The Art of the Steal Page #6

---

the greatest exhibition

in the history

of Western civilization.

(Music continues)

(music fades)

(piano and orchestral music)

- The Barnes art now returned

to great fanfare and a...

well, I was gonna say

the biggest finger in the eye

that you could imagine,

but I think that was saved

for later, but...

(Music continues)

A showing at the

Philadelphia Museum,

the archenemy,

Satan's lair,

reveling in their possession,

temporary though it was,

of the Barnes art.

- This was the great slap

to Barnes, was that,

"Well, we have to show

the paintings

in Philadelphia too."

Well, why?

Basically, it raised a lot

of money for the art museum.

They had a big Barnes show

at the art museum here,

and they made a lot of money

on the back of it.

- Everybody involved in this

had their own interests.

The only person

whose interest had no champion

was Albert Barnes.

Everyone had abandoned him.

- You know, the paintings

come back from the tour,

and Glanton wants to have

this big party.

Glanton's using it

exactly the way

Barnes didn't want it

to be used,

which was as a sort

of social backdrop thing.

I mean, we're talking all

of the, like,

wealthy people

from Philadelphia,

with their Rollses

and all their stuff,

came to the party,

and they're just all up and down

tiny, little Latches Lane.

- The Philadelphia swells

came down in droves.

And once again, Richard Glanton

basked in the reflected glow

of the Barnes art.

But what he didn't reckon with

was the neighbors.

- Chaos.

It was absolute chaos.

Nothing had ever happened

like that

in the 18 years

we had lived here.

Was this the first of many?

Was this-- our neighborhood

has now changed to this?

(Music continues)

- The Barnes Foundation

has been here

for over 70 years,

Iived in perfect harmony

with the neighborhood

for all these years,

and all of a sudden, it becomes

the Super Bowl venue for art.

- This is from Quebec also.

This is three buses today

from Quebec.

- Our neighborhood

was completely clogged

top to bottom.

Five days a week,

thousands of people a week

were coming and parking

and eating on my lawn

and parking in my driveway.

I mean, it happened

to all of us.

- My kitchen sink

faces the Barnes,

and I guess I spend

half my life at the sink.

So every time I saw a bus,

I would run out with the camera

and videotape it.

I don't know

how you pronounce that,

but that's how I feel.

Richard Glanton referred to me

that he was being harassed

by the KGB.

That was me--

I felt very powerful

for a moment.

- I'd brought the Barnes

out of the Dark Ages

and opened it up,

and it's weird

that a few people

refused to accept that.

- We went to the township

to see about fast-tracking

permission

to build a parking lot.

And Richard very much wanted

this parking lot fast-tracked

at this point.

- You're operating

a commercial museum

in a residential neighborhood.

And putting a parking lot in,

at that time,

would have made it easier

for you to operate

a commercial museum

in a residential neighborhood.

- Questions?

- We went

to a township meeting.

All the neighbors went

to the township meeting,

and people made speeches

at the meeting.

I got up,

and in my speech,

I said, I understood now

how a carpetbagger works.

And a carpetbagger

is someone who comes in

from another jurisdiction,

and, in fact, they call judges

carpetbaggers

when they do that,

and referring to Mr. Glanton

and his management team.

I referred to Mr. Glanton

and his people,

and that was the end of it.

- The township said

that they couldn't fast-track

a parking lot.

Richard was not happy

with that response.

- It wasn't about the cars

or the traffic.

It was about something else.

It was about being hostile.

I don't know why.

You know, I just said,

"This is enough.

I mean, I'm just gonna bring

this lawsuit."

(frantic instrumental music)

- Dr. Herman brought me

to his house,

and he said,

"Bob, I have something,

but I need you to sit down."

I had no idea

what he was talking about.

Because of my use of the word

"carpetbagger"

and "his people,"

they used those two phrases

as the basis

for a civil rights action.

- Glanton ordered

the Barnes's lawyers

to begin preparations

for a suit

against the Lower Merion

township commissioners

and the neighbors

under the federal

Ku Klux Klan Act.

- They accused us of conspiracy

with the township

to deprive them

of their rights

but motivated

by racial grounds.

- They compared not only me,

but they compared others of us

to Hitler.

They showed pictures of people

being lynched in South Carolina

and associated that

with the neighbors.

And I'm thinking,

"What the devil did I do?

I got up,

and I was concerned

that I have buses

and I can't get out

of my driveway.

What am I doing here

in the middle

of something like this,

being called Hitler? "

- All over Philadelphia

in law firms

hither and thither,

the legal fees

on all sides mounted.

And the Barnes's already skimpy

endowment was being drained.

It was just being drained.

- They get all this money spent

sending the collection

to Paris and Tokyo

and God knows where and...

and made a huge pile of money,

which then was all...

I don't want to say

"pissed away."

I should say something

more appropriate.

You can cut that one out, okay?

- Richard Glanton thought

that we were just gonna fold

and say, "We drop out.

We're dropping out."

He just picked

the wrong neighbors.

- Eventually, the entire case

was thrown out.

Judge Brody said there was not

one scintilla of racial animus

in any of the evidence

the Barnes presented.

- In this particular situation,

there's not ever a comment made

about us that does not--

preceded by the word "hostile."

- Their PR firm has maintained

that we harassed them.

The PR firm has maintained

that we sued them.

I mean, if that's what people

are gonna believe,

that we harassed them

and that we are devious,

terrible people...

we've given up trying.

- Over a zoning board issue

was the Ku Klux Klan Act

invoked.

And the mischief that followed

is incalculable.

I mean, thus the whole story

turns on the tale

of a 52-car parking lot.

The president

of Lincoln University

is desperate to get Glanton

out of there,

and in her fury

over the dismissal

of the Ku Klux Klan suit,

she prepared a draft letter

to the trustees

of the Barnes Foundation

suggesting that it was time

to rotate the presidency.

- People can have

their own views.

They're entitled to them.

But, uh...my story is

that it was a second rebirth

of Barnes

during my tenure as president.

I tried to do something

real quick

that was different,

because it had to be done.

And I knew I had no time

to mess around because--

What was that dog's name?

Cerebus, who guards

the gates of hell--

Was after me.

I had been approached about

turning the Barnes over

to the Philadelphia

Museum of Art

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes