Art Fact Friday #14 10-27-23 Ernie Barnes
- William Mandela Matthews
- Oct 27, 2023
- 3 min read
Premiere 20th century artist noted for his unique style of movement and the first professional athlete in America to become a noted painter. His works appears on music album covers, television and movies, especially his iconic dance hall scene, The Sugar Shack. Born July 15, 1938 in Durham, North Carolina Ernest Eugene Barnes, Jr. By grade 1 Barnes was familiar with master works by Toulouse-Lautrec, Delacroix, Rubens, and Michelangelo. In spite of segregation in museums.
In 1956 Barnes graduated from Hillside High in Durham with 26 athletic scholarship offers. He attended the all-Black North Carolina College at Durham. He received a full athletic scholarship and majored in art. On a field trip to the North Carolina Museum of Art Barnes would ask where to find “paintings by Negro artists.” The response, “Your people don’t express themselves that way.”
In 1959 Barnes was drafted by the then-World Champion Baltimore Colts. 1960 Barnes was cut from the Colts’ and signed to the Titans of New York. October 9, 1960 at Jeppesen Stadium, Howard Glenn, died. Barnes asked for his release as a result. 1960-62 Barnes played for the Los Angeles Chargers. The 1961 season saw the team moved to San Diego, joining the National Football League. In the off-seasons Barnes was program director at San Diego’s Southeast YMCA. He also wrote a weekly column called “A Matter of Sports” for The Voice, a local newspaper. He also illustrated articles for San Diego Magazine, 1962 to 1963. During this time he received his 1st television interview, as an artist, The Regis Philbin Show. 1963-64 Barnes was cut from the Chargers. He then joined the Denver Broncos. Barnes would be fined for sketching in team meetings. One of these sketches sold years later for $1000. 1965, Barnes signed to the Saskatchewan Roughriders of Canada. Barnes went to the 1965 owners in hopes of becoming the football league’s official artist. There he met the New York Jets owner Sonny Werblin. Werblin signed Barnes as a player, but assigned him to the canvas, not the field. Werblin stated “You have more value to the country as an artist than as a football player.” 1966 Barnes 1st solo exhibition, was hosted by Werblin at the Grand Central Art Galleries in New York City and sold out.
1971 Barnes wrote I Hate the Game I Love for Gridiron newspaper. His articles would laid the foundation for his autobiography, published in 1995. Responding to 1960s “Black is beautiful” movement highlighted by James Brown’s 1968 Say it loud: I’m Black and I’m Proud song, Barnes created The Beauty of the Ghetto which traveled major America 1972 to 1979; including in the Museum of African Art in Washington, DC, 1974. Barnes also created “The Sugar Shack during the 70s. The piece gained popularity from the Good Times tv show and the 1976 Marvin Gaye album. In 1979 Barnes returned for a solo exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Art, attended by the North Carolina Governor.
1984 The Olympic Organizing Committee named Barnes Sports Artist of the Olympic Games. Barnes created five Olympic-themed paintings also serving as an official Olympic spokesman.
1985 Barnes was named the first Sports Artist of the Year by the United States Sports Academy.
1987 he was commissioned by Los Angeles Lakers to create Fastbreak.
In 1990 Barnes was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts by North Carolina Central University. 1992 responding to the Los Angeles riots, Barnes’ painting Growth Through Limits was used as an inspirational billboard in the inner-city. In 1993 Barnes was selected to the Black College Football 100th Year All-Time Team by the Sheridan Broadcasting Network. 1996 the Carolina Panthers commissioned him to create, Victory in Overtime. Later displayed during the inaugural season and hangs permanently in the stadium. Also the National Basketball Association commissioned Barnes to create a painting to recognize the 50th anniversary. 1998 The Advocate was donated to the North Carolina Central University School of Law. Barnes was inspired by “concern with the just application of the law… the integrity of the legal process for all people, but especially those without resource or influence.” The Dream Unfolds hangs in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.In 1999 Barnes was bestowed The University Award.
2001 the tragedy of 9/11, provoked him to paint In Remembrance. Which unveiled at the Seattle Art Museum later purchased by the City of Philadelphia now held in the African American Museum. 2004 Barnes was named America’s Best Painter of Sports by the American Sport Art Museum & Archives. 2005 Three of Barnes’ original paintings were exhibited at the London, England Whitechapel Gallery; Back to Black: Art, Cinema & Racial Imaginary art exhibition. Also music artist Kanye West hired, Barnes to create A Life Restored. 2007 The National Football League and Time Warner sponsored A Tribute to Ernie Barnes in New York City. Barnes transitioned April 27, 2009 in Los Angeles, California from myeloid leukemia.
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