Aaron Anderson
Specialist, Head of Sale
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE NEW YORK COLLECTOR
Lot 5
WILL BARNET(1911-2012)Midnight 48 3/8 x 29 1/8 in. (122.9 x 74 cm.)
Ending from 18 November 2025, 23:59 EST
New YorkUS$40,000 - US$60,000
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Morgan Martin
Head of Department
Mary Manfredi
Associate Specialist
WILL BARNET (1911-2012)
Midnight
signed and dated '© Will Barnet 1983-84' (lower left) and dated again twice, inscribed with title and signed again (on the stretcher)
oil on canvas
48 3/8 x 29 1/8 in. (122.9 x 74 cm.)
Painted in 1983-84.
signed and dated '© Will Barnet 1983-84' (lower left) and dated again twice, inscribed with title and signed again (on the stretcher)
oil on canvas
48 3/8 x 29 1/8 in. (122.9 x 74 cm.)
Painted in 1983-84.
Footnotes
Provenance
[With] Kennedy Galleries, Inc., New York.
[With] Babcock Galleries, New York.
Harmon-Meek Gallery, Naples, Florida, consigned from the artist, by March 2011.
Private collection, Naples, Florida and New Hartford, New York, acquired from the above, March 2011.
By descent to the present owner from the above, 2022.
Exhibited
New York, Kennedy Galleries, Inc., Will Barnet at Kennedy Galleries, October 9-27, 1984, n.p., no. 2, illustrated.
Naples, Florida, Harmon-Meek Gallery, Will Barnet: A Celebration of the Artist's 100th Birthday, March 13-31, 2011.
Literature
John Szoke Editions, Will Barnet: Catalogue Raisonné, 1931-2005, Etchings, Lithographs, Woodcuts, Serigraphs, New York, 2008, pp. 72, 87, 90, no. 184, illustrated. (etching and acquaint on white German etching wove paper based on the present work)
By the 1980s, Will Barnet had matured into a painter of serenity and symbolic depth, turning his attention to figurative works that blended realism with principles of abstraction. Most importantly, Barnet revisited the human figure—particularly exploring representations of women and children and their relationship to domestic interiors—but with a contemplative stillness that transcended the everyday. Midnight exemplifies this period best, as Barnet portrays in poetic fashion a mother holding a sleeping baby with a loyal dog by her side by a large window looking out onto a gray, monochromatic landscape. The scene is characterized by a profound sense of solitude and reflection in its simplified shapes, muted color harmonies, and dreamlike atmosphere. Midnight reveals Barnet's mastery of composition and his ability to convey psychological and spiritual resonance through minimal means. While his earlier works showed his experimentation with pure abstraction, Barnet's work of the 1980s, such as Midnight, reflects his eloquent reconciliation between abstraction and representation that defined his celebrated mature style.