On May 31, news broke that the University of the Arts in Philadelphia would close its doors permanently June 7. The news stunned the U of Arts community, its alum – some of whom found out when the public did – and the city of Philadelphia which has prided itself as a hub for artistic patronage, world-class museums, and educational institutions dedicated to the arts. This abrupt closure of a Philadelphia Arts educational institution summons a complex history that haunts the art world at the center of fine arts, foundations, and historically Black colleges and universities.
On June 2, the Board of Trustees of the University of the Arts released the following statement:
“With deepest sadness, we must confirm that University of the Arts will close on June 7, 2024. The Board of Trustees formally voted on June 1 to approve the closure. Under extraordinary circumstances, we diligently assessed the urgent crisis presented and pathways to keep the ins
Dr. James Peterson
University of the Arts is no more. And although the lawsuits and the aftermath quarterbacking will continue for some time, the exercises that will imagine what could have been possible will be few and far between. Philadelphia’s University of the Arts is less than two miles from the current location of the Barnes Foundation. Two miles.
What if – in the sense of the alternate timeline variations of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – Philadelphia’s University of the Arts could be repurposed as an addition to Lincoln University’s institutional footprint in Philadelphia? The possibility will sound far-reaching, especially if the history of the Barnes Foundation and the physical transition of the Barnes collection of world-class art to the city of Philadelphia is unknown to you. For an in-depth primer on this controversy, which has been described as the greatest art heist in American history, please screen The Art of the Steal, an in-depth documentarian analysis of the legacy of Dr. Albert Barnes, his exceptional art collection, and the ultimate contest over his last will and testimony.
Dr. Albert Barnes (b. 1872/d. 1951) came from humble beginnings in the City of Brotherly Love. He attended Penn, became a chemist, and made his fortune by developing an antiseptic, marketed as Argyrol, a medication used to treat infant blindness. He made a fortune. He loved art. So, he began to acquire it. Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso, Van Gogh, and others. His eye for art was aesthetically ahead of his time, so he acquired hundreds of paintings from the masters before they were acknowledged as such. Expert pundits in The Art of the Steal suggest that Barnes’ art collection is worth upwards of 25 billion dollars.
No need to rehearse The Art of the Steal here but suffice it to say that Dr. Barnes’ wish (and command) was for his artistic legacy to live in a dedicated educational space outside of the clutches of the Philadelphia fine arts establishment. Some of this tension stems from Barnes’s prescient ability to collect valuable art before it matured in value – before the establishment in Philly could recognize it as such. And some of it stems from Dr. Barnes’s initial attempt to present his collection in Philadelphia. In 1923, Barnes presented his collection at the Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) and the Philadelphia arts establishment panned it calling it primitive – most notably by a critic in the Philadelphia Inquirer – the flagship paper of record for the City of Brotherly Love. Right then, over a century ago, Barnes vowed to never let the Philadelphia art establishment get its clutches on his precious collection.
