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Art Commission OKs Barnes sculpture

After a few brief words of praise, the city Art Commission gave its unanimous blessing Wednesday to a soaring Ellsworth Kelly sculpture proposed by the Barnes Foundation for its new site on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Plans for "The Barnes Totem," a 40-foot-high stainless-steel sculpture by Ellsworth Kelly, was presented to the Art Commission on Wednesday. (Courtesy of Matthew Marks Gallery)
Plans for "The Barnes Totem," a 40-foot-high stainless-steel sculpture by Ellsworth Kelly, was presented to the Art Commission on Wednesday. (Courtesy of Matthew Marks Gallery)Read more

After a few brief words of praise, the city Art Commission gave its unanimous blessing Wednesday to a soaring Ellsworth Kelly sculpture proposed by the Barnes Foundation for its new site on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

"This was an easy one," said architect Emanuel Kelly, a commission member.

The commission's chairman, painter Moe Brooker, lauded the Barnes for bringing such high-profile attention to contemporary art.

"I find that very exciting," he said.

The Kelly sculpture, a slender stainless steel blade rising 40 feet, was commissioned and donated to the Barnes by the Neubauer Family Foundation.

Joseph Neubauer, head of ARAMARK and vice chairman of the Barnes, said last week that he envisioned the sculpture as a gift to the city, as well as to the Barnes.

The foundation, steward of a renowned collection of impressionist, post-impressionist and early modernist work, will open its new gallery facility between 20th and 21st Streets on May 19. The gallery has been located in Merion, Montgomery County, since the 1920s.

Derek Gillman, Barnes president, said installation of the Kelly work - dubbed The Barnes Totem - would be take place during the first half of April. Kelly, 88, will venture from his upstate New York studio to Philadelphia for at least part of the installation, Gillman said.

At the art commission meeting, foundation curator Judith F. Dolkart, said that Kelly's career has been dominated by a focus on "line, form and color." Those same interests echoed the thinking of Albert C. Barnes, the legendary collector who amassed one of the world's greatest private art collections.

Displaying the Kelly work, Dolkart maintained, not only reflected the continuing importance of Barnes's thinking but also "the foundation's commitment to the exhibition of contemporary art."

The artist, who has fashioned many "totems" over the past four decades, did not specifically create this work for the Barnes, Neubauer said in an interview last week. Architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien and landscape architect Laurie Olin did not include a spot in the new Barnes site design specifically for public art.

But when the architects and artist walked the grounds several months ago, the location they settled on seemed to be waiting for the Kelly work, according to both Williams and Tsien.

It will stand at the head of a reflecting pool on the north side of the building; the water in the shallow pool will reflect the stepped design of the totem.

Three approaches to the gallery entrance converge on the spot.

Contact culture writer Stephan Salisbury at 215-854-5594, ssalisbury@phillynews.com, or @SPSalisbury on Twitter