Dr. Albert C. Barnes was born January 2, 1872, in Kensington, a working-class Philadelphia neighborhood, in 1880 Barnes attended an African American camp revival meetings with his mother, where he was inspired to a lifelong interest in African American arts and social issues.
He Received a B.S. degree in 1889, from Central High School in Philadelphia, a pre-eminent public secondary school. Schoolmates included artists William Glackens and John Sloan.
In 1892 Graduated from University of Pennsylvania Medical School; worked for two years as a demonstrator of chemistry at Penn.
Dr. Barnes trveled to Germany and attended school at the University of Berlin during the years of 1894-95. He then worked as a consulting chemist for the H.K. Mulford Company in Philadelphia for a period of about five years.
In 1900 he studied pharmacology and competed a "Doktorarbait"
(dissertation) at Ruprecht-Karls_Universitat in Heidelber, Germany. In June 4, 1901 he married Laura Leggett of Brooklyn, NY, and they settled in the Overbrook section of Philadelphia.
In 1902 he established Barnes and Hille, and manufactured parmaceuticals, including Argyrol, a silver-based compunt used to fight infections, which made him a multi-milionaire.
About three years later, Dr. and Mrs. Barnes build a new house called "Lauraston," their first residence in Merion. Barnes bought out Herman Hille's portion of Barnes and Hille, and the two dissolved their partnership. In 1908 he established the A.C. Barnes Company with factories in Philadelphia, London and Australia; Barnes mounted the first successful marketing effort of medical supplies directly to physicians and hospitals.
At Barnes's request, artists William Glackens and Alfred Henry Maurer visited galleries in Paris and purchased Modern paintings for Dr. Barnes, including Van Gogh's Postman and Picasso's Woman with a Cigarette.
In June, Barnes visited Paris himself, and purchased several paintings including Paul Gauguin's Haere Pape. In December of 1912 Barnes met Leo Stein, brother of writer Gertrude Stein, in Paris. The two men maintained an intensive correspondence until Stein's death in 1947.
Dr. Barnes began holding classes on the study of psychology and art for workers at the A. C. Barnes Company factory. Paintings by William Glackens, Ernest Lawson, and Maurice Prendergast were hung in the factory building for the employees to study and discuss.
In 1922 Dr. Barnes purchased Merion property of Joseph Lapsley Wilson, promising to maintain and expand the arboretum Wilson began in the 1880s. On December 4 of that same year, The Barnes Foundation was chartered by the State of Pennsylvania to "promote the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts" and the "encouragement of arboriculture and forestry."
Transferred the majority of his personal art collection, the buildings planned for the Wilson property, and a sizeable endowment to the Foundation. In 1923 John Dewey was named director of education of the Barnes Foundation.
In the period between 1923-1924 Barnes constructed the current Gallery, residence (now administration building), and service buildings, designed in the French Beaux-Arts style by Paul Philippe Cret, architect of the Ben Franklin Bridge and the Rodin Museum. In March 19, 1925
a dedication ceremony for the Gallery was held with speeches given by John Dewey and Leopold Stokowski, legendary conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
During the same year, he purchased Cézanne's The Card Players (Les joueurs des cartes), aguably one of Cézanne's
masterpieces of painting. Dr. Barnes' first book, The Art in Painting, was published. A work still used today as the basis for the Foundation's art education courses.
In the year 1931 Albert Barnes commissioned Matisse to paint a mural, The Dance, for three lunettes in the Main Gallery. In May of that year, "The Dance" was mural installed in the Gallery by Matisse with the aid of Albert Nulty, Barnes's curator and conservator. In the same year, he acquires Cézanne's Nudes in Landscape (Les grandes baigneuses).
In 1940, his wife, Laura Barnes established the Foundation's Arboretum School. Dr. Barnes purchased Ker-Feal, an 18th-century farmhouse in Chester County. Ker-Feal is Breton for "House of Fidèle," after Barnes's favorite dog. Added two wings to the house to display his collection of decorative arts and furniture. The gardens were developed by Laura Barnes and used in Arboretum School classes.
Dr. Barnes received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from Lincoln University on June 5, 1951 on July 24 of the same year, Dr. Barnes died in an automobile accident at age 78.
