If a major American city wants to be taken seriously as a cultural center, it needs a world-class art museum. Such institutions are a ubiquitous presence everywhere from New York City to Birmingham, Alabama, usually housed in imposing structures that contain thousands of works drawn seemingly from every conceivable era and culture, displayed in precise, carefully calculated ways.
To conceive of them as villainous corporate entities requires a considerable leap of faith. The admirable pursuit of bringing art to the masses, the fundamental aim of any nonprofit cultural institution no matter how large, does not lend itself to the same measures of outrage as the activities of the other money grubbing behemoths that dominate 21st century society.
Yet Don Argott, in his documentary The Art of the Steal, asks his audience to cast aspersions on the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pew Charitable Trusts and just about the entirety of the city’s civic apparatus. That he so ably perpetuates a measure of disgust toward them is a testament to how convincingly he renders the David vs. Goliath element of the story of the struggle over the Barnes Foundation, the private, robust collection of artwork that the Philadelphia intelligentsia aims to move from its home in the suburb of Merion, PA to the city.