In Spring 2012, Dr. Barnes’s iconic collection will move to a new venue in Center City Philadelphia. The Barnes staff is measuring the galleries and works within them, preparing to recreate them to 1/16 of an inch (1.59 mm) and learning more about Barnes’s unique approach to art installation in the process.
Barnes arranged his collection in “ensembles,” purposeful combinations of works from different cultures, periods, and media. The juxtaposition of paintings, decorative arts, and objects illustrates aesthetic principles taught in the Barnes Foundation’s art education program.
The ensembles have remained essentially untouched since Barnes’s death in 1951, as evidenced by a set of photographs taken that same year by artist, art educator, and photographer, Angelo Pinto. A recent high-resolution digital imaging project, funded by the Richard C. Von Hess Foundation and the Dolfinger McMahon Foundation, has modernized documentation of the ensembles, helping to ensure their accurate reinstallation.
Precise measurement of the ensembles attempts to capture the relationship between the objects in them and involves several steps. First, the spaces between the paintings are measured, giving a sense of each ensemble’s overall framework. Next, each object is removed from the wall to measure its dimensions and the location of its hanging hardware. Finally, each object is returned to the wall, and its distance to the floor, ceiling, and corners of the room is recorded.
These measurements demonstrate how Barnes balanced the paintings on each wall. In Gallery II, for example, Manet’s Laundry appears to be centered on the wall but is actually hung several inches to the
right of center. On the opposing wall, El Greco’s Apparition of the Virgin also hangs off-center, several inches to the left. Although one wall is almost a foot shorter than the other, the opposing pictures appear perfectly centered. Barnes achieved this effect not by centering paintings on the wall, but by centering paintings against each other and against other ensembles in the room.
Temporarily deinstalling the ensembles has provided a deeper understanding of the intimate relationships between artworks on each wall and across walls. Each time a painting is taken down the ensemble is transformed, and each measurement of its placement gives greater insight into the mechanics of visual experience and the depth of Barnes’s distinctive wall arrangements.