trophy racing cup the third wise man of The Barnes, Settani’s Negro Figure. What we find when we trace on a table on the East Wall of Gallery XXI on the Easternmost side of The Barnes. It these connections are, in my estimation, very symbolically rich connections which may is as if the water jug has been carried completely through The Barnes, from the West hold the answers to very heart and soul of the mysteries of The Barnes as The Water Wing to the East Wing and is symbolized by this trophy racing cup. Bearer’s eyes survey the scene. There is far more detail to this processional line that the general overview I have The Third Wise Man (The Bridge between the Living and the Dead) just provided. If we return to the West Wing of The Barnes in Gallery XVI and follow The third wise man is an amorphous figure in a painting by Luigi Settani called the natural course of the eye of the skull in Soutine’s Still Life With Flowers that forms Negro Figure (circa 1940). The figure is directly above the ancient Egyptian stone tablet the head of the headless statue of The Water Bearer in Gallery XVI, we shall see that of the Three Pharaohs on the West Wall of Gallery XVI and looks along the same South he first peers right into Gallery XVIII, where we see the sun-dappled patchwork of Wall of Gallery XVI where The Water Bearer is formed of canvas and ancient stone. Renoir’s Grape Gathers Resting (circa 1884) showing field workers lying in the shade of Settani’s amorphous Negro Figure seems more like a soul than a person. Is he part of a tree. Next to this is another of the so-called “incomplete” masterpieces by Cezanne, Dr. Barnes’ Ka or spirit waiting to be reborn? Oddly, he seems to have just come from The Church of Montigny-sur-Loing (1898). While it is called an “incomplete” master- the garden which is just west of this place, because he appears to have a garden hat on piece, The Church of Montigny-sur-Loing seems to me to be a completed masterpiece his head. His form is fluid, like the form of the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz. This suggesting that the faith of a person in the beginning of life may yet be incomplete but Negro Figure is like a waif or a spirit that has just come from the garden to be reborn becomes more complete as one becomes more developed. The painting is in an impor- or reformed in The Barnes. In the background of the painting, there seem to be color- tant place in The Water Bearer’s progression because it is placed at the beginning of ful areas that could be the blooms of the garden of Merion. The implied line of sight The Water Bearer’s journey. The Grape Gathers may represent his forebearers who built of Settani’s Negro Figure in this area of the Barnes extends once again in a West to East The Barnes who are now asleep. It is up to him to carry their torch. He is complete yet direction that leads out of the Eastern Wing of The Barnes and continues all the way incomplete with a long way yet to go. into the Western Wing. Importantly, this sight line involves The Water Bearer because Following these two paintings is Renoir’s Landscape at Pont-Aven (1893). This this figure is directly in line with the canvas and stone Water Bearer. It is as if this painting could suggest The Pont-Aven School which got its name from a group of art- Figure is the animating soul of the newly constituted Water Bearer. ists working in the region beginning in the 1850s. It is my understanding that like The line of sight of Settani’s Negro Figure is the same line of sight of the newly The Barnes Arboretum, the Beech Woods near Pont-Aven were a place of inspiration formed Water Bearer. In this case the line extends out through Gallery XVIII, which for many artists, such as Gauguin and Valtat. Above the Renoirs on either side of The is still in the Western Wing of The Barnes, but is directly East of The Water Bearer’s Church of Montigny-sur-Loing are two retablos of saints. To the viewer’s left as one looks location. This line of sight through Gallery XVIII is what I consider to be The Water at the church is a retablo referred to as “San Antonio,” and on the viewer’s right is a Bearer’s processional line of sight, because it is in this sequence where we ultimately see retablo of San Ramon Nonato. If the first retablo is of St. Anthony, St. Anthony is a him in human form and walking when we get to the Eastern Wing of The Barnes. The patron saint protecting against oppression in government and a great Wonder Worker line begins on the South Wall of Gallery XVI. It continues through the East Wall of while San Ramon was a great defender and eloquent evangelist of the early church. Gallery XVI into Gallery XVIII and extends out of the West Wing and across all of the Above these saints, from left to right or in a West to East course on either side of the Barnes to emerge in Matisse’s Still Life with Statuette and Melon in Gallery XXIII as the Church of Montigny-sur-Loing is Still Life Abstraction (1946), by Barabara Reiff (born statuette that we see on the table in the painting also shares the table with a water jug 1926), and then, on the other side, we have Still Life with Jug (1946), also by Barabara on the West Wall of Gallery XXIII. It is as if both The Water Bearer and the water jug Reiff. The placement of these two small paintings from Still Life Abstraction (on the

256 257 Barnes Rune 2012 The Three Wise Men viewer’s left) to Still Life With Jug (on the viewer’s right) suggests to me that in this theory in a discipline where the only motion that had previously been seen in art was processional vignette, the purpose of The Water Bearer comes into focus from abstrac- the depiction of simple motion such as ships sailing on seas, birds in the skies, angels tion as he grows into adulthood as a student at The Barnes until he, himself, becomes floating in the heavens, martyrs being persecuted, or soldiers advancing on the battle- a bearer of the water jug as his purpose begins to quicken and become evident to him field. Above this painting of Rouen is an image of a steam engine, which was thought in the learning process. to provide the inspiration for the multi-frame photography that became motion pic- There is a door in the middle of the North Wall of Gallery XVIII which leads back tures and the multi-planar aspect of cubism. Picasso, much like the ascetic who views out into Gallery XIV. Above the door, and within the processional line of sight of The these images from the Northern Wall would have been aware of these developments Water Bearer we have a painting of a great conqueror, Alexandros, by Giorgio de Chirico of early modern society both in art, in the example of Monet’s exploration of Rouen (circa 1934), which should be a good omen for the possibility of success of The Water through every season, and in industry, in the example of the creation of the steam Bearer as a defender of The Barnes. On the other side of the door on the same North engine. As we shall see, The Barnes may point to a piece that might contain Picasso’s Wall of Gallery XVIII, in the center of the Eastern Side of the North Wall, we have own quotation to both of the developments described on the Southern Wall of Gallery Picasso’s Ascetic or Man Seated at Table (1903). On either side of this Picasso we have XVIII. A painting on the East Wall of Gallery XVIII where the South and East Wall the 1917 River Landscape (Blues) by Renoir to the viewer’s left as he looks at the Ascetic intersect is Amalfi Moonlight Pattern(circa 1949) by Randall Morgan. This painting of a and Orchard—Spring (1910) by Renoir on the opposite side of the Ascetic which is to the moonlight pattern recalls the painting of the Cathedral Lunel from one of the adjoining viewer’s right as he looks at the Ascetic. I like this imagery because it is the first place galleries, Gallery XIV, which is thought to symbolize The Barnes. The painting of the where a lesson in The Barnes about Picasso is suggested. With a little alliteration, from Cathedral Lunel is above the doorway leading from Gallery XIV into Gallery XVIII, River Landscape (Blues) to Orchard—Spring, we arrive at the term “Blue Spring.” And, in and its imagery is recalled here in this painting of a moonlight pattern in close proxim- the middle of this “Blue Spring” is Picasso’s Ascetic: ergo, from Picasso’s “Blue” Period ity to themes of the beginning of modern art like the Ascetic, Signac’s Rouen, and the or the blues of his asceticism “spring(s)” modern art. This becomes very important, as locomotive to suggest that The Barnes contains patterns and pathways of realization we shall see, because it is my belief that part of The Barnes is a road map to the discov- about the beginning of Modern Art. ery of the very beginnings of modern art. A quest for a missing piece of modern art may There are also two retablos near the ascetic on the North Wall as well. The first be one of the missions of The Water Bearer. retablo is of San Geronimo by Jose Raphael Aragon (New Mexican, 1796–1862), circa This mission is confirmed in my estimation by the fact that the ascetic looks toward 1840, and the second is of San Raphael by Jose Benito Ortega (1858–1841), circa 1890. the South Wall of Gallery XVIII, which contains a painting of Rouen by Paul Signac San Geronimo was an eloquent advocate of the church, and San Raphael is a guardian with the image of a train going over a bridge above it. At first these images may seem archangel. Both act as important role models for The Water Bearer, who might have to innocuous and unimportant, but if one knows a little bit about art history, one knows act as an advocate for and a guardian of The Barnes. that the town of Rouen and the invention of the steam locomotive are both considered Cezanne’s Church of Montigny-sur-Loing is, in its unfinished splendor, one of the to have been very important to the formation of modern art. It is commonly pointed most insightful and philosophically provocative renditions of a church that may have out, for instance, in the history books that one of the earliest examples of an artist ever been done. Renoir’s bucolic grape gathers resting next to this Cezanne suggest a producing a modern vision was in the work of Monet, the great French impression- simple beginning for a newly ordained Water Bearer, and the incomplete but beautiful ist, when he was cloistered by poor health in Rouen. Monet’s studio window faced the church suggests a spiritually beautiful faith that is yet to fully blossom. The unfinished Rouen cathedral, and Monet painted the cathedral in every season and in every type church might also represent The Barnes, whose story is not yet known. Viewing this of weather. When all was said and done, I believe that Monet painted the very same symbol of faith in conjunction with the lives of the saints placed on the North Wall of scene over thirty times and that each time it was different, like some sort of nineteenth- Gallery XVIII, The Water Bearer may perceive his obligation to be to finish what Dr. century time lapse series or like the picaresque progression of the advancing wheels of Barnes started and to profess an eloquent defense of Dr. Barnes’s Foundation. This wall a steam engine. It was the first time when one scene was painted over and over from may be an educational wall for the newly reconstituted Water Bearer. Further study is the very same angle. When they were shown together the impression was one that had perhaps required by The Water Bearer to fully develop his faith, and he may have an not been seen before in a set of still life paintings. The collection of cathedral scenes example of how to do this in the image of Picasso’s ascetic whose rigorous path may be implied the advancement of experience over time which was a very new and complex a means to a more complete and comprehensive understanding.

258 259 Barnes Rune 2012 The Three Wise Men

The eye of the Skull of The Water Bearer in the Soutine Still Life with Flowers on act as both a cultural attraction while still being a subtle and unassuming bridge from the South Wall of Gallery XVI seems to survey all of the above images on the North human to divine like a church or island refuge in the middle of the Modern Industrial Wall of Gallery XVIII, but it also looks directly at the East Wall of Gallery XVIII at State. And, if The Water Bearer is thought of as looking right at this image of the a painting called Ponte Vecchio (circa 1949) by Randall Morgan (American, born 1920) Ponte Vecchio on the East Wall of Gallery XVIII, this image of the Ponte Vecchio and a Modigliani of a pretty girl in blue which Doctor Barnes cryptically calls Figure. may also suggest that this space on the second floor will act as a passage for The Water Next to these two paintings on the East Wall of Gallery XVIII is Masts, by Charles Bearer to the other side of The Barnes, like The Water Bearer’s own Vasari’s Corridor Demuth, and underneath that is a painting called View of Bordeaux (1884), by Jean to privately pass unseen from the Western Wing of The Barnes and through the Main Baptiste Guiraud (French, nineteenth century), which is a painting of ships in the har- Hall to the Eastern Wing of The Barnes. bor at Bordeaux. The painting of the Ponte Vecchio and the painting of the harbor at Before we leave Gallery XVIII, I think it is important to note two paintings that Bordeaux recall for me T. S. Eliot’s 1922 “The Waste Land” and the realization in the involve movement, walking, or procession on the West Wall of Gallery XVIII that poem by Eliot’s speaker that he did not think that death had undone so many. Eliot’s reinforce the theme of a procession of The Water Bearer. They are the 1922 Street with character also speaks of seeing crowds of people walking round in a ring. The crowds Woman Carrying Bread, by Per Krohg (Norwegian, 1889–1965), who, like The Water of ships in the harbor of Bordeaux suggests to me the crowds of people Eliot’s charac- Bearer, is a person who brings nourishment. And, there is Promenade (circa 1906), ter sees in “The Waste Land.” The circular layering of the town in the painting of the by Renoir, of a woman walking. Between the two paintings is a retablo of San Juan Harbor of Bordeaux on the East Wall of Gallery XVIII reminds me of the people walk- Nepomuceno by the Laguna Santero (New Mexican, active 1776–1815), who is con- ing in circles in the rings of Dante’s “Inferno.” Finally, the bridge of the Ponte Vecchio sidered to be the patron of pregnant women as well as the protector against corruption painting also reminds me of the line in “The Waste Land” about the crowds of people in government. Government, of course, would have to be involved in an effort to move flowing over London Bridge. The relationship of the imagery of The Barnes to the The Barnes, and The Water Bearer is apparently sent or “born” to try to combat any imagery of “The Waste Land” is something I could discuss at great length, but I think corruption in the actions of the government upon the pretense that they are bring- it is sufficient for the purposes of this text to note that it seems to me that there is the ing the people the bread of The Barnes even while they are destroying her unique suggestion of several major life lessons and archetypal observations in Gallery XVIII vision. Should The Barnes fall victim to public corruption, has Dr. Barnes placed San which makes this Gallery a kind of lesson plan to a prospective Water Bearer. Nepomuceno here to protect her? The Ponte Vecchio may represent a bridge of redemption or a bridge between ques- Resuming the line of sight suggested between Settani’s Negro Figure, the Skull in tion and answer, the past and the present, the human and the divine, being and becom- the Soutine Still Life with Flowers and the eyes of Modigliani’s Girl In Blue or Figure on ing, or life and death. Where this bridge leads is anyone’s guess. Perhaps the eyes of the East Wall of Gallery XVIII, and looking deeply into the eyes of Modigliani’s Figure Modigliani’s Girl in Blue which Dr. Barnes refers to as Figure, works with the image of or Pretty Girl in Blue on the East Wall of Gallery XVIII that she shares with the paint- the bridge above her as Dr. Barnes’s guidance to The Water Bearer to figure out a way ings of the Ponte Vecchio and the Harbor of Bordeaux, we are led completely from the or to find a way to bridge these complex images and the span of time itself to tell the West Wing of The Barnes to the East Wing. On the Western Wall of Gallery XXIII, story of The Barnes? we see another series of paintings that suggest the mission of the Water Bearer. There The Ponte Vecchio is a bridge in Florence, Italy. It is a masterfully built bridge that we find a Matisse and a Rousseau. The Rousseau isThe Balloon or Study for “View of Pont the Florentines built shops upon centuries ago. The shops are home to some of the most de Sevres” (circa 1887). The Matisse is a 1906 painting of a stone sculpture on a table important gold merchants in Europe, and the bridge is the center of the gold trade called Still Life with Statuette and Melon (Collioure). The stone Water Bearer at the base in Italy. Hidden above the public bridge deck of the Ponte Vecchio is what is known of the South Wall of Gallery XVI has now been translated or transported, as if by The as “Vasari’s Corridor,” a private passage containing some of the Medici family’s “Old Balloon, across the rooms of the Barnes, and we see him as a stone sculpture sitting on Masters,” reputed to be worth far more than all the treasures of the gold merchants’ the table in Matisse’s canvas Still Life with Statuette and Melon on the Western Wall of shops below. The image of the Ponte Vecchio is an interesting metaphor, because just as Gallery XXIII. it is a masterful architectural feat containing magnificent treasures in an unpublicized Maybe The Water Bearer has been transported here from the West Wing of the corridor or passage while acting as a serviceable span in modern Florence; so, too, does Barnes by the miraculous magic of the Severes Bridge that we have seen once before The Barnes, and the artistry of its architecture, collection, and natural spiritual beauty in the painting by Alfred Sisley on the South Wall of Gallery IX on the first floor,

260 261 Barnes Rune 2012 The Three Wise Men through a secret passageway, a Barnesian version of Vasari’s Corridor, to Gallery XXIII stages of new growth. This shoot or tendril seems to emanate a surreal glow. The subject in the East Wing. Sisley’s Severes Bridge in Gallery IX symbolically formed part of The of the painting suggests an organic spirituality. The Altripp is cleverly situated in this Pirate’s Synapse on the first floor that helps The Pirate magically pull the remembered ensemble and serves to accentuate the theme of magical transformation. Altripp was a souls home. Now, Sisley’s study for Severes Bridge plays a role in imagery that suggests spiritual painter and was influenced by the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, who believed that The Water Bearer from the second floor is safely transported from the West Wing in reincarnation, psychic channeling, and psychic exploration. It has been said that Dr. to the East Wing. It operates as transport imagery in Gallery XXIII in the East Wing Barnes was very interested in Steiner’s theories, and Plant-like suggests that something and serves as a counterpart to the imagery of the Ponte Vecchio and Vasari’s Corridor mystical is taking place in this portion of the ensembles, like a magical reincarnation or in the West Wing in Gallery XVIII from whence The Water Bearer has just magically a rebirth. Below Plant-like on the same wall is a painting by de Chirico called The Red arrived. From this vantage point, perched atop Matisse’s table on the West Wall of Tower (1913). The Barnes Foundation and the publisher Corbis published a compact Gallery XXIII, The Water Bearer surveys the condition that has been apportioned to disc that remarks that de Chirico said The Red Tower represented the Risorgimento that him in Gallery XXIII. In this room, along its North Wall, we first encounter the breezy, occurred in Italy, wherein the cultural and the political movements in Italy became open, room of Matisse’s colorful seaside villa in his painting called French Window at unified. Perhaps it was Dr. Barnes’s wish that his Water Bearer would also be a unifying Nice (1918–19) and Picasso’s own Water Bearer in his 1906 painting from his sojourn force and help to unify cultural and political support to keep The Barnes in Merion in in Gosol called Figures with Goat. Here, Picasso paints a boy carrying a vessel or jug a manner similar to the rapprochement achieved during the Italian Risorgimento. Also upon his head. In the imagery of The Barnes, it seems to me that in this Picasso, The on this wall, in close proximity to Picasso’s Water Bearer, is a multicolored swan, The Water Bearer is now actualized and made flesh as he walks in the same line of sight as Mysterious Swan (1934), also by de Chirico, rising from a river of brown herringbone the processional vignette or sight line of the eyes of the skull in Soutine’s Still Life with uniformity, which suggests to me that this reborn or reincarnated Water Bearer might Flowers in Gallery XVI. It is as if The Water Bearer has finally become realized through be one of many and that he, she, or they might rise out of the ranks of uniformity to a magical French window represented in French Window at Nice and has been made flesh assume his, her, or their rightful place to champion or to advocate for the preservation here in Gallery XXIII. of The Barnes Foundation in Merion and to champion the cultural and political free- We first see The Water Bearer in Gallery XXIII as a small statue in Matisse’s Still dom to which The Barnes Foundation in Merion is a testament. Life with Statuette and Melon on the West Wall, and then The Water Bearer appears for Next to this series of paintings, there is a painting of St. Sebastian and St. Roche the first time fully actualized in human form on the North Wall as a child bearing a on the East Wall of Gallery XXIII by an unidentified artist (presumably French, jug of water on his head and facing the viewer in Picasso’s Figures with Goat. The Water 1460–1480). It is likely that St. Sebastian and St. Roche provide guidance and pro- Bearer, once made of stone and canvas far away in Gallery XVI in the Western Wing tection to The Water Bearer. Aside of this painting of St. Sebastian and St. Roche is a of the Mansion, is now shown as a real person, a child carrying a jug on his head in painting of an embassy of important gentlemen which carries through on the theme Picasso’s Rose Period painting. And, although we first see The Water Bearer as a stone of political and cultural unification that we first see in the image of de Chirico’s red sculpture in this room in Matisse’s Still Life with Statuette and Melon, it is also here that tower. Returning to the painting of St. Sebastian and St. Roche, we see St. Sebastian we see that the stone sculpture is given life and is shown in fully realized human form in the background of the painting tied to a stake and riddled with arrows. St. Roche in The Barnes in Figures with Goat. Here, on the Eastern Side of the North Wall of is depicted in the foreground of the painting together with a dog offering him a piece Gallery XXIII, we see him face on and naked as a young boy. He is not twisted away of bread that the dog carries in his mouth. In the lives of both of these saints, there are from us like Daumier’s Water Bearer in Gallery VIII, and he is not a half stone/half correlations to our quest for meaning at The Barnes. Sebastian is the saint who, for all canvas creation as in Dr. Barnes’ ensemble on the South Wall of Gallery XVI. Nor is intents and purposes, seemed to have died twice or to have returned to life after being he merely stone like the stone statuette in Matisse’s Still Life with Statuette and Melon; thought to be dead. St. Sebastian was shot through with arrows and thrown in a privy but he is, instead, here, on the South Wall of Gallery XXIII, finally made flesh in the and left for dead. He was rescued by the faithful and returned in full health to taunt human form of a young boy in Figures with Goat. his executioner, who then had him beheaded. St. Roche went into the forest to die, but To the viewer’s immediate right of Picasso’s Water Bearer in the painting Figures was nourished back to health by a dog. If The Water Bearer is to be a loyal friend to with Goat on the North Wall of Gallery XXIII is a painting called Plant-like (1946), The Barnes, he might be seen as the dog that nourishes The Barnes in Merion back to by Alo Altripp, which depicts a shoot or tuber of an oddly luminous plant in the early health. Also, is it possible that Dr. Barnes’s spirit is revitalized like Saints Roche and

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Sebastian through the agency of The Water Bearer, an Everyman student, to face those The Water Bearer’s line of sight continues through the painting of St. Sebastian and who may have worked against keeping his Foundation in Merion. St. Roche on the East Wall of Gallery XXIII and through that West Wall of Gallery Both Roche and Sebastian are saints who protect against plague. Does Dr. Barnes XXI and the incomplete painting by Manet of a young woman in a garden toward the place them here to protect his Water Bearer from trouble and to suggest that The Water East Wall of Gallery XXI (the far Eastern Side of The Barnes) wherein is contained a Bearer may be able to likewise guard The Barnes against what he might see as a modern drawing by William Glackens of a nineteenth-century gentleman rising from a table in plague of public apathy and ignorance that might allow her to be dismantled without the excited moment of an important discovery called A preparatory Sketch for “There Was even a whimper from the public? Is this effort to move the Barnes something that Dr. Edward Bickford’s Racing Cup.” Perhaps the gentleman rising from the table in aston- Barnes would perceive as an evil that a St. George figure must vanquish? It is said that ishment in this drawing by Glackens and making a discovery sees the trophy cup that St. Sebastian’s aura cured a woman of her muteness, which corresponds nicely with the we will see if we are sensitive and attuned to The Barnes. The idea for Glackens’ draw- mission of The Water Bearer of The Barnes to communicate his secrets to the world. St. ing was developed as he illustrated a short story called “The Practical Joke” by Eden Roche is considered a protector against plague and pestilence. St. Roche was miraculously Phillpotts, illustrated by W.J. Glackens, Putnam’s 1910. “There was Edward Bickford’s marked from birth with a red cross that grew on his breast as he matured. He fell ill while Racing Cup” was a scene from the story. This story ran in Volume 7 of Putnam’s maga- ministering to the sick and went into the forest to die, but he was miraculously nursed zine. The story is about a dispute over an inheritance, a silver racing cup, between the back to health by a dog who brought him bread and licked his wounds until they healed. principled Edward Bickford and his conniving brother, Forrester. The cup had been On his journey home, he was wrongly accused of being a spy and was thrown into prison won by the “Old Squire’s galloping hoss “Dick Turpin” … at Cornwood Hunt Races in his own homeland, where he languished for five years before he died. years and years agone.” (Putnam’s Vol. 7, p. 219) It was given by the Old Squire’s son to I mentioned earlier in this book that The Barnes has been described as a Rune. The his butler, Nathan Bickford, and passed by descent to Nathan’s eldest nephew, Edward legend of St. Roche is one of the earliest Christian legends describing a runic table. It Bickford, who kept the sparkling trophy in a prominent place in his Cornwood pub as a is written of St. Roche in the Legend Aurea that “anon an angel brought from heaven a conversation piece. It was, after all, quite a prize: “’T was a trophy offered to the county, table divinely written with letters of gold into the prison, which he laid under the head but it had to be took three times afore’t was won outright; and “Dick Turpin” had of St. Roche. And in the table was written that God had granted to him his prayer, that done the feat in the early Seventies.” (p. 219) The story is told in the third person. The is, to wit, ‘that who that calleth meekly to St. Roche he shall not be hurt with any hurt narrator of the tale tells of the theft of the racing cup from Edward Bickford’s “Seven of pestilence.’” On the other side of the wall, in Gallery XXI, we find Manet’s Young Stars” pub and its unlikely return to Edward by two practical jokers who break into Woman in a Garden (circa 1874). And, while Manet painted in the nineteenth century, Forrester Bickford’s home on a lark to steal something to get back at him for an insult he is very advanced. He does not seem to be concerned with merely trying to capture and happen upon his brother’s stolen racing cup concealed and awaiting the smelter in beauty, instead, many of his paintings have a deeper meaning in addition to their art- Forrester’s china cupboard. The drawing that Dr. Barnes has placed on the East Wall of fulness. Manet’s Young Woman is a good example of his exploration with deeper themes Gallery XXI is Glackens’s drawing showing the scene of the narrator’s surprise when as opposed to just artful beauty and perfection. She is a finished portrait showing a side the practical jokers, hot from their caper, reveal their find to the narrator by candle in view of a woman in Victorian dress. What is odd about her is that her hands are formed his darkened home. “’Be me an Arthur detectives or burglars?” Dicky Reep, one of the in raw white canvas. They are incomplete but complete. A triangular swatch of canvas Falstaffian buffoons, asks the narrator. (p. 228) By poor dumb luck, by breaking into is left bare beneath her hands, and it runs the length of her skirt to the base of the paint- Forrester’s house to play a trick on him, the practical jokers, Dicky Reep and Arthur ing. She is on the East side of the wall of Gallery XXI, and this is a mutual wall that Haycraft, have solved the great mystery of who stole Edward Bickford’s Racing Cup. she shares with St. Roche and St. Sebastian, who are on the other side of the Wall on the The narrator describes his shock as he sees the missing property for the first time: West side of Gallery XXIII. The bare canvas in the Manet suggests an opening through the wall between Galleries XXIII and XXI. The incomplete hands in the Manet also “I stared and thought the whole adventure was a dream, for there, shining and glitter- suggest to me work yet to be done by human hands, a commission or mission, perhaps, ing in the light of my candle, was Edward Bickford’s Racing Cup…” (p. 228) for The Water Bearer, representing a task yet to be completed and reserved for The Water Bearer, a task of revelation, or a discovery about the mysteries of The Barnes yet If The Water Bearer’s line of sight from the West Wing of The Foundation would to be made or communicated and the runic tableaux that The Barnes seems to be. continue to the East Wall of Gallery XXI on the opposite side of The Foundation in

264 265 Barnes Rune 2012 The Three Wise Men the East Wing, his eyes would fall upon the drawing by Glackens depicting the miss- unified and coiled with the Motto “Don’t Tread On Me.” The snake that is coiled in the ing trophy racing cup of Edward Bickford on a table before the astounded man. In the background of the Modigliani is coiled much in the same way the “Don’t Tread On Me” line of interpretation that I am pursuing, The Water Bearer is meant to be not only a snake is coiled, but it is cut in two by the red of Modigliani’s mahogany red coverlet like defender, but a person who defends The Barnes by revealing the secrets of The Barnes the “Join or Die” snake. I often wonder if Dr. Barnes didn’t have this image of a snake and causing a great discovery. The moment of discovery is unique to all depending upon painted into the background of the Modigliani by Modigliani or even by a later artist. what insights they afford. They can be docents who share the secrets of The Barnes. The Revolutionary War snake in the coiled and ready-to-strike “Don’t Tread On Me” They can be the conservationists trying to preserve The Barnes in Merion. And, there variation is often shown with vestigial separations in its body seemingly left over from may be a discovery for the art historians as well, which is pointed to by the specific the “Join or Die” imagery. The idea was that once the American colonies had joined into location of this Glackens in the ensembles: a discovery of unimaginable significance in the snake, they were then a formidable enemy. I think that this image is particularly the quest to understand the source of Modern Art, a discovery that may turn out to be appropriate here, because I think that this painting is a call by Dr. Barnes to The Barnes one of the greatest revelations of Modern Art and a discovery far more astonishing than preservationists of our world to join together and to rear up in defense of The Barnes in the discovery of Edward Bickford’s Racing Cup. Merion or all that it truly represents will die as it is moved to Philadelphia. The theme of discovery is reinforced in the picture by Glackens; but, what has been If we think that the image of the snake in the Modigliani is merely coincidental and discovered? In one sense, I think that Edward Bickford’s Racing Cup can represent the unrelated to any other imagery at The Barnes, we need look no further than at an unusual general voyage of discovery that each serious-minded student or visitor can have at The metal object on the floor which appears to be a decorative stand (I’m told it is an oil lamp Barnes in the harmonies of its art, architecture, and natural setting. (And, there are many on a stand). The stand is all metal and stands about two and a half feet high. Its handle things yet to discover in The Barnes.) However, in another sense, Edward Bickford’s is made in the form of a snake. The snake forms an unbroken circle or a ring to give the Racing Cup may represent the goal of The Water Bearer to save the Foundation. impression that the serpent is eating its own tail. The base of the stand is a large turtle It is the goal of The Water Bearer with which I am now concerned. There are sev- whose feet form the base of the stand. The shell of the turtle is covered with strange runic eral paintings and objects of art that may be able to help us to decipher the purpose of symbols. This turtle shell with the wondrous symbols could represent our world or our The Water Bearer. That purpose is very close here. The first images and objects of art inheritance, the gift Dr. Barnes has left us. The head of the turtle is facing in the direction that may assist our understanding are just before the drawing of the scene “There Was of the East Wall that contains Glackens’ drawing of Edward Bickford’s Racing Cup. The Edward Bickford’s Racing Cup” in Gallery XXI and there are others which may assist our top of the stand that forms the lamp appears to be an old-time ladle for pouring molten understanding that fall after it in the sequence of Dr. Barnes’s arrangements in Gallery metal. The ladle has a narrow handle on one end and a wide bowl or spoon on the other XXII. Before the drawing of the scene “There Was Edward Bickford’s Racing Cup” in end that would presumably hold the molten metal that has been adapted as a receptacle The Water Bearer’s West-East sight line are several pieces that suggest the completion of for oil. On the bowl or spoon side of the ladle is a dragon wrought in metal. On the handle a goal. One of these images is Modigliani’s Nude, Mahogany Red (1917), who is comfort- side of the ladle is a man, also wrought in metal. The man seems to be hanging off of the ably reclining on a couch with a mahogany coverlet on the South Wall of Gallery XXI, handle of the ladle and tipping it will all his might to fuel the flame while a dragon on the suggesting, perhaps, the completion of a task. The nude could be a man or it could be a other end seems to be resisting the man’s efforts to tip the ladle toward the man and the woman. As odd as it may seem—given that this is a nude—the sex of the person is unim- light. The imagery clearly recalls the St. George and the Dragon theme in the painting portant and unascertainable. The really interesting thing about this nude in the context by Odilon Redon on the North Wall of Gallery XIV that is one of the first images that of the pictorial story that I am proposing that The Barnes may tell is that in the cover- The Water Bearer would see; and, now, it is also one of the last images that The Water let, there is a faint white snake in the top part of the Red Robe. The image of the snake Bearer may see at the end of the sight line that concludes with the image of the trophy appears to be bisected or cut in two, sort of like the rallying symbols of the American cup of The Barnes, Edward Bickford’s Racing Cup. The power of the dragon is overcome Revolution. The image is highly relevant from the perspective of historic Philadelphia, by the superhuman exertions of the man hanging off the ladle handle and tipping it back. which is historic because of its role in the American Revolution. In some symbols of the Did the tale of “The Practical Joke” represent to Dr. Barnes what might happen American Revolution, we see a snake that is segregated but nearly unified with the Motto to The Barnes Foundation after his death? “The Practical Joke” is a tale of two broth- “Join or Die.” This motto encouraged the colonies to join together to defend themselves ers disputing over an inheritance. Did Dr. Barnes place Glackens’ illustrations for this and their liberty. In other Revolutionary War images, we see the “Join or Die” snake now story in his Foundation so that we would some day read the words of the story and

266 267 Barnes Rune 2012 The Three Wise Men think of what Barnes feared would happen to his Foundation? If Dr. Barnes’s arrange- these images seem to have little rhyme or reason, but they are all powerful ones in the ments are purposive, then is Dr. Barnes’s interest in the tale illustrative of doctor’s themes that I am exploring. We have seen Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the Lady of thinking from beyond the grave? In describing the theft from the “Seven Stars” pub the Place or the Lady of the Garden-land, “Har Hacarmel”. She provides the scapular Ms. Phillpotts writes: “Anybody knowing the place could have done it, but nobody apron in Gallery III below that protects the warriors’ souls from the eternal fire of knowing Bickford would have played him such a dirty trick.” (p. 223) Phillpotts hell and offers them a pledge of peace. Is the image of the nude in mahogany red the describes Nathan Bickford’s love for that Racing Cup as so dear that “when he died image of the triumphant Everyman warrior or martyr, or The Water Bearer all grown the cup was in his hand and it took a strong man to release it thereafter.” (p. 219) Is up, triumphant and at peace, resting like a victorious champion? The Lady of the Lake it possible that Dr. Barnes wishes the same moment of deflating realization on those is sometimes thought of as the Celtic or Arthurian version of St. Mary Magdalene, who would Move his art collection from its setting in the “Seven Stars” of The Barnes who attended Christ on the Cross. St. Joseph is the earthly companion of Mary, and Configuration upon learning of these great mysteries that doctor has left us hanging on Jesus’s earthly father figure. Modigliani’s Nude, Mahogany Red on the South Wall is the walls, sculpted on the architecture and seeded in the garden and arboretum of The surrounded by biblical and other Christian images, and below him is the image of Barnes Foundation, as Forrester had when he came in the “Seven Stars” after the practi- the harvester with ships at anchor in a placid setting, as if his or her ship has come cal jokers had retrieved the stolen Racing Cup from his cupboard? The narrator of “The into port. Practical Joke” describes Forrester as he stares at the Racing Cup back behind the bar If the large nude is a victorious savior of The Barnes actualized, then there may be at the “Seven Stars” pub: “The hookem-snively rascal stared at it as though it had been an additional component to this that is important, because here in this room, Gallery the Prince o’ Darkness, and just said “Oh!’ and no more. Then out he bolted and quite XXI, there is also an image of the Savior of Mankind. While most of the things that I forgot his drink. …Then all came out,–and a good hail of bitter laughter stung that am reciting are unknown, I believe that it is relatively well known among the teaching bad man’s ear.” (p. 229) Therefore, is the placement of A preparatory Sketch for “There staff and docents at The Barnes that the North Wall of Gallery XXI contains the face Was Edward Bickford’s Racing Cup” further confirmation of an intricate attempt by Dr. of Christ, who stares at the images of the South Wall. I don’t think that the docents Barnes to telegraph a message that The Barnes should stay in Merion? Eden Phillpotts’s on the official tour point this out too often because this might imply that The Barnes story pits brother against brother. Forrester wanted to melt down the racing cup and in Merion is a holy place, and that would not mesh with the official plans to move it; Edward wanted to preserve it as a conversation piece. So, too, does The Barnes Move but, the face of Christ is suggested in the way that the images are hung on the North pit brother against brother. Yes, the art belongs to us all, but Dr. Barnes wanted to give Wall of Gallery XXI as follows: Facing the Nude, Mahogany Red is an axe laid flat on us something greater than the art, he wanted to bring us a conversation piece that is the wall. This axe is placed directly above a particularly horrifying picture of Christ his Foundation in Merion. Does he say to us that we must chose if we wish to take the adorned with a crown of thorns and surrounded by a persecutory crowd wielding sharp path of the kindly Edward Bickford or the path of Forrester Bickford? In the image of sticks and spikes. The axe blade above the image of the persecuted Christ is not one St. George and The Dragon fighting over the smelting ladle, will St. George be able to uniform piece of metal. Instead, it is drawn and elongated by its maker with two open tip it in his favor to avoid the symbolic smelting and destruction of The Barnes? slats that reveal the burlap of the wall behind. If the viewer looks at the axe just right, On either side of the Nude, Mahagony Red are themes which may be important. To the form of the axe appears to resemble The Face of Christ, and the slats framing the the viewer’s left as one looks at Modigliani’s Nude, Mahogany Red is a scene of Meshach, warm, gingerbread-brown burlap of the wall beyond appear to be His eyes. Above the Shadrach, and Abednego, who were Christians that were placed in a fiery oven and axe is additional metalwork that appears to resemble a crown, not a crown of thorns, would not burn. On the viewer’s right as one looks at the nude is a depiction of the but a regal crown. What I really like about this image, but what you probably won’t parable from the Bible that recounts the tale of seven fatted calves and seven lean. In get on the canned tour, is that the eyes of Christ are formed, essentially, of the simple the middle of the Wall below the nude and above the ashtray with St. George and the burlap of the walls of The Foundation. It is as if Christ himself looks out of the walls Dragon is a Renoir, Landscape with Harvester—Presqu’ile de Saint-Jean (1888), which of The Foundation in Merion. In the glass case below is an African tribal image, also shows a harvester in the foreground with a harbor in the background, just visible with a crown, that reinforces and foreshadows the imagery above. For those who love through dense foliage, with two white ships at anchor. Above these images are retablos The Barnes, it is a deeply poignant moment to contemplate this image. The spirit of of The Neustra del Carmen, Neustra Senora de los lagos, and San Jose Patriarca, or Our Christ is in the very interstices and building blocks of the place, and in the beautiful Lady of Mount Carmel, The Lady of the Lake, and St. Joseph, the Patriarch. At first, natural setting.

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The face of Christ with a royal crown on the North Wall of Gallery XXI is like in the Templar Gallery, Gallery IV. The sword is also on the North Wall of the Gallery the red cross-shaped birthmark on St. Roche’s chest that grew with him as he grew, below.) There is another link between The Martyrs Gallery and The Chapel or The marked him among the faithful and consecrated him to the special purposes of God. Templar Gallery below, because in the background of Aristodemos Kaldes’ Absorbing So, too, does this imagery in Gallery XXI seem to consecrate The Barnes to the further Art on the East Wall of Gallery XXI, we see an image of Christ holding a white cloth purposes of God. What you may get on the tour is that this room contains every suit in his hands containing a red cross on a white field, which is a emplarT symbol. in a deck of cards except one. There is a spade in the chair placed along the base of the Besides being part of a construct that forms a wall-sized face of Christ, the broad- North Wall of Gallery XXI that contains the face of Christ. There are hearts in the bladed axe on the North Wall is also the symbol of a great disciple of Christ, the great wooden cheese grater and in the eye of Modigliani’s Pretty Housewife hanging on the preacher and martyr Matthew the Evangelist. This axe may represent the tool of Matthew’s Western Wall of Gallery XXI. There are diamonds in the metalwork on the South Wall executioner and a symbol of Matthew’s martyrdom, because Matthew was beheaded with of Gallery XXI. The club is at the opposite end of The Barnes in The Crypt or Gallery an axe. The axe may also represent the axe of Apollodorus that cleaved Athena, the god- XVI in the key on the North Wall of Gallery XVI. I think that these suits from a deck dess of wisdom, from the brow of the god Zeus and brought wisdom to humanity. The of cards represent the royal nature of the images in these galleries, the royalty of Christ ancient axe hangs above the image of the procession of the humiliated Christ before the and the martyrs. Gallery XVI is The Crypt and a place of the rebirth of The Water bloodthirsty mob and their barbed spears on the North Wall of Gallery XXI. Bearer. Gallery XXI is The Martyr Room, where even death sleeps and cannot do any Across the room, on the South wall of Gallery XXI, are two paintings of apostle’s harm. These images of three suits in a deck of cards in Gallery XXI and the fourth suit heads flanking the luxuriant nude by Modigliani called simply Nude, Mahogany Red in a deck of cards in Gallery XVI, on the opposite ends of The Barnes, show, once again, (1917) or Reclining Nude From The Back. It seems that this nude has the same facial the mirroring effect going on between the Eastern and Western Wings of The Barnes. features of the man in the drawing Raimondo by Modigliani in Gallery XX. The pencil The suits from a deck of cards also stand for the proposition that in every life we are drawn Raimondo from Gallery XX may represent a ray of hope and is then fully realized faced with chance, and that we must make our choices and play the hands dealt to us in oil and canvas by Modigliani in the painting on the South Wall of Gallery XXI and the best way that we can. laid on a royal red robe above an idyllic country scene, Presqu’ile St. Jean. In a sense This room, Gallery XXI, was apparently meant to be a special place in The Barnes, the nude on a martyr’s bed of blood red appears to suggest a victorious soul who has an honorarium of people of great faith and purpose. A painting at the apex of the brought peace and protection to the embattled Merion Barnes. In connection with this ensemble on the West Wall of Gallery XXI describes the themes of this room well; theme, at two places in the room, Dr. Barnes has placed dog dishes to perhaps signify it is Fishing Village, by Alexis Gritchenko (1921). That is appropriate given that the the fidelity of a beloved dog. founders of the church, Christ and the twelve Disciples, the “fishers of men,” are all Death is overcome in Gallery XXI in two senses. In the first sense, the apostles depicted in the garb of counselors and lawgivers in four paintings on the North and and Christ represent the triumph of eternal life over the secular. In a second sense, The South Walls carrying the symbols of their ministries or martyrdom—a key, a sword Water Bearer, an advocate or defender of The Barnes in Merion, if successful, would and axe, etc. Below Gritchenko’s Fishing Village is a painting of a church, The Church of save it from the clutches of dismemberment, because there is also a dragon here in the Saint-Aignam, Chartes, by Maurice Utrillo (circa 1914). Many of the paintings in this metalwork along the South Wall of Gallery XXI showing a man who is winning in room are of martyrs. This is a room where spiritual commitment apparently holds an a balancing act or tug of war with a dragon, recalling the St. George and the Dragon important place. On the North Wall, we have the Austrian painting of which I spoke theme of Gallery XIV that we have seen before. This may represent a battle with those before, circa 1460, of Christ carrying the Cross with a bloody crown of thorns and sur- who Barnes may have considered evildoers in their wish to disturb or move The Barnes. rounded by a threatening mob brandishing a fearful array of sharp spikes and staffs. I think that this imagery suggests the primary goal of The Water Bearer. As Dr. Barnes Above this heartrending image of a friendless Christ, Dr. Barnes has placed a retablo seems to see it, it seems that The Water Bearer is to bring the nourishing and protec- depicting Nuestra Senora de los Dolores (Our Lady of Sorrows) by Pedro Antonio Fresquis tive water to save The Barnes from the evil represented by the dragon. It is The Water (1749–1831). On the North Wall of Gallery XXI, we also see a weapon, one of only Bearer who must perpetuate the deep devotion to contemplative learning that The three fully intact weapons in all of the antique metalwork of The Barnes. In this case it Barnes in Merion represents. is a broad-bladed axe. (Oddly, one of the other three complete weapons that we see in The Barnes is a small sword that is directly below the Martyrs’ Gallery, Gallery XXI,

270 271 Chapter 36 The Place of the Skull

he Christian themes of triumph over death and deep religious devotion con- tinue from Gallery XXI into Gallery XXII. Above the doorway between the Tgalleries, on the South Wall of Gallery XXI, is what appears to be a skull fashioned from antique metal. The image of Christ that seems to encompass the entire North Wall of Gallery XXI looks South. As He looks South from His place on the North Wall of Gallery XXI, He would first see Modigliani’s reclining nude on the South Wall of Gallery XXI. However, if we think of Him as being able to look through the reclining nude and into Gallery XXII, the image of Christ would be staring directly at a fifteenth-century wooden altarpiece showing the Crucifixion located on the South Wall of Gallery XXII. This is yet another powerful and inspirational image, as we see the persecuted Christ, as a spirit of The Barnes, staring at his own Crucifixion. This is an irresistible analogy for me, because, if The Barnes itself is a witness to the future and contains characteristics which might be deemed to be a comment upon its future, is it, like the image of Christ, a witness to its own demise? Does Dr. Barnes wish us to draw the conclusion from this imagery that The Barnes stands as a silent witness to its own future of persecution on the pretense of some modern-day Pontius Pilate that Moving The Barnes is the will of the people and in the people’s best interest? Is this what The Water Bearer must guard against? On either side of the altarpiece showing Christ crucified in Gallery XXII are two wooden fragments depicting Christ’s body that seem to have been separated from greater compositions. These fragments of Christ have no arms and feet. The explanation given to me for this is that wooden crucifixion scenes were sometimes carved in sequences and that the image of Christ was sometimes affixed after the fact to a precarved cross containing the arms and feet. The Picassos on either side of these images of Christ cru- cified may represent the thieves who were crucified next to Christ on Golgotha. And while the word “thief’ would be the inappropriate word to describe him, is it possible that Dr. Barnes has placed these images by Picasso here on either side of the cruci- fixion to suggest that Picasso borrowed from the early traditions represented in the Barnes Rune 2012 The Place of the Skull fifteenth-century carving in the center of the wall and in the African masks below? The painting by Robert Lotrion (French, 1886–1966). In this painting two men are shown Picassos are dated 1907 and are from what I believe is called the proto-cubist period seated in chairs facing one another. One man is older and the other man is younger. when Picasso was experimenting with flattened features of Iberian and African masks There is another place where we see the image of two chairs facing one another in The and from a time when he executed what is largely thought of as his breakthrough piece, Barnes cosmology, and that is at “Ker-Feal” in the upstairs hall. I believe that the image the famous Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. at “Ker-Feal” may have something to do with reincarnation because between the two Next to these two Picassos, Dr. Barnes has placed two Modiglianis which, to me, chairs is a yarn winder which seems to suggest circularity and infinity. This painting of represent the ladies who accompanied Christ to Golgotha and waited upon him in his two men in chairs facing one another and playing the game of backgammon may imply agony, These woman would have been his mother, Mary, and Mary Magdalene. The the theme of reincarnation or a going “back.” It is as if one man is talking to the other Modiglianis are Madame Hanka Zborowski Leaning on a Chair (circa 1919) to the viewer’s across the years. Below Lotrion’s painting is Southern Scene (1915), by Jules Pascin. The left and, to the viewer’s right and Christ’s left, Portrait of Jeanne Hebuterne (1918). Below Southern Scene in combination with the men playing backgammon could suggest that the two Picasso heads, there is Wineglass with Fruit (to the viewer’s left) and Two Nudes we may learn something about our history in the south. When I think about the com- and an Old Woman Holding Keys (to the viewer’s right). bination of these two paintings, I always think of Edgar Cayce, who, in the course of Above the wooden altarpiece containing the carved image of Christ crucified his past life readings, claimed that he met many former Atlanteans who had once been is Henri Matisse’s Seated Odalisque (1920) and two pieces by Charles Demuth, Two great but who had destroyed themselves through the misuse of their gifts. Will modern Acrobats in Red Tights (1917) to the viewer’s left and In Vaudeville: Acrobatic Male Dancer Man suffer a similar fate if he continues to upset the balance of our planet by consum- in Top Hat (1920) to the viewer’s right. I think that the composition of the South Wall ing its resources like a ravenous mindless horde? Perhaps we will meet ourselves in of Gallery XXII, especially in the top row of images, contains a suggestion that this our past lives in the south. Will we like what we see? Let us hope that we can reign gallery may relate back to some of the major themes of The Barnes. We have already in our excesses and open our minds. Let us hope that we desist from the irresponsible seen that acrobats are part of the family in The Barnes, and Two Acrobats in Red Tights use of our lives, our natural resources and other gifts in time to become better people recalls the two major blood themes of remembrance in The Barnes, the remembrance than the hypothetical Atlanteans who are thought to have destroyed themselves long of our war dead as memorialized in the Flanders Field theme and the remembrance of ago because they failed to see the proper path. Let us learn to see carefully here at The our union dead in the Italian Hall theme. I think that it is fitting that we see these Barnes. As we proceed into this brave new Age of The Spirit of Enlightenment, let us acrobats here on the wall with Christ. In the middle is the seated odalisque, who bears take note of the lessons offered here about our past so that we have the most fully devel- some subtle resemblance to the fortune-telling lady in The Red Madras Headdress from oped souls and grounded characters that we can to help us to combat the temptations Gallery XV. She is also in red, the red of the blood sacrifice of the honored dead, Christ, of pride and vanity that can come with human success and progress. our soldiers, and the innocents slaughtered in America’s labor wars, who, I submit, Here, the symbolic presence of Southern Scene in this area of The Barnes may also refer are all represented on this wall. Finally, we have In Vaudeville: Acrobatic Male Dancer in to the imagery that we see on the South Wall of Gallery XX, where Dr. Barnes seems Top Hat. This image also contains strains of red and may apply to the last piece of the to use Demuth’s calm Bermuda scenes as symbolic of the placid Barnes in Merion. As Barnes puzzle, the theme of The Water Bearer or teacher. If The Water Bearer’s obliga- a result, the two men playing backgammon could both be participating in a matter tion is to show the world the secret of The Barnes, to do so, she or he must have some involving preserving The Barnes in Merion. Or, the southern scene might represent a traits of the debonair showman of vaudeville. The red in Demuth’s image could suggest time marker when it is most important for the new generation to be communicating the blood of the departed of Flanders and the Italian Hall for whom this male dancer in with the past generation and trying to preserve our heritage and the old ways, because a top hat serves as advocate. the southern scene may mark the present time when construction has been started on If we go around the room, I think that the themes of the South Wall are further the Barnes On The Parkway Project to the South of The Foundation in Merion. expanded upon. On the West Wall of Gallery XXII, above the Western door that takes At the top of the next column on the West Wall of Gallery XXII, we see Village the visitor into the next gallery, Gallery XXIII, is a painting by John Kane of a factory Among The Rocks or Ort in Felsen (1932), by Paul Klee, and below this, a 1948 cubist with smokestacks which also employs a significant amount of the color red. I think painting, St. Martin, with the saint wielding a sword, by Afro (Italian, 1912–1976). that this image may suggest the working men and women of the Italian Hall theme. Below the image of St. Martin by Afro is a large metal sculpture by his brother, Refro. Next to this John Kane painting of a factory, we see two men playing backgammon in a Klee’s Village Among The Rocks looks like neither rocks nor a village. Instead, it seems

274 275 Barnes Rune 2012 The Place of the Skull to be swatches of color. I think that this painting, which is one of the most abstract in Gallery, on a wall facing Flanders and immediately above the hypothetical entrance of all of The Barnes, is, in fact, an allegory of The Barnes, for this colorful place that Klee The Flanders 43 in Gallery III. Does St. Martin symbolically serve as one of the spiri- has created in this painting, according to its title, is a village or a community. It is a tual patrons of the travelling souls? One of the stories of St. Martin is that he was seen place of life in this mortal world of death and arrogance. It is much the same with The praying at mass in one part of town and put his monk’s hood over his head, and, at that Barnes. We cannot see the village or the community of souls that reside here among the very moment, he appeared to a sick person in another area of the city of Lima, Peru. colors of the paintings in The Barnes, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t here. They St. Martin de Porres never left Lima, but witnesses say that they prayed for the help represent our heritage, the dream and the message of The Barnes philosophical school of Brother Martin during his life and that he appeared in faraway places he had never and community that the new generation must preserve in Merion. And, just like Klee’s been, such as Africa, China, Japan, and Algeria. This imagery of travel faraway meshes painting, when we learn the titles to the paintings and their symbolism at The Barnes, with The Flanders Field transport theme. we begin to see the greater message and meaning in the community of images that is Also, if we think of the souls of the missing imprisoned by the grave, St. Martin The Barnes in Merion. de Porres might give them comfort: the son of an African slave, it is said that he once The image of St. Martin in Gallery XXII is important. First, St. Martin of Tours appeared to an African man who was locked in chains in the hold of a slave ship. The was a soldier, and I think that this corresponds to the Flanders Field theme in much other important thing about St. Martin de Porres is that he was the first Latin American the same way that the factory above the Western doorway corresponds to the Italian saint and the first saint known to be of African descent. He is the patron of black and Hall theme. St. Martin is also important because he distanced himself from the rich to biracial individuals. He is invoked against racial and social injustice. He is often shown avoid material temptation and associated himself with the poor, much in the same way with a broom because he thought that even the most menial labor glorified God. (A that Dr. Barnes distanced his Foundation in Merion from the city and the distractions story often told about Dr. Barnes is that on one occasion a small group of society people of the society gala set of his time. St. Martin is famous for cutting his cloak in half and entered the gallery and began making fun of the paintings as a man in work clothes giving it to a beggar by the side of the road. As such, St. Martin is often depicted with swept up in the galleries. They were surprised to find themselves being unceremoni- a sword and on horseback, as he is seen here in Afro’s painting. Afro’s rendition of Saint ously shown to the door by the man sweeping up, who turned out to be Dr. Barnes.) Martin is extremely unconventional. It is an abstract painting that shows St. Martin on As the reader has seen, this issue of bi-location is an important one in The Barnes. horseback, but it seems that the head of the horse and the head of the man inhabit the The placement of St. Martin is on the West Wall of Gallery XXII, and he faces East same space in the painting. It is an interesting take on this saint and, perhaps, of saints toward Flanders. What is even more significant from the perspective of the Flanders in general as noble creatures upon whose backs are conveyed the Christian church. Field theme is that Gallery XXII is directly above Gallery III in the East Wing of Afro’s treatment of this saint as an image inside an image or a horse head laid over the The Barnes, and Gallery III is the room that contains the cage of lightning bolts and area where the saint’s head should be, also seems to roughly suggest a double. And, the pathways of mystical transport symbolized by the imagery in that gallery’s Hans as one might expect, there is also another St. Martin, St. Martin de Porres (December Balding Grien and Jean-Simeon Chardin paintings. I like to think that Dr. Barnes 9, 1579–November 3, 1639), who was not yet a saint when Dr. Barnes was putting knew of the stories about St. Martin de Porres magically traversing vast distances and together his ensembles but who had been beatified in 1837 and was on track to canon- that he is invoked to provide our honored dead that power here in the case of The ization during Afro’s and Dr. Barnes’s lifetimes. St. Martin de Porres was canonized in Barnes. It is as if the souls of the dead would be guided by Christ in Gallery XXI, 1962, after Dr. Barnes’ death in 1951, but I do think that Dr. Barnes had the upcoming through the intercession of the saints of The Barnes to the place where the cage below saint, St. Martin de Porres, in mind here as well. would catch the lightning that brought them to Merion. There are two characteristics about St. Martin de Porres that make him relevant to Below the painting of St. Martin is a cubist metal sculpture by Refro which suggests The Barnes. The first is that one of his miraculous powers was bi-location: during his a correspondence between canvas and metal and the actualization of what is on the canvas life, he was seen in two places at once, and sometimes he was seen a continent away in into three-dimensional form. We have seen this correspondence between three-dimen- places he had never been. This power of bi-location or miraculous transport is strik- sional and two-dimensional form twice before, with the unification of canvas and stone ingly similar to the Flanders Field theme at The Barnes, because the main tenet of that in Gallery XVI in the formation of The Water Bearer and in the Prendergast painting theme is that the soldiers would be miraculously transported to this place through hung above two golden Prendergast statues (also in Gallery XVI) which suggests that divine intercession. Dr. Barnes has hung this image of St. Martin in a second floor East the Arcadian image in Prendergast’s Figures and Mules is realized in the sculpted golden

276 277 Barnes Rune 2012 The Place of the Skull figures placed below it that seem to have become a three-dimensional reality in The Barnes as I have been trying to do in this text. The lady at the dressing table could Barnes. I think that the placement of the statue by Refro under the painting by Afro is be the same lady who we have just seen having a party with the dog in the Bonnard. another representation of the theme of realization in the context of a three-dimensional Next to this is Fortified Town, by Gritchenko, which suggests that what is read on the actualization of that which would otherwise only exist on canvas in two dimensions. walls by a visitor with a mind to do so will fortify The Barnes in the Town of Merion The mysteriousness of the concept of miraculous transport of the souls of Flanders against dismemberment and transport to The City. This gallery, is, of course, closest to and of the Italian Hall seems to be reinforced in the imagery in the painting that is Philadelphia and if the galleries would have a ‘watch-tower’ gallery, this second floor at the top of the final column of paintings on the West Wall of Gallery XXII, Two Southeast Corner Gallery would be it. As a result, I call this The Watch-Tower Gallery. Mysterious Cabins (1930), by Giorgio de Chirico. Two Mysterious Cabins shows three In the center of the Northern Wall, Dr. Barnes has placed a large canvas called Conjugal cabins (perhaps, The Barnes, the Flanders Field Memorial Chapel, and the Italian Hall) Life (1913), by Roger de La Fresnaye (French, 1885–1925) which shows two inter- unified by a stream. In the foreground we see one bather immersed in a stream which locking life-sized figures seated at a table. One is dressed and the other is naked. This seems to be made of brown herringbone material and one bather exiting the same painting is a picture of uninhibited married life. The female figure is nude and the male stream, half in and half out of the stream. In addition to this, we see a man walking is clothed. They appear to be sitting at a breakfast table. This painting symbolizes the away from the stream fully clothed in a suit made of the exact same brown herringbone familiarity of the pair with one another and the placid ease of their relation. On another fabric of the stream. In one sense, this painting may describe how we cloak ourselves in level this painting could be placed here by the doctor to symbolize a conjunction or, the cloth or fabric of brown herringbone uniformity. In addition, this placement of this communication, or transportation of souls similar to the idea of reincarnation or mirac- painting in this ensemble could also suggest the idea of reincarnation with the stream ulous transport of the Flanders dead. The painting is placed so that the clothed figure being indicative of a river of rejuvenation in the cycle of life. is in the west of the painting and the nude figure is in the east. Could the nude figure Below Two Mysterious Cabins is Woman and Dog at Table (circa 1908), by Pierre represent a spirit or a soul and the clothed figure represent the same soul now cloaked Bonnard (1867–1947). The image of the dog is important everywhere at The Barnes, in the protection of The Barnes? The interlocking aspect to the figures in this paint- as we have seen, and it is symbolically powerful in three of Dr. Barnes’s paintings by ing in this Gallery, which has many other images that are easily related to the Flanders Pierre Bonnard. There are three such canine paintings by Pierre Bonnard to which I transport imagery of Gallery III directly below, seems to further reinforce the Flanders like to draw a visitor’s attention. The first is the dog inThe Ragpickers (1909) in Gallery transport imagery of Gallery III. We also see the suggestion of an East-West procession III, the second is in Young Woman Writing (1908) in Gallery VI, and the third is here. In in the two elongated polished stone carvings that doctor has placed on the North and The Ragpickers, the dog is shown in the company of people dressed in black in a barren South Walls of Gallery XXII. The title Conjugal Life could also be interpreted to sug- cityscape. I believe that this is an image of the Friends of The Barnes, who have adopted gest to the interests supportive of moving the collection to the city of Philadelphia that the color black as their symbol of mute protest. The dog accompanies them in their there is an option to coexist with The Barnes in Merion rather than moving it to The protest in the cityscape, rallying them on. In Gallery VI, in Young Woman Writing, we Benjamin Franklin Parkway. seem to see an image of a dog doubling as the girl writing the letter at the table. Her To the viewer’s right, we findMistra (1921), by Gritchenko, and Figure, or Rosa La hands seem to form the dog’s paws; and, in the image of the girl bent over and intent Rouge of Montrouge, by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864–1901). Mistra sug- at her letter writing, we can see the form of a dog who seems to be propping himself gests that the fortified town is cloaked in mystery or that perhaps there is a mystery at the table like everyone’s favorite canine “counter cruiser.” Both of these images I we don’t yet fully understand in the ensembles of The Barnes. This mystery may ulti- have explained to be an inspiration to the visitor or student of protective loyalty to mately protect The Barnes better than any other of her fortifications. Rosa La Rouge The Barnes. In the case of the final Bonnard in Gallery XXII, the dog is shown seated of Montrouge, in the painting next to Mistra, appears to be intently looking toward at a table with a woman in a lovely dressing gown, and, faintly in the background, it the doorway between Gallery XXI and XXII. Montrouge implies, of course, the “red appears that there is a blue party hat on top of his head and a little cake set before him mount,” like the Red Church, which could be The Barnes where it stands, with great on the table. It is as if this room, Gallery XXII, is a room of celebration, and that the pride of place, atop the hills of Philadelphia. Like Merion, its American counterpart, loyal dog will achieve his goal, which I believe is to preserve The Barnes in Merion. Montrouge is also a suburb of a great city. Montrouge is a suburb of Paris, and it is Following this, we encounter Woman Reading at a Dressing Table, Interieur, Nice by there that the catacombs were first started to bury the Templars. From this spot the Matisse (1918–1919). The idea, of course, is that we must “read” the interior of The catacombs eventually spread under all of Paris. Dr. Barnes has placed Rosa La Rouge

278 279 Barnes Rune 2012 next to the Easternmost Wall of The Foundation facing East toward Flanders. Rosa’s face has a tint of green. Lautrec would paint the dance hall girls. Was this sweet flower dying when Lautrec painted her? Is this why she has a green hue to her features? Has Dr. Barnes placed her here like a modern Tiresias to await the modern day Templars, our Allied war dead? Is she watching, waiting for them as they return home to the heart of Merion? Has Dr. Barnes placed her here to receive them in their symbolic rest- ing place beneath the quiet, fragrant canopy of trees among some of the world’s most Chapter 37 beautiful treasures… a world they fought and died to save? Above the door on the North Wall is The Farm, a painting (circa 1928) of a house Two Nudes on a hill in the countryside, by Pennsylvania artist John Kane (American, 1860–1934). To me, this image of a house on the hill reinforces the theme of pride of place of The Barnes on a country hillside in Merion, integrating the art, architecture, natural set- f we could sit in the same position as the painting by Picasso called Seated Male ting and location of The Barnes into the theme. This place high above the city of Nude (1906) that seems to be a self-portrait of Picasso on the West Wall of Gallery Philadelphia is dedicated to the people whose lives were sacrificed for the advance- IXXIII and look out through his eyes, we would see the Northern Wall of Gallery ment of our faith, our country, and the human rights of American Labor (Christ, our XXIII, where Dr. Barnes has placed Picasso’s 1906 Figures with Goat, and we could see Veterans, and the slaughtered innocents of our labor wars). the South Wall of Gallery XXII, where Dr. Barnes has placed Picasso’s 1907 Head of a The final wall to discuss in Gallery XXII is the Eastern Wall. On the Eastern Wall Man, Head of a Woman, Two Nudes and An Old Woman Holding Keys, and Wineglass and we see a child and a bird by an open window with a field in the background. The bird Fruit. And, if we could see through the North Wall of Gallery XXIII and into Gallery recalls to me the flying birds depicted in the poem “In Flanders Field,” the flying XIX from the position of the seated naked image of Picasso, we would see the East Wall birds in Cret’s Flander’s Field Chapel ceiling fresco, and the open bird cage below in of Gallery XIX, where Dr. Barnes has placed a Blue Period Picasso (Blue Baby, 1903) Gallery IV in the painting by Lancret. One of the birds from Gallery XIV seems to and a Rose Period Picasso (Acrobat and Young Harlequin, 1905). have finally come to rest in The Barnes by the windowsill in Gallery XXII. Has the As we stand teetering in the doorway between Gallery XIX and XXIII, and gazing other bird flown to those who might be our enemies to extend an olive branch? The from left to right, these works are all in a line, and we can see a temporal progression of child standing by the window could represent the last of the slaughtered innocents of Picasso’s works, from the 1903 Blue Baby, past the 1905 Acrobat and Young Harlequin, the Italian Hall Massacre, the infant who died on Christmas Day, making the death toll to the 1906 Figures with Goat and, finally, the 1907Head of a Man and Head of a Woman seventy-four. Or the child could represent the state of innocence to which we all hope to (if we take a few steps back into XXIII and look into Gallery XXII). The year 1907 was return in heaven upon death. On the opposite side of the window in the corner closest the year in which Picasso created what has come to be known as his breakthrough piece, to Philadelphia is a painting of a king by Herbisov and a drawing of a man playing a Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, which hangs in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. guitar by Lipchitz. Maybe, also, they represent the music of the King of kings, a musi- As I noted, this seated nude, who could be a self-portrait of Picasso, surveys exam- cal score that we have now learned to read in this penultimate gallery at the end of our ples of high points of Picasso’s early development. Dr. Barnes starts with a baby, pro- tour of The Barnes. I think these two images represent a comparison between old and gresses to an image of a younger boy with an older boy (the two harlequins), employs new, rich and poor, and even, perhaps, a comparison between Christian theology and an image of at least latent sexuality and the advance into puberty (Figures with Goat, modern art. If we were seated as this man is in the Lipchitz painting, we could look which shows a naked boy and an older, more sexualized girl), and then finishes with the past the Picassos on the South Wall of Gallery XXII and the wooden altarpiece, and more psychological or complex adult forms of the Head of a Man and Head of a Woman look directly at the figure of a seated, naked man, also by Picasso, on the West Wall of in Gallery XXII. Dr. Barnes seems to be mapping out the progression of Picasso’s art. Gallery XXIII. This small painting by Picasso appears to be a smaller, naked version of So, in Galleries XIX, XXIII, and XXII, we see a temporal progression in Picasso’s early a larger Picasso self-portrait currently in the collection of The Philadelphia Museum of periods. Art. This nude seems to survey all of Picasso’s early history from his vantage point on When I try to figure out Dr. Barnes, I always try to harmonize as many of the the West Wall of Gallery XXIII. paintings in a series as possible, because he had the resources to buy what he wanted

280 Barnes Rune 2012 Two Nudes and to place his paintings exactly as he wished. This becomes important when one tries two nudes. There aren’t two clearly discernable nudes in any one painting or drawing to think about why in the world he has placed an almost illegible pencil-drawn image in Gallery XXII (with the exception of Picasso’s Two Nudes and Old Woman Holding Keys of an old woman holding keys on the very important South Wall of Gallery XXII in which poses the question to begin with). But, this should not put an end our inquiry. an area where he is heavily accentuating and exploring Picasso. Barnes seems to have, In my estimation, it is best to try to harmonize meanings in The Barnes in terms for the most part, confined his pencil-drawn images to Gallery XX, yet here, on this of the composition as a whole and in light of obvious relationships. Therefore, if one very important wall, he has placed a faint pencil drawing. I find myself thinking that turns the corner from Gallery XXII into Gallery XXIII, one finds oneself suddenly the drawing and the nudes and the image of an old woman holding keys must be very confronted with two nudes in the same painting. And, they are not two nudes in just important to the interpretation of this wall ensemble. The nudes must be “keys” in any painting; but, instead, are two nudes in a painting by Picasso from a critical period some way. The problem is that there aren’t two nudes in any one painting on the South when he was at Gosol, Spain. Now, these two nudes may be able to tell us something Wall of Gallery XXII, so we should ask ourselves how this drawing fits into the scheme key. These nudes are in Picasso’s Figures with Goat, which depicts a nude woman and of the wall ensembles. I have never heard a satisfactory explanation, and I doubt that the nude boy with a water jug on his head which I have previously described as a Water the educators or art historians affiliated with The Foundation or elsewhere can offer a Bearer. It seems that we may be on to something. If these are the two nudes to which satisfactory explanation of why Dr. Barnes has placed this image where he has other Dr. Barnes’s placement of Picasso’s image of two nudes holding keys refers, the next than my explanation. I believe that I have an explanation of why this unusual drawing question that we must ask ourselves is, could these two nudes be thought of as keys? of ink on paper by Picasso was thought to have been so important by Dr. Barnes that And, if so, how are they keys? To understand the second question of why these nudes he placed it on the South Wall of Gallery XXII. may be keys, one has to be a little bit of an art historian (which Dr. Barnes was—this is, To understand why the drawing has been placed here, I think it is important to find first and foremost, an art school, after all). The key to these nudes, in my estimation, is the two nudes that Dr. Barnes is talking about in the placement of the pencil draw- the placement of their heads and bodies in the painting Figures with Goat. Why are the ing by Picasso in this very important area of The Barnes and, when one finds them, placements of the heads important? Well, I believe that the placements of the heads are one had better have an explanation of why they would be keys. First, a quick survey of important because they resemble what I believe is a pattern of psychological explora- Gallery XXII should reveal that we can’t say that we can definitively find two nudes tion that Picasso repeats time and time again in his early work. The pencil drawing of in one painting in Gallery XXII. There is one nude in Conjugal Life on the North Two Nudes and Old Woman Holding Keys is coupled with Wineglass with Fruit. Does this Wall of Gallery XXII, but that’s it. There are two bathers in Two Mysterious Cabins by mean that if we figure out why the two nudes are holding keys we will win the trophy de Chirico on the West Wall of Gallery XXII, but the second figure immersed in the cup and fruit of The Barnes? canal or river connecting the cabins and wearing what appears to be a bathing cap may If one looks at a book of images from his early years, Picasso seems to constantly not be nude and could be wearing swimming trunks. Of the two Picasso heads on the return to relationships between two subjects in his drawings and paintings. How South Wall of Gallery XXII, one has a shirt, so they aren’t two nudes. There are two Picasso defines these relationships is often through the placements of their heads and nudes in the Mali Dogon sculpture in the glass case in the middle of the room. The bodies. The placement of the heads and the bodies of his subjects seem to always have Mali Dogon couple face east toward Flanders and may be positioned here as mystical something to say about the relationships of his subjects to one another. It helps to have guardians or gatekeepers for the souls approaching from the east. The coupling of the a book on Picasso’s early years to see this, but one does not have to rush out to the Mali Dogon with the Flanders Field theme could suggest why they would be keys to library to check out a book to verify how important the communicativeness of the head a theme of passing over because they may suggest the ‘pass-through’ feature of African positions in a Picasso can be. Instead, one need only go into Gallery XX of The Barnes tribal mysticism—that the dead pass from one world or plane to another. But, they are and look at the West Wall. It has two pencil drawings by Picasso of what appears to a sculpture, not a drawing or painting. Also, the Mali Dogon figures are more primor- be a nude older brother carrying a nude younger brother on his back. In one image dial religious beings, so referring to them as two nudes would sort of be a demotion the little boy seems to be stretching away from his older brother’s shoulders, yet he because I don’t think it is entirely accurate to refer to two primordial religious beings as is inexorably linked to his older brother and dependent upon him as his elder brother “nudes.” In this place of double meanings, it might be best to see if there is another way carries him on his back. The placement of the figures says a lot about their relationship, to interpret this imagery; and, as a result, I think it is important to try to find apainting and it gives the viewer a definite impression of their connection to one another both or drawing in the immediate vicinity of the East Wing of The Foundation containing physically and psychologically. In the second drawing, the figures are closer and show

282 283 Barnes Rune 2012 Two Nudes the same elder brother carrying the younger brother on his back. The second draw- she steps toward us. This forward-moving aspect to Picasso’s work is also very evident ing has a less pronounced separation between the two figures but it gives the viewer a in The Peasants in the Main Hall and this painting is critically important in Picasso’s similar impression of the connectedness of the two figures. The proximity of the heads development, because this is the first time that we see Picasso’s figures seem to step of the two nude brothers and the closeness of their bodies creates the image or a feeling out of a major tour de force of the size and scale of The Peasants. In my estimation, the in a viewer of a close bond between the two. Returning to Figures with Goat, even the role of The Peasants may have been ignored by the art world given the unpopularity of nude girl and the nude boy seem to be linked despite their separation because the girl’s its owner, Dr. Barnes, with some of the early twentieth century’s art critics. In several head is tilted toward the boy and looking toward him, while the boy, even though he is important works following this painting, we begin to see Picasso’s figures seem to walking away from the girl, has his head tilted back toward her as if he is at the ready move out of the canvas at the viewer. Two of the great examples of this are paintings for any signal or communication from her. done at almost the same time as The Peasants but completed after it—the Metropolitan To see a further example of this phenomenon in action, one doesn’t have to go any Museum’s Portrait of Gertrude Stein, in which Stein seems to be leaning forward as if the further than the adjoining Gallery, Gallery XIX, where Dr. Barnes has placed Picasso’s canvas cannot contain her, and the 1907 Hermitage Museum’s Friendship piece, which Acrobat and Young Harlequin with the two young men facing away from each other (as shows two figures striding forward with hands linked. There are many other examples if they have different goals and ideas), but yet they seem to be mysteriously linked, not of this phenomenon. Further, I believe that evident in each of the paintings that I have just by their similar circus attire, but in the whole positioning and proximity of their described above is an additional concept that Picasso is exploring, which is how a paint- bodies. Their heads are facing toward different goals, perhaps, but their bodies seem to ing can show connectedness and psychological emotiveness of the figures in new and be aligned on the same axis, signifying that they have both come from similar back- relevant ways. I am not saying that other artists haven’t used their talents to examine grounds and that they still have very much in common. To see this practice by Picasso psychological themes; it is just that it is my belief that Picasso expounds upon this yet again, one can go into the Main Hall to see The Peasants (or The Flower Vendor) to theme to such an extent and through so many permutations that he truly seems to be see how the positions of the heads of the two people in the foreground suggest a strong making it a central concern in his art. It is Picasso who seems to be the primary propo- cohesion between the figures. The image of The Peasants is of a young man carrying a nent of the concepts of psychology that were first being developed by the psychiatrists crate of flowers on his shoulder, accompanied by a young woman holding flowers in of his era. I believe that this is something that we now take for granted but that it was her hands. The man is far larger than the woman and even appears to envelope her. an important step for art, more important than one might first think. However, as large and powerful as this man may be, he still seems to be completed by Before I go any further, I think that it is important to note that Picasso wasn’t the the figure of this petite woman. This cohesion becomes more apparent in this image only one who experimented with the idea of depicting psychological states on paper because the figures in the composition seem to be stepping forth together from the and canvas. There are actually important examples in the East Wing of The Barnes canvas. There are two steers in the background, and even the heads and bodies of the from other artists who also explored the idea, and Dr. Barnes’s painting placement steers play off one another as a point and a counterpoint defining a unity and tension in tracks some of this progression. Specifically, there is The Music Lesson, by Matisse, on the painting. This artistic device by Picasso that we see over and over again in his early the North Wall of Gallery XIX, which explores affinities, connections, and degrees of work is quite remarkable, in my estimation. There is an innate force and unity of the alienation in one composition. The Music Lesson is visible through the door as we stand compositions that Picasso achieves through this artifice in the way that he is able to tie in Gallery XXIII looking into Gallery XIX. There is Confidences, also by Matisse, on forms together yet individualize them in the process. I think that it is easy to see how the Southwest Wall of Gallery XIX, which shows two women at rest in an intimate this artistic device is a key to Picasso’s artistic expression. environment. What seems to set these Matisses apart from the Picassos that I have been Further, the way Picasso creates the sense of forward movement in his paintings discussing is that the titles of Matisse’s paintings and even the background explana- is an attribute that is almost wholly credited to him and is a breakthrough element tions associated with them seem to be integral to our understanding of the composi- for him. The forward movement that he describes in some of his major paintings is tions, while Picasso’s paintings do not seem to require a title or any further explana- something that sets him apart and gives his creative talent a signature quality that is tion. In a psychological Picasso, we “get it,” so to speak, without any of the external unique among his peers. I believe that this characteristic is first publicly seen in the information that we seem to need with the psychological Matisses. A good example of 1906 paintings of which Barnes has the best examples. I think we see this phenomenon what I am saying involves the painting Confidences, in which we see two women in an for one of the first times in the presentation of the female figure inFigures with Goat as interior with one reclining in a hammock. We see the women and we are drawn to the

284 285 Barnes Rune 2012 Two Nudes composition but we don’t really ‘get it’ until we hear the title. It is the title, Confidences, Matisse better than Picasso, I think Barnes fully understood Picasso’s importance—and that advances our understanding and appreciation of what Matisse was getting at in the even if he liked the others better, I’m not saying that Barnes didn’t like Picasso because painting. Once we know the title, the hammock seems to become a comfortable bridge Barnes accords The Peasants a very great place of honor in his Main Hall. between the figures, and we realize that they are engaged in an intimate, confidential In summation, therefore, the key to Picasso’s early art, in my estimation and appar- discussion. So, too, as important as The Music Lesson is to Matisse’s oeuvre, a discus- ently in Dr. Barnes’ estimation as well, is that he is exploring psychology and a way of sion of the painting always seems to entail talking about the context in which Matisse defining relationships between people. The placement of At The Conservatory between painted it, which was at a time when he was alienated from and leaving his wife, who these two particular Picassos is important because it emphasizes this exploration of is thought to be shown fidgeting on a rocking chair in the background of the painting. psychological symbolism in painting when it is done so well that it doesn’t even require I would argue that if we didn’t have these titles or explanations we don’t often get it words or titles to convey the intended impression. This is the kind of thing an artist with Matisse. Sure, Matisse’s work is beautiful, but it is highly conceptual. An excep- strives for, a striking, unforgettable impression. Although this phenomenon is seen at tion may be Matisse’s triptych, The Three Sisters, which shows three sisters over the times in Renoir, Cezanne, and Matisse, this kind of profound examination of the psy- course of their lives. In this connection of the three works hung side-by-side, we realize chological aspect of painting seems to have become Picasso’s life’s work. And it is a nice that each of the three life-sized images in the three canvases, with their subtly altered twist that Dr. Barnes uses a Renoir to make a point about Picasso. This is the beauty appearances over time, represent the same three sisters at varying stages of their lives, of the organization of The Barnes collection, because Dr. Barnes shows that the human and we can easily grasp the impact of the images that span from their youth on our left, artistic experience isn’t necessarily a linear one, but that other artists like Renoir and through their maturity, and into their late middle age—where we even see some gray Matisse have explored realms which other artists, like Picasso, later commanded. These in their hair. It is Picasso, however, in my estimation, who succeeds more consistently issues of the development of psychology in art are some of the most important lessons in making the stronger and more instantaneous or direct link between pure artistic of The Barnes, and they are not easily understood without massive exposure to the his- expression and the human understanding of that artistic conceptualization. Picasso, I tory of art. There are other connections even between the art and the architecture, the believe, is the better communicator. art and the garden setting, the architecture and the garden, and the garden and the In close proximity to the rest of these paintings, doctor places an experimental arboretum, that may have similar organizational originality and important things to piece by Renoir on the East Wall of Gallery XXIII, called At The Conservatory, which say about the progression of modern art but that will all soon be discarded as the col- successfully conveys the whole story of the connection between two figures in the com- lection is moved. position without requiring the viewer to learn anything more about the painting. Like Dr. Barnes’s Picassos, one can just look at the painting At The Conservatory and see the connections between the two central female figures immediately. It shows two young women dressed for a night at the theater. The young women are depicted as being very close to one another on a sidewalk at some type of event. The women are so close to one another that their brows seem to be knitted together. The imagery is undeniable and it leaps right out at a viewer. Renoir is clearly trying to show an example of the intuitive connectedness between the two female friends or siblings. I find it interest- ing that Renoir’s overtly psychological painting At The Conservatory is placed right in the middle of Picasso’s psychological Figures with Goat and Picasso’s Two Nudes with an Old Woman Holding Keys. I think that the placement of this Renoir decisively confirms the point that Dr. Barnes is making about what is key about the nudes in Figures with Goat. And, in my estimation, what is key about Figures with Goat is the intrinsic and undeniable psychological connection between the figures. And, why did Barnes focus on Picasso? I think that he understood that Picasso’s presence in modernity would overshadow the rest. Even though Barnes may have preferred Renoir, Cezanne and even

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uch of what I have related involves an oral history of The Barnes that was handed down to me. Maybe if I hadn’t written this text, there would be no Mway for a layperson, Barnes student, or art historian to ever put all these images together in the way that I have done, or maybe some astute cryptographer or code breaker may have done so over time. However, now that I have set forth this oral history, I suspect that those who visit The Barnes having read the same would have dif- ficultynot seeing the correspondences that I have noted. I have also been told that part of The Barnes relates to the identification of a piece which may be the key that led to some of Picasso’s major early breakthroughs in mod- ern art. Whether the piece that I shall describe is or is not a Picasso, let alone a key to a better understanding of some of his early breakthrough pieces, is for art students, art historians, or even future generations to decide. I will only relate what I have been told. Dr. Barnes made the study of art the object of his entire adult life, and he prob- ably knew art better than most of the art experts of his time. As much as his detractors might like to call him anything negative that might serve to justify moving his collec- tion and to downplay the importance of his mission in Merion, Dr. Barnes is respon- sible for single-handedly bringing much of the best impressionist, postimpressionist, and early modern art to America. The French, who are supposed to be experts at this kind of thing, actually made Dr. Barnes a Knight in the Legion of Honor for his recog- nition of and preservation of French art. As a scientist and a man wealthy beyond belief, Dr. Barnes may have taken the time to know art more than just about any of his other contemporaries. Barnes started buying art in 1912. As a collector and a patron of the arts, Dr. Barnes was personally acquainted with many of the key players in the art world dur- ing the important time in which he was collecting, Barnes knew people, for instance, like Gertrude and Leo Stein, who knew Picasso and his early history. Indeed, Barnes himself had met Picasso early in the artist’s career. Dr. Barnes studied art history inside and out and then made careful choices to try to show what he had learned, which he then placed in communicatively specific ensembles that he directed should never be Barnes Rune 2012 A Legend of Modern Art disturbed. He must have been very sure of the importance of what he was doing in the about what The Barnes may be. I propose that The Barnes may be a place that helps us formation of his ensembles, because he had to expect that history would judge him at to understand an essential and hitherto obscure mystery about how modern art began, some point; and, given the claim to timelessness that he was making in Merion, his and that it is a place that may point to an answer and a key to understanding modern construct would certainly have been designed to withstand the test of time. art that, if not for The Barnes and the exact way in which the paintings are presented, As to the interpretative aspects and “secrets” of The Foundation that I have shared might have otherwise become lost forever to time. thus far, I think that Dr. Barnes preserved these secrets by spreading an oral tradition, If there were such a great mystery of modern art that is as yet uncovered and which because that was something that could not be removed from the archive and suppressed only The Barnes can reveal, such a mystery, to be truly great, would have to involve a by some feared, powerful, future insider or corporate trustee with its own agenda and man who many believe is modern art’s greatest master, a person who his most loyal fol- the money and influence to take control of The Foundation. If the reader is wondering lowers refer to simply as “The Master,” Pablo Picasso. Such a mystery would also have why Barnes kept all these secrets, I think the answer lies partly in his interest in keep- to be central to the study of the modern design experience for it to concern a man like ing tight-lipped about his silent monument to modernity to make its themes more Barnes. The answer to this mystery, if such an answer exists, may identify and reveal grand in defense of his Foundation at just the right time in some future battle over the the link between Picasso and his past and open Picasso’s art to an understanding never soul of his Foundation, but the other part of it may be to provide a structure to a new before publicly known. As far as I know, there is only one mystery regarding Picasso proposal central to the understanding of the evolution of modern art. Barnes was an that has never been solved. It is the mystery of the identification of a piece which is educator. What if a very long time ago, during one of his frequent trips to Europe, he, known in a legend of modern art as the Barcelona Comica piece. If Dr. Barnes had an himself, learned a secret, something about modern art that few know? What if it was answer to this mystery, is it possible that the fretful collector feared that incredibly something that an equally strong or even more influential force in the world may have wealthy folks or behemoth corporate entities with no incentive to promote this theory wanted suppressed? Did Dr. Barnes arrange the ensembles at his Foundation to tele- would take over his written archives, and, so, did he hide the answer on the walls of his graph a message to the future to make it possible for this secret to someday be revealed? Foundation for all to see? What if, many years ago, maybe even before the First World There may be an additional secret to The Barnes that gives The Foundation a War, Dr. Barnes heard of or had even seen an early piece by Picasso, a critical founda- perpetual educational currency in mankind’s quest to understand the origins of the tional piece, that was lost to time by the time doctor was formulating his ensembles in modern design experience. One of the last great potential secrets of The Barnes is the Merion? Did Dr. Barnes leave a message to future generations in the hope that such a possibility that The Foundation itself points to a secret key or link between Picasso as piece could be identified? Maybe he perceived it as a possibility that if he spoke about a teen prodigy and the art that Picasso shaped in his mid-twenties that defined him as or wrote about the piece that this might popularize it and cause it to fall into hands one of the premiere artists of the twentieth century. I like to think of the piece that I that would not publicize its importance. Maybe by keeping it a secret he thought am about to describe as a possible link between Picasso and his art that will reveal him he’d give the possessors of the oral secrets of his Foundation a chance to catalogue its in ways that we could never have otherwise contemplated. The proposition I am about potential importance. There are many reasons why a cagey art collector would hide to make is a grand proposition, but I submit that The Barnes may serve to identify a information on a piece of interest. And so, he may have spread an oral history among secret defining link heretofore missing which, if discovered, might very well illuminate the common people and hidden the answer to this great mystery and legend of modern how the modern design experience may have evolved. I propose that The Barnes may art on the walls and in the art ensembles of his Foundation. be a road map to the discovery of such a secret or a “missing link.” In 1897, a sixteen-year-old Pablo Picasso wrote a letter from Madrid to his friend, Most people familiar with The Barnes will tell you that The Barnes Foundation is Joaquim Bas, in Barcelona. In this letter, he talked of his Spanish predecessors Velasquez an art appreciation school, and they start talking about its wonderfully important art and El Greco, and of the best places to study, Germany or Paris. This letter explored collection and its central educational premise that all art can be reduced to an analy- his own hopes and dreams, and his personal aspiration to best his contemporaries and sis of how the artist employs the concept of light, line, color, and space. I have made to make a splash like none of them had ever made before. Full of the lessons of his first an additional proposition that The Barnes may be much more, including a profound year at art school in Madrid and of his personal interactions with the paintings of El memorial to America’s heroic dead. If you visit The Barnes in Merion, I hope that Greco and Velasquez, then on view at the Prado in Madrid, this artistically talented boy you will begin to see for yourself how my proposition is corroborated in the images of sixteen bragged in this letter that he was working on a drawing in the art nouveaux and correlations that you find. In addition to this, I wish to relate another proposition style that would best all of his competitors.

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Picasso promises to enclose the drawing with the letter for publication in the he unlocked in that thrilling moment of youthful inspiration? What secrets reside at Barcelona Comica, which was then one of the most popularly appealing “modern” pub- the early horizon of a prodigy’s artistic development? What seeds, planted in that early lications of the time. However, in a postscript to the 1897 letter, the young art student time, germinated into the epic artistic journey that was the life of Picasso? It is cer- says that he has shown the drawing to his teacher and has been told that the subject tainly possible that such a piece could contain elements which might prove to be a font is not a good one at all. This drawing was not included in the letter to Bas, and the of knowledge for someone who wished to trace the inspiration of Picasso to its source. scholars have never identified the Barcelona Comica drawing of 1897. This drawing has It seems that a piece of such importance would have been preserved by Picasso because been thought to be lost to history. I don’t get the impression that Picasso threw many of his drawings away and I can’t What remains has been the letter. One of Picasso’s earliest biographers, imagine that he would have thrown a drawing away that he described as being of such Palau i Fabre, has acquired this letter. Picasso biographer John Richardson has novel significance. I can see him setting it aside after his teacher scolded him and going referred to this letter to Joaquim Bas from November 1897 as a “manifesto of Picasso’s back to the drawing board, but I cannot see him tearing such a drawing up in anger or early beliefs” (A Life of Picasso, The Prodigy, 1881–1906, Knopf, 2007, p. 90). Mr. even painting over it. Bas certainly would have wanted to see it when he visited even if Richardson explains that Picasso’s “declared desire to do a ‘shocking’ drawing is the Picasso had not sent it along for publication. first manifestation of an impulse that will soon become an idée fixe” (p. 92). If Picasso Biographers and art experts had many occasions over the years to discuss potential did do a drawing at such a defining moment, even at the early age of sixteen, and if the questions with Picasso until his death in 1973, but nothing has been publicized about drawing was as good as the young prodigy thought it was in his letter to Bas, then such the Barcelona Comica piece. This alone seems very unusual, considering how important a drawing would certainly be important. It appears that it would have been a finished some of the leading biographers seem to consider this letter of 1897 that refers to the drawing and not a sketch because there are post scripts to the letter where the young Barcelona Comica piece. In all that I have read about Picasso, this piece has never been Picasso is saying first that it is not finished yet followed by a second post script telling identified, nor have I seen any evidence to suggest that Picasso ever stated that it was Bass that he has shown it to his teacher—which suggests to me that he has completed it discarded, destroyed, or painted over. Sometimes I think that the best evidence that to his satisfaction for presentation to his professor. My reading suggests that art schol- the piece exists out there somewhere is the seemingly total silence on the matter in ars have not identified thisBarcelona Comica drawing. In my opinion, the known works the literature. If the picture was worthless rubbish, like Picasso’s teacher thought, and and even sketchbooks from the time simply do not reflect a piece that could be thought Picasso discarded it, that event has never been documented by any of the scholars that to rise to the level of excitement that Picasso displays in his letter to Bas. If identified, I have read who appear to have examined and reexamined every available aspect of such a piece might truly be a find as shocking as the discovery of Edward Bickford’s Picasso’s life. missing Racing Cup illustrated in Glackens’ drawing on the East Wall of Gallery XXI. In my estimation it is unlikely that anything thought to be so compelling and The letter to which I refer is currently in the custody of the Foundacion Paulau, dynamic by Picasso, even at a young age, was worthless rubbish. Picasso was a child the foundation of Picasso’s first biographer, Josep Palau i Fabre, who is the preparer prodigy if ever there was one. The hand of Picasso, even at an early age, was steady with of a catalogue raisonne of Picasso’s works. The letter has been discussed by both Fabre the confidence of a budding master, and his eye was so inspired and insightful that it is and Picasso’s later biographer, John Richardson, as representing the mind of Picasso likely that he was right about the piece that he talked about in his letter to Joaquim Bas at a very early age and establishing his desire to break with the past and excel past his and that his teacher was wrong. It is likely that a work that caused so much excitement peers. This letter is auspiciously dated 1897, in the very early dawn of a new century. in this prodigy, even as a teenager, was right. After all, even by November of 1897, at The letter survives, but the piece to which Pablo Picasso refers has never been publicly the young age of sixteen, Picasso had exhibited two well-regarded masterpieces, The identified. First Communion (1896) and Science and Charity (1897). Experts have made much of this letter, but do not seem to have publicly specu- At times, many times, Picasso most likely would have struggled to find the best lated about any of the attributes or whereabouts of the piece. When they write about voice for this gift. What could this gift communicate? What do I, Picasso, see that I the letter, the impression they give is that it is the first clear statement that history can communicate with my talent, and how can I do it better than all the others? Surely, has left us from Picasso that he aspired to be the leading painter of modern life. If the questions like this ran through his youthful but highly advanced mind. With great tal- Barcelona Comica piece did survive and was located, what further lesson could it teach ent comes great ambition. If you read the November 1897 letter to Joaquim Bas, you us about Picasso’s aspiration to be the leading painter of modern life? What keys had can almost feel pure spirit and the fire of inspiration as if he has an inspiration that is

292 293 Barnes Rune 2012 very, very new. The piece that he is working on seems to be something that he hopes will explode the norms of painting. While the letter of November 1897 seems boyish, it is also precocious. It is as if young Picasso is triumphant. It is as though he has just reached a moment of great insight. And, then, then we hear nothing. It is as if young Picasso’s hopes have been precipitously dashed to the ground like he was a foolish youth. I, personally, find it impossible to accept that the drawing had no merit, especially because the prodigy, Chapter 39 Picasso, thought that it did. Instead, I believe that even though he may have been dis- suaded by his teacher from sending the drawing for publication in the Barcelona Comica, The Holy Grail of Modern Art? it was an important drawing. Perhaps the piece was more important, in fact, than some classically trained art professor of the nineteenth century could have ever imagined. If the mere idea of the drawing stirred such animation and confidence in the young hings start to fall together if we think of Dr. Barnes employing the cup by Picasso, what secrets would actually looking at such a drawing reveal about the enigma Picasso in Wineglass and Fruit as a kind of grail image in the ensemble on the that is the mind of Picasso? Is the drawing, in fact, the key to modern art? Would such TSouth Wall of Gallery XXII because, if I am right, the purported Barcelona a drawing reveal to us how Picasso may have found his own brand of holy animation Comica piece may be the holy grail of modern art and the South Wall of Gallery XXII regardless of whether his teacher thought it was good or not? may hold clues to the identity of the piece. For a piece to be thought of as a grail Then, along came Dr. Barnes, the scientist and the art collector, a great explorer image by Dr. Barnes, it would have to be a piece so seminal that it might help explain and talent in his own right. Does he, the great, insightful collector, point us to a solu- how Picasso “got there from here” at the beginning of his career. It would most likely tion of the mystery of the Barcelona Comica piece? Do his ensembles in Merion offer a explain something previously unknown about Picasso’s breakthroughs in early mod- solution to one of the great mysteries of modern art? If there was such a place in The ern art. And, like an enigma machine of modern art, it might help shed light upon Foundation where the images in The Foundation suggest an answer to a great riddle the mystery surrounding Picasso’s early development and lift the veil of secrecy away it would be a place where there are images of discovery and beginnings tied to themes from the origin or starting point of some of the hardest-to-understand innovations of associated with Picasso. And, in fact, there is such a place of discovery and beginnings Picasso’s early work. tied to several images by Picasso in the ensembles of Dr. Barnes. Specifically, it is in a Before we go any further, it may be helpful to introduce Les Demoiselles d’ Avignon sequence starting with A preparatory Sketch for “There Was Edward Bickford’s Racing Cup” (1907), one of Picasso’s major breakthrough pieces. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon is widely on the East Wall of Gallery XXI and continuing on the South Wall of Gallery XXII. thought to be one of most important pieces of art of the twentieth century. Many regard And, so, the story that I have to tell begins in Gallery XXI of The Barnes it to be “the” most important piece of art of the twentieth century. I think that it is where Dr. Barnes has placed the Glackens drawing A preparatory Sketch for “There Was safe to say that the piece is often looked to as Picasso’s first major modern masterpiece. Edward Bickford’s Racing Cup,” which reveals the moment of an astounding discovery. Painted in 1907, Les Demoiselles breaks so much with the past that there are no other This image is within view of another cup, this time by Picasso, called Wineglass and comparable works in modern art in timing, scale, or impact, with the exception, per- Fruit on the South Wall of Gallery XXII. I believe that both images of cups are related haps, of The Barnes Collection’s The Joy of Life (Joie de Vivre), which was painted in 1905 and point us toward a purported solution of the mystery of the identity of the Barcelona by Henri Matisse. Comica piece. Has Dr. Barnes placed the cup that Picasso has rendered on the South While there are forerunners to modern art such as Munch, Klimt, and, particu- Wall of Gallery XXII to echo the concept of the cup that is being discovered in the larly Cezanne, the true battle for the title of The Master of modern art occurred, in drawing by Glackens on the Eastern Wall of Gallery XXI? If so, is the Glackens draw- my estimation, with the twentieth-century artists who dominated the century and the ing the end of the quest for discovery at The Barnes, or does it point to the beginning of art scene of modern times. One of these artists was Matisse, and the other was Picasso. another quest? And if it points to another quest, is the goal of this new quest to help a The proof appears to be how history has regarded Matisse and Picasso. Picasso seems student to discover an answer to a mystery of modern art and an answer to the identity to hold the title of “The Master of Modern Art.” Born just before the dawn of the of the Barcelona Comica piece? twentieth century and living until 1973, Picasso was truly ‘of’ the twentieth century.

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In my estimation, his ability to isolate and capture human psychological states on a after the painting has been painted when we begin to realize how the painting fits into piece of paper or a canvas is unrivalled, even today. I like to think of him as a mirror of the progression of art history. Neither Joie de Vivre nor Les Demoiselles d’ Avignon made a the modern mind. Without question, in my opinion, Picasso’s voice spoke the longest, big splash when first painted. Both went into private collections and were not widely the loudest, and exhibited the widest diversity of images. But, even though Picasso seen. Les Demoiselles is particularly unusual because it is not inviting and pleasant like acted as some sort of shamanic chronicler of the modern human experience, he has Joie de Vivre, but, instead, it is garish and strange. While Matisse was satisfied paint- always had to share the crown with Matisse. ing colorful and uplifting paintings, Picasso preferred to dwell in a more brooding Matisse is often thought to be the originator of modern art because he is thought and intense place. For instance, Picasso isn’t concerned with a sweet kiss like Matisse, to have introduced the idea of using reductive form in a modern masterpiece, Joie de instead, hidden in the imagery of Les Demoiselles d’ Avignon is a large erect phallus about Vivre or The Joy of Life, which he finished in 1905 and which we can find hanging at The to enter an equally sized vagina. At first, the phallus looks like a massive swollen foot Barnes Foundation. In my estimation, Matisse’s 1905 masterpiece was important for tapping in the painting in the lower right quadrant of the painting, but, upon closer two reasons, first, it took the use of color in painting to a new level by clashing swatches inspection, this image is really an enormous phallus. Les Demoiselles departed from most of yellows, pinks and greens while nearly obliterating traditional black line and, second, of the popular notions of art at the time, and it represented a precipitous break from it successfully employed as its subject images of drastically reduced forms of humans the past. Who, after all, would have ever thought of such outlandish symbolism? A new to explore complex human themes. This painting established Matisse as a masterful age was definitely upon us. colorist and innovative reductionist who took the vibrancy of color and the reduction of The message of Les Demoiselles is about sex and the psychology of alienation. It is a form to a level never before seen. It was Matisse who became the oracle of modern color; message very different from the message of The Joy of Life (Joie de Vivre). I believe that furthermore, it is thought that it was Matisse who first took-up the idea of Cezanne Les Demoiselles is a moral lesson. In my estimation it is a warning that human sexuality to use reduced forms of human beings to explore essential things about them. But shouldn’t be about sexual attraction alone, but also should be about sentient attach- Cezanne was very primitive in a sense. Examples of Cezanne’s abstract human forms can ment and love. In Les Demoiselles, Picasso shows a man, ostensibly a prostitute’s sexual be seen at The Foundation such as those in Bathers at Rest and The Large Bathers. Matisse customer or “john,” entering a bordello from the right-hand side of the painting where took-up where Cezanne left off and honed the medium suggested by Cezanne to unlock there are four concubines in various states of undress. Picasso has placed his figures in ever more subtle aspects of human relationships, our memories and our fancies. The an assembly that bears some similarities to a painting by El Greco called Profane Love or figures in the landscape in Joie de Vivre are dancing and cavorting. They are more fluid the Opening of the Fifth Seal (circa. 1608-1614). However, the seal that is being opened and light than anything we will see by Cezanne. Two figures in the lower right hand in Picasso’s Les Demoiselles, if any, is the seal of a Pandora’s Box of modernity. ‘The mod- side of the painting are locked in a passionate kiss. It seems as if the two kissing figures ern age is now upon us,’ says the 1907 painting. In the garishness of the naked concu- are united in a world of human love and the synergy of their connection seems to form bines, there is a perversion of wholesomeness. Their faces are cartoonish and strange. At a fantastic vision of a garden of earthly delights that surrounds them. This painting has least one of the faces is almost bestial. To me, the painting is a lesson and a warning to come to represent the next great step that a human of great artistic talent took to form the uninitiated to tread lightly near the world of overt sexuality and to be wary of the a new pictorial vocabulary that would permit him to elaborate on greater themes in the masked complexities of the coming times. mansions of perception than his predecessors previously imagined. Of these attributes, Picasso’s Les Demoiselles is also in some ways like a hyper-modern extrapolation of I think that it is Matisse’s implementation of the use of reduction of forms to their the story of the Temptation of St. Anthony. Many painters have created their own varia- essences to which the art historians seem to point as the root or origin of modern art tion of the Temptation of St. Anthony, which story is a lesson and a warning about the and the establishment of the modern design perspective. In my estimation this is why temptations of the flesh that can lead to the fires of hell. The devil sent many tempta- historians bestow upon Matisse the honor of being the originator of modern art. I am tions to St. Anthony to lead him from his faith and to dissuade him from his works as a not so sure that Matisse entirely deserves this honor presently accorded him. It is my teacher of the church. St. Anthony never gave in, and, although he was beset by demons intention to try to steal a little bit of Matisse’s fire back for Picasso. on earth, he ultimately found true peace and reward in heaven as a result of his earthly It is important to note that when art educators talk about the importance of one fortitude. Picasso’s modern man is beset by a new set of demons, unfamiliar ones that painting or another, it may have very little to do with the impact that a painting made he cannot even recognize when they appear to him in human form. I think that the when it first came out. Instead, these value judgments are often only made many years image of the prostitutes of Les Demoiselles is particularly appropriate in the context of

296 297 Barnes Rune 2012 The Holy Grail of Modern Art? a discussion of St. Anthony because prostitutes are often the bearers of what is some- The piece that I am describing, I call The Friends and it consists of what appears times referred to as “St. Anthony’s Fire” or sexually transmitted diseases. Do they also to be oil and paper laid on board. It is 11-6/8 x 14-5/8 inches in size. It is creased as represent a monumental reflection upon the possible forces that will conclusively break if it has been folded or rolled and is worn around the edges as if it has been handled with the innocence of the Renaissance and the way of life mankind had known for four many times as a model for something. It contains a letter on the back dated 1908 when centuries? Picasso was already highly collectible. So, if the piece is a Picasso, then it would most There are a number of characteristics of Les Demoiselles that represent a striking likely have been only handled so roughly by the artist. And, if it was handled so much, break with the past. As we survey the painting from its right to its left, the faces of maybe we should ask “Why?” Was it handled so much because it was an actual model the women staring out at us become more distorted and wild looking. It is as if things or a key to a decade of his critical early work that extended from 1897 and included the become stranger and stranger as the man goes deeper into this scene. The two pros- turn of the twentieth century? I have reproduced this purported piece in the interests titutes presenting their half-naked bodies in the center of the painting seem almost of furthering the advancement of education, but I make no definitive assertion as to its human with their elongated but lifelike Iberian faces. However, the two prostitutes authenticity. I only make the proposition. in the left of the painting are absolutely inexplicable. The standing prostitute has At the time of this writing, the piece is in the archives of the auction records at what looks like a grayish cow or horse snout with doe like eyes, while the last pros- liveauctioneers.com indexed as lot 1072 of the September 18, 2005, sale at William titute crouches obscenely as if she is shamelessly airing herself out or squatting to Jenack Auctioneers, Orange, New York (an auctioneer which appeared on the TV series use the floor for a toilet as she looks out from an orange and blue face that tilts upon Cash in the Attic) and can easily be seen on the www.liveauctioneers.com archives for itself as it swivels on a geometric curve to savagely eye-up the patron entering the that September auction. I have also attached a copy of the front and back of the piece in bordello. the appendix to this text. The piece depicts two orange creatures or figures emerging It is the standing prostitute with the white snout and the orange-and-blue-headed from a blue background. At first these figures seem to form one body with two heads; crouching prostitute that make the painting especially shocking. The crouching pros- but, upon closer examination, they are two, with the figure in the foreground leading titute seems to have what could be described as an African geometric nose, but the the way and the figure in the background backing up the lead figure. Although I refer orange head is like nothing that we have ever seen in Picasso’s known work. It is to these images as creatures, they are not ominous or threatening in any way. Instead, commonly thought that both of these faces are influenced by African masks. They are the lead figure is smiling as the other figure in the background looks coyly over the unlike anything seen before in Western art. It is as if Picasso has let his imagination lead figure’s shoulder. The heads of the figures are so close together that at first they take over completely, but while the white-headed whore may recall an Archimboldo or seem to be attached to the same body. We can only see two arms in the painting. The a Hieronymus Bosch, we simply cannot understand how Picasso arrived at the orange first arm is the right arm of the lead figure, and the second arm is the left arm of the and blue face on the squatting whore. We might be able to understand the nose of figure that stands behind the lead figure. The hands of both figures do not have clearly the orange-and-blue-headed prostitute, because the nose seems to be like one that we defined fingers, but, instead, are round like boxing gloves or large fists. The hands of might see in an African mask, but the almond-shaped head and the other features of her the figures are identical to one another, and the left hand of the figure to the rear meets face are something that we have never seen in art before. The blue and orange appear to the right hand of the lead figure like two fighters touching boxing gloves at the begin- be the same blue and orange colors of Cezanne’s The Card Players and The Large Bathers ning of a boxing match, or as if they are two friends giving one another a fist bump in that grace the Main Hall of The Barnes Foundation in Merion, but the non-African a show of solidarity. features of the squatting prostitute in Les Demoiselles d’ Avignon are so foreign that we The identical features and colors of their bodies make them seem as one. They are have no idea how Picasso found his inspiration for this face in its shape and color. She linked together much like the Mali Dogon couple in Gallery XXII. In contrast to the represents all that is unknown and threatening in this new age to which the “john” or Mali Dogon couple, however, the figures in this purported Barcelona Comica piece are modern man is progressing. not so sexually stylized, which is part of their allure; they are humanoids. They could I now believe that Dr. Barnes identified where the inspiration for this orange- easily be Everyman and Everywoman. They are more likely a man and a woman because headed whore came from, and, if I am right, it may be from the purported Barcelona the figure in the foreground is direct like a man and the figure in the background is Comica piece. It is something that I learned about in the oral history that was related to coyly tilting her head as if she might be a woman, but it is more important that they me over twenty years ago. are friends. While I think the piece is a couple with a man in the foreground and a

298 299 Barnes Rune 2012 The Holy Grail of Modern Art? woman in the background, the piece is as much about the concepts of initiative and thought was unusual. Why date a piece that you won’t authenticate? I respectfully dis- support between human beings as it is about the relationships of the sexes. It is like a agree with Mr. Picasso. My problem with dating the piece 1908 is that, according to soldier walking point and his support gunner behind; it is like a fighter and a trainer, John Richardson, in 1908 Kahnweiler had bought over 40 Picassos. Richardson quotes or a boss and an assistant. There is something more upon closer examination: to the Fernande Oliver as saying that Kahnweiler “was always ready to outbid all the other viewer’s right, in the lower right quadrant of the painting, there seems to be an append- dealers.” Richardson, A Life Of Picasso, The Cubist Rebel, 1907-1916, Knopf., 2007, p. age dangling down. This dangling appendage seems to become erect in the center of 107 quoting Fernande Oliver, Picasso and His Friends, Trans. Jane Miller, Appleton- the painting with its virile head formed by the touching hands of the two friends. Century, 1965, p.119 (originally published as Picasso et ses amis, Stock, 1933). This Immediately above this is a hollow “V” shaped opening in the center of the composi- establishes in my mind that Picasso was highly collectible and sought after by 1908, tion to which the head formed by the hand of the friends is pointing. Between the V so, in my opinion, there is no way that a collector or a gallery owner would have put the and the touching hands there is a geometric oval that appears to be hovering above the kind of creases and wear on a 1908 piece by Picasso such as the wear we see here. In my joined hands. estimation, if we get past the question of whether or not this is a Picasso, it does not Written on the lower left corner in what appears to be pencil is the word “Picasso.” seem logical to date it 1908. In the event that Picasso himself had wanted to suppress I am told that that signature fluoresces under UV light, which suggests that the name a piece, should we expect the family to be willing to authenticate it? Or, is it possible itself had been added later. What doesn’t fluoresce is what appears to be anR that seems that Picasso, like most parents, did not tell his children everything about his life? In his to have been partially rubbed off in the lower left-hand corner of the piece. The impor- “Foreward” to Je Suis Le Cahier, The Sketchbooks of Picasso, Atlantic Monthly Press, The tance of the R would be critical if it were a Picasso, because it is widely thought that Pace Gallery, 1986, at p.4, Claude Picasso describes his visit to Villa la Californie after Picasso stopped signing with the R or his middle name, Ruiz, after 1901, which, if this his father’s death. “Every room is brimming with collectors’ dreams, with museum piece were authentic, would suggest that it had been done prior to 1901. curators’ show material, with historians’ missing links…” If this piece were authentic and if it were done prior to 1901, as the R would suggest Was Villa la Californie the only place where there might be found missing links (if the piece were authentic), then it would explode the conventional wisdom regarding about Picasso’s development? Or, do The Barnes educational painting ensembles sug- the early development of modern art. For instance, everyone points at Matisse’s Joie de gest the purported Barcelona Comica piece that I am describing? Is this piece a key to Vivre (The Joy of Life) as the first truly modern piece by a modern artist because of the all of modern art? To further address this proposition, we must return to the ensembles use of bright color and the reductive forms of idyllic, frolicking nymphs as the subject at The Barnes. matter. However, Joie de Vivre, which hangs in the stairs at The Barnes, was done in 1905. The piece that I am describing uses angles and curves to create the impression of motion on a flattened two-dimensional plane. This humble, wear-worn piece seems like a more understandable beginning point of modern art rather than presuming that Les Demoiselles arose out of whole cloth and is simply based upon the known studies. If authentic, it would have to have been done at least prior to 1901 or 1902 at the latest because of the R that does not fluoresce in the signature area of the painting. If the piece that I am suggesting is the Barcelona Comica piece, it would have been done in 1897, and it would represent a major departure from the normative standards of the day in terms of its complete reduction of the human form to emotive humanoids. And, if it is authentically the Barcelona Comica piece, it would have been done nearly eight years before Matisse’s The Joy of Life of 1905, and it would require the art world to revisit and revise the generally accepted theories of how modern art began. I have written to Claude Picasso to ask that he verify this piece. My translation of his assistant’s letter from the French suggests to me that he will not verify that the piece of which I speak is authentic but he assigns a date to it as 1908, which I

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here are a number of features in the wall ensembles of The Barnes that seem to corroborate that the purported Barcelona Comica piece is as I propose. The Tfirst corroborating series of painting and object placement is on the South Wall of Gallery XXII. On the floor at the base of the South Wall is a glass display case containing African masks. Above the glass case containing the African masks are two African-mask-themed faces by Picasso, Head of a Man and Head of a Woman, which flank a fifteenth-century wooden carved altarpiece depicting Christ on the Cross. The section of the altarpiece containing the image of Christ between the two African mask-themed heads is nearly the same size as the 11-6/8 x 14-5/8-inch purported Barcelona Comica piece. A metal rooster faces the carving of Christ on the Cross from atop a glass pylon display case in the center of the room. The African-mask-themed paintings that flank the image of Christ on the Cross seem to suggest the male and female faces of the two figures joined in the purportedBarcelona Comica piece. It seems quite more than a mere coincidence that the mystery piece that we are discussing is of a dimension that would fit exactly into the space occupied by the section of the altarpiece to which the rooster points and which is guarded by Picasso heads. Dr. Barnes has pointed the rooster’s beak directly at the image of Christ in the altarpiece. The rooster signifies at least two things in my mind. The first is the betrayal of Christ by the Apostle Peter. The second is that a rooster crowing represents a begin- ning. It could be the beginning of the day, or the beginning of a new age of design, the twentieth century and beyond. In this case, I think Barnes often thought on more than one level, so, I believe that Dr. Barnes has placed the rooster there both to remind us of man’s betrayal of Christ and, also, to point to a beginning of a new age. We have talked about the purported Barcelona Comica piece as being a holy grail of modern art. The image of Christ on the Cross can also be a grail image. I say this because while we often think of the Holy Grail as the cup of Christ, the grail may, in the alternative, be the New Covenant of Christianity or the Resurrection that it repre- sents. When they were getting ready to break Christ’s legs to hasten his death, they first Barnes Rune 2012 The Missing Link? pierced his breast. At that time, the water of the Resurrection flowed from him instead examples of this advance in the human design experience. And, so, Dr. Barnes could be of blood. As a vessel of the Resurrection, the image of Christ on the Cross represents, pointing this rooster toward this ensemble also to herald in a new age. in a sense, the Holy Grail. A piece that would shine the light of the creative act of the The South Wall of Gallery XXII is about how modern art links the different artistic twentieth century’s greatest master, Pablo Picasso, would act as a kind of secular or time periods of humankind. The wall contains images suggesting a link between the intellectual grail of modern art. If Christ crucified is a symbol of the Holy Grail, it is art of the African continent and the art of the early European continent and modern odd that of all the grail images of Christ that Dr. Barnes could have chosen to have the art, particularly Picasso. But there is another “linking” part of this ensemble reflected rooster point at, he chose a grail image that is almost the same size as this piece which in the two images of Christ affixed to the wall on either side of the central wooden I purport to be the Barcelona Comica piece. altarpiece showing Christ on the Cross. The two fragments on either side of the central The South Wall of Gallery XXII is thought by some to discuss the progression altarpiece are bodies of Christ shown without the Cross but still contorted in the pain of modern art. The wooden altar carvings are considered to represent the emergence of the Cross. It is thought that they were individually carved for later placement on of European artistic representation from the black hole of the rudimentary Middle crosses but they either became separated from their crosses over time or were removed Ages and the birth of a more expressionistic art form with the contorted shape of from their crosses by Dr. Barnes to fit the ensemble. These carvings are thought to be Christ, in a sense, leading the way, because through the rendition of Christ’s suffering, from the fifteenth century and show every strained muscle and sinew of Christ’s suffer- human beings were able to begin to expand their artistic vocabulary to communicate ing. If we read of Michelangelo’s life, we know that the breakthroughs that he and his new themes of agony, sacrifice, and passion understandable to all. On either side of contemporaries were working on in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were to render the Christ image are portraits by Picasso with African-like visages which represent an and realize the expressive power of the human form, each sinew and muscle modulating additional evolution utilizing both African and European art forms to bring us into the a message of life’s great passion. It is thought that to faithfully reproduce the effect of present age and which allowed Picasso to expand our artistic vocabulary even more by the musculature, Michelangelo even dissected and studied human cadavers. With this adding greater narrative levels and even psychological layers of meaning to art. knowledge he rendered the wonderfully lifelike images of Christ in The Pieta, David, Barnes juxtaposes these two African-inspired portraits by Picasso with the expres- etc. The classical images of Christ crucified on the South Wall of Gallery XXII recall sionless faces of the African passport masks in the large glass case below. Although the the breakthrough detail of Michelangelo’s work that propelled artisanship out of the Picasso portraits are similar to the masks, they are not the same. The Picassos hint at Middle Ages. That we see the image of Christ crucified in triplicate on the South Wall something far more than the carvings of either the Africans or the suffering figures of of Gallery XXII is extremely odd, and I believe that it has something to do with the Christ. Picasso works a synthesis of the values represented in the vastly different wood message that Dr. Barnes was communicating to us about the secret of modern art that carvings of the two continents. Picasso also transcends the art forms of both continents he was trying to reveal. and builds on them to lay open further levels of the human experience in an effort to I believe that Dr. Barnes hangs two fragments of Christ’s body contorted in the express ever more complicated psychological, emotional, and other descriptive con- agony of the Cross but removed from the Cross to show that the passion and grav- cepts in the visual medium. ity of the Christ’s humanity are not complete without the Cross. As we look at these The way that this South Wall of Gallery XXII is discussed at The Barnes is that fragments, they are just that, fragments. We feel as if something is incomplete in this Dr. Barnes felt that a sea change in the development of art began in the fifteenth cen- fragmented image. It is only when the image of Christ is restored to the Cross in the tury. While this may at first seem to be a stretch given how many separate and distinct central image that we feel complete. If these images of Christ without the Cross are artistic periods mankind has experienced since the fifteenth century, there is a thread right next to the Picasso portraits and in the center is a lone figure of Christ on the of truth to this proposition, since the fifteenth century would have been the time that Cross, it seems that the two separate bodies are meant to trace a unification of these two mankind emerged from the Middle Ages and expressed its artistic talent in a more images in the central figure of Christ, where they become complete. And, if they are richly complex fashion through expressive sculpture, carving, and painting, primarily part of an allegory of modern art education and are a part of Dr. Barnes’s communica- focusing on the subject of religious imagery. The imagery was no longer flat, but was, tive or educational scheme, they may also suggest that the female and male heads of the instead, imbued with a greater animation. The images of the suffering body of Christ two Picassos which flank the central image of Christ may also be unified in a similar in agonized contortion that we find on the South Wall of Gallery XXII are perfect image, the purported Barcelona Comica image, which gives them greater force, passion,

304 305 Barnes Rune 2012 The Missing Link? and effect than they ever would have standing alone. Their unification will make them predecessors that also includes elements that were purely Picasso’s own, what new light more powerful, more capable to express that which was welling-up in young Picasso could it shed on the development of modern art and even on a better understanding of and laboring to get out. A piece that would complete the circuit of Picasso’s expressive the human creative process through the eyes of one of its greatest geniuses? Would it structure would be a very big deal. If such a piece existed, it would be the “grail” of be a new beacon of understanding for the world and make that which was previously modern art, a breakthrough that propelled Picasso into modernity. And, so, these frag- obscure and hidden fully accessible to all? Would it be the key, in the hand of The ments may represent that the two portraits by Picasso on either side of the altarpiece are Master, Picasso, to unlock the secret of all of modern design and explain the mystery unified into one in a Picasso painting of a similar size and dimension of the altarpiece, and enigma that is Picasso? which makes Picasso’s expression whole just like the image of Christ on The Cross makes Christian passion and devotion whole. And, so, it may not just be the religious significance of Christ that is important to Dr. Barnes, but the three symbols of Christ linking into the one central image of Christ may be symbolic of the two Picasso heads flanking the images of Christ that themselves also link into one unifying artwork of major significance, the purported Barcelona Comica piece (a holy grail of modern art), to which the grail image of the cen- tral wooden altarpiece on the South Wall of Gallery XXII may also refer. And, if we fast-forward into the twentieth century, authors and art educators seem to always be talking about links. For, as Cezanne wrote late in his life to his friend Roger Marx, on January 23, 1905, “One does not substitute oneself for the past, one merely adds a new link to its chain” (John Richardson, A Life of Picasso, The Cubist Rebel, 1907-1916, Knopf, 2007, p. 55). An uncertainty seems to have always existed in the conversation because it does not seem that people familiar with both Picasso and Cezanne could ever point to one specific piece that describes completely, ineluctably and indisputably the moment when and where exactly Picasso picked up the torch as it was passed from Cezanne to Picasso. It seems that no one has been able to say what piece set the stage for Picasso to succeed in going deeper into the human experience. In my opinion, Picasso has always seemed so complex that it is hard to fully understand him, let alone point to one defining moment, one point where we say: Voila“ , here is where Picasso first breaks with the past. Here is where he first gained something so important from Cezanne that he was able to extrapolate from it to find his own voice.” The thing about Picasso is that there is nothing in his known oeuvre that is a defining piece to which we can point that clearly, simply, and completely links old to new. If the piece that I point to is the Barcelona Comica piece, this could change our understanding entirely. What else might Dr. Barnes be telling us about this mystery? There are many places where Picasso seems exponentially more innovative beyond anything we have previously seen in prior artists, and this serves to confound things even more because it is hard to identify a simple defining first step. If there were a piece by Picasso that would simplify our understanding of the way he connected old to new, it is my belief that it would make all of Picasso’s work less enigmatic and more under- standable to us. If we could see in one piece the connection between Picasso and his

306 307 Chapter 41 A Portrait of a Painter, after El Greco?

here is much to suggest that the piece that I am talking about is the piece in question, and the evidence is not merely evidence that Dr. Barnes gives us but Talso evidence that Picasso gives us. As we continue to consider the ramifica- tions of the potential impact of the discovery of what may be the Barcelona Comica piece, I think it is important to compare the piece with the drawings in the letter to Joaquim Bas of November 1897, because there may be a very strong clue there as well. As he concludes the 1897 letter, Picasso says “give my regards to Rosita del Oro,” but instead of writing her name in letters, he draws it with images by first drawing a little hand holding a little rose (Rosita) and then drawing a picture of a gold coin with the word “una ounza” written on it and a feminine head (del oro). These images are meant to describe Rosita del Oro, the carnival equestrienne a few years his senior, who was apparently his first love and who had initiated him in the ways of the world. It is this woman, Rosita del Oro, who represents his early, youthful passion that Picasso may be celebrating in the purported Barcelona Comica piece. In the purported Barcelona Comica piece, a feminine form is backing the leading male form, and both hands are meeting in solidarity. The round hands are touching like boxing gloves of fighters ready to come out fighting (a pastime young Picasso is said to have greatly enjoyed). Above the touching hands hovers a geometric circle, a seed of life or of modernity, a coin of prosperity, the pop of a champagne bottle, or the crash of a glass at a Jewish wedding, ushering in life, “La Chaim,” and a new century, “Mazletov.” In the 1897 letter, Picasso has painted a hand holding a rose and a coin. What is interesting is that the purported Barcelona Comica piece depicts an elliptical or circular shape hovering above the joined hands of the figures in the piece as if they are flip- ping a coin. The ellipse is reminiscent of the geometric ellipse traced in the top of the teacup or the saucer sitting on the table top in Paul Cezanne’s Woman with Coffee Pot (1890–92), but we do not see it in any other painting purported to be a Picasso with the exception of a masterpiece from 1950 called Portrait of a Painter, after El Greco. Barnes Rune 2012 A Portrait of a Painter, after El Greco?

Is this actually a retrospective piece that points future generations back to the pur- There is another characteristic about Portrait of a Painter, after El Greco that cinches ported Barcelona Comica piece? it for me: inside one of the heads is a light bulb shining not just on the coin, but on the Portrait of a Painter, after El Greco is in the collection of The Rosengart Collection, separation of the heads. The head separation theme is, as we have seen, crucially signifi- Lucerne, and I believe it to be a self-portrait by Picasso. It is a very cubist-looking two- cant to Picasso’s interest in psychology, and it may have helped to define Picasso as the headed painter dressed like a figure you might see in a painting by Velázquez attired in primary painter of modern life and the Painter after El Greco. As I have said before, we the style of a Spanish nobleman of the eighteenth century. It will remind one with an have seen the concept of Picasso’s exploration of experimenting with head separation as eye trained in art of the portrait of Jorge Manuel done by El Greco. This is, in my esti- an artistic device through which to explore relational affinities and aversions. mation, a late self-portrait by Picasso and a major masterpiece. In it, Picasso quotes El What we haven’t seen too much of in many of Picasso’s breakthrough works is the Greco in the elongated heads and in the resemblance to the painting of Jorge Manuel. exact positioning and shapes of the two heads in Portrait of a Painter, after El Greco. In The painting is vastly different from an El Greco because it is Picasso’s futuristic style fact, I would submit that the only two known Picasso masterpieces that I am aware of the 1950s. The head positions in the Rosengart self-portrait are nearly identical to of that have the exact same head positions as the positions of the two heads found in the head positions in the purported Barcelona Comica piece. The hand of the artist in Portrait of a Painter, after El Greco are The Peasants and Figures with Goat. To me, Picasso’s the Rosengart self-portrait is holding a palette with the colors blue and orange upon placement of these heads on these various canvases is almost like a signature. It is as it. I submit that the colors in the palette do not reflect the palette of El Greco, but, if he is holding up the purported Barcelona Comica piece up in his mind’s eye in every instead, the blue and orange in the palette of Cezanne. If the painting is a self-portrait, one and extrapolating to create an additional evolution of the pattern. Even when the it shows Picasso in the costume of the nobility of Spain with the white ruff or ruffled heads are inverted as in Figures with Goat, they still are positioned in the same way on collar around the suit coat as a proud Catalan, perhaps. What is extraordinary and inex- their internal axis. Some might say that these heads are in the style of El Greco because plicable about the piece is that the head is separated in two with what appears to be a they are angular and elongated. I say that these angular, elongated features are the coin springing forth from the center of the separation of the brow (in much the same only things that make them after El Greco, otherwise, the fine nuance of expression way that Athena herself sprung from the brow of Zeus). The coin, of course, previously that Picasso is able to create through this artistic device is Picasso’s own. Indeed, the meant nothing to us when we looked at the Rosengart self-portrait, because we had not unity of two beings that this head-position relation represents is the close psychologi- seen the image of a coin in another Picasso of which I am aware, except in the 1897 cal connectedness of the completion of one spirit in another; or, even, the unification of letter to Bas. Yet, for some reason, Picasso thought it important enough to include it in Ego and the Id in a single person. Essentially, it is a discovery by Picasso of a primary the Rosengart retrospective piece. This says something to me because I understand that essence of human relationships and the human psychological experience. After all, if Picasso is thought to have done between 30,000 and 40,000 works during his lifetime this purported Barcelona Comica piece is a Picasso, then, through the artifice of simple if we count all the sculpture, pottery, drawings and paintings. In my estimation, the geometry of tying together a coy head movement with a leading head movement, he coin in the retrospective Rosengart self-portrait is only fully understood if we harken is able to reveal a surprisingly touching sense of solidarity between his figures. In my back to the Barcelona Comica letter showing the coin “una ounza” and the purported opinion, this is the kind of inspiration which might have been fertile enough to eventu- Barcelona Comica piece where we see the coin hovering above the touching hands of the ally set him off on what might be considered an entire journey of bisecting or reposi- humanoid figures. To my knowledge, we do not see this coin again in all of Picasso’s tioning planes to strip away extraneous attributes and to cut to the heart or essence of oeuvre so, I don’t believe there is another satisfactory explanation for its existence in the the subject that he was seeking to describe. This complex theorem of artistic expression 1950 Rosengart picture. would have not been something that he would have developed overnight, instead it Did Picasso finally acknowledge in his late-life masterpiece,Portrait of a Painter, after would have evolved over time. Maybe he discovered it in 1897 and set it aside only to El Greco, that there was an earlier breakthrough piece, such as the purported Barcelona return to it from time to time over the years until 1906 when he returned to his roots Comica piece, that represented the well from where his inspiration sprung? I like to in Spain and at Gosol developed the concepts for his masterpieces Figures with Goat and think that Picasso, the consummate showman, obscured the purported Barcelona Comica The Peasants in what is often referred to as the proto-cubist period. Soon after this came piece that I am talking about to make his later masterpieces, like the world-changing Les Demoiselles. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, seem even more mythic—and that in Portrait of a Painter, after I have mentioned before that on the opposite side of the cup in Wineglass and Fruit El Greco, in 1950, Picasso finally owned and identified this earlier piece for all time. in the ensemble on the South Wall of Gallery XXII is a curious paper drawing of an old

310 311 Barnes Rune 2012 A Portrait of a Painter, after El Greco? woman and two nudes holding keys. I believe that this drawing is a clue that suggests Figures with Goat and the purported Barcelona Comica piece. In my estimation they all the piece that I am describing. I have previously talked about the two nudes holding bear similarities to the head positions in Portrait of a Painter, after El Greco. What are keys as the images of the girl and boy nudes in Figures with Goat in Gallery XXIII. But, the odds of that? We see two 1906 examples of the unique head shapes remembered by maybe there is an earlier piece of two nudes which acted as an inspiration to Figures and quoted by Picasso nearly forty-four years later in his 1950 Portrait of a Painter, after with Goat, and perhaps that piece is the piece that I am referring to as the purported El Greco, so, I have to conclude that this aspect of his art had to have been important Barcelona Comica piece? Maybe the two nudes in the purported Barcelona Comica piece to Picasso as he reflected upon his life. I can find no other explanation or reason for an are the keys. What is extremely unusual about the purported Barcelona Comica piece original artist to so clearly revisit his past and to resurrect something from so very long and the Figures with Goat is that if we took a pair of scissors to a copy of the purported ago in such an important late piece as Portrait of a Painter, after El Greco which I believe Barcelona Comica piece, cut the copy down the middle, laid the head of the rear figure is a self-portrait. Is what Picasso learned in extrapolating from these precise head shapes of the purported Barcelona Comica piece next to the head of the girl in Figures with Goat, representative of a major early breakthrough at the very beginning of his thought pro- and laid the head of the lead figure of the purported Barcelona Comica piece next to the cess, a breakthrough that would help to reshape art and something that he felt he had head of the boy in Figures with Goat, we would see that the heads in Figures with Goat to quote from and enshrine in Portrait of a Painter, after El Greco? Did Dr. Barnes feel literally mimic the exact positions of the heads in the purported Barcelona Comica piece. the same and enshrine this theory in Merion as well? The unique tension between the two heads in Figures with Goat that makes them appear If the purported Barcelona Comica piece were an important key or missing link, we to be psychologically connected is derived completely, I submit, from the way that the would expect to see themes originally articulated in that piece recur over and over again heads are painted in the purported Barcelona Comica piece. What is so oddly unique in Picasso’s work, and, as I have mentioned in my discussion of Figures with Goat above, about the Figures with Goat piece has, it seems, already been done in the purported the themes of unity, separation, and head placement occur over and over in Picasso’s Barcelona Comica piece. While there are, in my opinion, many sketches that suggest art in many different permutations. This artifice even goes so far to explain how he the same head positions and shapes, the only other place where we see the exact same began experimenting with the splitting of the same face into two opposing halves in head shapes in The Foundation or in a major known Picasso is in The Peasants. It may his later pieces. I don’t think that there is any question that Picasso often returns to be important that The Barnes Foundation holds both known masterpieces by Picasso this inspiration. showing similar attributes to the head shapes in Portrait of a Painter, after El Greco. Also, there are no other places to my knowledge that we see a coin in any other Do these two Barnes Picassos point to another early major work by Picasso previously creation by Picasso except in the letter to Bas of 1897, the 1950 Rosengart piece, and unknown to modern art? Is this piece essentially a preparatory sketch for the modern the purported Barcelona Comica piece—yet Picasso felt that he would shine a light design experience? upon the coin in Portrait of a Painter, after El Greco. In addition to high-lighting the In this place of few coincidences and no accidents, within sight of the South Wall coin, Picasso’s later life masterpiece, Portrait of a Painter, after El Greco, high-lighted a of Gallery XXII with its grail image of Christ and the two individual Picasso heads, head separation which seems exactly identical to that found in The Peasants and Figures Head of a Woman and Head of a Man, is, of all things, A preparatory Sketch for “There Was with Goat. Similarly, Dr. Barnes pointed to two nudes holding keys and installed The Edward Bickford’s Racing Cup.” Has Dr. Barnes given us clues about the metaphorical Peasants and Figures with Goat in his permanent collection. Why would both Picasso racing cup of The Barnes by choosing to permanently display in this exact place at The and Dr. Barnes point to similar paintings as holding a valuable lesson of modern art if Barnes an illustration from the story of “The Practical Joke” by Eden Phillpotts? In it were not so? I’ll let the students of art make their own conclusions. order for the Old Squire’s horse, Dick Turpin, to take the cup and keep it, “it had to But the head shapes aren’t the only things that tie the purported Barcelona Comica be took three time afore’t was won outright….” (“The Practical Joke,” Putnam’s Vol. 7, piece into Picasso’s breakthrough work. There is another unusual correlation between p. 228) If a clue to the identity of the trophy racing cup of The Barnes is to be found the purported Barcelona Comica piece and a major breakthrough work, Les Demoiselles in “The Practical Joke,” then I suppose that this statement about the way Edward d’Avignon. What I feel is the most daring artifice in Les Demoiselles is the way the head Bickford’s Racing Cup was won would have to be it. of the crouching prostitute swivels on its axis and turns to savagely “eye-up” the john Doc Barnes was an old horseman. He would have appreciated a good horse race, or student entering the bordello. This motion is described with an elongated arcing so, I propose that the concept that I am introducing should be called “The Doctor’s S curve. We see a similar S curve in the palette arm of the Portrait of a Painter, after El Triple Crown.” The three paintings that compose the Triple Crown are The Peasants, Greco. I have not been able to find this S curve used to define motion anywhere else in

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Picasso’s known work. However, curiously, if we were to set the purported Barcelona Gertrude Stein, a friend of both Picasso and Dr. Barnes, has described a discussion Comica piece against Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, we would see an S curve that is smaller, she had with Picasso about one particular piece. This piece was very similar to the but is otherwise a mirror image of the S curve in Les Demoiselles. The S curve in the one reproduced here and is reproduced in John Richardson’s book, A Life of Picasso, Barcelona Comica piece defines the movement of what is a ribald image of a flaccid phal- The Cubist Rebel 1907-1916, at page 56. It was a piece Ms. Stein described in The lus moving to erection in the purported Barcelona Comica piece in the very same way Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas as one she very much wanted to acquire, but she thought that the S curve in Les Demoiselles defines the swivel of the head of the crouching pros- that Leo Stein wouldn’t sanction it. It is described as a smaller piece and one of the titute in Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. In the case of the purported Barcelona Comica piece, studies for Friendship. In talking with young Picasso, she said, “It’s all there, isn’t it?” the S curve may describe the shaft of the head of the flaccid phallus that dangles to To which he replied, “Yes.” Perhaps the purported Barcelona Comica piece is the forerun- the lower left in the painting. This phallus then becomes an erect phallus whose head ner of even the piece that Gertrude Stein wanted to acquire and a microcosm of all that is formed by the rounded meeting hands of the two friendly humanoid figures in the inspired the development of Picasso’s art in the early modern period. Perhaps the Steins center of the purported Barcelona Comica piece. The dynamism of the curve allows the talked of these things with their friend Dr. Barnes and this is why he is pointing these suggestion of motion to take place. things out in his ensembles? Anyone who has watched Formula One race cars navigate a serpentine racetrack can While Dr. Barnes wrote several books on art, his true masterwork was the work appreciate the dynamism of an S curve. Indeed, this curving shape is somewhat remi- that he left us on the walls of his galleries. It is my contention that there, he may have niscent of the aesthetic interplay of the curving lines of the front and rear wheels of the possibly left the greatest and most enduring lesson of all. If there were a piece so impor- first mass-produced automobile, the three-wheel Benz Patent-Motorwagen, which was tant that it might represent the birth of all of modern art, one would expect that it first sold in 1889. Already, we may begin to see something new about the germination would have a place in the Main Hall. And, of all the galleries, no gallery is more impor- of Modern Art and why Picasso, in his ability to mirror or anticipate the modern mind tant than the Main Hall. There, in the Main Hall, the themes of the Flanders Field and modern times, deserves the acclaim that we have laid upon him. One begins to Memorial and the Italian Hall Massacre merge into Matisse’s La Danse—representing see how rewarding Dr. Barnes’s lessons can be. We see this same serpentine S shape in resurrection and eternal life. There also Dr. Barnes has hung several major masterpieces the “SOWILO” rune near the Northwest door of the Main Hall which further comple- by Cezanne and one, and only one, Picasso, The Peasants (Paris, 1906). Of the Cezannes ments the lesson. The rune is just below the woman in the portrait by Corot with the in the great Main Hall, the most monumental are The Large Bathers on the East Wall of interlocking fields of white in the cuffs of her sleeves that also recall the interlocking the Main Hall and The Card Players on the West Wall of the Main Hall. These paintings hands of The Friends of the purported Barcelona Comica piece. hang opposite one another in the Main Hall and each reflects the orange and blue palate Finally, this purported Barcelona Comica piece is not just about a hovering coin in that has come to typify Cezanne. The Large Bathers is part of a semicircular sequence midair. Instead, it is sexually charged and could be tied to sexuality of the type that in the Eastern portion of the Main Hall which starts with Renoir’s Nude Bathers on the we see in Les Demoiselles, which is yet another argument that the purported piece is a North Wall, then makes a step up to the nudes of The Large Bathers by Cezanne on the breakthrough piece at many levels. In contradistinction to Les Demoiselles, the sex that East Wall and then takes a further step up to the dancing nudes in Matisse’s La Danse I believe this piece describes is not a profane sex, but instead portrays a wholesome and in the rafters of the Main Hall, dancing in the firmament. endearing scene. It is a painting done by a more optimistic and a more innocent person Did Dr. Barnes have a similar progression in mind for the West side of the Main than the adult ten years later who crafted Les Demoiselles d’ Avignon. Instead of just sex, Hall involving Cezanne’s The Card Players and Picasso’s The Peasants—a progression that it seems to suggest the positive power of love in the close union and mutual connect- itself traces a semicircle, and, in a sense, completes a final circle of The Barnes? There, edness of the two humanoid figures in the purported Barcelona Comica piece. And, if on the West side of the Main Hall, we see The Card Players and Picasso’s The Peasants we accept that these innocent faces are from 1897, we may learn something new about separated by an entryway. Each entryway in the Main Hall, both in the balcony and on Picasso and the lost innocence of youth as we see these friendly faces turn savage in the the first floor, has a painting placed above it showing water. Water frames each entry- guise of the squatting prostitute in Les Demoiselles. The Demoiselles are not like The way in the Main Hall. Water, of course, can be a symbol for knowledge, the symbol of Friends in the purported Barcelona Comica piece. They are unwholesome. I sometimes baptism; Christians, for instance, believe that one cannot enter the kingdom of heaven wonder if Picasso was inspired to paint The Demoiselles after some distasteful sexual except through baptism. In the bather progression of which I spoke before, water paint- experience. ings above the two Eastern entryways unite the bather paintings with one another and

314 315 Barnes Rune 2012 A Portrait of a Painter, after El Greco? unite Cezanne’s bathers with Matisse’s dance. In the Western portion of the Main Hall, and look out through the doorway into the Main Hall to see it. If you stand in Gallery an open doorway with water above it separates The Card Players and The Peasants, but XIII right by the Western corner of the radiator cover on the South Wall of the gallery here, unlike any of the other water paintings in the Main Hall, we see people standing and look out into the Main Hall, the painting The Large Bathers over fifty feet away on on a beach in the foreground. It is here at the doorway between Gallery XIII and the the East Wall of the Main Hall is perfectly framed in the doorway. If you let your eye Main Hall that the people have finally emerged from the water and have alighted on travel back to the East Wall of Gallery XIII which is less than ten feet away, you see land in a painting above the doorway by Maurice Prendergast called Beach Scene No. 3. a beautiful bather painting by Renoir and a hideous nude by van Gogh with soil sur- Through this open doorway that separates The Card Players from The Peasants, we see rounding her crotch area aside of one another right beside the door. If you then try to a painting called Mother and Child (circa 1895), showing a mother with a child in her look at all three paintings, your left brain will unconsciously focus on the pretty Renoir arms, by Maurice Denis (French, 1870–1943) and a cubist oil on mat board by Krona on the near wall and your right brain will focus on the magnificentLarge Bathers on the Bronstein (American, born 1925) called Seated Figure that looks like it contains one of far wall and you will remove the hideous van Gogh from view. For some reason, as you the modern cubist images of Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, which seems oddly out contemplate these three paintings, your eyes tend to block out or skip over the nasty of place in Gallery XIII, because Gallery XIII is commonly thought of as The Renoir van Gogh, creating an optical illusion that it doesn’t exist. I call it visual alliteration: Room because it contains masterpieces from all of Renoir’s major periods. if we view the series just right, our eyes just seem to remove the unpleasant van Gogh Is the seated figure in the painting by Bronstein and the painting of a mother and from contemplation. It is an interesting comment by Dr. Barnes on how a person sees. child by Denis in the doorway between Gallery XIII and the Main Hall a further clue to Sometimes it is easy to miss something right in front of our noses, especially if it is or confirmation of the identity of theBarcelona Comica piece? The Denis comes from the something we don’t want to see. same timeframe as the purported Barcelona Comica piece would have and the Bronstein Has something else been removed from our contemplation by the passage of time looks like a Les Demoiselles figure. Are these clues left by Dr. Barnes? Did Dr. Barnes that this very same entryway can reveal to us if we view it from the other side, from the in the open doorway that separates The Card Players from The Peasants suggest a link Main Hall looking into Gallery XIII? Is that “something” that has been removed from that connects those two major masterpieces and their artists, Cezanne and Picasso? Is it view the purported Barcelona Comica piece? Is it possible that Picasso sought to remove possible that there is something more that we could learn from this open doorway than a beginning piece that may have helped to define his entire life’s work? And, if Picasso first meets the eye? did remove it from our view by giving it to some trusted friend for safekeeping, did In my last class on connections in art in 2010 at The Barnes, educator Michael Barnes seek to pull it back into our understanding over the course of time when the Rossman took my class to the small painting by Denis near the Southwestern door of keeper or keepers of this secret died off and the piece sprung up into view through pub- the Main Hall. At first one does not realize that this painting by Denis is so masterfully lic sale? Is this piece the same purported Barcelona Comica piece that I have described? done, given that it is surrounded by so many spectacular works. Mr. Rossman pointed And, if so, did Dr. Barnes build a Foundation designed, in part, to identify this piece? out that the painting is an example of how Denis was an artist of the modern times I think that it is too important a mystery to let slide. exploring ways to revisit the old image of the Madonna and Child in a new way. The If you review Picasso’s early sketches, you will note that there are several places mother dressed in black is shown feeding a bottle to her child who is dressed in powder where corners are ripped off or other places that seem heavily colored over as if to eradi- blue. At first Denis’s pair doesn’t look much like a Madonna and the Christ Child, but cate certain features. It seems, at times, as if there was some effort by him to remove the pure, devoted love of the mother for the child is unmistakably identifiable in Denis’s certain things from his history. Is there something that we have overlooked? It is not painting. Mr. Rossman’s idea that this painting is a good example of how the moderns important to dwell on this in this manuscript. For those who are interested in looking tried to say something in a new way is particularly appropriate in the context of a discus- at this further, one only need to look through Palau i Fabre’s first volume ofPicasso, The sion that this same doorway might point to another early modern piece from the same Early Years during the time period of 1897 through the turn of the century. I would time period. Did Dr. Barnes place this modern but archetypal 1895 image by Denis hope that Fabre’s book would be a part of the reference section of any larger American here to suggest another modern but archetypal image created by another modern artist, library. Is it possible that all this tearing out and coloring over was a revision by The Picasso, as he, too, sought his voice in the purported Barcelona Comica piece of 1897? Master to his oeuvre; and, if so, why? Another interesting aspect of this doorway is that it is part of the only Barnesian Picasso always maintained that cubism was a Spanish invention; however, his optical illusion that I know to exist. You have to stand at a special place in Gallery XIII works that could be considered to be the earliest of his “breakthrough” paintings in his

316 317 Barnes Rune 2012 A Portrait of a Painter, after El Greco? known oeuvre are The Portrait of Gertrude Stein (the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and to fame away from Matisse forevermore? Such a piece would certainly be important Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (the MoMA) and they are not geometric or multi-planar like enough to create a Foundation around, a Foundation that may contain the solution Picasso’s cubist works. Both of these paintings were painted in Paris. Even The Barnes’s to the great riddle of where and how modern art began. The Main Hall is filled with The Peasants was painted in Paris. However, there are circumstances that suggest that locks and keys. It is as if in this Main Hall something will be unlocked. Do these what Picasso always maintained, that cubism was a Spanish invention, is true, and that keys and locks refer to the possibility that the imagery in this Main Hall unlocks an earlier piece, a breakthrough piece, may exist that was painted in Spain. This piece, a great secret of modern art? And, if this Foundation does such a thing, wouldn’t in my estimation, is the geometric and multi-planar purported Barcelona Comica piece. it be the cradle of modern art? Why would we ever want to move or disturb such The experts have never conclusively identified the piece that corroborates Picasso’s a place? statement that cubism was a Spanish invention even though Picasso maintained that Picasso’s biographer, John Richardson, speaks of Gertrude Stein as having been he created cubism in Spain. I believe that Dr. Barnes has identified this piece. quoted by art scholar Harold Acton as saying that “all modern painting is based on what It seems that if there were a secret to his art, Picasso might very well have diverted Cezanne failed to do, instead of on what he nearly succeeded in doing” (Richardson, A attention away from it during his life. John Richardson makes a general observation Life of Picasso, The Cubist Rebel 1907-1916, p. 50, citing Harold Acton, More Memories about Picasso’s secrecy in his book: that “[t]he more crucial the source, the more deter- of an Aesthete, London, Methuen, 1970, p. 175). Mr. Richardson thinks that Stein got mined he (Picasso) was to divert attention from it.” (Richardson, A Life of Picasso, The this from Picasso, which is probably true. The insight in this statement suggests to me Cubist Rebel, 1907–1916, Knopf, 2007, p. 14). If this is true, wouldn’t it seem likely how deeply Picasso must have thought about these things and how intimately he seems that Picasso would very much try to hide or obscure his master key? I don’t know when to have known Cezanne. Picasso may have made such a decision if this story is true, but there are a number of A doorway stands between Cezanne’s The Card Players and Picasso’s The Peasants. places where corners or areas of his sketches are torn away from his early period as if he Is it a doorway to the advancement of our knowledge about the beginning of modern were trying to obscure something. At other times, if one is looking for it in his early art? The heads of The Peasants seem oddly similar to the figures of the two friends in drawings, one will see that he has inexplicably colored over one feature or another as the purported Barcelona Comica piece, while the colors in The Card Players, orange and if to obscure something in the drawings. With due respect, if we want to attribute blue, also seem to recall the colors of the two friends. Were The Friends of the purported this tearing out of things and coloring over of images simply to the creative process, Barcelona Comica piece meant to emerge from the entryway between these two paint- wouldn’t we see this same habit extend throughout Picasso’s life? Instead, the tearing ings, linking old to new? Does The Peasants represent that which Cezanne failed to out and covering up seems to stop well before 1907. (I would note that there is one do? And, if we look at the features of the purported Barcelona Comica piece, they seem instance where a corner is torn from a photograph of Picasso and Eva Gouel as late as like they have the angular El Greco faces of The Peasants, the pigments of Cezanne’s 1912–13, but I often wonder where this photo was taken and what was in the back- The Card Players and a psychological connection between the figures that is all Picasso. ground of this photograph? Is it possible this photograph was taken at the apartment They make clear what exactly Picasso owes to El Greco, what he owes to Cezanne and of the owner of the purported Barcelona Comica piece and in the background this pur- what is distinctly his own. Were the two Friends of the purported Barcelona Comica ported Barcelona Comica piece was hanging on the wall? I don’t think we will ever know piece meant to emerge just underneath the painting above the Southwest doorway by for sure.) It is usually thought that Matisse’s The Joy of Life from 1905 represents the Prendergast called Beach Scene No. 3, which itself has two figures linked together as formal birth of modern art. However, is there an earlier piece by Picasso which predates they stand on the beach in the center of the painting? And, so, under Beach Scene No. 3 Matisse and may earn Picasso the honor of being called the originator of modern art? Is in the Southwestern doorway of the great Main Hall, is this where we should put The there a piece that evidences a remarkable departure from existing standards that rivals Barnes’s own trophy racing cup, the purported Barcelona Comica piece, that, “had to be or surpasses Matisse’s The Joy of Life? And, is it possible that The Barnes Foundation is, took three times afore’t was won outright…”? Is it the third of three masterpieces inef- in part, designed to help us to identify that piece? fably welded to the other two by stylistic similarities? And, given the early importance If such a piece were a key, would it represent the true moment of departure of the two from 1906 at The Barnes, predating Les Demoiselles and The Portrait of from previous standards in a completed, known work? Wouldn’t it be world chang- Gertrude Stein, does the wear and the undeniable similarity of the purported Barcelona ing for the history of art? And if it were created earlier than 1905, wouldn’t it earn Comica piece to the other two weigh in favor of the proposal that it is that 1897 break- Picasso a new title as the originator of modern art and allow him to wrest that claim through piece?

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The linked figures in the purported Barcelona Comica piece themselves may bear coast, who knew that this young man of great sensitivity and intuitive attributes would some resemblance to a doorway—not in The Barnes, but thousands of miles away in show the world one of the greatest lives of modern art, the life of Picasso? Astorga, a town in central Spain. It is there, in the heart of Spain, that a young archi- In seeing the Palacio Episcopal at Astorga, it is my belief that Picasso began think- tect, Antoni Gaudi, designed his first commission, the Palacio Episcopal de Astorga. ing about geometric form as itself capable of rendering a fluid impression in the arches While Picasso is said to have laughingly disavowed Gaudi’s influence as being more of Astorga. If Gaudi and the stone masons of central Spain could form rigid cubes of influential on the mystical Salvador Dali than on him, perhaps there was a simpler ele- stone into fluid movement, perhaps the geometry of stone itself could express some- ment to Gaudi’s design that may have inspired young Picasso. It is known that Picasso thing more than had been previously expressed about the fluctuations and movements spent part of his young life on the northwest coast of Spain and that, on his return to in life. Was it here that Picasso saw more deeply the potential of expanding the appli- southern Spain, he traveled overland. cation of geometry in art into a fluid form, and thereby first visualized cubism? Was it In the heart of Spain on the north-south railway line between Corruna on the north here that Picasso found an important part of his voice in an open doorway in Astorga? coast and Barcelona on the south is the town of Astorga. There, the Palacio Episcopal The entryway there shows two convex openings that seem to roughly recall the linked de Astorga dominates the landscape. The Palacio Episcopal was designed as a residence figures in the purported Barcelona Comica piece. Also, they are formed of blocks of and church for the Catholic bishop in charge of this important central region of Spain. marble thinly cut to appear to fan out and thereby appear to be “blocked” in geomet- Portions of this edifice seem to extend organically from the earth. In the rounded entry- ric compartments, configurations, or delineations. It is this, in my mind, which is the way, the arches seem very much like the forms of the creatures in the piece that I am greatest argument against moving The Barnes. If Picasso found an inspiration for a proposing to be the Barcelona Comica piece, and the blocks that form the frames of the generation in a relatively out-of-the-way place in Astorga in central Spain, why would arches seem blocked in geometric gridwork in much the same way as the features in we ever take the chance that we might deprive another child or student of the future of the bodies of the creatures in the piece in question are blocked. At night, an orange the opportunity to be inspired by the mystique and special wonder of the harmonies of light emanates from the light fixtures inside these arches making them seem even more art, architecture, and nature that is The Barnes in Merion? This is utterly incomprehen- like the orange figures in the purported Barcelona Comica piece. Did young Picasso, on sible to me, because, to me, it represents our shunning of the effect that architectural a trip from Corunna, where he lived for a time in 1894–95 on the north coast of Spain, inspiration can potentially have on the creative mind. to Barcelona, where he spent a year of his youth, stop and see Gaudi’s very first com- Has Dr. Barnes likewise left a clue in that open doorway in the Southwest corner mission, which is located there in Astorga? Perhaps he saw the doorways illuminated at of the Main Hall? Only the viewer can decide if the orange figures emerging from a night from light from within and saw these two interlocking forms that grow organi- blue background in the Friends piece were meant to emerge from the waters of The cally from the purported Barcelona Comica piece? Did he remember the doorways and Barnes below Prendergast’s Beach Scene No. 3 in the doorway of Gallery XIII. The two translate elements of the same into the piece represented herein? And, has Dr. Barnes people linking hands in the center of Prendergast’s painting, like the two images in the in the open doorway that forever links Picasso’s The Peasants and Cezanne’s The Card reproduced piece, cinches the matter for me as they emerge from the nourishing water Players likewise left a clue to the piece which I am describing? of The Barnes. Is this entire place a description of the wellspring of inspiration that Spain in the late nineteenth century was experiencing a vastly unusual architec- led to the development of modern art, the “blue spring” referred to in Gallery XVIII tural renaissance. Architects like Antoni Gaudi and Lluis Domenech i Montaner were in the ensemble involving the Ascetic on the Northeast Wall of Gallery XVIII? If this building edifices of a never-before-seen fluidity and grace. The buildings seemed, at isn’t enough to convince the doubting Thomases, there are linking hands in many of times, to grow from the earth. Gaudi seemed even primal at times; both were unusual the images on the West Wall of the Main Hall. There is a Corot on the Western Wall and innovative, with a strong capacity to strike archetypal chords in their designs. of the Main Hall with a woman linking or folding her own hands in front of her, which The architectural designs were natural and graceful in their complete harmony with also recalls the linking hands of The Friends piece. The center lady in the Models by nature. Seurat has her hands lightly clasped before her. The central figure in The Card Players From this culture came a young and gifted painter who had been deeply steeped in has his hands clasped tightly together as he holds his cards, and the metalwork between the major classical design traditions by his painter father. This student brought a new Models and The Card Players meets much like the hands of the two humanoids in the spirit and immense talent to this age. When he came to Barcelona from the Catalan purported Barcelona Comica piece. The imagery is repetitive in this area of The Barnes,

320 321 Barnes Rune 2012 A Portrait of a Painter, after El Greco? and, I think, highly corroborative of my proposition that Dr. Barnes may have been this painting near the end of the collage of images at his Foundation as a dig at the suggesting the existence of the purported Barcelona Comica piece. establishment because won’t they all be unpleasantly surprised how Barnes may have I attended a lecture by John Richardson at the University of Toronto, and he talks connected his images to speak to the imaginations of the American public in defense about Picasso liking keys—little things that unlocked meaning. These keys could be of keeping The Barnes in Merion when they have come out in support of moving it? an actual key acting in a symbolic manner to open something up, or there could be a Will there also be members of the art establishment who will be unpleasantly sur- recurring or repetitive theme or artifice in his work, a symbolic key, acting again and prised by this information about the purported Barcelona Comica piece and the potential again as a platform for his art. importance of The Barnes in preserving this information for posterity when Picasso I think that the purported Barcelona Comica piece is Picasso’s earliest and most may have wanted it suppressed? The Succession Picasso has great power over authenti- important key. I think Picasso used it for a road map of cubism and then sent it to his cation, they hold all the cards. What concerns me is that I have seen two occasions since friend at the height of his personal achievement in return for a favor done for him, for Andrew Wyeth’s death where the FBI has confiscated and threatened to destroy pieces attached to the back of the piece is a letter believed to be in the hand of Picasso dated based on the representation of the family’s expert. That is the threat in every case where June 1908 to a friend, concert violinist Henri Bloch thanking Henri for some money. a dispute over authenticity of an object of art exists. Maybe that is why Barnes may The letter is creased, slightly ripped and pasted on the back of this picture. I often have told this story through images placed on the walls of an immutable foundation, think that only a person who received more than one letter from Picasso would have because he knew or suspected that any case that he might try to make from beyond the treated a letter from him in this way, if the letter is in the hand of Picasso. A Manhattan grave would be an uphill battle? At this point, it is simply my hope that all parties Gallery owner once told me that all Picassos have gallery labels—I guess he thinks this involved err on the side of education and the preservation of the purported Barcelona or was taught this because Picasso was famous for so long. If this piece turns out to be Comica piece for posterity. one that doesn’t have a gallery label, I would think that would be because it would have In my view, The Barnes is a crucible to trace the development of the greatest period went from the artist to a dear friend and, most likely, kept quiet at Picasso’s request or of mankind’s artistic heritage since the Renaissance. It brings together significant com- otherwise treasured within Henri Bloch’s family. ponents from those early modern times, more so than in any other place in all the I also believe that if anyone knew the identity of the Barcelona Comica piece, it world. There are examples from all the greatest artistic talents of the time and they are would have been the great explorer of modern art, Dr. Albert C. Barnes. And, if he joined together to produce a paradigm of the progression of modern art. As a result, the did know of the identity of the piece, perhaps he pointed to this painting in his hall to value of this collection to a student is incalculable. Dr. Barnes thought that Cezanne unlock the mysteries of Picasso’s art. If the purported Barcelona Comica piece can be seen was the father of the moderns, and if this purported Barcelona Comica painting ties as falling between The Peasants and The Card Players in the space of the Southwest door directly to Cezanne in the use of its geometry and simple orange and blue colors, which of the Main Hall, it is an example of how Picasso bridged the gap between Cezanne and is so similar in so many ways to The Card Players, it might be a direct reference back to El Greco. The two faces by Picasso that flank the fifteenth-century altarpiece depicting Cezanne and unlike any we have ever seen before in Picasso’s oeuvre. Does it represent the Crucifixion in Gallery XXII may suggest this piece, and they are unified in this his true beginning? piece and are placed in this way in this ensemble to show that which is truly innovative about Picasso, which is an incorporation of psychological tension and communication in purely abstract form and how he builds on that to form the modern artistic tradition. As such, The Barnes becomes not just important to America or to a couple of experts who dabble in Renoir and Cezanne, but, instead, it may be the proving ground of artistic history and may actually offer a living explanation of how modern art may have come to pass. Such a thing is like a cradle of civilization, and it is incomprehen- sible to me to consider that it should be altered or moved. Back up in Gallery XXIII on the same West Wall where we see the image of a seated man by Picasso which I believe may be a self-portrait, is a large Rousseau called The Unpleasant Surprise (1901), showing a woman and a bear being surprised by a hunter. I like to think that Dr. Barnes placed

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s The Barnes like a modern Mayan city, a pyramid of the ancient pharaohs, or the cities of tenth-century Angkor? Does the message of The Barnes, like the mes- Isage of its counterparts of past civilizations, recite the mythology of our modern civilization? Does The Barnes, like the Mayan, Egyptian, or Cambodian edifices from our past, contain the wonders of our present age, the magic of our times, and a message about our mysteries? Dr. Barnes or the people surrounding him may have been dabbling in things that we know little about. The evidence tends to suggest that Dr. Barnes, or at least the people around him, were involved with at least one clairvoyant, Edgar Cayce. There is reason to believe that individuals associated with The Barnes, including one professor, Frederick Boyd Geasland, had connections to Cayce, the most influential psychic of the twentieth century. Mr. Cayce would give psychic readings that could involve past lives, present circumstances, or future events. Many of these readings were transcribed by a stenographer and are housed in Mr. Cayce’s foundation, the Association for Research and Enlightenment in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Mr. Cayce was a remarkable individual in his time. It is said that he could tell people about their past and future lives. Cayce has a strong following even today. His followers claim that he foretold the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the fall of the stock market in 1929, the coming of World War II, and other future events. Cayce also prophesied that Atlantis will be rediscovered and that New York City will be flooded by the Atlantic Ocean. (Cayce reputedly did readings for Nelson Rockefeller. I always wonder if the prediction about the flooding of New York City influenced someone associated with the influential Rockefeller fam- ily who had input in the decision-making process at the MoMA, and if this is why the major art in the MoMA is curiously hung nearly two stories above street level.) Had Barnes himself met with this mysterious clairvoyant or someone like him who told him things about the future which allowed him to foresee events following his death? Barnes Rune 2012 The Book of Life

There is no clear connection between Barnes and Cayce, and any connection between According to an article by Kevin J. Todeschi, “Edgar Cayce’s ESP: Who He Was, What them would be difficult to develop if Barnes and Cayce didn’t want this relationship He Said, And How It Came True” (edgardcayce.org/edgar-cayce2), “At the age of six or to be discovered, because Barnes could have easily sanitized his archives, and the tran- seven, he told his parents that he could see visions, occasionally talking to relatives who scripts of Cayce’s readings have been stripped of any identifying information in the had recently died. …It was found that he could sleep on any book, paper or document and Association for Research and Enlightenment’s archives to protect privacy. As a result, upon awakening, be able to repeat back, word for word, any length of material….” This we probably shall never know for sure how much involvement there was between indi- made Mr. Cayce a sensation, but things started to get really interesting when, during a viduals at The Barnes and Edgar Cayce. 1923 horoscope reading, Cayce said that: ‘he was once a monk.’ From this point forward While all of Mr. Cayce’s readings are anonymous, I have been able to track down it was found that Cayce could ascertain information which appeared to be about people’s some information by reviewing the records available on the Association for Research and past lives. This started “the life readings.” When people asked how they could become Enlightenment’s digitized database of Mr. Cayce’s transcribed readings. For instance, I have more psychic themselves, Cayce told them that the goal should be to become more spiri- been able to identify some of The Barnes Professor, Frederick Geasland’s readings only tual, “for psychic is of the soul.” From Cayce’s perspective, as individuals became more because they sold at public auction at Freeman’s in Philadelphia. With this lead I was able to spiritual, psychic ability would develop naturally. “Rather than trying to find converts cross reference to another, an unidentified female Barnes affiliate identified only as a “female to [his] philosophy, people were told that if they could incorporate information [from art student” (Association for Research and Enlightenment number ‘339’) who also appears Cayce’s readings] into their own religious and belief systems, enabling them to become to have visited the Cayces at Virginia Beach. Number 339 communicates at one point to better people, it could be a useful and positive experience; otherwise they were advised to Mr. Cayce’s spouse in such a way as to suggest that Mr. Cayce may be familiar with The leave this information alone.” Mr. Cayce gave his last reading for himself in September, Foundation’s collection. Under the circumstances, it is my opinion that this is at least strong 1944. Coincidentally, he gave psychic readings for forty-three years. Source, Mr. Todeschi’s inferential evidence that Cayce was at least familiar with the collection at a time when visit- article, supra. ing the collection was by Dr. Barnes’s private permission only. I am not sure whether or not I have pondered over the Cayce connection at The Barnes and I think it would have this would be considered by all to suggest more than a casual connection between Barnes suited Dr. Barnes to think that the higher spiritual state created on the Merion Campus and Cayce or not. However, a greater connection cannot be ruled out. Furthermore, Dr. might assist human beings to achieve greater psychic awareness. But, while there may be Barnes’ good friend John Dewey made several automobile trips to Florida in his career and aspects of The Barnes that appear to be influenced by a psychic or a clairvoyant, I think that was known to stay the night relatively close to Virginia Beach, where Cayce’s Association for the connection to Cayce will always be circumstantial. However, while Barnes may have Research and Enlightenment was headquartered. There is also a letter from Henri Matisse begun independently of Cayce, they would have both been working on the same puzzle. to Barnes during one of his trips to the United States saying that he did not have time for a An idea has to start somewhere in the evolutionary cycle of mankind and in this case it planned “sitting” with Dewey in New York. Matisse wasn’t a portrait painter requiring “sit- seems to all have started when Captain Joseph Lapsley Wilson planted the seedlings of his tings” with John Dewey. To me, the term “sitting” might very well suggest something psy- exotic arboretum. Then came Albert C. Barnes, M.D. who could have built his Foundation chic. Cayce was interested in reincarnation, and it probably would have interested Barnes anywhere, including the Benjamin Franklin Parkway area of the city of Philadelphia but, to no end to find out who Matisse was in prior lives. Is it possible that Mr. Cayce would instead, decided to build his home and school of art and philosophy in the hills of that have read for Dr. Barnes or for his friends privately without recording his intimations and city beneath Captain Wilson’s cathedral-like trees. Like Wilson before him, Barnes had cataloguing them in Virginia Beach; or, even if he did catalogue the readings, would his gravitated to the possibility that he could create even greater beauty and excellence than strict practice of stripping out identifying information in the readings in his archives make that which he found by transforming the charming arboretum planted and cultivated by them impossible to track? If Mr. Cayce was reading privately for Dr. Barnes, Henri Matisse, the hands of Captain Wilson into a treasury of the world’s masterpieces and a school of John Dewey, or for others in connection with Foundation business or experiments, it is philosophy. While Cayce was teaching people to try to be more spiritual, Barnes was creat- likely that we shall never know what might have transpired between Cayce and The Barnes ing heaven on earth, so their thought processes were sure to cross. Cayce may have called it Foundation family; but, it is something that should not be ruled out if the coincidences heightened spirituality, Barnes may have called it a utopian vision and Mayan scholars may between the images in The Barnes and real life cannot be explained in any other way. have called it the goal of the Age of the Spirit of Enlightenment. Whatever one calls it, it Some say Edgar Cayce was a prophet. I don’t know enough about him to comment. I is an undeniable sustaining vision for mankind. It may have its seeds in the hope that we know he was born to a farming family near Hopkinsville, Kentucky on March 18, 1877. can become ever greater than those who have gone before us. But it may also quite possibly

326 327 Barnes Rune 2012 The Book of Life have its origins in some sort of innate evolutionary drive from deep within us to develop our spirituality and our psychic awareness to better equip us in a rapidly changing world. This of life, and at heart one with ourselves. issue has not been greatly discussed around the dinner tables of America, but before World War II, people tended to be more interested in that which we would consider wonderful or Then the indifference or lifelessness magical. It sometimes seems as if whatever was left of that innocence in mankind was killed off by the collective horror of World War II. The Barnes is our way back to this time of of most of the world is felt to be no innocence and hope. It is a way to get back on course with our collective spirituality. And, as technology permits us to become an ever more cerebral civilization, our being able to touch more than illusion, and the mystic feels the roots of our intellectual development at authentic places like The Barnes in Merion may become more important than we could ever imagine. that he sees beneath appearances to Cayce is widely known for his predictions. Are there other predictions or revela- tions by this great seer as yet unknown to us but somehow expressed or planned for in the reality underlying them. The Barnes? If Dr. Barnes or his associates had consulted with Mr. Cayce as Barnes formed the Albert C. Barnes, The Art in Painting, Merion ensemble, had they learned something about their own destinies, about the pur- The Barnes Foundation Press, 1925, p. 47. poses of their lives, and about the future of The Barnes Foundation? If Mr. Cayce or a similar clairvoyant did impart something significant to Dr. Barnes, is the answer to what Some say that there are many mysteries at The Barnes and they will tell you that it might have been embedded in the wall ensembles or elsewhere in Merion? Were Edgar there is profound mystery in the modern age, just beneath the surface, audible to those Cayce and Dr. Barnes doing readings about past lives and the future by candlelight in who would listen. Others would have you believe that in these modern times there isn’t the privacy of “Ker-Feal’s” old stone farm house? Who really knows the mysteries of The any mystery left; and, for those naysayers, The Barnes Move would certainly remove the Barnes, all that it is, and all that it may be? This mysteriousness should be celebrated, mystery from the artisanship of The Barnes experience, and it would strike a victory but instead it is being cast aside by those who would put The Barnes collections into a for those who support sterility in their art experiences. If these entities win, Americans sanitized shoebox in Center City Philadelphia. The answers, if anyone is interested at all will lose The Barnes in Merion which is a place where one can reconnect with deeper in disciplined cultural preservation, may lie in concentrated and informed study of The mysteries of the world as yet unknown to us. Barnes in Merion, and this book should be considered a starting point if nothing else. In my estimation, the right thing in the case of The Barnes Foundation is to pre- Maybe there is no reason other than the obvious Barnesian art appreciation format behind serve history and this place of history in Merion despite all the aspersions that money the art ensemble arrangements, but if there is a greater meaning, then it opens up whole and power have cast upon it; and, I believe that if not in this generation, then in another, new vistas and possibilities in understanding The Barnes. the paintings shall be returned to Merion, because Americans will ultimately do the With these concepts in mind, it is likely that Dr. Barnes understood his paintings right thing and preserve their history. In addition, while some fear the year 2012, the better than most and that he arranged them in the way that he did for a purpose, per- hopeful among the scholars seem to see this time as the beginning of a period of a more haps to bring a little mystery to the artisanship that is The Barnes. Dr. Barnes did say, heightened state of responsibility and awareness in our personal, social, and geopoliti- after all, in The Art in Painting, that: cal affairs. In such a time, it is hoped that The Barnes would not be moved, and, once the threat of The Barnes Move has dissipated, that we would be left with a visual mes- We have mysticism at its height when sage of utopian achievement intact in Merion, as the generations of our time and future generations move toward ever greater harmonies among nations and peoples. the harmony between the self and the Perhaps The Barnes was intended for a future time, a better time than the one we are in now. Maybe it was meant as a roadmap to the mysteries of the beginning of the world is taken as the key to all experi- Age of Enlightenment in the year 2012 and beyond, that in such a future time of greater enlightenment, the answers to the questions presented thereby and the resolution of the ence, when everything is felt to be full differences between nations and peoples could be found in this utopian place.

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One of the major paintings of all time is The Water Seller of Seville (1618-22)(Apsley House, London) by Diego Velázquez (1599-1660). The subject is a water seller selling a boy a glass of water. In his right hand the water seller holds one of the most substantial water glasses you will ever see. It is full almost to the rim with fresh clear water. His left hand rests on the wide rounded body of a great earthen jug like the ones we might imagine from biblical times. This simple jug has rough, irregular ridges emphasizing that it has been hand-turned on the potter’s wheel. There is an area of saturation on Chapter 43 the jug and a glistening droplet where the water may have spilled as it was poured or where it has ‘sweated’ through a porous area of the jug. A water seller would have been Time Past, Time Present, Time Future a lowly occupation, but Velázquez gives the seller pronounced nobility. Dressed in a torn garment, this seller is poor and seems even poorer next to the bourgeois-looking child. However, the dignified features of the seller’s face and the strength of his frame he Barnes may contain information about its own future. How it was foreseen, dominate the scene. As he extends the glass he seems to stare at his thoughts rather I have no idea. It is a story that really begins in an out-of-the-way place at The than the scene. It is often said that the water seller looks like a saint in beggar’s cloth- TBarnes that we haven’t been to yet: on the second floor in Gallery XVII. ing. I think that’s the point. A long time ago, I learned something that few seem to know about The Barnes. I The painting is a marvel. I sometimes think it inspired Barnes to use the Water was brought to The Barnes as a student at age fourteen with a group of students on a Bearer as a symbol of those who would aid his Foundation. This sublime jug might be field trip from a local school. The group that I was with was not allowed in the front thought to symbolize our collective heritage or to be a font of knowledge. The seller door by the then director of The Barnes Foundation, Dr. Barnes’ protégé and successor, guards the precious water and metes it out. Violette de Mazia. Instead, we were ushered through a narrow side door and up a stair The ridges on the jug are like the places where we have hit a high point as a society into Gallery XVII, which is where we began the tour. We were told that this is where and were able to leave a special mark in time upon which following generations could Dr. Barnes liked to start his tour of The Galleries, here, high up in this out-of-the-way build. The early twentieth century was just such a time. They didn’t make replicas of place on the second floor. People unfamiliar with The Barnes might say that Gallery museums like some kind of dunce at a blackboard, they created new wonders. Dr. Barnes’s XVII is an unusual place to start. In the case of most new arrivals today, the public is and Dr. Cret’s Barnes Foundation is designed to house some of the greatest art from this only admitted through the front door, which enters into the Main Hall. If you want important time in human development. It is an earthen extension of that time and it was to find out what it was like to start your Barnes experience in the Western Wing in built while a number of the artists represented there still walked the earth. It is a place Gallery XVII, you’d probably have to go in the main entry door and stare at the floor “of” a very distinct time and, in its authenticity, it is as timeless as a reflection in a mir- until you got to Gallery XVII in the Southwestern side of the Gallery building. ror. It allows us to hold up a glass to Matisse’s and Picasso’s time. Dismantling it is like Gallery XVII probably contains more works of art per square foot than any other throwing a heavy stone through the water seller’s jug. It is as if someone said, “Here is gallery of The Foundation. Many of the works are small and they seem to tell a story of this wonderful antique vessel with the turning of the ages upon it. It keeps our water cool beginnings. Many of the works are works on paper. There are Matisse canvases, but these and nourishes us in the parched and arid clime. Let’s smash it.” are comparatively lesser canvases than the many other major masterpieces by Matisse To me the Move is almost like a step backwards and a self-wounding. It is, in a way, that one will encounter in the remaining galleries. Even the cleverly rendered Picassos anti-social. Society’s landmarks act as pillars to support and aid its intellectual progres- are all small ones. In addition, here one will find works by Paul Klee and Wols and most sion. We should tend to them, not forsake them. of the late-modern works of The Barnes collection. While the pieces are all very art- ful, Gallery XVII is, in a way, a beginner’s space, where the art is more easy to interact with and less daunting to a beginner. It is a good space for a teacher to discuss artistic technique because many well-regarded artists are represented. In this little gallery full of smaller-sized images, doctor has tucked away assorted images by Picasso, Matisse, Klee, Demuth, Pascin, Glackens, Prendergast, and even a Pennsylvania Fraktur.

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From Gallery XVII, my school group was then taken into Gallery XVI. In Gallery personal stylistic journey through his or her life and times. The lesser-known pieces of XVI, one finds Egyptian statuary, Grecian urns, ancient stone fragments, and paintings an artist’s body of work may hold as many insights as the masterpieces, and sometimes of religious figures. Some of the statuary seems to date back to the earliest civilizations. the lesser pieces are more intimate, as they are in Gallery XVII. I remember, even today, our chaperone complaining. It was odd to hear him complain What I later discovered is that Gallery XVII isn’t just an intimate space; it may be about anything because he was such a mild-mannered man, but he seemed put off that a story of the future of The Barnes written in pictures. Dr. Barnes was attracted to col- we had started our tour in such an unusual place: it was, after all, a vanload of boys who lecting many old things. He became fabulously wealthy at an early age and spent many had come to see some major masterpieces, and Galleries XVII and XVI are some of years of leisure in the prime of his life energetically collecting and studying the history the smallest and most humble galleries of The Barnes. But, as I look back on it, it was of art and antiques. Had he run across some ancient magic in his quest for antique a good place to start. It was helpful for a young male student not to start among the paintings abroad in the cities of Europe or in the country furniture and antiques auc- distracting, sensual, naked women in the Renoirs that dot many of the other rooms of tions in the wild backwoods of rural America that allowed him to see the future? The Foundation. In addition, it was helpful to start small, with the late-modern works Perhaps Dr. Barnes had hit upon some ancient secret knowledge and turned it to his in Gallery XVII, and then to step right after that experience into the ancient past in benefit. We shall never know whether Dr. Barnes or someone he knew had somehow Gallery XVI. The late-modern art was, in many ways, more intriguing for young stu- conjured the ability to see the future; however, it sure seems like he did when we start dents like we were because we were more interested in what was being done now than to look closely at the ensembles in Gallery XVII. what had been done at a time further in the past. After all, I even thought Picasso was Art and magic continuously cross paths in human history, but we have never had ancient at the time. But, to this day, I distinctly remember the very first Picasso I ever proof that magic or clairvoyance ever existed. Perhaps the time has come in this time saw in my life. It was a small drawing by Picasso on the East Wall of Gallery XVII, of change for a new breakthrough in such unknown and mysterious matters, and The with a modern microphone amid a group of musical instruments. I remember how Barnes in Merion is a key or a Philosopher’s Stone that may suggest another step or intriguing it seemed that this old guy Picasso was so “with it” as to put a microphone advancement in the realm of human mysticism in this new age. The Barnes is com- in his drawing. plicated, and understanding it involves deep and varied study. It is always important As I think about it, it seems that one can get a sense of the entire panorama of to never underestimate Dr. Barnes. One of mankind’s earliest uses of symbolism was human artistic history in these two small, out-of-the-way galleries at The Barnes. I to communicate spiritual or mystical things about life. Had Barnes, or any one of guess that side door and the steps that access these two rooms from the residence and the many gifted students or educators at his Foundation, happened upon some link the breezeway will be removed forever if they build the new Barnes and the educational to mysticism that had some validity? In the course of his studies, did Barnes become experience that I had as a student will never be available to another living soul again. privy to something about his future, the future of his foundation, and even something As a first-time visitor, I also got to see the major masterpieces after that in the other about our future as a society? And, more importantly, did he place it on the walls of his galleries, but that first simple impression of The Barnes has stayed with me even to Foundation as evidence that something important and inexplicable did happen, or was this day. I have since been a student at The Barnes for the first-year class and for two about to happen, and what that outcome might be? I’m not trying to say that a mysti- advanced seminars, and they don’t even teach these things anymore. As of this writing, cal component is the sole reason for the existence of The Foundation, but the imagery these rooms, Galleries XVI and XVII, are currently sealed off from the public by the seems to express that the mystical does play a role at this Foundation. current administration. If you have a chance, though, it doesn’t hurt to start in those It is one man’s interpretation, but what I have been able to piece together seems two rooms, because I think Dr. Barnes was on to something in considering these intro- to me to be uncanny. If Dr. Barnes had a window on details about his future in time to ductory rooms; they heighten the impression of art as an historical archive. arrange his paintings to tell a story about them, what would he say? I believe that he is Art archives some interesting things not found elsewhere in the human experience. giving guidance about issues that are occurring right now as his Foundation is under And, sometimes the lesser-known work of great artists does this better than the master- attack and about to be moved. pieces. Sometimes we get caught up by the wow factor in the dazzling masterworks and I find it odd that Gallery XVII, the place where imagery of future knowledge seems thereby lose sight of the human being behind the art. In the lesser pieces we sometimes most highly concentrated, is directly behind the canvas head of the stone body of The gain an insight that we might overlook in the more eye-catching ones. For instance, Water Bearer of the South Wall of the adjoining Gallery, Gallery XVI. It is as if the one can use less-well-known pieces of an artist’s oeuvre to better understand an artist’s chain of events described in Gallery XVII is supposed to occupy the thoughts of this

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Water Bearer or to be something that he or she should keep in mind. Once again, I family (listed as Pennsylvania German, nineteenth century, which refers to Dr. Barnes’s have no concrete evidence of all of this except in the placements of the paintings and Pennsylvania Dutch pedigree). The bird’s family suggests the nurturing of the child, drawings themselves. Albert Barnes, and the image of the bouquet of three roses suggests the run for the The pictures in Gallery XVII seem to suggest that Dr. Barnes saw his future either roses that a champion like Albert Barnes runs in life. Below this is a still life by Francis on his own or with the help of some clairvoyant, and that he put it in a collage of McCarthy of circles and rectangular shapes. The McCarthy is an assembly of things, images on the walls of Gallery XVII. It is a significant claim to make, but there is a suggesting the formation of Dr. Barnes’s fortune, his lifetime achievements, and the art basis to it. I think very few could ever hope to explain the placement of as many of the collection. Below this is the painting, circa 1912, called Country Girls Carrying Flowers, pieces in Gallery XVII as I believe that I can do herein, and I believe that there is a by Edith Dimock (American, 1876–1955), which represents the friends of young Dr. reason for that: because there is no other explanation. In my opinion, Dr. Barnes placed Barnes and the gardens of The Foundation. We then are at the bottom of one column theses pieces to tell a future generation the story with these images that I will now tell. and must start at the top of the next and “read” the columns from top to bottom and If one enters Gallery XVII, the number of images is perplexing. Many of the pieces serially from left to right in each instance. contain very little color or, in the case of the Matisses that inhabit three of the four The next column contains one image, a Pennsylvania German bird facing east. walls, the colors are unusual clashing color combinations. Gallery XVII is not a visually The bird watercolors are directional in the Gallery XVII ensemble. The top of the pleasing room. It sort of shocks the senses in the collage of images and in the hodge- next column includes Bicycle Acrobats (1917), by Charles Demuth. To me, I believe podge of works on the walls. It is a good room for beginners because it contains images that this image of acrobats suggests the spectacle of the life of Dr. Barnes, who had a that help a student understand the use of light in painting, it has images showing both colorful and often well-publicized life. Below this painting is a French watercolor of strong and subtle lines; it has a number of good pieces employing color to accentuate a narcissus and other flowers, which may be Dr. Barnes’s own comment on one of his meaning; and, its cubist and postmodern works examine the use of compartmentalized own personal shortcomings, his egotism. The next painting is Three Figures Sketching space. In a nutshell, the room seems to encompass the doctor’s meaning of his painting (1916), by Charles Demuth. Perhaps these three figures are architect Dr. Paul Philippe analysis theory of light, line, color, and space. Gallery XVII provides a better beginning Cret, architectural sculptor Jacques Lipchitz, and Henri Matisse, who all did important point than just going into the big rooms and looking at the pretty pictures. It helps to works of architecture, sculpture, and art specifically for the Merion Station location. explain what Dr. Barnes was talking about in the most simplistic and understandable Following this we have The Triumph of The Red Death, (1918) by Charles Demuth. terms. I think this image represents the death of Dr. Barnes. Then, we have three tulips in But I think Dr. Barnes put this room here to educate future generations, not just a vase in the next column and, following this, we see two birds which are done again about art, but also about what might occur to his Foundation after he was gone. I know in the Pennsylvania German style. Following this we have a rather dark image called it sounds strange, but if you’ve stayed with me thus far, and especially if you’ve visited Café by Marc Chagall, a Belarusian active in France. The three tulips and then the two The Barnes in Merion to prove out what I am saying, then you’ll probably agree that birds may suggest that one has gone away or died. Perhaps the one who has gone away there is compelling evidence in the manner that Dr. Barnes hung his paintings and that is Dr. Barnes, leaving Mrs. Laura Barnes and Violette de Mazia. The image Café seems they do seem to correspond to my story. Gallery XVII is no exception. to signify a funeral or mourning. I always think that it is interesting to note that The When a viewer is confronted with Gallery XVII, the best way to read these symbols Triumph of The Red Death suggests a violent death, and Dr. Barnes did die violently in a is in a left-to-right fashion starting with the Northwestern or far left portion of the car accident. If Dr. Barnes placed this picture here knowing that he would die violently Northern Wall. On the other side of this wall in the adjoining gallery, Gallery XVI, is but was still unable to avert his violent end, this would say something very compelling the coffin fragment representing death, but at the top of the Northwestern portion of about the nature of prophecy and fate, if that is what is going on here: we can know our the Northern Wall of Gallery XVII is a simple drawing by Mary Cassatt called Woman fate but we cannot avoid it. with Nude Boy at Her Right (circa 1905–08), which represents birth and life. I think that Atop the next column, in the center of the North Wall is Woman with Black Hat this painting represents Dr. Barnes as a child. He always spoke of the influence that his Walking (1910), by William James Glackens. This reiterates the theme of mourning mother had over him, and perhaps he credits her here at this starting point or preamble that began in Chagall’s Café. Directly beneath Woman with Black Hat Walking is a to what I believe may be his personal diary and a prophesy for the future. Below this painting by Demuth called Negro Dancing (at Marshall’s) (1917). Marshall’s refers to drawing by Cassatt and next in the sequence is an image of three roses and a bird’s a nightclub, but it isn’t so much the nightclub that I am concerned with as I am

334 335 Barnes Rune 2012 Time Past, Time Present, Time Future about the role of this painting in connection with the history of The Barnes. It would flowers before at The Barnes in the painting on the composition of the Flanders Field seem that this particular image would signify the place where the Indenture of Trust Room of returning in Gallery VI: the red, white, and blue stand for America and may of The Barnes would become irrevocable, because after Dr. Barnes’s death, the Trust signify, in this case, the protection by the American courts of The Foundation and the would take effect, with the Lincoln provision that gave Lincoln University the power legal battles that The Barnes would be subject to early in its history after Dr. Barnes’ to nominate Trustees of The Foundation. Lincoln is run under the auspices of the state death. Following this is a drawing of women and two children by Jules Pascin, which of Pennsylvania and the student body is primarily comprised of students from black two children, in this case, I believe, represent “Ker-Feal,” Dr. Barnes’s important pre- homes. The interesting play is on the words “marshall” and “dancing,” because black Revolutionary War Estate and collection in Chester County, and The Barnes Galleries Americans would now be marshalling the destiny of The Barnes. and School in Merion. Below this is Feather-like Motif, by Wols, and under that is Light Below this watercolor is another watercolor by Charles Demuth, called The Death of Focus, also by Wols. I like to think of these two images as a possible description of the Countess Geshwitz (1918). This may represent the death of Mrs. Laura Barnes. The death two women in Dr. Barnes’ life, or, possibly, the characteristics of The Barnes in Merion of Countess Geshwitz is the first clear reference to Alban Berg’s opera Lulu in Gallery and “Ker-Feal” in West Chester. Violette de Mazia could be “Feather-like” and Mrs. XVII, which becomes important to the concept of the entire wall. Countess Geshwitz Laura Barnes could be “Light Focus.” Ms. de Mazia was a friend who helped develop was a respectable friend of Lulu who is eventually killed by one of Lulu’s customers. Dr. Barnes’s passion in his texts on art, and Mrs. Laura Barnes represented the focus of Alban Berg’s opera was published posthumously and is thought by some to be about his domesticity and home life. Or, the country estate, “Ker-Feal,” could be “Feather-like,” jealousy over what he believed to be his unfaithful wife, Lulu, who he thought was hav- a place of mystery, open air, and magic, and The Barnes Foundation’s Galleries and ing an affair with his mentor, Arnold Schoenberg. The opera Lulu is probably the most School in Merion could be “Light Focus” as an educational location. bawdy and ribald of operas of the twentieth century. It is about an unfaithful wife who At the top of the next column is Reclining Figure, by Maurice Sterne (circa 1913). I turns into a whore. She is known by two names, her birth name, Lulu, and her street or often think that Reclining Figure could represent Dr. Barnes as a decedent. Under this whore name, “Eva.” What I find particularly unusual is that the name she takes when is In Vaudeville, Two Acrobats—Jugglers” (1916). The image of the acrobats as jugglers Berg has her marry Schoen in the story of the opera is Lulu Schoen. It seems to me an becomes important. Does Dr. Barnes employ the images of acrobats and jugglers to irresistible play on words as Berg seems to say that he is showing the audience a “lulu” say that acrobatic and juggling skill to fend off those who would covet the art of The of a situation, “a lulu shown.” The opera Lulu was conceived in the early part of the Barnes Foundation for their own purposes? Below this image of acrobats and jugglers twentieth century before they might have used terms like “it was a lulu” to mean “it was is a plate with a duck. Has Dr. Barnes placed this here to represent his Foundation as a a doozey.” According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary the term originally entered the sitting duck at the mercy of covetous suitors? Below this is the first Matisse,Two Girls English language in 1886 as slang for “Louise” and referring to “one that is remarkable or in a Coral Interior, Blue Garden (1947), which, once again, is reminiscent of Violette wonderful.” I don’t know when the term “lulu of a situation” or “lulu of a story” became de Mazia and perhaps a female friend to which charge of The Foundation had fallen. commonplace in the vernacular, but the opera Lulu probably had something to do with it. I note also that the girls are in a blue garden, suggesting a blue mood at having lost My belief is that in this composition of paintings in Gallery XVII, Dr. Barnes is showing their friend, Dr. Barnes, or at having been placed under siege by the insatiable suitors a lulu or a doozey of his own to the world, beginning with his death and describing the at the gates of The Barnes trying to prize her open to remove her art. The top of the story of The Barnes as it unfolded after his death. The “lulu” that Dr. Barnes is showing next column again has a parakeet in the Pennsylvania German style. Below this are to us is the arrogant effort to break his Indenture and Move the collection to the city. Figures in a Landscape, by Jules Pascin (1916), which suggests to me that the women in Below the painting of Lulu Schoen is Demuth’s Jugglers with Indian Clubs (1917). control of The Barnes are still out in the country in Merion even after having met the After the deaths of Dr. Barnes and Laura Barnes, The Foundation would be in flux. At litigious suitors—which is actually what happened, because many legal battles were this time, its very strong leader and his wife would have been deposed by death. And, litigated prior to the success of the Move petition that followed from the capitulation although there was an established line of succession in Barnes protégé and gallery direc- of the Lincoln Trustees. Below this are Head, by Violette de Mazia (French 1899–1988), tor Violette de Mazia, it would be a challenge to her and to her allies to keep the clubs and House—Bird on Tree (Pennsylvania German). Head is opposite Feather-like and the in the air, so to speak. House—Bird on Tree is opposite Light Focus. The placement of Head may also suggest At the top of the next column is a decorative tile and then a French watercolor of that Violette de Mazia corresponds to Wols’s Feather-like Motif on the opposite side of red and blue flowers and a white daisy. We have seen the use of red, white, and blue

336 337 Barnes Rune 2012 Time Past, Time Present, Time Future the plate showing the duck and Ms. Laura Barnes is represented by House—Bird on Tree of the art world that they would like to see The Joy of Life from a more comfortable and corresponds to Wols’s Light Focus. vantage point in a special room where they could sit down right in front of it instead of At the top of the next column there is the painting On The Beach (circa 1896–97), looking at it from The Bridge in Merion (As this manuscript went to press, one of the by Maurice Brazil Prendergast, which might represent a respite from the first fight architects of the Barnes On The Parkway Project was quoted in the Wall Street Journal to preserve the doctor’s orders to Keep The Barnes in Merion. Then we have Woman as saying The Joy of Life was not handicap accessible in The Stair. In my opinion, this Punching Bag (1915), by Charles Demuth, which, to me, represents a second battle kind of statement is ridiculous and should act as an example of how some of those who or fight by one of the women of The Foundation, which would be Violette de Mazia. support the Move try to justify the things they are doing to alter the poetic American Following this we have Lulu and Alva Schoen (1918), by Demuth, which perhaps depicts vision of Albert C. Barnes). Lulu in the despicable act of fornicating with her second husband’s son, Alwa, after she The next images are Knight On Horseback, by Georges Roualt, and Trumbull, Conn. killed her second husband. We have already seen a similar image of Lulu having lunch (circa 1912), by James Preston. I find these two images important because the first with Alwa above Soutine’s head of Satan in Gallery V. If Lulu is a reference to The speaks of a knight, but is that knight in trouble? Is he some sort of leader who will come Barnes itself by Dr. Barnes, which I believe that it is, it may be here that Dr. Barnes in like a knight but whose tenure might not prove to achieve the success hoped for? believes that The Barnes will first begin to be treated as a whore or a prostitute by The leaders of The Barnes since the death of Violette de Mazia in 1988, even though those who would seek to prostitute her and her art for tourist dollars. I believe that this they may have had the best intentions, have apparently not been able to lead an effort to is where Dr. Barnes believes that the real problems begin for The Barnes, because the preserve The Barnes in Merion. Above the door between Gallery XVI and XVII to end point in time that Lulu starts fornicating with Alwa is where the problems magnify for the North Wall are a series of three images: the first isFather, Mother, and Three Children Lulu, both when she kills Alwa’s father, her husband, the elder Dr. Schoen, and then (circa 1915), by Pascin; next is a retablo of San Lorenzo by Jose Raphael Aragon (1850); when she starts prostituting herself. Next in the series is Two Trapeze Performers in Red and the third is Two Women at a Circular Table (1916), by Pascin. I think that the three (circa 1917), by Demuth, which reminds us of the triumph of the Red Death that we children may be students or young defenders of The Barnes and that the parents may be have seen earlier and which may perhaps represent that both Laura Barnes and Violette older teachers who were loyal to Dr. Barnes and who remained at The Barnes even after de Mazia, having performed so nobly above as acrobats and jugglers, are now dead. de Mazia’s death. I say this because these images are tied to the next image, which is San After this, at the top of the next column, there is another Demuth called Equestrienne Lorenzo, or St. Lawrence. San Lorenzo, of course, we have seen in Gallery II as the patron and Assistant (1917), which may suggest that the lone survivor, Violette de Mazia, has saint of students. What ends this theme is an image of two women sitting around a been a graceful equestrienne in defense of The Barnes but she, too, is now in heaven circular table. In my estimation, I believe that this means that something has come full with her assistant, Dr. Barnes. circle. Perhaps this has something to do with another generation of Barnes supporters The next image is Florence Shubert’s Color Movement, inspired by Joie de Vivre (1946). growing up. It could be any number of other loyal Barnes supporters who complete the This painting Color Movement is important because, of course, my position is that this cycle or circle of defense of The Barnes in Merion through time. gallery tells the tale of The Foundation and, of course, the big issue surrounding The On the East Wall of Gallery XVII we start with two red and yellow parrots facing Barnes at the time of the writing of this book is the movement of the art of The one another (Pennsylvania German), which suggests squawking, bickering, or perhaps Foundation to Philadelphia. I think that it should be of particular interest that Color a meeting of past and present. It could also represent a meeting of a trusted friend or Movement is “inspired” by Joie de Vivre because this suggests that The Move is inspired friends of The Barnes with a defender or a teacher who will come to defend The Barnes. by the joy of life, which becomes quite interesting if we remember something that has Immediately below this is A Group of Figures with A Boy Holding Flowers (circa 1915), been said for a long time by the highly influential Picasso biographer and taste setter by Pascin, which suggests to me that there is a boy who will be born that will bring the John Richardson: that The Joy of Life was “buried” in The Barnes Foundation. Indeed, I possibility of peace and resolution to this interminable debate of The Barnes. Next is a am now being told that they are proposing that The Joy of Life will not hang in the same 1950 painting called Mexican Landscape, by Francis McCarthy (American, 1921–2005), exact manner that Dr. Barnes has hung it in Merion, despite everyone’s understanding which I think may be a time pointer and may represent the economic issues and down- that the court’s order implies that it must. The Joy of Life is apparently so important a turn associated with the exportation of American jobs overseas (of course, the real estate motivation in this Move that they are giving it its own room. I sometimes think that bubble that led to the present recession was largely burst not just because the Wall the entire Move is premised upon some strange fascination by some controlling elites Street securitization people assumed perpetual growth of home prices, but because they

338 339 Barnes Rune 2012 Time Past, Time Present, Time Future mistakenly assumed growth of home prices while the job market was declining due to have put those who wish to preserve The Foundation in Merion in a chair and have the government-encouraged exportation of American jobs to foreign shores). That eco- forced them to accept a sour fate of The Move brought about by the money and power nomic downturn allows a new round of bargain-basement art collecting to take place, of the out-of-town interests. Perhaps Dr. Barnes has placed the Barton Church paint- which I believe is represented in the next painting, Girl with Cherries (American, circa ing here as another time marker, because Barton Church, a man who knew Dr. Barnes, 1830), which may represent art collecting or cherry picking and which might cause a has lived to see the sad state of affairs that The Barnes has come to and to see the time potential defender of The Barnes, such as the one represented by the boy holding flow- when The Move is being forced to fruition. A member of The Barnes teaching staff, ers, to become an art collector and to become interested in The Barnes in a way that and the presumptive or de facto dean of the faculty, Mr. Church will often teach from a he normally might not. Following this we have Count Muffat’s First View of Nana at seated position. Mr. Church tells me that he had painted this picture for Ms. Violette de The Theatre, (1916), by Demuth, and Girl in Spotted Skirt, by Francis McCarthy (1949). Mazia and as soon as Dr. Barnes saw it, doctor had to have it for The Foundation. Barnes Quite honestly, I believe that Dr. Barnes intends Count Muffat to represent the wealthy wanted that picture specifically. I wonder if Dr. Barnes foresaw that Mr. Church would and powerful folks who might take a liking to The Barnes and want to possess her for preside over this most dangerous time for The Barnes from his seated position like the their own in Philadelphia; what is important about the Count Muffat allusion is that figure in the chair that he painted so long ago. Did Dr. Barnes want this artful paint- he is ultimately cuckolded and consumed by the ravenous Nana. Like The Barnes that ing as a time-marker to show us when the story that takes place on the wall of Gallery seems to have consumed so many who have sought to covet her, so, too, does Emile XVII would happen. If Mr. Church’s Girl in Chair is a time-marker of sorts, that would Zola’s comely Nana consume all who seek to possess her. be uncanny. The musical instruments could be placed here by Dr. Barnes to represent The next is Scene after Georges Stabs Himself with Scissors (emphasis added), a 1916 that Barton Church and the many students of The Barnes are like musical instruments drawing by Demuth which I find to be an odd but perhaps fitting image if you recall that melodically expressing the true value of the message of Merion. it is in the same room as The Knight On Horseback by Georges Roualt. If Scene after Georges Next in the series is Flowers with Yellow Rose (French, circa 1840), which yellow Stabs Himself with Scissors is meant by Dr. Barnes to recall the knight in the Georges rose, to me, signifies remembrance and loyalty. Following this is Shoeshine (1917), by Roualt on the North Wall, has Dr. Barnes placed it here to explain why The Foundation Pascin, which suggests to me a time when The Foundation is getting a shoeshine and came up empty handed, which caused The Barnes Board of Trustees to make the deter- getting ready to come to town or to be moved to the city. This could be related to the mination that The Foundation was in a financial emergency and must be moved? Did Dr. painting and frame cleaning and stabilization process that The Foundation is currently Barnes think that a knight would someday come claiming to save The Barnes, but that engaged in as of the writing of this text, which is the reason they give for closing off he or she would actually mismanage or bleed the Barnes and leave it in a financial sham- areas of The Barnes Merion to the public. bles? Since The Barnes Move is now heavily dependent on public money, I encourage Next in the series is another drawing of Nana and Count Muffat (1917), by interested members of the public to ask the Move supporters if a full audit of the financial Demuth, and Girl Seated in Room, by McCarthy (1949). Following this is The Death decline of The Barnes has ever been done. I suspect that that answer will be “no.” of Nana (1915), by Demuth, which series, to me, would suggest the interaction of Following this is a drawing called Figures and Two horses in Landscape (1921), by The Foundation with the powerful interests who would be her suitor and the subse- Jules Pascin, Flowers with Daisies by an unknown artist (French, circa 1840) and Group quent death of The Foundation as we know it in Merion. Following this is Woman with of Men, New York, also by Pascin (1918). The figures and two horses in a landscape and Baby Carriage, by Pascin, which may signify the awakening of one who will defend the flowers could be a time marker to show that at the time when all the above has The Barnes, which is emphasized in the next image, a watercolor called Four Birds, transpired, The Barnes is still in its country setting. Dr. Barnes might have placed Tulip, and Heart (Pennsylvania German), which suggests to me that there are now four Group of Men, New York here to represent the out-of-town interests that became and are defenders instead of the three that we had seen above the door on the North Wall. currently involved in The Barnes Move. Do the group of men from New York move in Following this is Woman with Umbrella Washington Square (circa 1910), by Glackens. after the scene in which Georges stabs himself with scissors? I think that this is the first time that we actually see something that resembles the At the top of the next column is Girl in Chair, (circa 1951), by Barton Church Benjamin Franklin Parkway Site. There are people walking around it and there is a bus. (American, born 1926), then Musical Instruments, by Picasso, and Woman Seated near I think that it is telling that this woman is shown in black with an umbrella. She is Chest, with Flower Piece and Lemon,” by Matisse (1939). The lemon, of course, is some- in mourning and, as for the umbrella, we shall see that things shall get a little stormy thing sour. Perhaps it is these images that show the first of the unfavorable rulings that around the time The Barnes is to be moved to this Parkway site. I also believe that the

340 341 Barnes Rune 2012 Time Past, Time Present, Time Future fact that the woman is in black is important, because The Barnes Friends have adopted of St. Lawrence, patron of students, whose image hangs above the other doorway in the color black to represent their resistance to The Barnes Move, and a Move would be this Gallery, maybe the goat represents a sure-footed student who comes to Merion to a time of great mourning. Following this is the painting Two Women Acrobats (1916), become educated and, with the aid of her or his talent, scales the heights of The Barnes? which I believe may represent The Barnes Friends engaging in their own attempts The birth certificate could represent the goat’s diploma. Will the adults, goat and to defend The Barnes. After this is Musical Instruments on Table (with microphone) by children be a Water Bearing team born from a group of Americans, united like Picasso’s Picasso (circa 1915). The placement of this image, in my estimation, may signify Dr. Figures with Goat, acting to preserve The Barnes? Barnes’s anticipation that an amplified defense of The Barnes in Merion would begin in A sort of peculiar aside to all this is that two of these images seem to refer to some- the mass media to bring the story of the Barnes Move to light. He may have predicted thing that will take place in the South as fixing the time of an important birth. I inter- such things as the movie called The Art of The Steal (Don Argott, 2009), which has pret it as merely meaning an influence associated with the city of Philadelphia to the started to electronically spread the word, to tell the story of the loyal Barnes friends Southeast which seeks to reap the benefits of a proposed Barnes Move. However, I think who have sought to defend The Barnes and to document what they consider to be the it is possible that if Barnes or his associates were involved in attempting to foretell the injustices that occurred in the effort to wrest The Barnes from Merion. future, it seems unusual that this all is taking place at a time when so many problems Above the door, we see a set of three pieces which I believe relate to fixing a time. are occurring in the South. What is going to happen in the south? Is it something bad? I say this because there is a birth certificate in the middle of the three images above What is to be born? Unfortunately, the answer may be that the bad things that have the door. Perhaps it is a time when the last battle over The Barnes will take place. happened in the South may explain the fixation of these paintings on the South as if The three pieces above the door are Southern Figures and Goat, by Jules Pascin (1915), this were a time marker: what happened in the south in 2009-10 were the cataclysmic Birth Certificate, by Samuel Slank, Pennsylvania German (1840), and Southern Scene Four earthquakes that took place in the year that the Barnes Move construction was started, Negros and 2 children, by Jules Pascin (circa 1916). 2009–2010, and the Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster. What is The images that stand out in this ensemble are the goat, the birth certificate, a going to be born may be a heightened awareness of and sympathy for the importance of southern presence in both Pascins that flank the birth certificate, and the figures and preserving The Barnes in Merion. children that otherwise populate the Pascins. If I think about the allegations made in The next images begin on the South Wall of Gallery XVII as we continue from The Art of The Steal and elsewhere that the individuals in power over The Barnes may left to right around the room. The first is Tiny Yellow and Red Bird On Flowering Twig have led it to its own demise, the goat might be an important image to Dr. Barnes. The (Pennsylvania German) which in my mind suggests that the defenders of The Barnes slaughterhouses of the world in the time of Dr. Barnes would have used Judas goats in will sing their song of remembrance (yellow) and honor (red) and that their efforts will their activities. These goats were trained to lead a herd of sheep to slaughter but to veer bear flowers. Then we have the Male Bathers (1898), which is the only lithograph or off just before the gate and escape by a separate route. Here Dr. Barnes places the goat print in the whole Foundation. It is a faux Cezanne in The Barnes where so many great in the company of southern figures. Does Dr. Barnes place this piece here to suggest Cezannes exist. Perhaps Dr. Barnes has placed this image here to show what the replica of that figures from the south might seek to influence The Barnes like the Judas goats of The Barnes on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway will be like, a contrived or sterile artistic the slaughterhouses? moment as opposed to the masterful brilliance that is The Barnes Experience in Merion. Dr. Barnes places Southern Figures and Goat before the Birth Certificate. After the Next in the series we have Musician (1918), by Demuth, and Basket of Flowers On birth, there is no goat, only Southern Scene Four Negros and 2 children. Perhaps the birth Velvet (Pennsylvania German, nineteenth century). The velvet perhaps reminds us of certificate means that a figure will be born who will reveal any beguiling course the faux sofa art or of the velvety tongue of a smooth-talking salesperson. The musician Judas goat may set for The Barnes, and the four Negroes may be placed here by the could represent what Dr. Barnes might see as the siren song of those who would Move doctor to represent those directors still nominated by Lincoln University who might The Barnes or the commercialized spectacle that The Move has in some ways become. somehow care for their two charges, The Barnes in Merion and the country estate, At the top of the next column, we have an image of a bird facing right (Pennsylvania “Ker-Feal,” in the face of mounting interest of the Southern scene. An alternative inter- German, nineteenth century) and Nana Visiting her Friend Satin (circa 1915), by pretation, given the combination of children with a goat, could be that this recalls the Demuth. Did Dr. Barnes intend that the bird facing to the right is just that, a “right- fine friends from Picasso’s Figures with Goat. Looking at the goat in a positive light, minded” bird who is facing away from the siren song and the faux bathers? Underneath perhaps he isn’t a Judas Goat at all, but a friend. Interpreting him in the context the bird facing right is one of my favorite images, Nana Visiting her Friend Satin. Has

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Dr. Barnes placed this image here to represent all the teachers, employees, and docents that the Barnes defender will utilize angles and curves to defeat the interlopers who of The Barnes that might be wooed by the promise of a more glamorous location in the wish to disturb The Barnes and dislodge it from its home in Merion. Below this is city? The terms “Satan” and “Satin” are so close together, could Dr. Barnes have meant Ocean, by Abraham P. Hankins (American, 1904–1963), a late-1940s painting which this image to mean that The Barnes folks are blinded by the temptation of the big city? suggests a battle or conflagration. And, in the center of the South Wall of Gallery XVII The next image is This Bloom Is About To Wither (Diese Blute Will Verwelken), by Paul is Two Girls in a Yellow and Red Interior, by Matisse (1947). Next in the series is Horse, Klee (Swiss, 1879–1940) from 1939. Perhaps Dr. Barnes placed this image here to sug- of Pennsylvania German origin. Following this is Color Motif, by Wols, which suggests gest that the dream of Dr. Barnes to preserve The Foundation in Merion is about to fail: that there is a rhyme and a reason or a motif to the images that we see, and that the that the bloom that is The Barnes is about to wither and fade. If the Barnes in Merion horse is a powerful carrier of the message to be conveyed. The yellow and red interior were to fail, is Dr. Barnes telling us that it would be through the agency of a group of may suggest that the message to be conveyed will shed light upon The Barnes and its people that he describes in the image below? Below this image is Bad Band, Schlechte themes of remembrance (yellow) and martyrdom (red). Kappelle, by Klee (1920). Has Dr. Barnes placed this drawing here because he believed a At the top of the next column we find a Pennsylvania German piece showing “bad band” might be responsible for his Foundation failing? Following this is Bermuda, two birds, a 1924 drawing by Klee called Sicilian Landscape (Sicilsche Landschaft), and Masts and Foliage (1917), by Demuth, which shows masts rising through the trees and Historical Ground, Historischer Boden (1939), also by Klee, in which The Barnes in may be symbols of the events occurring in the southern climes (ergo, “Bermuda”) dur- Merion is clearly historical ground where so many important personages have walked, ing the time that The Move is to take place, such as the masts of the oil rigs of the Gulf visited, and spent their lives. Does Dr. Barnes use an image with the term “Sicilian” destroying the foliage, or it could suggest that the mighty Barnes, seen through the because its suggests something calculating or Machiavellian because of the unfortunate trees of the Estate is about to set sail to a new place, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. connection of that beautiful land with organized crime, and “landschaft” because he Following this at the top of the next column is Bird Facing Left On Flowering Twig wishes to suggest that the pride of place of The Barnes has been totally neglected and is (Pennsylvania German, 1882). The bird is facing East toward the city but has not flown. getting the “shaft” or the short end of the stick in the effort to bring about The Move The next piece in the series is Place-Signs (Ort-Zeichen), by Paul Klee (1926). This to Center City? Following this is Horses in a Landscape (1917), by Pascin, which seems piece seems to suggest what I am doing by interpreting most of the placements of to suggest that the city is still far off in the distance. At the top of the next column we objects in The Foundation as purposefully set out in such a way as to tell a story. In have more flowers of Pennsylvania German origin and then a painting called Two Red Place-Signs there is also a red cross, as if it marks a spot. I often wonder whether this Flowers, Zwei rote Bluten, also by Klee (1932), which, by the way, is out of place in the spot is where Dr. Barnes is buried with his beloved dog Fidele. Following this, we have current composite of The Barnes and on the Barnes Tour CD. Does Dr. Barnes mean the Grouped Objects, by Picasso (1907). And below this we have Girl I rear view (with red two red flowers to be the revelation of the two blood remembrance themes associated stockings), by Georges Rouault (1905). This girl, as seen from a rear view, could be The with The Barnes that have been previously kept secret? Following this is After a Sketch Barnes in the process of leaving Merion. The grouped objects might suggest that they from Zurich, Nach einer Scizze Au Zurich, by Klee (1914). Has Dr. Barnes placed this Klee are taking things off the walls and getting things ready to go in the closed galleries. here to express his wish that no schism or breach of the Barnes Trust or Move should Next is a painting of a cat of Pennsylvania German origin, which I believe suggests a occur, even though the pro-Move supporters may try to portray The Move as desirable? stealthy characteristic of one who will come on the scene to perhaps defend The Barnes. Next in line we have Walk in the Orient, Spazier Gang im Orient by Klee (1932) which The next painting is Bird’s-Eye View, by Wols (German 1913–1951), which might sug- is an image of stick figures on parade. Has Dr. Barnes placed this image here to level gest that someone will provide the bird’s-eye view of The Barnes that I am now provid- almost derisive symbolism at those who he might see as “calling wolf” by claiming that ing, which I believe is necessary for the People of Pennsylvania to have in order to make preserving The Barnes in Merion is untenable? The idea of a “walk in the Orient” is an informed decision and a proper choice about whether The Barnes should be moved. synonymous with the idea of a walk in the East which is the general direction in which At the apex of the ensemble on the South Wall of Gallery XVII is a retablo of San the Benjamin Franklin Parkway proposed location of the faux Barnes is to be. Had Miguel by Jose Raphael Aragon. San Miguel, is, of course, St. Michael the Archangel, Dr. Barnes somehow foreseen that a claim would be made of financial emergency? Is who would be the defender of the faith. In this retablo, St. Michael is wielding a sword. this an image he utilized to describe what he thought to be a spastic or knee-jerk reac- This image appears to represent the coming of a defender or a champion of The Barnes. tion? Even if we only slightly abuse the idiom, isn’t it possible that the words “Spazier Below this image of St. Michael is Angles and Curves (1918), by Picasso, which suggests Gang” might flow off the English-speaking tongue as “Spaz Gang” or “Spastic Gang”?

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If Dr. Barnes meant this, then this gang is from the East and to the East of Merion is the city of Philadelphia. Has Dr. Barnes placed this image here to insinuate that the cry of financial emergency and the urgent need to move the art to Philly is like a spastic calling “wolf” and may be an overreaction? And, finally, there is the colorful image called The Last Mercenary (Der Letzte Landsknecht), by Klee (1932), which suggests that a soldier may eventually triumph, but for whose side he fights is not entirely clear except in conjunction with the remain- CONCLUSION ing images. In the remaining images, we first see, at the top of the next column,A Seated Figure at Table, by Geer van Velde (Dutch, 1898–1977), meaning that someone is now seated and possibly studying this imagery or is at rest. Then we see Rocks, Waves, and Figures, “ ‘Cultural vandalism’ is a mild description of the wrong being done…” by M. B. Prendergast (circa 1902–04), wherein the rocks and wave suggest a poten- Julian Bond, Chairman Emeritus, NAACP, tially stormy conflict. However, under this is Girl Asleep, by William Glackens (circa Speaking about The Barnes Move in “The Art of The Steal” 1916–17), as if some conclusion has been reached. And, in the final column, we have Southern Landscape with Figures and Horses, by Pascin, in which there is a view of the t The Barnes, water means different things in different places, but it is always city far off, as if, following the conclusion of the Fight To Keep The Barnes in Merion positive, even in The Residence where we see it freezing as it is pumped out represented by Geer van Velde’s figure seated at the table and the girl sleeping, the city Aof a pipe onto what appears to resemble the Benjamin Franklin Parkway site is still far off in “Southern Landscape with Figures and Horses.” Following this are Two in the painting by William Glackens of the ice-skating rink in The Residence library. Figures (1935), by Luigi Settani, and Two Women and Child On Beach (1916), by Demuth, Interpreted in this light, Dr. Barnes may use the Glackens painting to suggest that, which seems to suggest that the two figures we have started seeing at the beginning water is, in a sense, protective and defensive, because The Move to the Parkway area is of the South Wall are still present and are triumphant on the beach. I say this because made a slippery proposition by the frozen water. That the water is freezing is instruc- the last image is Washington Square, by Glackens (circa 1910), which shows an empty tive as well, because the freezing of the water also seems to be a symbol of the chilling Washington Square that looks very much like an empty Ben Franklin Parkway Site. effect of the proposed Move upon the animation and spirituality that is the warmth and One final element has to do with the extension of this theme into the library of elegance of The Barnes in Merion. The freezing water being pumped out into a park is The Residence which I believe is the final part of the imagery. On the Southern Wall not destructive, it is merely symbolic. There are no distressed or deluged ships at The of the library of The Residence in nearly a direct line with the images on the South Barnes as you will sometimes see in the mariner museums and other places where a col- Wall of Gallery XVII, we see another painting by Glackens, this time of a frozen lection might study the fiercer characteristics of water. Instead, for Dr. Barnes, water is Washington Square which has water being pumped into a frozen skating rink. This not a symbol of destruction but a symbol of renewal in spirit, protection, and convey- may suggest the massive record snowfall of seventy-eight inches that the Philadelphia ance. Water means many things, but it is always positive at The Barnes. region received in the year of The Barnes On The Parkway Project, 2009-2010 (more In my estimation, the most powerful water symbol in The Barnes is a Revolutionary snow than Philadelphia received in recorded history). I like to think that the amount of War era American clay water jug that stands in the Southeast corner of The Barnes just snow that fell on Philadelphia rose to the height of Dr. Barnes, which I believe that it below a portrait of a king by Herbisov and a drawing of a guitar player by Jacques probably did, because pictures of him suggest that he was well over six feet. This image Lipchitz. This simple clay jug is embossed with the symbol for infinity and has the of a frozen parkway site may suggest that the effort to Move The Barnes is a slippery word “Liberty” etched upon it. Dr. Barnes has placed this little jug in the corner of The proposition and that it will ultimately be frozen and fail or that it will receive a frigid Foundation that surveys all of Philadelphia from one of the highest natural elevations reception and The Barnes will be kept and preserved intact in Merion. Or, the image in the Philadelphia region as one approaches that area from the Atlantic Ocean and the may mean that if The Barnes is moved to the site, it will be a cold Barnes devoid of plain of central New Jersey. I often think that the portrait of the king and the drawing those warm things that make it the wonderful American place and magnificent cultural of the guitar player symbolize the music of Dr. Barnes spreading forth from Merion attraction that it is in Merion. toward Philadelphia, and that in this simple clay jug of modest construction lies the

346 Barnes Rune 2012 CONCLUSION embodiment of all that Dr. Barnes hoped for the city of Philadelphia and for his nation. The face in Matisse’s Still Life with a Plaster Bust (Nature Moret aux Coloquintes) It is a concept embodied in the words of the prophet Isaiah: (late spring, 1916) on the South Wall of Gallery XXIII appears to be eternally facing “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I out toward the place where this jug is placed in Gallery XXII as if Matisse’s bust is an will pour my spirit on thy seed; and my blessing upon your offspring. eternal sentinel or guardian of the wish for liberty that Dr. Barnes has for the people And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the watercourses.” of Philadelphia, America, Europe, and the world. It is hoped that they would return Isaiah 44:3 the favor and support the effort to eternally preserve the liberty of Dr. Barnes to think and feel and express himself in the way that he wished, and, by so doing, to help to In this simple clay jug lies the most magnificent masterpiece of all that The Barnes keep The Barnes intact and undisturbed in Merion. Perhaps, if we band together like in Merion stands for, eternal liberty. It is this jug that The Water Bearers of The Barnes “The Friends” of the purported Barcelona Comica piece in defense of this special place on and The Barnes itself offer to the world. It is not something new and shiny like a steel earth, the living spirit of free expression at The Barnes in Merion will stand as a beacon and glass construct in the city, but something old and elegant like The Merion Estate. to all of Philadelphia and the world forevermore to be always a little bit more creative Like Isaiah’s refreshing water, The Barnes in Merion is meant to represent eternal begin- and a little more mindful of the rich human tradition of those who have gone before. nings again and again as each new novitiate is bathed in the light of inspiration that The Barnes experience affords. In a way, all the trappings of The Barnes combined with Immortal patriots rise once more, its homey simplicity inspire an odd respect. I remember when I first visited The Barnes Defend your rights—defend your shore. as a young man, I couldn’t believe that a place so humble contained so much beauty. Let no rude foe with impious hand, This quiet humility is the most striking thing about The Barnes. It is truly a passage Let no rude foe with impious hand between our humble human state to greater glory of the spirit. All this will be lost in Invade the shrine where sacred lies the garish glow of the streetlights in the Orwellian futurescape of the sterile concrete Of toil and blood the well-earned prize and steel canyons of Philadelphia, and this is The Move’s greatest tragedy, the death of While off’ring peace, sincere and just; Philadelphia’s, Pennsylvania’s, and America’s suburban elegance. In heav’n we place a manly trust The Barnes is simply so earthy, real, and without pretense that it catches us off That ev’ry scheme of bondage fail. guard and captures us, making us feel like we are an integral part of the experience and … a part of a greater continuum that reaches back to the touch of Doc Barnes himself. In His hopes are fixed on heav’n and you— a way, The Barnes itself is like that little clay water jug with an inscription carved from When hope was sinking in dismay the spirit of America’s independence, high above the city of America’s independence. When Glooms obscur’d Columbia’s day, With this little jug, Dr. Barnes celebrates the heritage of liberty and the sturdy sim- His steady mind from changes free plicity of the city and people of Philadelphia. To him, eternal liberty is what his home, Resolv’d on death or liberty. Philadelphia, stood for. With the symbol that he chose, he hoped that this symbol to “Hail! Columbia” Philadelphia from its highest hill would be a guiding image for generations to come Joseph Hopkinson that The Barnes in Merion Station and the people it celebrates would forever stand for eternal liberty. And from that hill The Barnes holds the humble earthen water jug in If The Barnes is moved to the low-lying place on the Parkway that is being set homage high over the home of American independence, like the image of John holding aside for it, it will then only shine over half of Philadelphia: a second-rate and vastly the earthen jug as he baptizes Jesus in Gallery XIV. And, for all that the city would do diminished image as well as a second-rate and vastly diminished experience. What to dismantle The Barnes, in this image we see the celebration and reaffirmation in The possible rational justification could someone ever have to interfere with the rich human Barnes of the pre-eminent symbolic importance of this city, Philadelphia, the home of tradition and imaginative image of good will for all that are represented in The Barnes the great declaration, the mighty social contract and constitution of The United States in Merion? of America, a beacon and example of freedom the world over.

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f future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them something more than the miracles of technology, we must “Ileave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it.” Lyndon B. Johnson I can’t stop wondering how Americans, as a people of conscience, ever got so far away from the wonder that is The Barnes in Merion that we are willing to trade this place of artistic sensitivity and splendor for a lesser commercialized replica in the city of Philadelphia. Whenever I visit The Merion Barnes I simply cannot imagine how anyone could conceive of changing it by moving the art collection. Whenever I think about The Move, I feel ashamed knowing that I belong to the world community that turned its back on this philosophically enriching place of our forefathers. If we so easily turn our backs on the accomplishments and trust of our predecessors, then what does that say about our cultural integrity as a society? We Americans, who pay such great lip service to principles of expression, liberty, and tradition, seem too politically weak and intellectually ignoble to accord the historic Barnes a treasured place in our heritage. Have we really sunk this low? In my opinion, it is a sad reflection on our time that people will be patting themselves on the back somewhere thinking that they have done something noble by accomplishing The Barnes Move. I always think of the piles of taxpayer money fueling this Barnes Move, even though Pennsylvania taxpayers that I talked to have often never even heard of The Barnes Move. One of the most generally repeated misconceptions about The Barnes Move is that you will hear people say that at least it was fully aired in the courts because there was so much litigation regarding the The Move. I have been given reason to reconsider this because the attorney general of Pennsylvania was the only entity with standing to challenge The Move, and it appears from his subsequent statements in the documen- tary The Art of The Steal that his office did not consider an alternative avenue than the one proposed by the Move supporters. If this is the case, did he do his best to protect the interest of the people of Pennsylvania in preserving The Barnes in Merion? Barnes Rune 2012 EPILOGUE

If the attorney general’s office was on board with the Barnes Move all along then should be moved to Philadelphia due to a financial hardship which threatened the doesn’t that mean that any litigation was more a formality than an adversarial truth- viability of The Foundation. What concerns me about this is that since that time, determining process? Personally, it is my hope that a constitutional actor like the attor- Governor Rendell has personally pledged $25 million in public money to Move The ney general did not prejudge the merit of the Petition to Move The Barnes especially Barnes when he, as a Lincoln State University trustee, appears to have been unwilling when the overwhelming impression of the citizens that I talk to seems to be to preserve to muster any support to preserve The Barnes in Merion Station in its time of need. The Barnes in Merion. You can expect private actors to act in their own interest, like As governor serving in this dual role of Lincoln trustee and Barnes Move supporter, the Philadelphia donors who want to get their names on the proposed Barnes Move the governor, in my opinion, should have at least stayed neutral on this issue and ‘honor roll’ or get the art collection closer to any building projects or real estate hold- should not have jumped on the pro-Move bandwagon. Further, even while Governor ings in which one or another might have an interest in Philadelphia. You can almost Rendell has been pledging millions for The Barnes Move and trumpeting a pro-educa- even expect a legislature to pass eleventh hour, unpublicized earmarks to act to benefit tion agenda, students at the primarily black Lincoln State University have been asked their political backers or influential special interests who might want to move The to study in makeshift modular library units while the modernization of their regular Barnes. But a public official like the attorney general is another matter. library stalled for lack of funds. The attorney general’s office is probably the most important player here because this Under Article 4, Section 2 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, the responsibility of the office is supposed to be the Peoples’ Litigator. The people of Pennsylvania are commit- governor is to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” In return for Lincoln ced- ted to spend over $100 million to Move the collection when it would have taken far less ing control of The Barnes board to pro-Barnes Move nominees, the governor reportedly to preserve it in Merion. In my opinion, the attorney general’s office should have zeal- promised to engage in future fundraising efforts on behalf of Lincoln University if Lincoln ously considered and argued Dr. Barnes’s position that the Foundation be preserved in would consent to not object to the court proceeding that sought to alter the location of Merion and actively promoted effectuating Dr. Barnes’s Indenture of Trust. For instance, The Barnes Foundation’s art collection and weaken Lincoln’s control over the board of Montgomery County made a bailout offer which wouldn’t have cost Pennsylvanians a The Barnes. The governor’s promise encouraged a modification of the primary purpose of dime and which would have encouraged The Barnes to stay in Merion, but this was the Barnes Indenture which was that the Barnes Foundation art collection was to stay in rejected without any objection from the attorney general. Who was this official serving? Merion. Governor Rendell was a trustee of Lincoln University when he reportedly prom- We elected him. While I am not privy to the transcripts, I understand that at one point, ised that he would engage in future fundraising efforts on behalf of Lincoln if Lincoln the judge in the Barnes Move proceedings had to admonish the attorney general’s deputy agreed to surrender its controlling interest in the Barnes Foundation. If this is the case, to become more active in the case. If the former attorney general, the Honorable Michael then Governor Rendell agreed to lessen the power of his own fellow Lincoln University Fisher, by and through his deputy, came to the table as the advocate for the people of board members with a promise to perform a duty that he arguably already had as a Lincoln Pennsylvania with a preconception that The Barnes board should be modified, and that trustee (to participate in soliciting funds for Lincoln) and, then, to add insult to injury, The Barnes Move should be permitted, did he disregard one of the fundamental tenets of he pledged between $25 million and $30 million in taxpayer dollars to The Barnes Move this Country’s constitutional jurisprudence—that government actors, whenever possible, when Lincoln University students didn’t have suitable library accommodations. are to give sanctity to the indentures of trust of private individuals like Dr. Barnes? (See, Has Pennsylvania governor, Edward G. Rendell, misinterpreted his constitutional generally, Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 17 U.S. 518 [1819]. duty to the Citizens of Pennsylvania? Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 17 U.S. 518 (1819), But the misinterpretation of constitutional duty is perhaps most serious in the is black letter law in the United States. That case is a United States Supreme Court office of the governor because he is a man of such great charisma that if he goes down Contracts Clause case, and it stands for the proposition that a state actor cannot utilize a particular path a whole host of important personages follow. It is my understanding state authority to modify or alter a private contract. This is interference with personal lib- that by virtue of his office, Governor Edward G. Rendell is and was an ex-officio trustee erty at the most fundamental level. State actors are obliged to abstain from any conduct at Lincoln State University, to whose Board of Trustees the Indenture of The Barnes which might serve to induce deviance from contractual intent. The Barnes Indenture Foundation entrusted control of The Barnes Foundation board prior to the 2004 deci- is such a contract. There is a good reason for a policy against the intervention of public sion of the Montgomery County Court to expand the board with Lincoln University’s officials in private contracts because it is a check on the misuse of the incredible power consent. Governor Rendell was a trustee of Lincoln when claims were made by Barnes of state actors and officials. If you have an official who holds the purse strings and who is Foundation Chairman Bernard Watson that The Barnes was in financial straits and cloaked in all the power of the state, what does a private entity do but capitulate when faced

352 353 Barnes Rune 2012 EPILOGUE with such a circumstance and consent to undermine its principles? In my opinion, by These are great and powerful men. I have followed their careers, I have admired taking a position in support of modifying the Barnes Indenture in this controversial them and I have emulated them. They watched over us all as representatives of the Barnes Move proposal, the governor has unwittingly broken the social contract. state, but I respectfully submit that they got The Barnes Move wrong. The governor I respectfully suggest that as well-intentioned as I am sure they are, neither the recently admitted in the documentary The Art of The Steal that he had been approached Honorable, Edward G. Rendell, Governor, nor the Honorable, Michael Fisher, former by a Philadelphia socialite nearly fifteen years ago with the idea that it would be desir- Pennsylvania Attorney General, was entitled to the privilege of discretion of office in able to move The Barnes art collection to Philadelphia. Did the governor use his con- this instance because his support of modification of The Barnes Indenture was an exer- stitutional authority to arm-twist the Lincoln State University Board of Trustees into cise of personal official power that affected the private indenture of a citizen, Albert C. consenting to the disembowelment of The Barnes in Merion in contravention of the Barnes, M.D.: Dartmouth College decision? Did the former Pennsylvania attorney general’s permis- sive attitude toward The Move enable the plan to succeed? Did these men undermine “When we consider the nature and our constitutional jurisprudence by exercising their fantastic public power to encour- age the modification of the Barnes Indenture of Trust and the proposed Barnes Move? the theory of our institutions of gov- The other big issue with the public money was the Pennsylvania legislative appro- priation of $100 million in capital improvement dollars for a museum building to ernment…we are constrained to con- house The Barnes art collection in Philadelphia that no one seems to want to acknowl- edge that they knew about. This is like a big white elephant in the room, because the clude that they do not mean to leave existence of this appropriation was never entered into evidence in the proceedings lead- ing up to obtaining court permission to Move The Barnes, and everyone involved in the room for the play and action of purely legal proceedings seems to have denied knowing about the appropriation at all. Senate Bill 1213 of 2002 was co-sponsored by ex-Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent J. Fumo. personal and arbitrary power… The It is my understanding that not one public hearing with notice to the parties con- cerned about The Barnes Foundation was held by the Pennsylvania General Assembly very idea that one man may be com- on this $100,000,000.00 taxpayer appropriation where Barnes preservationists could have made their case to the Legislature and to the Citizens of the Commonwealth of pelled to hold his life, or the means Pennsylvania that any such money be used instead to preserve The Barnes in Merion. I also understand that the Lincoln Board claims to have known nothing about this of living, or any material right essential $100,000,000.00 appropriation to Move The Barnes. Forgive me for writing out all those zeros, it helps me to understand the magnitude of this matter. An estimate I to the enjoyment of life, at the mere read opined that it would have taken under half of that $100 million appropriation to preserve The Barnes in Merion in perpetuity. Here, there is no guarantee that the $100 will of another, seems intolerable in million presently committed to a large Parkway facility will be the last time the new city “home” of The Barnes will come looking for taxpayer handouts if it does not attain any country where freedom prevails, its attendance projections. The legislature of Pennsylvania is supposed to be a public body, but, if you believe as this being the essence of slavery what all these litigants say, then it appears that the members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly who participated in the earmark process felt it to be acceptable to not inform itself.” Yick Wo vs. the courts of the Commonwealth or the public about the whole truth of a controversial matter under litigation. The Montgomery County Court was a public forum and the Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356, 369 (1886) public servants and representatives of the Pennsylvania General Assembly who had

354 355 Barnes Rune 2012 EPILOGUE notice of a pending proceeding affecting The Barnes, who failed to notify The Court of How did The Barnes Foundation get a $100,000,000.00 appropriation to Move that a matter potentially affecting the outcome of said proceeding should really be asked to even The Barnes Foundation didn’t know about? How does it happen that the State answer to ethics officials about why they thought it was in the public interest to with- Office of the Attorney General, which is specifically supposed to know about the con- hold this information from The Montgomery County Court in a case where a number tents of new State Legislation, miss the existence of a $100,000,000.00 public legislative of Pennsylvania citizens were concerned about the propriety of the Move. I hope that earmark affecting The Barnes Foundation, which was the subject of their legal case? If Pennsylvania taxpayers demand such an investigation. this $100,000,000.00 State appropriation of public dollars had been disclosed in court, I often wonder why said appropriation has not been challenged as a violation the issue of the rededication of these dollars to the preservation of The Barnes in Merion of the Constitution of Pennsylvania, which states at Article 3, Section 7, that “No might have been more fully laid before the people of Pennsylvania. This would have local or special bill shall be passed unless notice of the intention to apply therefore framed a previously nonexistent public debate on the importance and fate of The Barnes, shall have been published in the locality where the matter or thing affected may be an open and accessible public debate on this Move topic. Why does it sometimes seem that situated, which notice shall be at least thirty days prior to the introduction into the an open public debate is something which the pro-Move actors seem to want least of all: General Assembly of such bill and in the manner to be provided by law…” Usually, the administrative director of The Pew Trusts declined an interview for The Art of The Steal just placing a notice in the Pennsylvania Bulletin of the passage of legislation might documentary, and one of the persons who has been pushing this project, Governor Rendell, be good enough, but here there was litigation in the courts. I have never had the has appeared from his bully pulpit on television’s Fox News not to join a constructive dis- opportunity to ask the Pennsylvania legislators why they did not bring the passage cussion about The Barnes Move but to tell us that keeping The Barnes in Merion would be of their $100 million dollar earmark to the attention of the court or the litigants in a disgrace. Why does Pew stay off camera somewhere while the hard questions are being the Barnes Move matter. Some are lawyers, some have lawyers in the family or even asked? Aren’t The Pew Trusts public policy pollsters, recipients of charitable dollars and judges in the family, yet none of them appears to want to say that they knew enough the beneficiaries of tax-exempt status? While I recognize that The Pew Trusts have done about this Barnes Move controversy in the Montgomery County Courts to bring it good in other areas, in the case of The Barnes, does Pew’s reticence to address the questions to the Montgomery County Court’s attention that they just earmarked over $100 of critics of the Move on camera cause the reader to think of Bob Dylan’s Masters of War: million dollars not just for a run of the mill appropriation, but a potentially con- “…You that hide behind walls/ You that hide behind desks/ I just want you to know/ troversial one to move an historic collection of international interest, The Barnes, to I can see through your masks. . .”? To my knowledge a Pew poll has never been taken Philadelphia two years prior. Isn’t the fact that the Pennsylvania taxpayer is footing nationally or even statewide in Pennsylvania on the precise issue of whether The Barnes the bill a material fact when options were on the table for private county funding? Move should occur. I wonder why? It does raise a thorny question for the people of This should disturb any democratically minded Americans. These people are sup- America: do you have a chance when the people and entities who have a controlling posed to be our public servants. Who do they serve? Is this democracy and statesman- influence on your cultural tastes have an agenda which is different from your own? The ship? What are we teaching our children by passing $100 million dollar earmarks Verizon Foundation? The Wachovia Foundation? Independence Blue Cross? The Cigna that no one interested in the issue or the public apparently knows about? Is this how Foundation? The Exelon Corporation? The Move donor list is a veritable “Who’s Who” they pass important legislation in Pennsylvania, without any information or input of companies or foundations formed by companies that compose the fabric of American or public notice, public committee meetings or debates? The Barnes appropriation society. Should these types of entities be held to a higher standard when doling out was listed as one of hundreds of appropriations and buried on page 244 of SB 1213 of charitable money for potentially destructive and divisive projects? What is the definition 2002. No one on The Barnes preservation side apparently even knew about the inter- of “corporate responsibility” in America? Shouldn’t the health insurers be scrutinized if est of the Pennsylvania State Legislature in the Barnes move for several years after they have so much money to throw around? Is it necessary that our electric rates increase this appropriation was passed. I understand that no one connected with The Barnes when Exelon has excess income to throw at these types of projects? Should our phone litigation has ever come forth publicly to say that they knew of this $100,000,000.00 bills be so high when Verizon can afford to fund a foundation that engages in this kind appropriation. How does that happen? How does a Foundation get $100,000,000.00 of expense? from a state government to move one of America’s most important art collections and It is even a concern to me whether Americans have gotten an insightful, aggres- not know about it? sive and fair take on The Barnes story when a traditional outlet that Americans rely

356 357 Barnes Rune 2012 EPILOGUE on for an incisive and balanced approach to our public affairs such as National Public Gerry Lenfest of the Lenfest Foundation, had been able to use the fundraising clout of Radio issues a disclaimer with a story on The Barnes because the pro-Move Annenberg the Pew Trusts and the Lenfest Foundation to raise pledges of $80 million in support Foundation is or has been a big contributor. The media conglomerate, Comcast, is of The Move. It is unfortunate that the Pew Trusts could not put their weight behind also tied in at some level with this Move. Comcast states that its donations have been a Barnes Merion preservation effort especially since they seem to advocate preservation unconditional donations but it seems that there may at least be some sympathy in the of other important American places like our national parks. I still hold out hope that ranks for The Move because Ms. Aileen Roberts, wife of Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, the Pew Trusts and Mr. Lenfest can be persuaded to alter any support for dismantling is a pro-Move Barnes trustee and Parkway building committee chair. The Barnes. And, I’m not demonizing all these people and entities whether they are Move sup- One of the supporters of The Barnes Move is the Barnes’s Chairman of the Board, porters or on the fence or doing it because a couple friends approached them to do it. Bernard Watson. Mr. Watson has become one of the biggest and most vocal support- They all seem well-meaning. So, I sometimes think that it is just that they haven’t got- ers of the Barnes Move. He has pointed to Paragraph 11 of the Barnes Trust Indenture ten to hear some of the neat things that one can see, learn and experience at The Barnes as justifying a Barnes Move in a state of financial emergency. While I understand Mr. in Merion and they haven’t yet had the chance to get behind a great idea which is to Watson’s argument, I’m not sure that Paragraph 11 justifies The Move because a move preserve The Barnes intact in Merion. Then they might put their tax-deductible money would only seem to be a last resort. It is my understanding that in response to the hue into preserving The Barnes in Merion instead of dismantling it. I humbly hope this is and cry of fiscal emergency, a citizens’ group, The Friends of The Barnes, negotiated the case for all of the Move supporters. with Montgomery County to obtain a $50 million bond issue to support The Barnes Putting all that aside for a moment, from the outside looking in, it just seems if it stayed in Merion—which would have eliminated any emergency—Mr. Watson to me sometimes that there has been little room for democracy in this Barnes Move declined and the attorney general didn’t push the issue in court. I just don’t see the legislative process which, in my view, forecloses the possibility of learning about all “emergency” that Mr. Bernard Watson likes to fall back upon, since financing to keep the sides of a complex issue like The Barnes Move. And this, in my estimation, is not The Barnes in Merion was apparently available. I don’t think that there are nefarious something I expected from my beloved Keystone State, which prides itself on being the motives behind all this either, I simply think that Mr. Watson, like all these persons, birthplace of liberty and the home of the National Constitution Center, where people strives to be an educator and a philanthropist. I think that he thinks that a Barnes Move come to learn about the living Constitution of the United States of America. I thought will best serve the urban community, and I don’t think that it will. In my opinion, that Pennsylvania was supposed to be the cornerstone of liberty, not an example of the best thing you can do for city kids is to preserve their utopian place in the hills in everything that has gone wrong with special interest legislation. Merion. In my opinion, what Dr. Barnes actually gave all those Philadelphia kids for all I think that the proper solution always would have been to put the question of the those years was a little pride and a piece of real estate in the big game near Philadelphia’s proposed Barnes Move to a statewide referendum vote of the Citizens of Pennsylvania. wealthy Main Line when he entrusted the care of his Foundation to Lincoln University. The French government had the good taste and cultural decency to put the proposed In my opinion, the children of Philadelphia benefit from just knowing The Barnes is Louvre renovations up for a nationwide referendum. Why can’t we do the same for the out there in that ritzy neighborhood and wide open to them. From a practical stand- proposed Barnes Move, especially when there’s so much public and charitable money point, wouldn’t the urban children be better served and educated if you made every involved and maybe even a continued drain on public and charitable money if it can- room in the Barnes On The Parkway Building an activity or craft studio and kept The not support itself in its more expensive quarters on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway? Barnes in Merion as a reward or a destination of frequent field trips? A perpetual chair Even at this early stage, it appears that even to get this move off the ground, The was recently endowed in Mr. Bernard Watson’s name at Temple University by a num- Barnes Move supporters have had to go to foreign shores for money to dismantle this ber of charitable entities and donors. Two names stood out from the list: H. W. “Gerry” important American landmark as they have recently appointed someone from an Indian Lenfest of the Lenfest Foundation, and the Neubauer Family Foundation, which is company to sit on the Barnes Foundation Board. If this Move is such a popular idea, ostensibly tied to another Move supporter, Barnes pro-Move Trustee, Joseph Neubauer. why couldn’t the Move supporters find the basic financial support needed for this Move It is this circle of well-meaning and generous community leaders who we must respect- on our own shores? fully beseech to review their position on The Barnes Move. When the Petition to Move the Barnes was filed, it was reported that Ms. Rimel I am not unsympathetic to the motivations behind The Move. Yes, art is for every- of the Pew Trusts, in conjunction with Walter Annenberg’s past business associate, one. Yes, even passive exposure of children to art is a good thing. But do you have to

358 359 Barnes Rune 2012 EPILOGUE destroy the work of art that is The Barnes in Merion to save it? And, isn’t the lesson of In my estimation, The Move sacrifices on an altar of access all that is truly inspi- art so much better for children and everyone else in an authentic place like The Barnes rational and educational about The Barnes. I believe that The Move throws artistic in Merion which truly has an aura of mystery and splendor that makes a learning expe- integrity, independent thought, creativity, and American honor to the winds. If this is rience so much more compelling, worthwhile and unique? One of the professors at The what we are interested in teaching our youth, then, in my opinion, our country and my Barnes shared his take on this Move with a class I attended. The gist of his presentation home, Pennsylvania, is in a sadder state than I had ever imagined. was that he thought that The Move would be beneficial because he would be able to Writer Mary Ann Meyers wrote a biography of Dr. Barnes and an account of the share the paintings of Cezanne with a broader base of art students. When I heard this history of The Barnes Foundation called Albert Barnes and the Science of Philanthropy, statement, I could only think of how much I disagreed with him and how great a dis- Art, Education, and African-American Culture, and at the end she concluded that, based service that I believe The Move is to students everywhere and to Cezanne. I thought upon her travels around the globe, it was better for art museums to be in cities, based that that if a Move occurred, this professor’s prized broader base of students would be upon, I suppose, convenience and ease of access. Every medium-sized city should take forever deprived of seeing Cezanne in quite the same way that I have seen Cezanne in heed of this reasoning, because it doesn’t seem to be too far a leap from this logic to say the magnificence of The Barnes in Merion. Here, it seems that I discovered Cezanne in that every art museum should be in large cities rather than medium-sized ones because his original state in a place that seamlessly unifies Art, Architecture and Nature. In my of even greater convenience and ease of access of a larger population of people; after opinion, The Barnes is a state of mind, and the heart and soul of that state of mind are all, how many globetrotters stop at Detroit, Michigan, Cleveland, Ohio, or Corning, integrally intertwined with the Merion Estate. And so, to me, a Cezanne will never be New York? Detroit is thought by some to have the fifth best museum in the country; as beautiful as it is on Latches Lane in Merion. Cezanne’s colors will never be quite as can we expect to see Ms. Meyers to begin advocating that the Detroit Museum of Art earthy as when they are seen in conjunction with the splendid hues of the Merion man- should be moved to New York City or Los Angeles because that would make it more sion, garden and arboretum. His strident lines will never seem so edgy as when they are convenient to larger members of the public? Or what about the private collections, Ms. seen against the backdrop of the soft, sweeping lawn of the Merion Campus. The spiri- Alice Walton’s Crystal Bridges in Bentonville, Arkansas or The Westervelt-Warner tual peace inspired by Cezanne’s paintings in a visitor’s heart of hearts will never be as Museum of American Art in Tuscaloosa, Alabama or The Hyde Collection in Glen deep and as soulful as the peace that comes from silently walking the placid grounds at Falls, NY, to name a few? According to “The Encyclopedia of Alabama.org” website, Merion and then entering the Galleries to view his elegant paintings. If you want to see hosted by Auburn University, Tuscaloosa has only about 80,000 residents compared and learn about Cezanne’s spirituality and artistic method clearly, then, in my opinion, to the Philadelphia region’s estimated 6 million residents. Can Mr. Jonathan “Jack” the Merion campus is the best place to do this in America and, perhaps, in the world. Warner expect his Westervelt-Warner to be gutted in sixty years and given the same The stone of The Merion Barnes and The Residence was imported from a quarry in treatment that The Barnes in Merion has been given or will the state of Alabama show the Pouillenay region and the neighboring Coutarnoux region of eastern France. Sight- one of its own a little more respect than the good Dr. Barnes has gotten from the legis- seeing trips are offered in this region from Pouillenay to Provence claiming that the visi- lators of Pennsylvania? Where should we draw the line on this slippery slope? Can the tor will be able to see the landscapes that inspired Cezanne. The Pouillenay stone that museum be in any population center or must it be in a heavily concentrated population comprises much of The Barnes Merion is a hue that Cezanne himself would have seen center? Should Versailles be moved fifteen miles into the center of Paris so it is more in nature. The color of this stone framed by the green lawns and foliage of the tress pro- accessible? Should the Brooklyn Museum or The Cloisters be moved to Central Park duces the effect that The Barnes itself is like one of Cezanne’s masterpieces. The cumula- so they are easier to find for out-of-towners? Should the Statue of Liberty be moved tive effect of these elements creates an impression that cannot be replicated in the smog closer to shore so that she can be more easily seen? In my opinion, the access reasoning and urban clamor of Philadelphia. In Merion it is as if The Barnes has just been hewn neglects the idea of pride and nobility of place which is one of the most prized of human from the cragged earth at the quarry at Cezanne’s Bibemus and Cezanne has just painted values. it. In my opinion, since Dr. Barnes had more Cezannes than are known to be in all of One of the stock defenses that Move supporters espouse is that it is ethical and Paris, maybe he knew a thing or two more than the rest of us about fully appreciating a desirable to make the Barnes Move because that would make the art collection more Cezanne. What could the future art students of the world learn from the dynamic rela- accessible to the public, but there are, in my estimation, far better ways of accomplish- tionship between the glorious impression of the mansion stone, the garden green and the ing the very same thing. Instead of bringing the mountain to Mohammed, we should Cezanne paintings inside? I guess we will never know once The Move is accomplished. take Mohammed to the mountain. Since they’ve raised all this money, I think that

360 361 Barnes Rune 2012 EPILOGUE there is a much smarter alternative to this Move, which is having a dedicated monorail in the painting or paintings like it may have influenced artists that came after; a brief or trolley leaving from the Barnes On The Parkway site to a fully intact and preserved video discussing the techniques used in the painting or color choice and mixing; and, Barnes in Merion Station. This would solve any access issues, and it would actually pro- a final option about how it fits into the artist’s biography and oeuvre or his times. We mote attendance. Even kids and teens would probably be far more interested in visiting might be pleasantly surprised with the result. We could advance education without a place with a monorail instead of just another stuffy city museum. Who wouldn’t want disturbing the indescribable and irreproducible educational experience of encounter- to take a brief monorail ride to the mysterious Barnes Merion paradise, which is about ing the collection in its original American home. And, as a result, through the magic six miles west of the city by the way the crow flies? The Monorail could traverse the zoo of this technologically integrated Barnes orientation site in the city, BELL, students and some of the city’s other sights on its way to Merion Station, and the zoo and these wouldn’t just have forty-six Picassos that The Barnes Merion has, but would, instead, other sights could get some free promotion as a result. have access to thirty thousand plus Picassos thought to be in the world. It wouldn’t just I always remember the words of one of my acquaintances, an architect, who asked be sixty-nine Matisses, it would be all the known Matisses in the world. It wouldn’t a Barnes educator if he thought there would be much use of multimedia at the new just be fifty-six Cezannes, it would be all the known Cezannes in the world. And, it Parkway facility. I think that multimedia would be the way to go at the Benjamin wouldn’t just be 181 Renoirs, it would be all the known Renoirs in the world. Now, Franklin Parkway Barnes site, where, instead of moving the art collection, they could that would be an educational resource and experience. Plus, we wouldn’t be depriving make a Barnes Education and Learning Lab. Don’t move the paintings. Use images ourselves, our children and humanity of the exquisite Barnes art experience in Merion. created by multispectral imaging of The Barnes Wall Ensembles to fill the Parkway To accentuate the authenticity of the experience, the Parkway Learning Lab could walls. Multispectral imaging is said to be so advanced at this point that the computers have courses on art as well as on the more academic aspects of Barnesian Method. involved can map every brush stroke of a painting. This technology has been employed Students would benefit if instead of displaying The Barnes Art Collection, BELL had by such respected institutions as the Louvre and the Van Gogh Museum. These images a permanent comprehensive display of the huge written and photographical archive of are said to replicate aspects of a work of art that have never been reproduced before. The Barnes Foundation and the critical correspondence that shows the history of The So, why Move The Barnes when this new technology would better serve to expand Barnes, the history of art and the history of half of the twentieth century which has students’ horizons? The Barnes, after all, is a school; Move supporters should use the never been seen by the public. Further, the Learning Lab could have monorail access to money for the Barnes On The Parkway to keep the faith and expand educational oppor- the historic Merion Barnes and the Barnes Art Collection. The monorail could be used tunities instead of replicating The Barnes which is an educational facility we already as the public entry point for The Barnes and deliver visitors to a Barnes Merion Station have. receiving area on land purchased from St. Joseph’s University. A Barnes Education and Learning Lab on the Parkway, nick-named BELL in honor Instead of moving The Barnes Foundation paintings to The Parkway, The Barnes of Miss Moina Belle Michael and the Liberty Bell, or The Barnes Gate, could supplant Education and Learning Lab (BELL) could provide exhibits from private collections to the Barnes On The Parkway Project. We could leave The Barnes art collection in its encourage private collectors to donate or open more of their collections to the public home in Merion and the new Barnes Gate or BELL Parkway facility could use tech- and to display art from the various city museums that might be in storage for lack of nology to show the entire span of artistic history through the use of images of great exhibition space. It could be a smaller and cheaper venue to maintain. It could even paintings from around the world through the medium of multispectral imaging. The have an area dedicated to promoting the wealth of arts destinations across the entire Parkway site could use multimedia to educate about the Wall Ensembles. For instance, Philadelphia region instead of just the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Then the students you could have the whole Wall Ensemble before you on custom made Wall Screens. or tourists could take an enticing monorail ride to the art collection and garden of These Wall screens could be interactive. Educators could touch an image of a particular The Barnes Estate in Merion Station and experience the paintings in their landmark painting and enlarge it so that it takes-up the entire frame of the Wall Screen. After Merion home. As a regional promotions venue, BELL would also function as a hub to that, the educator could get a drop down box at the touch of the screen that allows an organize tours to other regional arts venues or to act as a convenient, centrally located option to compare the image of the painting before the class to other works by the art- marshalling place for visitors to the reinvigorated region to obtain passage to their next ist; another option that compares it to similar works by artists that may have influenced destination or lodging. the artist; an option that compares or contrasts features in the painting to certain nota- The critical use of BELL as a regional multiplex or regional arts orientation center to ble features of works of the artist’s contemporaries; an option discussing how features promote other regional museums, art galleries, artist studios, and performance venues,

362 363 Barnes Rune 2012 would further expand the educational and tourist opportunities Philadelphia could provide to the infrequent traveler looking to maximize their tourist dollar. Properly staffed and organized, it could provide a reference standard art tourism ‘junket’ oppor- tunity that could not be rivaled in the world. And, it would give all of the region’s many meritorious local collections and places an additional shot in the arm. Further, it would give the arts career people and potential donors swarming around The Barnes a constructive task instead of a destructive one. This is how to truly promote the compre- hensive vision of art of Dr. and Mrs. Laura Barnes, expand the educational vision of Dr. Barnes, preserve America’s historic and cultural integrity in Merion, and promote the Philadelphia region’s arts scene, but I’m not sure that’s what the powers that be really want, and I have no idea why. The Merion Galleries are scheduled to close in July 2011 to ready for The Move which is slated for completion in 2012. There is probably only one way to save The Barnes in Merion and that is through the invocation of The Antiquities Act of 1906 (16 U.S.C. Sections 431–433) by the President of the United States. Write to the Pennsylvania Governor and to the President. Request that the Governor stop the flow of public funds to the Barnes Move. Request that the President invoke The Antiquities Act of 1906 to Stop The Barnes Move, or, if The Move has occurred, request that he direct the restoration of the art to its Merion home. Also, please make sure to visit The Barnes Friends website at www.barnesfriends.org where there is a Barnes Move donor list. Write to the donors. Write to every Pennsylvania legislator, the Pennsylvania Governor, the Pennsylvania attorney general, The Pew Trusts, and The Barnes Foundation until The Barnes collection is preserved in or restored to Merion. Step up America! Take hold of your future before someone else does. Stop Pennsylvania from making a ruin of one of the things that makes it and mankind special.

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General John Joseph “Black Jack” Pershing General John Joseph “Black Jack” Pershing arriving in Europe (George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress)

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(Library of Congress)

Marines Learning to Shoot (George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress)

U.S. Soldiers rushing into battle (Library of Congress)

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U.S. Marine Officers who survived Belleau Wood— leaders of the Marines who, according to legend, earned by their ferocity, the name, “Teufel Hunden,” Devil Dogs, from their adversaries.

At a dedication of The Marine Memorial at The Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial near Belleau Wood, Army General, James The tree-lined entry to Flanders Field Cemetery G. Harbord, the commander of these men said: (Photo from the American Battle Monuments Commission website) “Now and then, a veteran…will come here to live again the brave days of that distant June. Here will be raised the altars of patriotism; here will be renewed the vows of sacrifice and consecration to country. Hither will come our countrymen in hours of depression, and even of failure, and take courage from this shrine of great deeds.” (Photo, U.S. Army Heritage and Information Center)

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Flanders Field Chapel and Cemetery (Photo from the American Battle Monuments Commission website)

Flanders Field Memorial Chapel Altar (Photo from the American Battle Monuments Commission website)

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Ceiling of Flanders Field Memorial Chapel (Photo from the American Battle Monuments Commission website)

Flanders Field Memorial Chapel Plaque dedicated to Forty-Three Missing Soldiers (Photo from the American Battle Monuments Commission website)

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Overhead Map of Flanders Field Cemetery Jacques Lipchitz bas-relief on East Wing of The Barnes Foundation (Image from the American Battle (Photo courtesy of Mary Ann Sullivan 2008) Monuments Commission website)

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Center point of palindrome or the arpeggio of Alban Berg’s Opera Lulu

Jacques Lipchitz bas-relief on West Wing of The Barnes Foundation (Photo courtesy of Mary Ann Sullivan 2008)

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The disastrous Stair of The Italian Hall Façade of the Societa Mutua Beneficenza Italiana, The Italian Hall (Image from The Italian Hall website, administered by (Image from The Italian Hall website, administered by Thomas James Katona) Thomas James Katona)

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National personality, Mother Jones, in Calumet (Image from The Italian Hall website, administered by Thomas James Katona)

The Miners on Strike (Image from The Italian Hall website, administered by Thomas James Katona)

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The Victims (Image from The Italian Hall website, administered by Thomas James Katona)

The Children supporting their fathers (Image from The Italian Hall website, administered by Thomas James Katona)

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Interior view of The Italian Hall after the disaster (Image from The Italian Hall website, administered by Thomas James Katona)

Waiting hearses (Image from The Italian Hall website, administered by Thomas James Katona)

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Funeral Procession in Calumet for the disaster victims The graves of The Italian Hall victims (Image from The Italian Hall website, administered by (Image from The Italian Hall website, administered by Thomas James Katona) Thomas James Katona)

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“Big” Annie Clemenc president of the Western Miners Auxiliary No. 15, organizer of The Italian Hall Christmas Party (Image from The Italian Hall website, administered by Thomas James Katona)

Dr. Barnes and Mrs. Laura Barnes with Fidele in the doorway at “Ker-Feal ” (Gottscho-Schleisner Collection, Library of Congress)

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The Copper Cauldron Room at “Ker-Feal ” Cauldron in The Gate Leg Table Room at “Ker-Feal ” (Gottscho-Schleisner Collection, Library of Congress) (Gottscho-Schleisner Collection, Library of Congress)

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The Roberts Chest Room at “Ker-Feal ” (Gottscho-Schleisner Collection, Library of Congress)

Second Floor Hallway at “Ker-Feal ” (Gottscho-Schleisner Collection, Library of Congress)

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The School Master Desk Room at “Ker-Feal ” (Gottscho-Schleisner Collection, Library of Congress)

Purported Barcelona Comica piece or The Friends

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Vista general del Palacio Episcopal de Astorga, (Photo courtesy of Ignacio Cobos Rey (Lironcareto) 2003) (Creative Commons Attribution)

Purported Barcelona Comica piece (verso)

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The Barnes Foundation, Merion, Pennsylvania (approximate and not to scale)

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