ABSTRACT
John Dewey’s good influence on his friend—his sincere appreciation of his genius, his steadfast support for his dreams, his gentle chiding about his most serious faults—is surely linked to Albert Barnes’s extraordinary achievements in the decade between the end of World War I and the beginning of the Great Depression. Barnes wrote to Dewey in February of 1920 that he had just received a letter from Leo Stein asking him to make an offer for his sixteen Renoirs. In describing the temple-gallery of the suave Parisian art dealer, Barnes provides an intimation of the psychological impetus for the plan that he had formulated over a period of several years. Singer told Barnes that there were rumors about his candidate’s lackluster performance at Princeton. Barnes convinced him that Lawrence Ladd Buermeyer was more than ready for a new challenge, and Singer conveyed his enthusiasm for the appointment to the president.
