Albert C. Barnes
Albert Coombs Barnes ( January 2, 1872 in Kensington, Pennsylvania, † July 24, 1951 in Chester County, Pennsylvania ) was an American physician, pharmacist, art collector, author, philanthropist and founder of the Barnes Foundation.
Life
Albert C. Barnes was born in a working class suburb of Philadelphia, the son of the butcher John Barnes and the German -born Lydia Shafer. His mother was convinced Methodist and took him as a child to church meetings, where he had early contacts with the African-American population, for their art and culture, he was interested in his life. After graduating from high school (to his classmates the later painter William Glackens belonged ) studied medicine in Philadelphia and Barnes initially worked as a medical assistant at various hospitals in Pennsylvania. 1894/95 he worked as a physician at the Charité in Berlin. Back in the U.S., he studied psychology in the mental hospital by Warren (Pennsylvania). Subsequently he earned as an advertising and sales manager for a pharmaceutical company and his money went in 1900 at the Ruprecht -Karls- University in Heidelberg to complete his pharmacy studies with a doctoral thesis. During this time, Barnes also visited philosophy lectures. Barnes married in 1901 Laura Leggett from Brooklyn.
While studying in Germany Hermann Hille Barnes met with which he 1902, the company Barnes and Hille founded. One of the company's developments was the sanitizer Argyrol. This medication ( a silver compound ) has been used successfully for eye inflammation. 1907 solved Barnes and Hille their partnership and Barnes took over the whole company, which in the following year in AC Barnes Company was renamed. Barnes developed a very successful marketing system and sold without intermediaries directly to doctors and hospitals. In addition to the factory in Philadelphia were new in London and Australia.
Barnes began early social engagement. He led for the white and the black workforce at its factory on philosophical topics discussions, which he himself directed. In addition to William James, Bertrand Russell and John Dewey also writings of Santayana were discussed. The latter Barnes made the proposal to exhibit works of art ( for example, Glackens and Prendergast ) in the factory to collect the Barnes had already begun. At Art Subjects also found Lectures take place in the company. Furthermore, a company library was established and opened the lecture offer for those interested from outside the company. In addition to his work in the company, Albert C. Barnes was intensely occupied with philosophy and initially took private lessons in order to agree then in 1917 to enroll at Columbia University. The great interest in adult education in 1922 led to the founding of the Barnes Foundation.
Through his fortune earned in the pharmaceutical industry, Albert C. Barnes was early Creating an art collection. In 1912 he sent his friend, the painter William Glackens, to Europe to buy modern art. Among these first acquisitions are van Gogh's postman Roulin and Picasso's Woman with cigarette. In the same year Barnes himself traveled to Paris and bought numerous works of art, including his first Gauguin. In the same year he met Leo Stein, brother of Gertrude Stein. On both a lifelong friendship was born. End of the year he traveled again to Paris, and excited at auctions quite a stir, since he was willing to pay for hitherto neglected painter maximum prices.
In 1923, Barnes presented 75 works of his art collection in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Among the artists belonged example, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Giorgio de Chirico, and Henri Matisse. This exhibition was ridiculed by the public and torn by art critics. This meant that his paintings should never be re- issued publicly. He donated his collection of paintings of the Barnes Foundation and built in Merion (Pennsylvania ) next to the school building, an exhibition wing for the collection of paintings. He woke himself about who was allowed to see this collection. Workers, whether black or white, he gave his permission at any time. All others had to apply in writing for permission. In particular, an art critic and museum lines often were denied access. But the writer, TS Eliot and the architect Le Corbusier, he refused to enter. Others, such as Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann, Greta Garbo, Edward G. Robinson, and Salvador Dalí, he led but you personally through the collection.
The art collection increased over the years enormous proportions: only 181 Renoir, Cézanne 69, 59 Matisses, 46 Picassos, 21 and 18 Soutine Rousseau; In addition, works by Modigliani, Degas, van Gogh, Seurat and Monet. Alongside works by old masters and especially African art ( sculptures), as well as works of African-American artists. With Henri Matisse, Albert C. Barnes was a friend and gave him a contract for the painting of his gallery building.
1929 Barnes sold his company and devoted himself in the years that followed the writing of art historical writings. In his will, Barnes transferred the management of the Barnes Foundation Lincoln University, a college for African- Americans.
Albert C. Barnes died at the age of 78 years following a traffic accident.
Barnes collection
Claude Monet: The Studio Boat
Vincent van Gogh: The postman Joseph Roulin
Paul Gauguin: Haere Pape
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec: A Montrouge - Rosa la Rouge
Édouard Manet: The laundry
Henri Rousseau: Woman in the forest
Amedeo Modigliani: Jeanne Hebuterne
Writings
- The Art of Cézanne. 4th Ed Barnes Foundation Press, Merion Pa. 1977 ( together with Violette de Mazia ).
- The Art of Henri- Matisse. Scribers, New York in 1933 (along with Violette de Mazia ).
- The Art in Painting. 2nd edition, Harcourt Brace, New York 1928.
- The Art of Renoir. Minton & Balch, New York, 1935 (together with Violette de Mazia ).
- The French Primitives and Their Forms From Their Origins to the end of the 15th century. Barnes Foundation Press, Merion, Pa.. 1931 ( together with Violette de Mazia ).