FEATURE 96 Barnes, such appreciation was inherently democratic in nature because it did not require specialized knowledge. A viewer need not know the content of the work (the story being told, or other external referent) or the artist’s biography to analyze its form, and any work of art could be subject to such an analysis. This exclusive focus on “plastic form” afforded a broad critical framework that embraced all visual material, regardless of genre, subject matter, or cultural origin—including African sculpture. In fact, Barnes considered African sculpture, more than any other, the purest expression of three-dimensional form and therefore one of the world’s greatest art traditions. Though hailed as presenting “all the chief schools of Negro sculpture,” the collection that Barnes assembled was in fact far from representative. As a collector, Barnes carefully chose objects that refl ected and reinforced his own method of art appreciation. As a result, his collection is highly selective, revealing a preference for relatively naturalistic masks and fi gural statuary from specifi c regions of West Africa. While Barnes’ choices generally align with the prevailing taste in African art of his era, his aesthetic criteria and associated ideological perspectives are unusually well defi ned for that time and are put forth in the book Primitive Negro Sculpture (fi g. 13). Although the publication’s joint authorship is credited to Paul Guillaume and the foundation’s professor of education, Thomas Munro, Barnes played a major role in the conception, development, and writing of this infl uential text, making it a useful reference in considering the scope of his African art collection.28 The Triumph of “l’Art Nègre” In spring 1925, the Barnes Foundation offi cially opened at 300 North Latch’s Lane in Merion, Pennsylvania, making history as the fi rst permanent installation in the United States to present objects from Africa as fi ne art.29 When the foundation offi cially opened in 1925, only European and American modernist paintings and African sculpture were on view, although, as noted above, these were part of a much larger collection assembled by Barnes that by then included drawings and religious art of the early Renaissance, and later on would embrace pewter and ceramic vessels and ornamental and functional metalwork. The collection was displayed in a gallery designed by the French-born architect Paul Philippe Cret (1876–1945), who at that time was also a professor of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. Built of French limestone with Spanish Mission clay roof tiles, the gallery had a two-story open central FIG. 15 (top right): Entrance to the Barnes Foundation, Merion, Pennsylvania. Photo © 2015 The Barnes Foundation. Photo: Rick Echelmeyer. FIGS. 16 and 17 (right): Designs for portico tilework by Enfi eld Pottery and Tile Works (top), 1924, and by Paul Cret (bottom), 1923. Paul Cret correspondence, Barnes Foundation Archives. Photo: Rick Echelmeyer. FIG. 18 (below): Female fi gure, ninana. Mossi, Burkina Faso. Late 19th–early 20th century. Wood. H: 43.2 cm. The Barnes Foundation, A140. Photo: Rick Echelmeyer, © 2015 The Barnes Foundation.
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