Ernie Barnes Art

Vintage American modernist interior scene by Will Barnet. Titled "Interlude". Signed and numbered limited edition from 1982.

This artwork titled "Au Repos (At Rest)" 1983 is an original color lithograph on paper by noted Bolivian artist Graciela Rodo Boulanger, b.1935. It is hand signed and numbered 157/20...

Walter SPITZER (1927-) Jewish Wedding Original lithograph Handsigned in pencil Numbered /75 ex On Japan paper 55 x 75 cm (c. 22 x 30 inch) Excellent ...

Original WW1 poster. Put Fighting Blood in Your Business. Here’s his record! Does he get a Job? Arthur Woods, Assistant to the Secretary of...

Noel Daggett, American (1925 - 2005) - Halfway to Lamey, Year: circa 1979, Medium: Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil, Edition: 300, AP 40, Image Size: 18 x 22 inches, Siz...

Paul Sample The Slope Near the Bridge, 1950 Signed in pencil lower left Lithograph on wove paper Image 8 15/16 x 12 15/16 inches Sheet 11 5/16 x 15 1/16 inches From the edition of 25...

"Silver Mine, Russell Gulch (12/25)" is a striking black-and-white lithograph by German-born American Modernist Arnold Ronnebeck (1885–1947). This rare print depicts a historic minin...

This artwork titled "Yelding the Right of Way" c.1975 is a color offset lithograph by renown western artist Arnold Friberg, 1913-2010. It is hand signed...

This artwork titled "II Cup of Joe" c.1990, is an original color serigraph by American artist Rickey Jewell Hohimer, 1946-2021. It is hand signed, titled and numbered 250/300 in pencil by the artist. The image size is 19.5 x 23.5 inches, framed size is 26.75 x 30 inches. The artwork is in excellent condition, the frame is slightly damaged at the top, and will be replaced by a new similar black frame when sold. This will bring the over all condition to excellent. About the artist: Although formally trained with a MFA in painting, Rickey Jewell Hohimer has used the styles of Van Gogh and Gaughin to reach for the spontaneity and simplicity of today's folk art. Hohimer creates figures which are not photos of reality; they are romantically stylized to encourage straightforward emotional responses both to the colorful images and to the situations in which they find themselves. Each of Hohimer's paintings lays out a basic story line to which viewers add their own details. "I want the viewer to become personally involved. My paintings offer a change from those which encourage extensive intellectualizing about what the artist is trying to convey. I want viewers to smile -- to enjoy the whimsical nature of what they are experiencing -- to feel it, not to analyze it!. His jazz paintings are stories on canvas of inspired musicians spontaneously making music of the moment. Life in the jazz age is clubs and nightlife beckoning to musicians to produce jazz art...

This artwork titled "A Kodak Moment" 1992 is an offset lithograph by renown Western artist Gary Carter, born 1938. It is hand signed and numbered 816/850 i...

Joe Jones Fishing Village, 1949 Signed in pencil lower right margin Lithograph on wove paper Image 9 5/16 x 12 9/16 inches Sheet 12 x 15 15/16 inches From the edition of 250 The initial details of Jones' career are sparse, and this is intentional. The young artist was engaged in a process of self-reinvention, crafting a persona. When he submitted a work to the Sixteen Cities Exhibition at New York City's Museum of Modern Art in 1933, he briefly characterized himself: "Born St. Louis, 1909, self-taught. " Jones intentionally portrayed himself to the art community as an authentic working-class figure, backed by a compelling history. He was the youngest of five children in a family led by a one-armed house painter from St. Louis, a Welsh immigrant, and his German American spouse. At the age of ten, Jones found himself in a Missouri reformatory due to authorities' concerns over his graffiti activities. After completing elementary school, he traveled by freight car to California and back, even being arrested for vagrancy in Pueblo, Colorado. Returning to St. Louis, he attempted to settle down by working alongside his father. Yet, Jones felt a profound restlessness and was drawn toward a more elevated artistic pursuit in his late teenage years. He discovered a local collective of budding artists that formed St. Louis’s "Little Bohemia," sharing a studio and providing mutual support until he managed to secure his own modest workspace in a vacant garage. Jones’s initial creations comprised still lifes, landscapes, and poignant portraits of those close to him. These subjects were not only accessible but also budget-friendly, as hiring models was beyond his means. He depicted himself, his father, mother, and eventually, his wife. In December 1930, at the age of 21, Jones wed Freda Sies, a modern dancer and political activist who was four years older than him. By 1933, Jones had started gaining noteworthy local recognition through a solo exhibition at the Artists’ Guild of Saint Louis. Of the twenty-five paintings on display, one, titled River Front (private collection, previously with Hirschl and Adler Galleries), was selected to illustrate a feature article about his show in The Art Digest (February 15, 1933, p. 9). Shortly before this exhibition, a young surgeon named Dr. Robert Elman took an interest in Jones’s art, purchasing several pieces and forming a group of potential patrons committed to providing the emerging artist with a monthly stipend in exchange for art. This group was officially known as the "Co-operative Art Society," but it was informally dubbed the "Joe Jones Club. " Jones became an active participant in the St. Louis artistic scene, particularly within its bohemian segments. He embraced modernism and was a founding member of the "New Hat" movement in 1931, a playful rebellion against the conservative and traditional mainstream art establishment. The summer of 1933 marked a significant shift in Jones’s journey. Sponsored by a dedicated ally, Mrs. Elizabeth Green, Jones, along with Freda and Green, embarked on an eastward road trip. In Washington, D. C., they explored the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Freer Gallery (part of the Smithsonian Institution), the Library of Congress, and Mount Vernon. Following this whirlwind of art and American culture, they made their way to New York, where they visited various museums and galleries, including a stop at The New School for Social Research, which featured notable contemporary murals by fellow Missourian Thomas Hart Benton and the politically active Mexican artist, José Clemente Orozco. From June through August, Jones and Freda resided in the artist colony of Provincetown, Massachusetts, later returning home via Detroit to see Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry mural housed at the Detroit Institute of Fine Arts. While Elizabeth Green allegedly hoped that Jones would refine his artistic skills under the guidance of Charles Hawthorne or Richard Miller in Provincetown, Jones followed a different path. Rather than pursuing conservative mentors, he connected with an engaging network of leftist intellectuals, writers, and artists who dedicated their time to reading Marx and applying his theories to the American landscape. Jones's reaction to the traditional culture of New England was captured in his statement to a reporter from the St. Louis Post Dispatch: “Class consciousness . . . that’s what I got of my trip to New England. Those people [New Englanders] are like the Chinese—ancestor worshipers. They made me realize where I belong” (September 21, 1933). The stark social divisions he witnessed there prompted him to embrace his working-class identity even more fervently. Upon returning to St. Louis, he prominently identified himself as a Communist. This newfound political stance created friction with some of his local supporters. Many of his middle-class advocates withdrew their backing, likely influenced not only by Jones’s politics but also by his flamboyant and confrontational demeanor. In December 1933, Jones initiated a complimentary art class for unemployed individuals in the Old Courthouse of St. Louis, the same location where the Dred Scott case was deliberated and where slave auctions formerly took place. Concurrently, the St. Louis Art League was offering paid courses. Emphasizing the theme of social activism, with a studio adorned with Soviet artwork, Jones’s institution operated for just over a year before being removed from the courthouse by local officials. The school’s political focus and unconventional teaching practices, along with its inclusion of a significant number of African American students during a period marked by rigid racial segregation, certainly contributed to its challenges. Under Jones’s guidance, the class created a large chalk pastel mural on board, measuring 16 by 37 feet, titled Social Unrest in St. Louis. Mural painting posed no challenge for the former housepainter, who was adept at handling large wall surfaces. His first significant commission in St. Louis in late 1931 was a mural that celebrated the city’s industrial and commercial fortitude for the local radio station, KMOX. This mural, aimed at conveying optimism amid severe economic hardship, showcased St. Louis's strengths in a modernist approach. When Jones resumed mural work in late 1933, his worldview had evolved considerably. The mural produced for the school in the courthouse, conceived by Jones, featured scenes of modern St. Louis selected to highlight political messages. Jones had observed the technique of utilizing self-contained scenes to craft visual narratives in the murals he encountered in the East. More locally, this compositional strategy was commonly employed by the renowned Missouri artist...

This rare 1933 lithograph by renowned modernist artist Arnold Rönnebeck depicts a striking winter scene of a Colorado mountain mine blanketed in snow. Rendered in dramatic black-and-...