Albert C. Barnes

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For the American theologian, see Albert Barnes

Albert Coombs Barnes (January 2, 1872–July 24, 1951) was an American inventor and art collector, who made a fortune from the development of the antiseptic drug Argyrol, and founded the Barnes Foundation, a popular art collection in Pennsylvania. He was known as an eccentric, larger-than-life figure who had a passion for educating the underprivileged.

Barnes was born in Philadelphia in working-class surroundings, the son of a butcher. Barnes financed his own education in chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania and in Germany. In 1899, with a German student named Hermann Hille, he developed a mild silver nitrate antiseptic, which was an immediate financial success. Barnes soon bought out his partner, became a millionaire by the age of 35, and sold his company before the stock market crash of 1929 and before the advent of other antibiotics.

From about 1910 Barnes began to dedicate himself to the pursuit of the arts. In 1912, during a travel to Paris, he attended the house of Gertrude and Leo Stein where he gained the acquaintance of artists like Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. In the 1920s, thanks to the merchant Paul Guillaume, he became acquainted with the work of Amedeo Modigliani and Giorgio de Chirico. With his money, his excellent eye, and economic conditions in the Depression, Barnes was able to acquire a great deal of important art at bargain prices. His first Picasso, for instance, was bought for under $100.

Known for his antagonism to the discipline of art history, which "stifles both self-expression and appreciation of art," Barnes was also an outspoken and controversial critic of public education and the museum. His foundation had a hands-on approach to the collection and was created, he argued, not for the benefit of art historians, but for that of the students.^[1]

A public showing of his collection in 1923 proved too avant-garde for public taste. The critical ridicule aimed at this show was the beginning of a long-lasting and well-publicized antagonism between Barnes and those he considered part of the art establishment. Those wishing access to the Foundation, which held an extensive collection of high-quality artwork and which was ostensibly a public institution, sometimes received rejection letters signed by Barnes's dog, for instance. In a famous case, writer James A. Michener was refused admission, and only gained access to the collection by posing as an illiterate steelworker. Up through the early 1990s, long after Barnes's death, access to the collection was extremely limited.