The Personal Property Appraisers Post

I have a confession to make. I'm a film freak. It's in my genes - my mother, in her 80s, HAD to see "Boogie Nights" because it was up for an Oscar, you know, let alone being Burt Reynolds' comeback (as short-lived as that was). You don't fool with us film freaks -- we go it alone, sitting way up front so as to be enwrapped by (or is it "into"?) the film with our small "layered" (only REAL butter, please) popcorn. Don't chomp loudly or swirl your ice! And if you whisper, you're playing with your life!

That being said, no appraiser or art connoisseur should miss "The Art of the Steal," a 110 minute documentary by Don Argott on the Barnes Foundation and the will of its founder, Dr. Albert Barnes (1872-1951). After growing up poor in Philadelphia, Barnes discovered the cure for gonorrhea (!), befriended artists in Paris, and amassed probably the largest collection of post-Impressionist and early Modernist paintings said to be worth $25-$30 billion, yes, billion. He created a foundation to place his art in a boutique type setting to be studied, rather than in a museum, and was open to the public only a few days a week. Matisse called the Barnes Foundation "the only sane place to see art in America."

Film critic, Manohla Dargis, opened her review in the NY Times Feb 26th with the following: "Money, power, race, a mansion stuffed with treasure, a city plagued by scandal - about all that is missing from "The Art of the Steal," a hard hitting documentary about a high-cultural brawl, is a hot woman with a warm gun." And that's the pace of this intriguing real life drama. It takes place over the last twenty years when art, culture, politics, tourism, wills and trusts, race, academia, journalism and charitable foundations collide in what is referred to in the film as the largest non-profit hostile takeover.

While many main characters on one side of the issue refused to be interviewed, the facts remain riveting as told by the likes of Julian Bond, Gov. Ed Rendell, LA Times art critic Christopher Knight, to name a few. If you're not familiar with the Barnes collection, this is a short fascinating primer. The documentary taken as a whole raises the ultimate philosophical quesiton, "who does 'art' belong to?" and exposes the "long arm" of the powerful, the wealthy and non-profit charitable foundations thought only to be benevolent.

Meanwhile, don't try to reach me Thursdays or Fridays after 4. I'm probably getting my weekly fix. Otherwise, I'm REALLY testy on the weekend!

(And if you're into foreign flicks, don't miss Swedish film "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" based on world's second best selling novel with 8 million copies worldwide and highest grossing film in Europe in 2009. It's gritty but great!)