American Paintings and Works on Paper in the Barnes Foundation

This catalogue is the first publication of the Barnes Foundation's collection of over three hundred American works of art, including a treasury of important early-twentieth-century paintings by William J. Glackens, Maurice and Charles Prendergast, Charles Demuth, Alfred H. Maurer, Ernest Lawson, Horace Pippin, Marsden Hartley, Jules Pascin, and many others. Rich with compelling, firsthand accounts of the collector's methods and purpose, this definitives scholarly examination of the American paintings and works on paper assembled by Dr. Albert C. Barnes offers a long overdue exploration of his exceptional achievement.

The Barnes Foundation is recognized for its unique collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and early Modern paintings. It is less known, however, that the Foundation was established in 1922 as an eductional experiment devoted to the study and appreciation of art from many countries and cultures. In direct pursuit of this pedagogical mission, Barnes acquired high-caliber works of art---including outstanding examples of African, Asian, Native American, and Ancient art, Early American furniture and ceramics, and American and European ironwork. Incorporating extensive documentation from the Foundation's archives, Richard J. Wattenmaker situates the Foundation's American holdings within this institutional context while illuminating Barnes's personal dealings with many of the works' creators.

This volume begins with a study of the development of the Foundation's educational programs and Barnes's thirty-five-year collaboration with philosopher and educator John Dewey. In addition to analyzing Barnes's role as a collector of Modern art and his relationships with American artists, the book features essays devoted to the nine principal Americans whose works Barnes collected, along with complete catalogue entries for all 343 works by American artists presently in the Barnes Foundation. It decisively documents an important chapter in the history of collecting and art education in America during the first half of the twentieth century.

Richard J. Wattenmaker, a widely recognized authority on late-nineteenth-and early-twentieth-century Modern art, is a former student and instructor at the Barnes Foundation and was most recently the Director of the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.