91 mitted to racial equality and social reform throughout his life and was steadfast in his belief that the broader appreciation of African sculpture would further those goals. Now, nearly a century later, the relevance of the African art collection to the overall vision of the Barnes Foundation—and Barnes’ own important role as an early advocate for the appreciation of African art and its social value—is not widely recognized. Historically, the signifi cance of the foundation’s African sculpture has been easily overshadowed by enthusiasm for the celebrated modern European paintings in its holdings. As a result, Barnes’ interest in and ideas about African art are not well understood. This essay sheds light on the history and purpose of the Barnes Foundation. It describes the formation and content of Barnes’ collection of African art and explores its relevance within the institution. More than just formal accents to modernist paintings and other Western art in the collection, African art deserves to be seen as central to the aesthetic mission and progressive vision that were at the very heart of the Barnes Foundation. Albert Barnes, Paul Guillaume, and the Emerging Market for African Art By the time Barnes began collecting African art in 1922—the same year he established his foundation— he had already amassed a fortune and with it assembled what was being described as early as 1914 as “the most consistently modern collection in America.”2 Barnes rose above an impoverished childhood in a rough section of Philadelphia to become a millionaire through the manufacture of the silver compound Argyrol, widely used to fi ght eye infections in newborns. A self-described failed painter with an early interest in art, he began to focus serious attention on forming an art collection in 1912, enabled by the success of his Philadelphia-based phar- FIG. 3 (above left): From “Catalog and Desiderata, Collection of Negro Art, Nelson Rockefeller.” AR.1999.31.1. The Museum of Primitive Art Records, VRA, AOA dept., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. FIG. 4 (above): Seated couple by the Barnes Foundation Master. Dogon, Mali. Late 19th– early 20th century. Wood. H: 64.5 cm. The Barnes Foundation, A197. Photo: Rick Echelmeyer, © 2015 The Barnes Foundation.
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