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A PASSION FOR ART: RENOIR, CEZANNE, MATISSE, AND DR. BARNES (Corbis Publishing, CD-ROM for Windows, $49.95) With his Lou Grant personality, Philadelphia physician Albert C. Barnes was a sour, crusty, brilliant eccentric who amassed one of the world's greatest private collections of Impressionist and post-Impressionist art. The tone of this gallery, from the staccato narration to the peppy jazz intro, is to make art dramatic, to make it mysterious, so you're lured into viewing and learning about great works and their creators. Click for a close-up, then scroll to any part of the canvas. Also enjoyable are extensive examples of Barnes documents and memorabilia -- including a lively audio clip of the good doctor railing against a magazine writer who crossed him. Here's a fascinating disc demonstrating that passion for art is perhaps as artful as the work itself. B+


 

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