The new face of the Barnes
Sitting in the small Philadelphia suburb of Merion, PA, now closed for relocation, lies the world-renown stockpile of impressionist, post-impressionist, and modernist masterpieces, formally collected through the Barnes Foundation. Amassed by the late Dr. Albert Barnes, he began the collection with earnings in professional holdings from antiseptic development in the early 1900s. Twenty-two years later, he established the Barnes Foundation with the mission to “promote the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts.” Being somewhat of a recluse from the art company in Philadelphia, I say recluse in the most neutral way possible…fierce combatant of the entitled, establishment of the big city is another way to cut it, the collection caused quite a stir over the past decade, with debate over what to do with the priceless collection after the good Doctor’s death in 1951, chronicled thoroughly in the documentary The Art of the Steal (4 stars on the Steve Semanchik video rating system).
After much heated debate, political positioning, and more legal-eeze than dots on a Seurat painting, the collection is to be move to a brand new facility in the heart of down town Philadelphia, caddy-corner to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Along with this new facility, the foundation also updated their identity with materials created by, the always impressive, Abbott Miller and Pentagram. The new logo mimics the symmetrical layout of paintings within the collection’s various installations. Just as the space merges everyday objects such as furniture and knick-knacks with impressionist masterpieces, type, space, color, and alignment are balanced in the new logo to create an experience much like seeing the collection in person. Working alongside the foundation, planners, architects, and builders, Pentagram was also able to assist in wayfinding efforts, environmental design, and other key museum pieces to create a truly cohesive experience.
The new Barnes identity is a good representation of the exhibit experience. It’s balanced and structured, but still shows variety and character, with differentiations in space and shape. The positive and negative spaces created by the reversed out type reinforce the notion of individual works hung in a gallery, each one painstakingly arranged to best utilize the arrangement. The bright orange offers a bold, modern outlook, much like that of its inspiration, Matisse’s Joy of Life. My overall opinion is that Pentagram did a great job, but what, was every graphic designer in Philadelphia busy during this rebranding? A lot of the fluff from city officials during the debates on the collection’s move, was that this collection made Philadelphia an art destination like no other on earth. Couldn’t the same be applied to the design, the environment and the web. In essence, get your own art-controversy NYC…
Endnote: I first heard of the Barnes Foundation through the aforementioned documentary and I instantly gravitated toward Dr. Barnes. He seemed grizzled, spiteful, and somewhat stubborn, much like I see myself getting once I hit that ripe old age. But at the same time, he knew what he wanted, and how to get it, as well as being an AMAZING judge of talent. He bought, now priceless, impressionist art, while the Establishment was calling it garbage. He stood by his conventions, and didn’t let anyone push him around. I was saddened when I heard the collection would be moving…
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I can’t wait until this opens. I’ve always wanted to see a Degas ballet painting in person, and they have 2.
The logo’s brilliant. Because of the typography, I didn’t even notice that the paintings were symmetrical until you mentioned it in the article.