Ernie Barnes Iconic ‘Sugar Shack’ Painting on Loan to Houston Museum One Month After Record-Shattering Auction Sale
THE VICTOR IN A FIERCE BIDDING WAR, art collector Bill Perkins paid a record-shattering $15.3 million for “The Sugar Shack” (1976) by Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) at Christie’s New York on May 12. The iconic painting was estimated to sell for about $200,000, so the staggering price made international news and brought long overdue, widespread...
Latest News in Black Art: Ernie Barnes Gets New York Gallery Representation, Gilane Tawadros is Next Director of Whitechapel Gallery, Roy DeCarava x Supreme Collab
Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture Gilane Tawadros is the incoming director of Whitechapel Gallery in London. | Photo © Brian Benson Appointments London’s Whitechapel Gallery announced Gilane Tawadros as its next director. A curator, writer, and art historian by...
Auction Record: Iconic ‘Sugar Shack’ Painting by Ernie Barnes Sells for Whopping $15.3 Million
ON THURSDAY NIGHT, Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale in New York featured 42 lots, premium works of art by a variety of famed artists such as Ruth Asawa, Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet, Jackson Pollock, William De Kooning, Joan Mitchell, and Andy Warhol. The selections included two paintings by African American artists. Both set new...
Famed ‘Sugar Shack’ Painting by Ernie Barnes Headed to Auction at Christie’s
UPDATE (05/12/22): “The Sugar Shack” by Ernie Barnes hammered at $13 million, selling for a final price of $15,275,000 fees included, a huge record for the artist, exponentially smashing the his previous auction high mark, which was $550,000. The staggering result marks the first time a work by Barnes has sold for more than...
Auction Record: 3 Ernie Barnes Paintings Exceed $100K for First Time, Plus Bob Thompson and ‘White Male For Sale’
THREE 1970s PAINTINGS by Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) sold for more than $100,000 each on Oct. 1, marking the first time a work by Barnes sold for more than six figures at auction. Two of the paintings sold for nearly $300,000 each. The results were more than three times the artist’s previous record and set...
Ernie Barnes Painted From Experience, New York Gallery Exhibition Features Four Decades of Former Pro-Football Player’s Images
A PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYER who became a successful artist, Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) made paintings about what he experienced and what was familiar. His most frequent subjects were African American life in the South, referencing his North Carolina roots, and racially diverse athletes engaged in all manner of sports, from tennis and boxing, to basketball...
A Rare Occurrence, New 2022 Wall Calendars Feature Celebrated Black Women Artists Faith Ringgold and Alma Thomas
ANNUAL SURVEYS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ART, wall calendars provide an affordable way to appreciate and display the work of Black artists. In recent years, the broadening interest in African American art has been reflected in an increasing number of wall calendars featuring the work. The selections have included surveys of historic, modern, and contemporary...
Auction Record: Gospel and R&B Icon Mavis Staples Sold Ernie Barnes Painting for $75K at Hindman in Chicago
A FIGURATIVE PAINTER with a singular style, Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) had a reverence for Black women. They were a popular subject for the artist who depicted them possessed with dignity, passion, and joy. Barnes made paintings of Black women playing sports, DJing, dancing, attending church, showing strength in the face of adversity, and socializing...
Envisioned by the Late Artist Himself, New Ernie Barnes Exhibition Brings His Figurative Paintings to Life
Installation view of “Ernie Barnes: Liberating Humanity From Within.” | Photo by Jeff McLane, Courtesy UTA Artist Space THEIR INITIAL SIT DOWN was highly productive, a real meeting of minds. Luz Rodriguez manages the estate of artist Ernie Barnes (1938-2009). Arthur Lewis is creative director of UTA Fine Arts & UTA Artist Space. Just...
Showcasing African American Art Throughout the Year, 2021 Calendars Pay Homage to Archibald Motley, Charles White, Romare Bearden, and Harlem Renaissance
A 2021 WALL CALENDAR showcasing the work of jazz age modernist Archibald Motley (1891-1981) serves as a reminder that Black institutions were the first to collect the work of African American artists in a meaningful way. “Barbeque” (1934) appears on the cover of the calendar. One of Motley’s famous genre scenes, the painting belongs...
10 Children’s Books Tell Uplifting Stories About the Lives and Work of Black Artists Including Tyree Guyton, Frank Bowling, Laura Wheeler Waring, and Ernie Barnes
This week is National Children’s Book Week (May 4-10), a celebration of books and the joy of reading RIFE WITH NARRATIVES about doing whatever it takes to overcome personal and societal challenges to pursue their dreams, the lives of artists and designers offer young readers invaluable life lessons with a dose of culture and...
Forthcoming Swann Sale Features Selections by Artists Associated With Los Angeles, Including 5 Paintings by Ernie Barnes
LOS ANGELES was a site of inspiration and productivity for a number of artists represented in the forthcoming African-American Fine Art sale at Swann Auction Galleries in New York. (Originally planned for April 2, the auction was postponed due to COVID-19. Rescheduled for June 4, the sale is online only.) The sale features lots...
Holiday Gift Guide 2019: Selections Inspired by African American Artists From Betye Saar to Nick Cave and Kehinde Wiley
MANY POPULAR AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTISTS are making versions of their work more accessible through objects and products sold at museums and other outlets. A box of artist-inspired notecards, an artful calendar, or a new coffee table book makes the perfect gift. In November, “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power”...
Celebrating African American Art Every Month of the Year, 2020 Calendars Showcase Charles White, Ernie Barnes, Alma Thomas, Basquiat and Bearden
OVER THE PAST YEAR, an “African American Art” wall calendar has featured a succession of 19th and 20th century artists, each month showcasing works by William H. Johnson, Robert S. Duncanson, and James A. Porter, among others. Expressing support for Angela Davis, Charles White‘s “Love Letter” (1971) presided over October and this month Laura...
Ernie Barnes Retrospective Brings Renewed Attention to African American Artist Who Found Fame After Playing Pro Football
“The Sugar Shack” (1976) by Ernie Barnes LOS ANGELES—A master storyteller, Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) painted from experience. He captured the brawn of football and the quotidian of life in the segregated South. His representational images depict what he saw growing up in Durham, N.C., where black people gathered for communion and competition on porches and...
Curator Bridget R. Cooks Explains How the Ernie Barnes Retrospective Landed at the California African American Museum
WHEN THE PASADENA MUSEUM of California Art (PMCA) unexpectedly closed last October, after 16 years, there were three final exhibitions on view, including “Grafton Tyler Brown: Exploring California,” a small survey of Pacific Northwest landscape paintings and commercial lithographs. A pioneer, Grafton Tyler Brown (1841-1918) was the state’s first African American contractor and is...
Auction Results: Painting is Alive and Well at Latest Swann African-American Fine Art Sale
“Flight Into Egypt” (circa 1910) by Henry O. Tanner BUYERS AT THURSDAY’S African-American Fine Art auction at Swann Auction Galleries in New York expressed significant interest in modern and contemporary painting. There was a broad selection to choose from with multiple offerings by celebrated painters Ed Clark, Beauford Delaney, Sam Gilliam, Lois Mailou Jones,...
In First Date Movie ‘Southside With You,’ Paintings by Ernie Barnes Fuel Connection Between Barack and Michelle Obama
A VISIT TO A MUSEUM, helped Barack Obama win Michelle Robinson’s heart. “Southside With You,” a new film about the first couple’s first date, includes a trip to the Art Institute of Chicago. There they view an exhibition that features paintings by Ernie Barnes (1938-2009), representational works reflecting the African American experience with lithe...
Olympic Spirit: Over the Years, Important African American Artists Have Paid Tribute to the Games and Champion Athletes
MARTIN PURYEAR, “Untitled (Olympic Poster),” 1984. AFRICAN AMERICAN ATHLETES have been competing in the Olympics for more than a century—earning gold medals, breaking records, and making political statements. Who can forget U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith (gold) and John Carlos (bronze) bowing their heads and raising their fists at the 200 meter medal ceremony at...
Swann Auction Reflects ‘Things to Come’ and Current Art World Programming
NEXT WEEK, SWANN AUCTION GALLERIES is selling African American art from the 1960s and 1970s. Paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures and mixed-media works are up for bid, with estimates for most of the 157 lots averaging $1,000-$7,000 and select offerings ranging up to five and six figures. Paintings by Barkley L. Hendricks and William T....
