Met exec favors Barnes move

Art Museums and the Public Trust: Elitism, Populism and Democracy was the catchall title of a public discussion with Philippe de Montebello, director of the New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, on Tuesday at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The guest of Paul Holdengraber, director of the LACMA Institute for Art and Cultures, de Montebello talked about the perils of blockbuster exhibitions, the pleasures of spending quality time with a single artwork and much more.

But the most dramatic moment came when de Montebello was asked if he thought the Barnes Foundation’s art collection should move from its longtime home in a wealthy residential section of Merion, Pa., to downtown Philadelphia, as the foundation’s trustees have requested.

The proposed move, which would overturn the will of founder Albert C. Barnes, is being considered by a judge, who is expected to make a decision in January.

“I’m thinking about how honest I should be,” de Montebello confessed after a moment of silence. Then he declared that moving the collection is the right thing to do, because more people could enjoy it on Philadelphia’s museum row.

“I would even say -- possibly committing an apostasy -- that I hope some changes will be made in the way the collection is displayed,” he said. The eccentric installation designed by the founder is “a tribute to Barnes and an insult to the artists.”

-- Suzanne Muchnic