Will Barnet

In his nine-decade long career, Will Barnet (American, 1911-2012) created carefully structured abstract and figural works of spacious monumentality and measured intimacy, in which the natural influence of color, shape, and the compositional life of the canvas are honored. His figural work references Egyptian hieroglyphics in their seemingly rigid structure, while invoking a sense of intimacy via careful details of composition and color. His abstract paintings convey varied geometric forms premised upon the same approach to space and structure as his realism. As he wrote of his relationship to the canvas: "We must realize that the quadrangle on which we draw or paint has basic dimensions and movements. It moves structurally according to its basic architecture, and the artist builds with the horizontal and vertical within the quadrangle's architecture.”

Barnet was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, the youngest child of a large Eastern European family. During his early upbringing in the small coastal town, he forged a deep connection to the landscape, architecture, and atmosphere of New England, which he would return to throughout his career. He also studied the old masters from an early age, particularly Vermeer, whose mark is visible in the light and composition of many of his works. Barnet began his formal artistic studies at the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, later moving to New York in 1931 to study at the Art Students League. He soon became the league’s official printer, and would continue printmaking throughout his career. Although his earliest work followed the trend of social realism, by the late 1940s, Cubist and other modernist experimentations gave way to an embrace of total abstraction, and throughout the 50s and 60s Barnet continued producing abstract work. In the 1960s he transitioned to the figural style for which he would be best recognized—his spacious, geometric scenes of family life (mostly his own), and portraits of pensive, solitary women in New England. Barnet would return to abstract work at the end of his life, starting in 2004 until his death in 2012.

During his long career, Barnet taught at the Art Students League, Cooper Union and Yale University. He was a member of the National Academy of Design and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in London. In 2011, Barnet received the National Medal of Arts from President Obama in Washington DC.

Work Available: Paintings

Featured

Abstract, White & Black

1960, oil on canvas, 48 x 42 inches

Eos

1973, oil on canvas, 58 x 58 inches

New England Family

1984, oil on canvas, 61 1/2 x 55 1/4 inches

White and Yellow Top

1986, oil on canvas, 30 1/2 x 35 1/4 inches

Now and Then

1989, oil on canvas, 53 1/4 x 45 inches

The Spider as an Artist

1990, oil on canvas, 42 x 22 inches

Three Generations

1990, oil on canvas, 54 3/4 x 54 inches

The Family

1992, oil on canvas, 29 1/8 x 42 1/2 inches

The Cigar

1988-99, oil on canvas, 30 1/8 x 45 inches

Go Go II

2003, oil on canvas, 31 3/8 x 19 1/2 inches

Anticipation II

2005, oil on canvas, 50 x 27 inches

Gramercy Park III

2007, oil on canvas, 36 1/2 x 29 1/2 inches

Passage

2007, oil on canvas, 28 x 19 inches

Strolling

2008, oil on canvas, 30 x 35 inches

Conversation

2009, oil on canvas, 26 x 31 inches

Hands

2009, oil on canvas, 43 x 29 inches

Enclosed II

2009-2010, oil on canvas, 39 3/4 x 26 7/8 inches

Available Work on Paper

Featured

Study for Recumbent Figure

c. 1960, oil and graphite on paper, 24 x 20 inches

Untitled

c. 1954-1959, mixed media on paper, 5 3/4 x 4 1/2 inches

Untitled

1954, mixed media on paper, 5 5/8 x 3 3/8 inches

Untitled

c. 1953 - 1954, mixed media on paper, 6 3/16 x 4 1/8 inches

Untitled

c. 1954-1959, mixed media on paper, 5 5/8 x 4 3/8 inches

Untitled

c. 1956 - 1960, mixed media on paper, 6 1/2 x 4 inches

Untitled

1956-1960, mixed media on paper, 5 13/16 x 4 7/16 inches

Untitled

c. 1954 - 1956, mixed media on paper, 5 1/2 x 3 1/4 inches

Big Duluth-Study for Little Duluth

1959, gouache on paper, 30 x 26 1/2 inches

Enclosure

1963, charcoal on paper, 11 7/8 x 9 1/2 inches

Great Spokane

1964, watercolor on vellum, 5 1/2 x 10 7/8 inches

Impulse

1964, watercolor on paper, 9 x 4 1/2 inches

Impulse

1964, watercolor and pencil on paper, 13 1/2 x 7 1/4 inches

Atlantis (Single Figure)

1975, pencil on paper, 17 3/4 x 9 1/2 inches

Paean

1978, hand colored serigraph, 31 1/2 x 35 1/2 inches

Study for Ariadne

1980, watercolor on paper, 17 1/4 tondo

Emily Dickinson, June 1988

1988, charcoal on paper, 9 x 7 1/2 inches

The Robin (Emily Dickinson)

1989, charcoal on vellum, 23 3/8 x 29 3/8 inches

Study for the Dream

1990, watercolor on vellum, 17 1/4 x 9 1/2 inches

The Dream I

1990, watercolor and carbon on vellum, 11 1/4 x 7 1/2 inches

Study for The Kitchen

1992, carbon on vellum, 11 x 15 3/8 inches

Study for the Kitchen

1992, carbon on vellum, 9 1/2 x 8 inches

The Swing

c. 1974, watercolor and graphite on paper, 37 3/4 x 24 1/2 inches

Elim in the Window (4th)

c. 1989, charcoal on vellum, 17 x 11 inches

Letter to World

c. 1989, charcoal on paper, 9 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches

Lonliness

c. 1989, charcoal on paper, 16 x 12 3/4 inches

Poem 1764

c. 1989, charcoal on vellum, 17 x 11 1/2 inches

Poem 249

c. 1989, charcoal on paper, 19 1/4 x 13 inches

Featured

Wild Night

c. 1989, charcoal on vellum, 17 x 11 1/2 inches

Untitled Study for The Terrace

ca. 1994, graphite and watercolor on vellum, 7 1/2 x 8 3/4 inches

Untitled (Woman in Doorway)

c. 1989, charcoal on vellum, 9 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches

Prints

Featured

The Sled

2002
Color lithograph on Rives BFK paper
18 x 22 1/4 inches

The Walk

2001
Color lithograph on Sommerset paper
17 x 12 ½ inches

Generations

2001
Color lithograph on Sommerset paper
22 1/8 x 15 1/8 inches

Three Chairs

1998
Color serigraph on Arches paper
12 1/8 x 14 ¼ inches

Between Life & Life

Between Life & Life

1998
Color lithograph on Sommerset paper
28 x 29 ¾ inches

Poem 921 (Ed)

1997
Lithograph on Sommerset paper
14 5/8 x 21 5/8 inches

The Mirror

1996
Color linoleum cut on Japanese paper
20 ¼ x 18 inches

Skaters

1995
Color serigraph on Sommerset paper
41 7/8 x 22 ½ inches

Combing

1995
Color serigraph on Sommerset paper
20 1/8 x 18 inches

Twilight

1988
Color etching and aquatint on white Arches Wove paper
19 ¾ inches diameter

Summer (The Swing)

Summer (The Swing)

1986
Color lithograph and serigraph on cream Arches Wove paper
35 x 37 inches

Midnight

1985
Etching and aquatint on white German Etching Wove paper
15 5/8 x 8 ¼ inches

Spring Morning

1985
Color serigraph on white Arches Wove paper
35 x 60 inches

Stairway to the Sea

Stairway to the Sea

1984
Color lithograph and serigraph on white Arches Wove paper
18 x 18 inches

Totem

1983
Color serigraph on Arches Wove paper
40 ½ x 15 inches

Peter Grimes

1983
Color lithograph on cream Arches Wove paper
21 ¼ x 21 inches

Reclining Woman

Reclining Woman

1982
Color lithograph on white Arches Wove paper
29 ¾ x 38 inches

The Bannister

1981
Color lithograph on cream Arches Wove paper
32 ½ x 25 1/8 inches

Woman and Cat Play

Woman and Cat Play

1980
Color etching and aquatint on T.H. Sanders Wove paper
17 ¾ x 15 inches

Way to the Sea

1980
Color lithograph and serigraph on Arches paper
40 x 30 inches

Meditation and Minou

Meditation and Minou

1980
Color lithograph and serigraph on Rives BFK paper
22 x 28 inches

Ariadne

1980
Color serigraph on cream Arches Wove paper
17 ¾ x 15 inches

The Reader

1979
Color lithograph on Arches paper
14 ½ x 36 inches

The Blue Bicycle

The Blue Bicycle

1979
Color serigraph on Arches paper
31 x 30 inches

Circe

1979
Color lithograph on Rives BFK paper
27 inches diameter

Aurora

1977
Color serigraph on Lenox 100 paper
16 ½ x 40 inches

Summer Idyll

1976
Color serigraph with lithograph on Lenox 100 paper
30 x 38 inches

The Book

1975
Color serigraph on Arches paper
26 x 18 inches

Seventh Season

1975
Color serigraph on Arches paper
36 x 27 1/2 inches

Play

1975
Color serigraph with lithograph on white Velin d’Arches paper
30 x 23 1/4 inches

Work Exhibited

The Blue Robe

1962, oil on canvas, 50 x 54 inches

Creature

2007-2008, oil on canvas, 40 x 29 inches

Terracotta

2003-2004, oil on canvas, 40 x 29 7/8 inches

The Purple Bottle

The Purple Bottle

1989-1999, oil on canvas, 34 x 38 1/2 inches

Flight

2009, oil on canvas, 24 x 33 inches

1823

2008, oil on canvas, 42 x 33 inches

Joyous

2006, oil on canvas, 32 1/2 x 24 1/2 inches

Overview

2005, oil on canvas, 40 x 28 inches

Halloween

2005, oil on canvas, 27 x 17 inches

December

2005, oil on canvas, 40 x 28 3/4 inches

Call It Winter

2003, oil on canvas, 34 x 26 inches

The Collectors

1998, oil on canvas, 48 x 27 1/8 inches

Study for Gramercy Park

Study for Gramercy Park

1990, watercolor and graphite on paper, 8 1/4 x 10 inches

The Spider Sewed at Night

The Spider Sewed at Night

1989, oil on canvas, 49 7/8 x 33 3/4 inches

The Skaters

1986, oil on canvas, 75 3/4 x 40 3/4 inches

The Reader

1979, oil on canvas, 20 1/2 x 50 1/2 inches

Polly, Minou and Eon

Polly, Minou and Eon

April 1979, oil on vellum, 27 1/2 x 30 inches

Sea Change

1973, oil on canvas, 33 x 70 inches

Reflection

1968, oil on canvas, 77 1/4 x 49 1/2 inches

Mother and Child

Mother and Child

1961, oil on canvas, 46 x 39 inches

Untitled

1958, mixed media on paper, 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 inches

Family and Pink Table (Mary and Sons)

Family and Pink Table (Mary and Sons)

1948, oil on canvas, 36 x 28 inches

Soft Boiled Eggs

Soft Boiled Eggs

1946, oil on canvas, 36 x 42 inches

Farmyard

1944, oil on canvas, 20 x 26 inches

Untitled

1957, mixed media on paper, 3 7/16 x 5 9/16 inches

Untitled

1954-1960, mixed media on paper, 6 3/16 x 4 1/8 inches

Untitled

1952-1954, mixed media on paper, 5 1/2 x 3 3/8 inches

Tom

oil on canvas, 32 1/2 x 21 1/8 inches

Red Robe

1960, oil and graphite on paper, 24 x 20 inches

Untitled (Banister)

Untitled (Banister)

1982, graphite and watercolor on paper, 14 x 14 1/2 inches

Sanctum

1975-1976, oil on canvas, 42 3/4 x 55 inches

Study for The Gull #1

Study for The Gull #1

ca. 1994, watercolor and graphite on vellum, 9 1/2 x 10 1/4 inches

Study for The Gull #2

Study for The Gull #2

ca. 1994, watercolor and graphite on vellum, 7 3/4 x 10 inches

Study for Gramercy Park

Study for Gramercy Park

1990, mixed media on paper, 10 5/8 x 13 1/4 inches

Three Chairs II

Three Chairs II

1995, oil on canvas, 32 x 45 inches

The Grandmother

The Grandmother

1990, watercolor and graphite on paper, 33 x 30 inches

Early Spring

1977, watercolor on paper, 19 7/8 x 26 1/4 inches

Kite Boy

1986, oil on canvas, 65 3/4 x 59 1/2 inches

Early Morning

1972, oil on canvas, 57 3/4 x 57 1/2 inches

Woman Reading

1965, pencil on paper, 11 x 8 1/2 inches

The Blue Robe

The Purple Bottle

Flight

Study for Gramercy Park

The Reader

Polly, Minou and Eon

Sea Change

Mother and Child

Soft Boiled Eggs

Farmyard

Untitled

Red Robe

Untitled (Banister)

Sanctum

Study for The Gull #1

Study for The Gull #2

Study for Gramercy Park

Three Chairs II

The Grandmother

Early Spring

Kite Boy

Early Morning

Press

Boston Globe: At the MFA, revisiting a mid-century cache of ‘provisional’ art
incollect: Modern Classicism: The Art of Will Barnet
Hamptons Art Hub: Will Barnet Paintings offer Context to AbEx and Some Questions
Art News: Obituary
The Telegraph: Obituary
The New York Times: Obituary
Time Magazine: Obituary
The Washington Post: Obituary
The Portland Press Herald: Obituary
The Portland Press Herald: Barnet's special delivery: Art as a perpetual love letter
The Portland Press Herald: For Maine artists, a lasting legacy
The Portland Press Herald: Maine-inspired painter receives National Medal of Arts
The Portland Press Herald: Artist with Maine ties honored at White House
The Arts Fuse: Fuse Visual Arts Review: Will Barnet at 100
The New York Times: Staying Power: The Many Forms of Will Barnet
The New Criterion: Gallery Chronicle
City Arts: Looming Large
The Portland Press Herald: Art Review: Barnet's savvy geometry sparkles brighter than ever
The New York Times: Painting at 99, With No Compromises
Art in America: Will Barnet
The New York Times: Will Barnet: ‘Recent Abstract Paintings’
City Arts: Will Barnet: Recent Abstract Paintings
Antiques and the Arts Weekly: Will Barnet: My Father's House
The New York Sun: Will Barnet: Abstraction and Figuration
The New York Times: ART IN REVIEW; Will Barnet -- 'Figuration and Abstraction'
Art in America: Will Barnet at Alexandre

Essays and Interviews

PBS 13 NYC Arts: Profile: Will Barnet
The White House: Obama to Award 2011 National Medal of Arts to Barnet- February 2012
cityArts: The cityArts Interview-Will Barnet
Cerise Press: The World Outside the Figure, the World Within the Figure: Painter Will Barnet
PBS 13 NYC Arts: Will Barnet
Montclair Patch: A Conversation with Artist Will Barnet- An American Master
Montclair Art Museum: Will Barnet-Recent Abstract Paintings 2010
The Genesis of Four Works from the 1960s by Patrick McGrady

Past Exhibitions

2021: Figures in Isolation
2020: Self Portraits and Family
2018: Love Letters
2017: Women by the Sea
2016: 1950s Works on Paper
2014: Will Barnet: A Tribute
2011: Small Works on Paper From the 1950's
2010: Recent Abstract Paintings
2003: Abstraction and Figuration

Selected Biographical Notes

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