Blogs > 37th Frame

Photography, notes, commentary and much more from former Reporter Online Editor Chris Stanley.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Mansion in a Box

The reaction to the new Barnes Foundation is all over the place. But one thing I am pretty sure of - Barnes himself would have hated it. The mansion-within-a-cube would have seemed like a jail cell to him. But the question is, 60 years after his death, does art belong to him or the world? What would the artists themselves think? Hiding their works away to only be viewed by a select few that 'get it' doesn't seem much better than turning them into a tourist attraction.