ABSTRACT
Albert C. Barnes and Violette de Mazia visited Carlen’s gallery a few days before the opening in mid-January of 1940. The friend for whom Barnes reserved the picture from among the first Pippins he saw was the actor Charles Laughton. Barnes also courteously received a number of artists, art historians, and critics who were willing to arrange their visits at his convenience, including Henri-Pierre Roche and Julius Meier-Graefe, but their visits never caught anyone’s attention. The circumstance of Russell’s coming reveal Barnes at his best; the circumstances of his leaving are another illustration of the collector’s quirks of personality that frustrated his noblest visions. Other Foundation teachers, who attended Russell’s lectures, and perhaps some students, found her knitting a distraction. Barnes interpreted his query as an affront, asked the impertinent instructor’s fellow teachers to sign a statement condemning it, and although most of them declined to do so, Geasland’s boldness cost him his job.
