THE ART OF STEAL

Year: 2010
USA: IFC FIlms
Director: Don Argott
Country: USA
USA: 101 mins
USA Rated: Unrated
USA Release Date: 26 February 2010 (Limited Release - New York)
US Distributor

Synopsis

Don Argott's gripping art world documentary THE ART OF THE STEAL, chronicles the long and dramatic struggle for control of the Barnes Foundation, a private collection of art valued at more than $25 billion.

In 1922, Dr Albert C Barnes formed a remarkable educational institution around his priceless collection of art, located just five miles outside of Philadelphia. Fifty years after Barnes' death, a powerful group of moneyed interests have gone to court for control of the art, with the intention of housing the collection in a new museum in Philadelphia.

However, a group of Barnes' former students are trying to thwart this attempt as his will strictly states the Foundation should always be an educational institution, and that the paintings may never be removed.

Will they succeed, or will a man's will be broken and one of America's greatest cultural monuments be destroyed?