The North Carolina Roots of Artist Ernie Barnes

Ernie Barnes (American, 1938-2009) Quintet, circa 1989 Oil on canvas 36 x 60 inc
Est: $500,000 – $700,000
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Ernie Barnes (American, 1938-2009) Quintet, circa 1989 Oil on canvas 36 x 60 inches (91.4 x 152.4 cm) Signed lower right: Ernie Barnes PROVENANCE: The artist; Private collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, acquired from the above; Thistlethwaite Americana, Middleburg, Virginia; [sale]The Winter Show, New York, January 2020; Private collection, Miami, Florida, acquired from the above. EXHIBITED: Grand Central Art Galleries, Inc., New York, “The Beauty of the Ghetto, Exhibition of Neo-Manneriest Paintings,” October 30-November 17, 1990. LITERATURE: Central Art Galleries, Inc., New York, The Beauty of the Ghetto, Exhibition of Neo-Mannerist paintings, exhibition catalog, 1990, p. 29, illustrated. The present work is housed in an original handmade artist frame. It is also accompanied by a copy of the Central Art Galleries, Inc., The Beauty of the Ghetto exhibition catalog, and Ernie Barnes Liberating Humanity from Within exhibition catalog. The works of American painter Ernie Barnes are experiencing a comeback like that of no other artist of the last decade. Barnes’ circa 1989 painting Quintet – a highlight of Heritage’s May 12 American Art Signature Auction – is among the most recognizable pieces by the former pro footballer, who the Denver Broncos head coach once fined for sketching during team meetings. Barnes, perhaps best known for his painting Sugar Shack, used in the credits of the TV show Good Times and on the cover of Marvin Gaye’s 1976 album I Want You, is one of the 20th century’s most distinctive painters.

Last year, Sugar Shack sold for $15.3 million at Christie’s – 76 times its high estimate of $200,000. “Almost like a more modern Thomas Hart Benton or El Greco,” says Aviva Lehmann, Heritage’s Director of American Art. “His works are lyrical, as close to dancing as a painting can get. And Quintet is among the most intimate masterworks of his entire oeuvre.” Quintet was exhibited in the fall of 1990 at New York’s Grand Central Art Galleries as part of Barnes’ solo exhibition The Beauty of the Ghetto, which was subtitled Exhibition of Neo-Mannerist Paintings – and that “neo-mannerist” is apropos, given that a hallmark of Barnes’ work is how elongated and fluid his human figures are; Barnes’ background as an athlete granted him a breathtaking interpretation of bodies in motion. And Quintet ranks among Barnes’ greatest achievements, a joyful depiction of jazz musicians at work and at play, a piece so alive it echoes with a bebop soundtrack. Their eyes are closed – a hallmark of Barnes’ work that dates back to 1971, when he said he first conceived of The Beauty of the Ghetto as an exhibition. “I began to see, observe, how blind we are to one another’s humanity,” Barnes said. “We don’t see into the depths of our interconnection. The gifts, the strength, and potential within other human beings.” Barnes has long been acknowledged as a master by musicians who often used his works as album covers, including Curtis Mayfield, BB King, and Gaye. His lithe, ecstatic works look almost like sheet music – figures like notes dancing across the staff. This should come as no surprise: Barnes’ father played piano in the family’s Durham, North Carolina home, and dad so influenced Barnes he framed each painting in distressed wood as a tribute: “Daddy’s fence,” he once said, “would hug all my paintings in a prestigious New York gallery.” The painter, too, was raised listening to church choirs. Listen closely. Much like Sugar Shack, Quintet roars and reverberates like the long Saturday night before the Sunday morning. The painting brings the viewer dir.

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