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Barnes Foundation wins latest legal tussle

17.05.2008 15:11 Arts - Source: cbc.ca

The Barnes Foundation collection, seen here in 2007, is located in Lower Merion, 17 kilometres outside Philadelphia. Officials plan to move the collection to the downtown core. (George Widman/Associated Press)

The Barnes Foundation has triumphed in the latest round of a legal battle over its plan to move a collection of Impressionist art to Philadelphia.

Judge Stanley Ott of Montgomery County Orphans' Court said the Friends of the Barnes Foundation lacked legal standing to oppose the relocation of the collection from its home in Merion, Pa., where the collection has been since 1925.

Though "the intensity of concern" by the Friends of the Barnes group is "real and commendable," the organization lacked an "actual interest" in the matter, Ott wrote in his Friday decision.

"This very clear ruling ends the present distraction, and we are forging ahead with plans for a new building," Barnes Foundation Executive Director Derek Gillman told Bloomberg News.

Friends of the Barnes, a citizens group, as well as county officials had petitioned Ott to reconsider his 2004 ruling.

Ott, who holds jurisdiction over Albert Barnes's trust, ruled in favour of the foundation's decision to break with the founder's will, which said the gallery must stay in the community of Lower Merion in Montgomery County — a suburb of Philadelphia.

The foundation had hatched a plan in 2002 to move the famed art collection to the downtown core, where there's ample space for more visitors. At its current location, the museum is unable to expand and local laws limit the number of visitors allowed per day.

Montgomery County authorities say this will likely be the end of their legal manoeuvrings.

However, Friends of the Barnes, say they may consider another tactic.

The group points to a recent ruling by the Supreme Court of Montana, which removed the board of the Charles M. Bair Family Museum, saying the board breached its fiduciary responsibility by closing the museum from 2002 to 2005. The court ordered the creation of a new board.

"We'll have to meet, talk to our lawyers, and figure out what's next," Nancy Herman, who serves on the group's steering committee, told the Philadelphia Enquirer.

Meanwhile, museum officials say they don't have a date yet for the move. They would like, however, to break ground on their new building in the fall.

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