The son of Russian immigrants who settled in Beverly, Massachusetts, Barnet’s siblings were all much older than he, and as a result, young Will had a rather solitary life that ultimately fostered the development of a vigorously independent individual, which was reflected in his artistic career. He realized at a young age that that becoming an artist would give him the “ability to create something which would live on after death.”¹ He became determined that he would devote his lifetime to doing “what I desired most. . . . My desire was to paint humanity.”²

At the heart of Barnet’s artistic philosophy was a profound respect for the enduring legacy of art. He once expressed his aspiration to be like the Old Masters, whose works transcended time and mortality. He believed that “if the Old Masters were able to sustain interest right to the end there was no reason why a man living today couldn’t do it.”³ He adhered to a deliberate and rigorous process, which led one art writer to comment that Barnet “constructs his paintings, prints and watercolors as carefully as an engineer designs a bridge.”⁴ This reverence for artistic immortality fueled his dedication to creating something that would endure beyond his own lifetime—a sentiment that also resonates deeply with Native American artmaking.

Barnet’s fascination with Native American art was not merely aesthetic; it was grounded in a deeply philosophical exploration of spatial dynamics and cultural symbolism. Through his connections with artists of the Indian Space Painting movement, Barnet drew inspiration from the structures inherent in Native American visual and material culture. He underscored this influence in his work through the abstraction of form, flattening of space, and the interplay between positive and negative space—a hallmark of many Native American artistic traditions.

The Indian Space Painters were a loosely organized group of non-Native mid-twentieth-century Modernists active during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Notable among them were Gertrude Barrer (1921–1997), Howard Daum (1918–1988), and Peter Busa (1914–1985) among others. They sought to create a new form of American art wholly distinct from European predecessors and inspired by the aesthetic traditions of Indigenous peoples. Their work, characterized by all-over compositions, two-dimensional abstraction, and vibrant color palettes, was rooted in the visual forms of the Indigenous arts and material culture of the Americas, and pushed the boundaries of contemporary art.

While Barnet was not a formal member of the Indian Space Painting movement, its practitioners included close colleagues and students of his at the Art Students League who shared in or learned from his exploration of Indigenous art forms that deeply informed their artistic practices. Barnet in particular drew from a wide range of Indigenous sources, from Northwest Coast painting and carving to Pueblo pottery and Southwest design, weaving elements of their traditions into his own visual vocabulary. For Barnet, Indigenous art offered a more intriguing conception of space—a flattening of the artwork’s perspective and a certain ambiguity between positive and negative space that transcended the confines of traditional European aesthetics.

I wanted to get away from the three-dimensional idea of space, find a way to compress it into two dimensions. And the Indian art I saw in my youth and as an adult in visits to the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of the American Indian showed me the way. . . . Indian Space showed me the way of merging Indian and Western art together. It took me beyond Cubism in a search for American values.⁵

One of the most significant contributions of Barnet’s engagement with Native American art was his impact on future generations of artists. Through his teaching at institutions like the Art Students League, the Cooper Union, Yale University, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and his emphasis on Indigenous visual culture, Barnet inspired a new wave of creativity that reverberated throughout the art world. This included the contemporary Native American art movement by way of the career of Seymour Tubis, one of Barnet’s students and teaching assistants at the League. Tubis, whose work reflected Barnet’s lessons and ethos, was among the first instructors and a pivotal figure at the Institute of American Indian Arts, founded in Santa Fe in 1962. There, he continued Barnet’s legacy of integrating Indigenous forms and philosophies into contemporary artistic practice that he taught back to Native American students whose work combines Modernist techniques with their unique cultural traditions.

As we reflect on the legacy of Will Barnet, it is clear that his engagement with Native American art encompassed a meaningful dialogue—a mutual exchange of ideas and inspirations. While acknowledging the complexities of cultural influence, we must recognize Barnet’s role in fostering a deeper appreciation for Indigenous art and its enduring relevance in the broader landscape of American art. This relationship across time between Barnet, the Indian Space Painters, historic Indigenous art, and the modern Native art movement is being explored in the forthcoming exhibition Space Makers: Indigenous Expression and a New American Art at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, April 13–September 30, 2024.

The forthcoming publication, Will Barnet, a comprehensive monograph published by The Artist Book Foundation, serves as a testament to Barnet’s enduring legacy and the mutually profound impact he and the Native American artistic landscape experienced during his career. Through scholarly essays, an extensive plate section, and a detailed bibliography, as well as thorough lists of exhibitions, awards, and collections, this monograph promises to offer a comprehensive exploration of the artist’s  iconic imagery and his evolving relationship with Native American art. In celebrating the life and work of Will Barnet, the monograph not only pays tribute to a singular artistic talent but also acknowledges the rich tapestry of influences that shaped his extraordinary journey—an odyssey that continues to inspire and captivate audiences around the world.

Notes

¹ Katherine French, “An Act of Memory,” essay in Will Barnet: My Father’s House, 14.

² Barnet quoted in Richard Brown Baker, “Interview with Will Barnet,” January 20 and 26, 1964, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 37–38.

³ Ibid.

⁴ Orazio Fumagalli, “Will Barnet,” essay in Will Barnet; A Retrospective Exhibition (Duluth, MN: Tweed Gallery, University of Minnesota, 1958), n.p.

⁵ Will Barnet quoted in Barbara Delatiner, “Artist Explains His Indian Inspiration,” New York Times, April 28, 1996, 14.

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Author Bio: 

​​The Artist Book Foundation (TABF) is a nonprofit art book publisher that celebrates artists’ lives and work through publications, related exhibitions, and public programs. TABF works collaboratively with artists, museum curators, art historians, and collectors to develop catalogues raisonnés, monographs, surveys, and exhibition catalogues. It is dedicated to preserving and celebrating the artistic legacy of acclaimed as well as underrepresented artists. With a focus on producing artist centered publications that delve into the lives and works of these remarkable individuals, TABF plays a vital role in fostering appreciation for the arts and their lasting impact on culture and society. Additionally, TABF’s book donations program provides access to the arts to the widest audience possible by delivering thousands of copies of their publications to underserved public libraries, schools, and prisons across the country.

The post Native American Influences on an Artist’s Journey appeared first on Art Business News.

Robert Kipniss is a renowned figure in the art world, recognized for his exceptional contributions as a painter, printmaker, and poet. Since his first exhibition in New York in 1951, Kipniss has had over 200 solo shows. His printmaking began with lithographs, but since 1990, he has worked almost exclusively in intaglio, with the majority of his prints being mezzotints. The forms in his work are reduced to essentials and his subject matter may be trees close up or at a distance, landscapes, bridges, or interiors. His use of exceptionally subtle black-and-white tones creates atmospheric effects of solitude and introspection. Throughout his career, Kipniss has left an indelible mark on the art community with his distinctive style and profound vision, making him a notable influence in the realm of visual expression.

Kipniss’s works are represented in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the New Orleans Museum of Art; the British Museum; the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; and the Pinakothek Moderne, Munich, among others. He was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1980 and to the Royal Society of Painters–Printmakers, London, in 1998. He lives in New York and Connecticut.

ROBERT KIPNISS: Shades of Nature delves into two significant periods of Kipniss’s artistic career. The exhibition opens with a visual exploration of the young poet and painter discovering his artistic voice during the 1950s and 1960s. On the gallery wall opposite the paintings, three poems featured in the Robert Kipniss: Paintings and Poetry, 1950–1964 book are exhibited for visitors to read and ponder. This display mirrors the interplay and the contrasts between his paintings and poetry, inviting viewers to immerse themselves in the artist’s differing visual and literary expressions, thereby enriching the journey through his artistic realm. The early drawings and paintings offer a profound insight into this critical phase of Kipniss’s career when he made the pivotal decision to devote himself entirely to painting.

He recalls that “while I found the act of writing poetry painful—no doubt because I was writing about the anger and darkness within me—I found only pleasure and excitement in painting. In the very act of putting paint on canvas I found an exuberant and unrestrained exploration of form, color, texture, and emotion—all of it intense and thrilling. . . . It stunned me to see that when I stopped writing poetry, my paintings turned dark and surreal, filled with foreboding and anger—eerie, aggressive, and imbued with the emotions of the poetry I was no longer writing.”

The exhibition also presents Kipniss’s foray into the medium of printmaking, which he reluctantly began in 1967 but for which he ultimately developed a deep affinity. Visitors to TABF’s gallery will have the opportunity to appreciate early print works, highlighting the artist’s enduring passion for printmaking that has resulted in over 750 editions in drypoint, etching, lithography, and mezzotint.

In addition to early works, ROBERT KIPNISS: Shades of Nature unveils later works of the 1990s and 2000s that explore the refined and ephemeral landscapes of Kipniss’s mature style. While the artist quit painting in 2018 due to the physical challenges of standing for long stretches at the easel, he continues to draw and make prints. As ever, the majesty of trees and the transformative power of the natural world remains central to his practice.

Kipniss’s engrossing book, Robert Kipniss: Paintings and Poetry, 1950–1964, is the result of many arduous months of revisiting his writing from more than half a century ago, poems that he stashed away and essentially forgot. “Writing was a struggle: a few lines, maybe six or seven, and then rewriting followed by more rewriting before going on. . . . Some of the poems are straightforward, some are infused with surreal irony, and some are angry,” says the artist in his candid and honest preface to the book. Thoughtful and articulate from conception to completion, his never-before-published poems are choreographed with his early paintings in the exhibition’s contemplation of the influential and foundational years from 1950 to 1964. “When I stopped writing [in 1961] my vision was no longer divided between word-thinking and picture-thinking: these approaches had merged and in expressing myself I was more whole,” reflects Kipniss in his reflective musings.

Readers of this gorgeous volume are all the richer for catching a glimpse of an intensely personal segment of this accomplished artist’s private history. In an unambiguous assessment, Kipniss elaborates: “The most significant insight that arose in this undertaking . . . came when I began to collate reproductions of my paintings of the 1950s. I could clearly see that my work in the two mediums was from very different parts of my psyche, and that while they were both in themselves completely engaged, they were not in any way together.”

This written and visual account of previously unpublished poems and early paintings, which received critical acclaim, are accompanied by two astute and illustrative essays by Marshall N. Price and Robin Magowan, that will further inform readers familiar with this highly respected American artist as well as those just discovering the beauty and mystery of his work. Price was curator of modern and contemporary art at the National Academy Museum in New York, New York and is now the curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Magowan is an award-winning poet based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is the author of 10 books of poetry as well as two collections of travel writing and two books on bicycle racing.

ROBERT KIPNISS: Shades of Nature is a must-see exhibition for anyone passionate about the enduring allure of visual expression and the timeless legacy of a remarkable artist. Admission to TABF’s gallery is always free and all are welcome.

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Author Bio: 

​​The Artist Book Foundation (TABF) is a nonprofit art book publisher that celebrates artists’ lives and work through publications, related exhibitions, and public programs. TABF works collaboratively with artists, museum curators, art historians, and collectors to develop catalogues raisonnés, monographs, surveys, and exhibition catalogues. It is dedicated to preserving, promoting, and celebrating the artistic legacy of acclaimed as well as underrepresented artists. With a focus on producing artist-centered publications that delve into the lives and works of these remarkable individuals, TABF plays a vital role in fostering appreciation for the arts and their lasting impact on culture and society. Additionally, TABF’s book donations program provides access to the arts to the widest audience possible by delivering thousands of copies of their publications to underserved public libraries, schools, and prisons across the country.

The importance of artist books is not in question, but their existence could be if they are not published by a nonprofit whose mission is to ensure their future and to capture the legacy that is found on the page—print and digital—for generations to come. If you consider that museums are run as nonprofits for the common good, rather than to satisfy shareholders, then you can appreciate what inspired the creation of The Artist Book Foundation. Connecting artist books with markets worldwide is essential and easier than ever as the foundation has contacts internationally to ensure that promotion, sales, distribution, and specialized content reach all corners of the globe. 

It is critical to be where the art world is getting the greatest attention and setting the highest standards. Located on the campus of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), TABF’s scholarly publications help to inspire and develop a growing interest in the arts. Art historians, museum curators, and other experts in their fields author and contribute to all of the foundation’s richly illustrated books, with the ultimate goal of clearly communicating the artist’s practice. The foundation partners with artists, galleries, museums, and others to create publications of exceptional quality and design. The books are supported financially through these partnerships to produce the most comprehensive presentation of an artist’s history and work.

The post Robert Kipniss: Master Painter, Printmaker, and Poet in Retrospect appeared first on Art Business News.