Skip to main content
Video Loading
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 13

Barrington Watson
Huge topical Black History slavery painting Jamaica Morant Bay 1865 rebellion

circa 1964

$12,000
£9,110.20
€10,420.12
CA$16,765.74
A$18,647.16
CHF 9,736.97
MX$226,916.14
NOK 124,355.95
SEK 116,623.94
DKK 77,769.35
Shipping
Retrieving quote...
The 1stDibs Promise:
Authenticity Guarantee,
Money-Back Guarantee,
24-Hour Cancellation

About the Item

Uprising - a huge and incredibly powerful and topical painting by Jamaican master painter Barrington Watson (1931-2016). It depicts the 1865 Morant Bay rebellion, where Jamaicans were protesting injustice and widespread poverty. Most freedmen/former slaves were prevented from voting by high poll taxes, and their living conditions had worsened following crop damage by floods, cholera and smallpox epidemics, and a long drought. Born in Hanover, Jamaica, in 1931, Professor the Honourable Barrington Watson, OJ, was educated at London’s Royal College of Art, attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris and the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam. Returning to Jamaica in 1961, he quickly became one of the most influential post-Independence artistic figures. Our painting by Watson is a study for the important early work “Battle of Morant Bay” (painted 1964), in the collection of the National Gallery of Jamaica, about which art historian Claudia Hucke writes in an exhibition catalogue of “Barrington; a Retrospective” (National Gallery of Jamaica, 2012): “(…) Watson’s work captures the moment when rebels storm the Morant Bay courthouse. Slain bodies lie on the ground in front of the courthouse and on the stairs leading to the upper floor. Men in the heat of combat carrying machetes, torches and rifles attack the officials, some of whom are trying to escape into the building, hurriedly running up the steps and through the door on the ground floor. A market woman on the right is screaming in horror. ‘The Morant Bay Rebellion’ is carefully composed, descriptive and emotionally detached as the posture of most of the figures is somewhat strained and both rebels and officials display at times overly dramatic expressions. Watson here employs the heightened emotions and grand gestures of traditional history painting, but chose not to include an image of Paul Bogle in his painting “because, according to my research, he was not at the courthouse on the day of the rebellion. His brother, however, is the man holding the torch.” Our impressive artwork is monogrammed at the lower right. Painted by Barrington Watson's during his time in England, it is presented in its original frame James Bourlet & Sons Ltd, carvers and gilders, picture framemakers, fine art packers and exhibition agents. The size of the painting excluding the frame is just over 30 x 40 inches.
  • Creator:
    Barrington Watson (1931 - 2016)
  • Creation Year:
    circa 1964
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 37.01 in (94 cm)Width: 46.86 in (119 cm)Depth: 1.97 in (5 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Norwich, GB
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU99136879272

More From This Seller

View All
Early Haitian Picasso-like Modernist Mother and Child oil painting Haiti
Located in Norwich, GB
Mother and child/maternité: a gorgeous, almost Picasso-like early oil on canvas by Petion Savain, dating from 1953. The painting is monogrammed and dated...
Category

Mid-20th Century Outsider Art Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Moby Dick 4 original mid century illustrations for Herman Melville's masterpiece
By Rockwell Kent
Located in Norwich, GB
A stunning ensemble of fiour original mid century illustrations for Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" . Whilst sharing the modernist, stylis...
Category

1940s Modern Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

Figures in a landscape
By Erik Scholz
Located in Norwich, GB
A rare, very poetic figurative work by Eric Scholz, dating from the 1980s. Scholz was a Hungarian artist who trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest. He was awarded the pre...
Category

1980s Expressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media, Masonite

Mexican large abstract oil painting 1970s by Leopoldo Flores modernist design
Located in Norwich, GB
A large and impressive abstract oil on canvas by noted Mexican artist Leopoldo Flores. It is intemporal and yet to me also perfectly embodies the 1970s...
Category

1970s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Mythological scene, study for the Prize of Rome 1864, French academism, Homer
Located in Norwich, GB
This rare mythological scene depicting the Greek author Homer on the island of Scyros. You will notice the Trojan War being fought in the background. Our painting, dating from 1864, is unsigned, but has a solid attribution to academic artist Henri-Léopold Lévy...
Category

Mid-19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Large colourful modernist abstract landscape painting Vietnamese American artist
By Ngoc Dung
Located in Norwich, GB
A striking, bold colourist painting by Vietnamese artist Ngoc Dung (1931-2000), dating from circa 1960. His highly individualistic art is hard to categorise. In the artist"s own wor...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Landscape Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

You May Also Like

Oil Painting Titled "The Death of Crispus Attucks", by Thomas Dietrich, 1943
Located in New York, NY
Thomas M. Dietrich 1912-1998 The Death of Crispus Attucks, 1943 Tempera and oil on board 21 x 15 inches Signed and dated: Tom Dietrich 1943 Thomas M. Dietrich was an artist in residence at Lawrence College for 30 years and painted in the American Regionalist style. He exhibited yearly at the Art Institute of Chicago where he also received the acclaimed International William Tuthill Prize for watercolors in 1941 (Charles Burchfield won the associated Logan prize that same year) Dietrich also received a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation fellowship and was a founding member of the Wisconsin Watercolor Society. In 1943 Deitrich painted The Death of Crispus Attucks, depicting the historical battle known as the Boston Massacre...
Category

1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Tempera

Massive Purvis Young Painting, Estate of the Artist, 84"W
By Purvis Young
Located in Lake Worth Beach, FL
Artist/Designer; Manufacturer: Purvis Young (American, 1943-2010) Marking(s); notes: signed, BCO1FE60 Materials: painted wood Dimensions (H, W, D): 48"h, 84"w; 50"h, 86"w frame Add...
Category

Late 20th Century Outsider Art Figurative Paintings

Materials

Wood

George Weissbort (1928-2013) - 20th Century Oil, Frenzy
By George Weissbort
Located in Corsham, GB
An intriguing oil study by the artist George Weissbort (1928-2013). Unsigned. (Provenance: Studio Sale, George Weissbort). On board.
Category

20th Century Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

20th C. Figurative Abstract Painting Cleveland School African American Artist
By Beni E. Kosh
Located in Beachwood, OH
Beni E. Kosh/Charles Elmer Harris (American, 1917-1993) Untitled Oil on canvas board Estate stamped #611 verso 24 x 18 inches Charles Elmer Harris was born in 1917 in Cleveland, Oh...
Category

20th Century American Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

'Cock Fight in Cuba' original Regionalist painting signed by John Steuart Curry
By John Steuart Curry
Located in Milwaukee, WI
John Steuart Curry "Cockfight in Cuba," 1946 oil on canvas Image: 38.25 x 46.25 in Frame: 43.75 x 51.5 in Signed on reverse with initials JSC on lower right stretcher bar John Steu...
Category

1940s American Realist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

British 20th Century oil painting of 'The promised land' by Thomas Saunders Nash
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
THOMAS SAUNDERS NASH (1891-1968) The promised land Oil on board 28 x 20 in. (71 x 50.8 cm.) Painter of figure compositions, religious subjects, l...
Category

20th Century Expressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board