The maverick's museum : Albert Barnes and his American dream / Blake Gopnik

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gopnik, Blake, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Barnes, Albert C. (Albert Coombs), 1872-1951.

Barnes, Albert C.

Art--Collectors and collecting--United States--Biography.

Art.

Philanthropists--United States--Biography.

Philanthropists.

Genre:

Biographies.

Informational works.

Physical Description:

403 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates ; illustrations, map ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2025]

Summary:

From prominent critic and biographer Blake Gopnik comes a compelling new portrait of America's first great collector of modern art, Albert Coombs Barnes. Raised in a Philadelphia slum shortly after the Civil War, Barnes rose to earn a medical degree and then made a fortune from a pioneering antiseptic treatment for newborns. Never losing sight of the working-class neighbors of his youth, Barnes became a ruthless advocate for their rights and needs. His vast art collection -- 181 Renoirs, 69 Cézannes, 59 Matisses, 46 Picassos -- was dedicated to enriching their cultural lives. A miner was more likely to get access than a mine owner. Gopnik's meticulous research reveals Barnes as a fierce advocate for the egalitarian ideals of his era's progressive movement. But while his friends in the movement worked to reshape American society, Barnes wanted to transform the nation's aesthetic life, taking art out of the hands of the elite and making it available to the average American. The Maverick's Museum offers a vivid picture of one of America's great eccentrics. The sheer ferocity of Barnes's democratic ambitions left him with more enemies than allies among people of all classes, but for a circle of intimates, he was a model of intelligence, generosity, and loyalty. In this compelling portrait, Gopnik reveals a life shaped by contradictions, one that left a lasting impact. -- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Prologue

Civil War, Childhood, Methodism

The neck, Central High

Medical School, Germany, Mulford

Wedding, Argyrol, Marketing

Bribes, Lawsuit, The Main Line

Collecting, Glackens, Paris

A buying spree

Collecting mania

Armory show, John Quinn, Vituperations

Cultural ascent, American moderns, Judging art

Dewey

Democracy and education

Factory life, Worker education

Buermeyer, Practical psychology, A murder case

War, A Polish study

Wealth, Renoir and Cezanne

Buying American, Art in the factory

Philadelphia philistines, Birth of the foundation

Planning a foundation, Young art in Paris

Paul Guillaume

De Chirico, Modigliani, Soutine, A first exhibition

African art, Black culture

Black rights, Black education

New buildings, The collection

The foundation opens, Education and the art in painting

Democratic aesthetics, Form and meaning

Universities, Thomas Munro, Europe, Cezanne and Seurat, Art education

Failed alliances, 'The girls' and De Mazia, Demonstrations

Ejecting elites, Fine Scotch

The negro center, Foundation fellowships, Henry Hart

Deaths, Zonite, Returning an O'Keeffe

The dance, A double cross?, A Matisse book

Great Depression, Art as experience, Renior

Vollard, Cezanne's Bathers

Crafts, Horace Pippin

Ker-Feal, The Arboretum, Bertrand Russell

The Saturday Evening Post, Firing Russell

Failures, War

Penn Redux, Haverford, Penn again, Sarah Lawrence, Lincoln University

The end

Epilogue

A note on sources

Acknowledgments

Illustration credits

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copies: Gemmill fund bookplate.

ISBN:

0063284030

9780063284036

OCLC:

1440216435