Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art and Block Cinema (Venue Partner)
40 Arts Circle Drive
Northwestern University
847 491 4000
This event has passed.
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Don Argott, 2009, USA, color, 35mm, 101 minutes
- When
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Wednesday Mar 10, 2010 (7pm)
- Where
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Directions: On the south end of Northwestern University's campus, just off Sheridan Road. Free parking at NU after 4 pm weekdays and all day weekends. Near the CTA Purple Line Davis and Foster stops and the Metra Davis stop.
- Price
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$6
- Links
“A compelling polemic by Philly-based Don Argott, The Art of the Steal looks at the bitter, decades-long fight over the Barnes Foundation and its $25-billion-dollar art collection. Created in 1922 by Albert C. Barnes, an early 20th-century industrialist and voracious art collector, the Barnes Foundation made its Merion, Pennsylvania home a mecca for aesthetes, with eyefuls of brand-name paintings and only-here ephemera. Barnes passed away in 1951, but his will declared that the works never be loaned, moved, or sold, until a few powerful figures in Philly saw the dollar signs in the impressionistic swirls. Argott employs gabbing partisans, graphics, and archival footage to present a case that continues to open fault lines in the art world.”
Jason Jude Chan, Flavorpill
Director Don Argott's indie film-fest favorite chronicles the conflict over the Barnes Foundation's $25 billion art collection, donated years ago to a small African-American university. A handful of former students stand up against an alliance of collectors, charities, and politicians who want the foundation's artistic treasures moved.
