The Art of the Steal (MOD)

I saw Don Argott's interesting documentary The Art of the Steal on IFC on Demand. It is a very worthwhile film.

The doc is the story of Dr. Albert Barnes. Dr. Barnes did very well with his practice and helped find a vaccine for VD. However, his real passion was art. He spend his money building up a fabulous collection (Matisse, Picasso, Van Gogh, Dali, etc). He did not do this to make money. He did it because he wanted to educate people about art. He set up his center in a suburb of Philadelphia. It was a school but sometimes people were allowed to just see the art. He was a New Deal Liberal and preferred to help the little guy rather than the art elite. And that made some people angry.

One thing that Barnes was very adamant about was that his collection should never me moved out of the center. After his death his assistant remained faithful to his wishes. However, after her death the scavengers came out of the wooodworks. The last part of the film shows the battle between the people who wanted to move the artwork to Philadelphia and those who wanted to keep it where it was.

If you like intelligent documentaries that make you think then check out The Art of the Steal.