Barnes
Raising
The Barnes Foundation
reopens in a new, contemporary
Center City home
Philadelphians have long anticipated the
completion of the Barnes Foundation’s $150
million relocation from suburban Merion to
Center City. The new building, the first major
addition to the Parkway in more than 60
years, opens May 19.
The collection’s 8,000 works of art, including Renoirs, Monets and Matisses mixed with
devotional folk-art paintings and tribal African
masks, were amassed in the early 20th century
by eccentric pharmaceutical magnate Albert C.
Barnes. He famously curated his “wall ensembles” by selecting objects and paintings that
share a single quality or a particular set of qualities. The move has been controversial partly
because it violates stipulations in Barnes’ will,
including a directive to keep the paintings “in
exactly the places they are.”
ave
Date
INDEPENDENCE MALL
the
UpStarts:
An Evening
of Jewish
Shorts
May 6
Part of the Gershman
Y’s Jewish Film Festival,
this program features
eight shorts ranging
from four to 21 minutes
and presenting Jewish
points of view from
Brazil to the Netherlands. gershmany.org
RITTENHOUSE
Boston Marriage
Through May 20
1812 Productions takes
on David Mamet’s play
about two female friends
whose relationship is
thrown into turmoil
when one falls in love
with a wealthy older
gentleman and the other
with a young woman
who turns out to be
closely associated
with the gentleman.
1812productions.org
CITY GUIDE
Philadelphia
For additional event, attraction,
restaurant and hotel information,
go to arrivecityguides.com
In an attempt to honor Barnes’ wishes,
the scale, proportion and configuration of
his original galleries have been replicated
inside the new museum, a contemporary,
environmentally sustainable building that
is bigger and brighter than the Beaux-Arts
manse in Merion. The design by architects Billie Tsien and Tod Williams features internal
gardens and a glass canopy that filters natural
light into the galleries. The airy new home
symbolizes a new age for an institution long
shrouded in mystique. Barnes notoriously
capped the number of visitors to his Merion
galleries at 500 per week, necessitating reservations made far in advance. This is emphatically not the case at the new Barnes. As part
of opening festivities, the museum offers 60
hours of free public access over Memorial Day
weekend, May 26–28. barnesfoundation.org.
Boss Artifacts
For anyone well
versed in ’80s pop
culture, the sight of
a denim-clad bot-
tom with a weath-
ered red baseball
cap tucked into one
pocket prompts the
sound of the open-
ing chords of Bruce
Springsteen’s
Born in the U.S.A.
(The iconic jeans
photo is the cover
of the album.)
These children of
the ’80s, and any-
one interested in
music history, will
not want to miss
“From Asbury Park
to the Promised
Land: The Life and
Music of Bruce
Springsteen,” at the
National Constitu-
tion Center through
Sept. 3. More than
150 items, includ-
ing the outfit and
the 1952 Fender
from the Born to
Run album cover,
are on display.
Visitors can watch
interviews with
The Boss about
his songwriting
process and listen
to never-released
songs by his 1960s
band The Castiles.
constitution
center.org.
CHESTER COUNTY
Light!:
Installations by
Bruce Munro
June 9–Sept. 1
In his first U.S. exhibition, British artist and
light designer Bruce
Munro brings his artistry to Longwood
Gardens in the form
of seven large-scale
installations. longwood
gardens.org
CITYWIDE
LGBT PrideDay
Parade and
Festival
June 10
The 23rd annual LGBT
PrideDay Parade and
Festival takes place
during International
Gay and Lesbian Pride
Month and features live
music, DJs, food, drinks
and a festive parade that
starts at the Gaybor-
hood and ends at Penn’s
Landing. phillypride.org
FAIRMOUNT
Gauguin,
Cézanne, and
Matisse: Visions
of Arcadia
June 20–Sept. 3
This exhibition brings
together mural-sized
masterpieces by
Gauguin, Cézanne and
Matisse that explore
the theme of Arcadia,
or an earthly paradise.
philamuseum.org
