The Art of the Steal Page #4

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and not merely because

it would be the convenience

of people walking into a museum.

- Well, almost immediately after

Barnes's death,

the foundation found itself

subject to a frontal assault

by none other than

The Philadelphia Inquirer

publisher, multimillionaire

Walter Annenberg.

- Annenberg starts

this campaign:

"Oh, the Barnes Foundation

is not letting the public in.

They're violating their tax

status as a charity."

- Annenberg had all the money

in the world,

and he was determined

to crush the Barnes,

and he didn't dare try

to crush the Barnes

when the old man

was still alive

and was a tough nut

to begin with.

(Music continues)

- When they opened up

the foundation--

I never knew it was

in the works.

The day they opened it,

she called me up and said,

"They're letting

the public in."

I think she was in tears.

Well, these people crowded in.

I mean, one guy was out

in an hour.

He said he saw enough

fat ladies for a day.

And that was--

that's the art lover.

- Annenberg is seen

as the guy

who got the attorney general

and the state supreme court

to make the Barnes Foundation

be open to the public

at times that it wasn't supposed

to be.

And so Annenberg is seen

as taking

the first little crack

at Dr. Barnes' trust.

- Once everybody's dead,

they'll do what they want,

and nobody cares

about what it was.

That's why it was important

to me to emphasize

that it's a school.

- Well, I think he always

was worried

that the artwork would become

so valuable

that it would overpower

his educational ideas.

- You know, people see art,

what do they think?

Paintings, money, tourism.

It's become just the norm

for art to be traded

for blockbuster shows,

you know, to trade the art,

move it around, you know,

make money off of it,

and there is all this great art

that the museum world

doesn't have access to.

- We had requests from various

museums around the country.

"Would you please lend us

two paintings?

"We'll pay all the costs,

and we'll send armed guards

and whatever."

And de Mazia said,

right there in the document,

the paintings will never be

removed from the walls,

absolutely no, never.

De Mazia was considered to be

the last living direct apostle

of Dr. Barnes and his method,

and everything went according

to Ms. de Mazia's wishes.

- The atmosphere

had always been,

"It's for the classes;

this is what it's for."

Everything about it

was personal.

De Mazia was

a real personality.

It was a handmade thing

in a machine world

as long as she was alive.

(dramatic music)

(Music continues)

- When she died, she was,

as I said, 89.

She died on a Friday

in September at 1:40.

(chuckles)

- Well, everything changed

because Ms. de Mazia died,

and with her death,

the question then is,

whose hands would inherit

the Barnes?

Barnes was married,

but they had no children,

so no doubt

the academy assumed,

no doubt the University

of Pennsylvania assumed

that they would inherit,

eventually,

control of the foundation.

However, Barnes kept

changing his will--

of this, there's no question--

but he just didn't

tell anyone this.

- Albert Barnes created the

foundation with five trustees

with the power

to control the foundation.

After the last of the trustees

that he had appointed died,

ultimately they elect de Mazia.

Now, the rub then became,

"Who gets to appoint them? "

- As everyone knows,

Barnes was a misanthrope.

He had his delicate ego

badly bruised

by the Philadelphia

establishment,

and he had a long

and difficult memory.

- Ultimately, his will left

the control

of the great Barnes art

to Lincoln University.

- When he got Lincoln there,

it was just the farthest

possible imaginable thing

in the social scene

as it then existed.

- Lincoln was, if you were

a black man in America,

one of the places to go to get

a really quality education

at a time when there was

segregation and whatnot.

- My father was president

of Lincoln University,

and he befriended

Albert Barnes,

and from that friendship

began a relationship

between Lincoln University

and the Barnes collection.

Barnes was one of those

rare Americans

who was openhearted

about black people.

You know, in his factory, he had

an integrated working force

when almost no

industrial operation

in the whole of the country

had that.

And he thought,

maybe in the back of his mind,

"How can I stick my finger

in the eyes

"of the Philadelphia

art establishment?

"I'll show 'em.

I'll give it to this little

black college."

- Whether, you know,

his long-range objectives were,

number one,

just getting revenge

on the Philadelphia

establishment,

I think he said,

"Boy, you know,

I can trust these people.

"They're not part

of that awful establishment

that I hate so much."

- Fast forward to 1990,

Lincoln is this state school

that doesn't get

enough state funding,

that can't raise enough money,

and if you're a trustee

of Lincoln,

why wouldn't you use

this new asset that you have

to raise some money

for your school?

- Franklin Williams,

this diplomat/lawyer,

was made the president

of the Barnes Foundation,

and he really understood,

as probably most of

the Lincoln trustees didn't,

that he and Lincoln

were becoming custodians

of the world's greatest

post-lmpressionist

art collection.

(bluesy rock music)

(Music continues)

- Franklin Williams established

an art advisory committee

of notable people

from around the country

in the art world.

- Franklin Williams wanted

to pick the right people,

so I went back,

and I drew up a list

with all museum people

but very well-known ones.

- Lincoln University felt

it really should look

to the outside

to help it figure out

what to do with this place,

which is a perfectly reasonable

thing for them to have done.

- It would be a resource

to use as they chose,

understanding the terms

and conditions

of Barnes' trust,

and it would have just made

both of them flourish.

It would be...

It's indescribable

what might have happened.

(Music continues)

- Also on the Lincoln board

at this time

was this incredibly

ambitious lawyer

named Richard H. Glanton.

He has designs on being

mayor of Philadelphia,

maybe even senator.

His ambitions know no limit.

Glanton has already been

going around telling people

that he's going to run

the Barnes.

But as I say, between Glanton

and the Barnes

and perhaps many

of his other ambitions

is Franklin Williams.

What no one could have

anticipated is

that almost immediately

upon becoming

president

of the Barnes Foundation,

diplomat/lawyer

Franklin Williams

discovers he has a very virulent

form of cancer

and within the year is dead.

(Music continues)

- When I came there,

the perception was that

this dummy is fresh meat

for us to devour,

and he's just

a smart political guy,

but he doesn't know anything

about art,

so we'll rule while he reigns.

And...

(chuckles)

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