Filmmaker Dan Argott focused the film on the brutal excavation and elimination of Barnes’ wishes, opting to use graphics to present each argument, rather than turning to talking heads for their opinions. The theft, as it were, occurred when a group consisting of Philadelphia aristocrats and politicians arranged for the breaking of Barnes’ will to move the collection (which, with 181 Renoirs, 69 Cézannes, 60 Matisses, 44 Picassos, and 14 Modiglianis, is generally considered to be the world’s best collection of post-Impressionist art) into the city of Philadelphia as a major tourist attraction. Despite his request that the location serve primarily as a school of art, art criticism and appreciation, the foundation also functioned as a museum, with a collection estimated to be worth at least $25 billion. Barnes passed away in 1951, his will specifically stipulated that his extensive collection was not to be moved from its home at The Barnes Foundation in suburban Philadelphia. Cullman most notably co-directed the 2011 Academy Award-nominated documentary “If a Tree Falls,” while Grausman and Becker previously co-directed the Emmy-nominated documentary “Pressure Cooker.” “The Art of the Steal,” Dir.
The film, which premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival in New York, was co-directed by three very accomplished documentary directors: Sam Cullman, Jennifer Grausman and Mark Becker. Although the two men exist in opposition to one another, they share in their obsessiveness Landis with the indirect recognition he receives each time he manages to get another place to put up “his work” and Leininger with his investigation of Landis. After having been conned by Landis’ donation to the OCMA, Leininger took it upon himself to investigate Landis further, which led him to discover that identical donations had been made to other art institutions around the country. “Art and Craft” tells the story of how Matthew Leininger, the registrar at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, managed to expose one Mark Landis as an art forger. This documentary is just as quirky, if not more quirky than the title suggests.
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