Ernie Barnes Vintage Black African American Figurative Landscape Lithograph 1960
TITLE: NINETY NINE' A HUNDRED. PLATE SIGNED BY ERNIE BARNES. DIMENSIONS INCLUDING TGE FRAME: 21"H x 25"W. DIMENSIONS WITHOUT THE FRAME: 16"H x 20"W. (1938 - 2009) was active/lived in California, North Carolina. Ernie Barnes Jr is known for African-American figure, genre and sports painting. Born: 1938 - Durham, North Carolina. Died: 2009 - Los Angeles, California.
Painter Ernie Barnes was born July 15, 1938 in Durham, North Carolina during the height of the Jim Crow Era. He lived in a section of the city called "The Bottom" with his parents and younger brother, James.
His father, Ernest Barnes, Sr. His mother, Fannie Geer, supervised the household for a prominent attorney who shared his extensive art book collection with the young "June" Barnes. By the time he began elementary school, Barnes was familiar with the Master artists.Bullied as a child for being shy and sensitive, Barnes found solace in drawing. In his freshman year, a weightlifting coach put Barnes on a fitness program which taught him effort and discipline. By his senior year at segregated Hillside High School in Durham, Barnes was captain of the football team and state champion in the shot put. Barnes earned a full athletic scholarship to North Carolina College (now North Carolina Central University) where his art instructor, sculptor Ed Wilson, encouraged him to create images from his own life experiences.
In 1960, Barnes was one of 30 African-Americans drafted into the National Football League. One of nine players selected that year from a Historically Black College and University. For five seasons, Barnes was an offensive lineman for the New York Titans, San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos. In 1965, New York Jets owner Sonny Werblin paid Barnes a season's salary "to paint" and subsequently sponsored the first Ernie Barnes art exhibition in a prestigious gallery. After the success of the show, Barnes retired from football at age 28 and settled in Los Angeles, California to devote himself to art. Barnes is the first professional American athlete to become a noted painter. From his sports experience and the study of anatomy, Barnes' unique style of elongation captures the movement, energy and grace of his subjects.This earned him numerous appointments, including "Sports Artist of the 1984 Olympic Games" and "America's Best Painter of Sports" by the American Sport Art Museum & Archives. He was commissioned to paint artwork for the National Basketball Association, Los Angeles Lakers, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, Oakland Raiders, educational institutions, corporations, musicians, celebrities and professional athletes. His beloved painting, The Bench, that Barnes created in 1959 before his rookie season, was presented in 2014 to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
In pop culture, Barnes artwork appears in television, movies and music album covers, including his famous dance hall scene, The Sugar Shack. His pride of North Carolina is evident in his artwork of pool halls, barber shops, porch ladies, church, street singers, sandlot games and other memories of growing up in the South.
His commentary on dance, music, sports, women, education, social justice and everyday life continue to inspire viewers of all ages, race, religion, education and social status. Barnes died of cancer on April 27, 2009.He is survived by his wife Bernie and his five children, Deidre, Michael, Sean, Erin and Paige. The current exhibition, The North Carolina Roots of Artist Ernie Barnes at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh is an unprecedented success, with over 85,000 visitors and counting since July 2018.
In May 2019, the exhibition Ernie Barnes: A Retrospective opens the California African American Museum in Los Angeles. O North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina. O City Museum, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
O Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Center, Brooklyn, N. O North Carolina Central University, Durham, North Carolina. O Museum of African Arts, Washington, D.
O High Museum, Atlanta, Georgia. O Science and Industry Museum, Los Angeles, Cal. O Elizabeth City State University, Elizabeth City, North Carolina. O Agra Gallery, Washington, D. O Mckenzie Gallery, Los Angeles, California.
O Grand Central Art Gallery, New York. California African American Museum (Los Angeles, CA). The Johnson Collection (Spartanburg, SC).