ABSTRACT
The moral and legal presumption in favor of the gift giver is rooted in the high value Americans place on the right to property. Judge R. Stanley Ott must be convinced by the Albert C. Barnes attorneys that the best way to continue to carry out the collector’s mission for his Foundation is to load the artwork on a truck and unload it in a new gallery. Quite apart from the expansion of the Barnes board, which is impracticably small by the standards of educational and cultural institutions that find it necessary to supplement their endowments, the breadth of the current trustees’ initial request for change was staggering. It was narrowed by the necessity of placating opponents. Barnes meant for his art to be used by students and enjoyed by a wider public. The Barnes Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and early modern paintings compare admirably with any assemblage in the world.
