The Art of the Steal Page #8

---

the first thing we got was,

"Oh, all these foundations

want to help

the Barnes Foundation."

- The foundation said,

you know,

they're there to serve

public needs.

I mean, they get--

they get tax benefits.

So these places,

whether it's Pew or Annenberg

or anybody else,

they have

public responsibilities.

- The responsibility should be,

"How do you keep this going? "

Not, "How do you exploit this? "

"How do you preserve it? "

(dramatic music)

They didn't say

what their real goal was.

What was their real goal?

(Music continues)

- From NPR news,

this is AII Things Considered.

I'm Michele Norris.

- And I'm Robert Siegel.

After two years

of Iegal battles,

one of the world's

Ieading collections

of Impressionist art

is getting a new home.

Today a Pennsylvania

judge ruled

that the Barnes Foundation

can move its collection

from the suburbs

to a new gallery

in downtown Philadelphia.

(Music continues)

- Dr. AIbert Barnes

made his fortune

selling pharmaceuticals.

He spent it acquiring paintings

by Matisse, Picasso, Renoir,

Cezanne, and other masters.

But two years ago,

the foundation

that oversees the art

announced it was broke.

Since it's prohibited

from selling any of the works

hanging in its

Lower Merion gallery,

it asked for a court's

permission to move the art

to a new gallery

in Philadelphia,

where it could draw

more visitors

and raise more money.

Rebecca Rimel is CEO

of the Pew Charitable Trusts,

one of three philanthropies

that are offering to raise

$100 million for a new gallery

and $50 million to replenish

the foundation's

depleted endowment.

- The judge felt,

and of course we have felt

since the beginning,

that this is not only honoring

the donor's intent,

but making sure

that the collection

will be available

for generations to come.

- Barnes officials

were giddy today

but admitted there was

much work to be done

before the paintings Ieave

Lower Merion for good.

(birds chirping)

- The foundation became

fiscally impossible to sustain

in its current location.

I think it was three or four

executive directors came in

and tried to make the Barnes

financially sustainable

in Lower Merion.

They failed.

- There were very strict limits

on the number of people

who could visit.

The community was very hard

on being sure

those limits were adhered to.

- You've got

this magnificent collection

being hidden away

from the world.

Down in Philadelphia,

ten times more people a day

can be able to see it.

And then it's too small.

It's too small.

The building is too small.

- There is such an emphasis

on preserving

the artistic ensemble method

that Barnes seemed to favor

of hanging and arranging

his paintings.

So I think people

will then have

the kind of experience

that he intended.

- And then you have

the secondary benefit

of what this would do

to continue Philadelphia's drive

to be a great tourism

and destination city.

(alarm clock rings)

- # There's so much to do,

so much to see #

# There's nowhere that

I'd rather be than Philly #

# 'cause Philly's more fun. #

- If you were to add the Barnes

to the Parkway,

there isn't a couple

in the United States

or in Europe or Asia

who's interested

in arts and culture

who wouldn't come

to Philadelphia

for at least a long weekend.

- Visitors here spend

over $17 million a day.

So if you have more visitors,

and my understanding is that,

even looking at it

conservatively,

the Barnes located

on the Parkway

would be able to accommodate

four times as many visitors

per year.

So you can start doing

the math.

- This collection should be

shown to as many people

as humanly possible

in the best,

easiest-to-get-to setting

that we can do.

This was always

a no-brainer for me.

It wasn't a tough decision

at all.

- Book our two-night package

any day of the week

and see why Philly's more fun

when you sleep over.

- These, I would say,

are the key players involved,

the key political backers

and financial backers

of the move:

primarily,

the Pew Charitable Trusts

and its director,

Rebecca Rimel,

in consortium with,

or, as I like to put it,

as part of a cabal,

with the Lenfest Foundation--

that's Gerry Lenfest,

who has a powerful conflict

of interest

as the chairman of the trustees

of the Philadelphia Museum

of Art--

and supported

by Governor Rendell

and Mayor Street

and Leonore Annenberg,

the widow

of the late Walter Annenberg,

who spent much of the last part

of his life

trying to gain possession

of the Barnes.

I'm sure many among them

believe sincerely

that what they're doing will be

for the good of Philadelphia.

- We're going to build

a world-class center

for the fabulous

Barnes collection,

which has no peer

anywhere else on Earth.

And I'm delighted to be

here today with the mayor

to make sure this is done

in the appropriate way

with intelligence, with reason,

and compassion.

(applause)

- My feeling

about Philadelphia is

that it doesn't

do itself justice,

saying we need to be

a world-class city

by stealing an art collection

and bringing it down

to what I call a "McBarnes"

in downtown Philadelphia.

- This is gonna be a great event

for the city of Philadelphia.

It will-- it will attract

literally tens of thousands

of visitors, I'm told,

in a given year.

The Barnes collection on

the Benjamin Franklin Parkway

would have the economic impact

of three Super Bowls

without the beer.

- A city that has any sense

of its own identity

doesn't talk about becoming

a world-class city.

It is what it is.

This is the world class of,

you know, of cheerleading,

of pep rallies and of building

a new baseball stadium

or a convention center.

That's not what art is about.

- I see the people

who are attempting to move

the Barnes Foundation

as vandals.

Tourism and, you know,

generation of money, greed.

And the Barnes Foundation

is an unfortunate victim

of all this bullshit.

- We're at 20th and the Parkway,

where they intend to build

the new Barnes Foundation,

and they're having some kind

of party here,

thinking that they're going

to go ahead with this plan.

So we're here

to confront the people

who are paying for this thing,

so we just wanted them to know

that it's a bad idea.

- Attention, everyone.

Attention.

Welcome, welcome, welcome

to the predator's ball.

Everyone you see around me

and behind me

are participating

in a criminal conspiracy

to bring off

the greatest theft of art

since the Second World War.

What you are witnessing here,

Iadies and gentlemen,

is a theft in broad daylight.

- Here's the governor.

(clamoring and chanting)

- You're not a dictator,

and you're not

in Philadelphia anymore!

(chanting and clamoring)

- Dishonorable!

Edward G. Rendell.

(background conversation)

- We're in an economic crisis.

- The world is Iaughing at us.

Break the trust for no reason.

- Please don't break the trust.

- Excuse me, excuse me.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes