Oct 07, 2021 - Sale 2581

Sale 2581 - Lot 87

Price Realized: $ 32,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 15,000 - $ 25,000
ERNIE BARNES (1938 - 2009)
Loose Ball.

Oil on cotton canvas, 1971. 1219x1534 mm; 48x60 inches. Signed in oil, lower right recto. Inscribed with the artist's copyright statement in ink, verso.

Provenance: private collection, Maryland.

Exhibited: the National Press Club, Washington, DC; Agra Gallery, Washington, DC, 1971. Barnes's solo exhibiton at the Agra Gallery was hosted by hosted by Congressmen Jack Kemp and John Conyers.

Illustrated: "Barnes, A Former Player, Paints a Penetrating Portrait of Pro Football", The New York Times, May 9, 1917.

This large painting is a striking example of Ernie Barnes' mannerist football paintings in which expressive figures show the fierce conflict of the sport. Ernie Barnes played professional football in the NFL in the late 1960s before beginning his celebrated career as a figurative painter and graphic artist. The artist was able to launch his career with the patronage of Sonny Werblin, owner of the New York Jets, and his acclaimed one person exhibition at Grand Central Art Galleries in 1968 of these football paintings.