TitleThe Lobster Boat Race
Artist
Robert Barnes
(American, b. 1934)
Date2001
MediumCasein on paper
DimensionsUnframed: 28 1/4 × 30 1/4 in.
Mat size: 28 × 30 in.
SubmissionNA diploma presentation, May 15, 2002
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number2002.7
Label TextBorn in Washington, D.C., Robert Barnes moved to Chicago with his family as a child. Growing up on Chicago's South Side, Barnes was a talented boxer, but enrolled in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where his quirky, figurative works fit right into Chicago's eclectic mix of surrealism, figuration, and narrative painting that was found in the city at that time. He continued his studies in New York, and London where he was mentored by William Coldstream and Francis Bacon, who became a great influence on him. Barnes returned to the States and by the mid-1960s was teaching at Indiana University, retiring in 1999.In 2001 Barnes and his wife moved from Indiana to the coast of Maine, which became the inspiration for an entire series of oil paintings and casein on paper works. "The Lobster Boat Race" is part of this series and retains Barnes' characteristic quirky narrative style, but now takes Maine water life as its subject. It's not entirely clear what has happened in this scene but it appears that one of the participants of the race has been impaled by his boat. Barnes continues to draw on the state of Maine for subject matter.
