Ernie E. Barnes Sold at Auction Prices

Genre Painter, b. 1938 - d. 2009

Although Ernie E. Barnes began painting at an early age, his love for sport came first. He pursued a career in professional football, but retired from the sport in 1966 to become a full-time artist. Ernie E. Barnes' paintings are distinguishable by his skilled use of athletic movement and elongation of figures. Satires and cartoonish, figural renderings that depict dramatic vision and emotion are chief subjects of Ernie E. Barnes' prints.

The most well-known Ernie E. Barnes print is of a painting entitled Sugar Shack, which was on the cover of a 1976 Marvin Gaye album. In 1984, he was appointed as the official sports artist for the XXIII Olympics. Because of his background in athletics and the themes of Ernie E. Barnes' art for sale, the committee felt he was the ideal choice for sketching athletes. Purchase phenomenal and lifelike sporting paintings to showcase your love of the game.

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sold
Sep. 13, 2023
ERNIE BARNES (1938-2009) Evening Before the Show, 1971 (This work is included in the forthcoming Ernie Barnes Catalogue Raisonné. We would like to thank Luz Rodriguez for her assistance in cataloguing this work. )
Est: $100,000 - $150,000
ERNIE BARNES (1938-2009) Evening Before the Show, 1971 signed 'ERNIE BARNES' (lower right) acrylic on canvas 24 x 36 in. 61 x 91.4 cm. This work is included in the forthcoming Ernie Barnes Catalogue Raisonné. We would like to thank Luz Rodriguez for her assistance in cataloguing this work. For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
Bonhams
sold
Jul. 18, 2023
ERNIE BARNES (1938-2009) In Remembrance acrylic on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x
Est: $100,000 - $150,000
ERNIE BARNES (1938-2009) In Remembrance acrylic on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm.)
Christie's
sold
Jun. 03, 2023
Ernie Barnes, The Finish, Poster
Est: $800 - $1,000
Artist: Ernie Barnes, American (1938 - 2009) Title: The Finish Year: 1984 Medium: Poster, signed in marker Size: 33 x 22 in. (83.82 x 55.88 cm)
RoGallery
sold
May. 28, 2023
ERNIE BARNES (1938-2009) Bronco Locker Room acrylic on canvas 61 x 121.9 cm
Est: HKD1,000,000 - HKD2,000,000
ERNIE BARNES (1938-2009) Bronco Locker Room acrylic on canvas 61 x 121.9 cm. (24 x 48 in.)
Christie's
sold
May. 25, 2023
Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) Study of Woman Sitting on Bench with Cane 30 1/8 x 22 1/2 in. (76.5 x 57.2 cm.) (Executed in 1978.)
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) Study of Woman Sitting on Bench with Cane signed 'Ernie Barnes' (lower right) charcoal, graphite and acrylic wash on paper 30 1/8 x 22 1/2 in. (76.5 x 57.2 cm.) Executed in 1978.
Bonhams
sold
May. 25, 2023
Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) The Shot 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61 cm.) (Painted in 1985.)
Est: $300,000 - $500,000
Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) The Shot signed 'ERNIE BARNES' (lower right) acrylic on canvas 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61 cm.) Painted in 1985.
Bonhams
sold
May. 25, 2023
Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) Pocket Passer 26 1/8 x 40 in. (66.4 x 101.6 cm.) (Executed in 1992.)
Est: $40,000 - $60,000
Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) Pocket Passer signed 'ERNIE BARNES' (lower right) acrylic wash on paper 26 1/8 x 40 in. (66.4 x 101.6 cm.) Executed in 1992.
Bonhams
sold
May. 20, 2023
Ernie Barnes, 1938-2009, The Beauty of the Ghetto
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
Ernie Barnes 1938-2009 The Beauty of the Ghetto 1973 portfolio (partial) of color prints 19 x 23-1/2 inches signed and dedicated by the artist in pen on the cover sheet, "For Sonny (?). God Bless you and I thank you, Ernie" The prints included are: "High Aspirations", "The Runner", "Dreams", "Ninety-nine; a' hunered", "Rock of Ages", "Come Sunday", "Street Song", "Rapping", "Jake", "The Story Teller" (missing, "The Graduate" and "The Funky Butt"). edition size unknown, stamped, The Company of Art, Hollywood, Calif.; original portfolio sleeve.
Black Art Auction
sold
May. 20, 2023
Ernie Barnes, 1938-2009, In the Beginning
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
Ernie Barnes 1938-2009 In the Beginning c. 1970 Color offset lithograph 14-1/2 x 20 inches (image) 19-3/4 x 26 inches (sheet) Signed, titled, and numbered 286/750 blind stamp
Black Art Auction
sold
May. 20, 2023
Ernie Barnes, 1938-2009, Head Over Heels
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
Ernie Barnes 1938-2009 Head Over Heels c. 1970s-1980s color offset lithograph 16-1/4 x 19-3/4 inches (image) 20 x 22-3/4 inches (sheet) signed and titled blind stamp from trust
Black Art Auction
sold
May. 20, 2023
Ernie Barnes, 1938-2009, Main Street Pool Hall
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
Ernie Barnes 1938-2009 Main Street Pool Hall 1976 Color offset lithograph 15-1/2 x 31-1/2 inches (image) 19-7/8 x 36 inches (sheet) signed, titled, and numbered 634/750
Black Art Auction
sold
May. 20, 2023
Ernie Barnes, 1938-2009, The Backstretch
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
Ernie Barnes 1938-2009 The Backstretch 1970 Lithograph 12-1/4 x 24-3/4 inches (image) 17 x 27-3/4 inches (sheet) signed, titled, and numbered 35/300 blind stamp
Black Art Auction
sold
May. 20, 2023
Ernie E. Barnes (1938-2009): The Ebony Tree
Est: $200,000 - $300,000
Ernie E. Barnes 1938-2009 The Ebony Tree oil on canvas commissioned 1985; signed lower right
Abell Auction
sold
May. 12, 2023
Ernie Barnes (American, 1938-2009) Quintet, circa 1989 Oil on canvas 36 x 60 inc
Est: $500,000 - $700,000
Ernie Barnes (American, 1938-2009) Quintet, circa 1989 Oil on canvas 36 x 60 inches (91.4 x 152.4 cm) Signed lower right: Ernie Barnes PROVENANCE: The artist; Private collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, acquired from the above; Thistlethwaite Americana, Middleberg, Virginia; [sale]The Winter Show, New York, January 2020; Private collection, Miami, Florida, acquired from the above. EXHIBITED: Grand Central Art Galleries, Inc., New York, "The Beauty of the Ghetto, Exhibition of Neo-Manneriest Paintings," October 30-November 17, 1990. LITERATURE: Central Art Galleries, Inc., New York, The Beauty of the Ghetto, Exhibition of Neo-Mannerist paintings, exhibition catalogue, 1990, p. 29, illustrated. The present work is housed in an original handmade artist frame and is also accompanied by a copy of the Central Art Galleries, Inc., The Beauty of the Ghetto exhibition catalogue, and Ernie Barnes Liberating Humanity from Within exhibition catalogue. The works of American painter Ernie Barnes are experiencing a comeback like that of no other artist of the last decade. Barnes' circa-1989 painting Quintet – a highlight of Heritage's May 12 American Art Signature Auction – is among the most recognizable pieces by the former pro footballer, who was once fined by the Denver Broncos' head coach for sketching during team meetings. Barnes, perhaps best known for his painting Sugar Shack, used in the credits of the TV show Good Times and on the cover of Marvin Gaye's 1976 album I Want You, is one of the 20th century's most distinctive painters. Last year, Sugar Shack sold for $15.3 million at Christie's – 76 times its high estimate of $200,000. "Almost like a more modern Thomas Hart Benton or El Greco," says Aviva Lehmann, Heritage's Director of American Art. "His works are lyrical, as close to dancing as a painting can get. And Quintet is among the most intimate masterworks of his entire oeuvre." Quintet was exhibited in the fall of 1990 at New York's Grand Central Art Galleries, as part of Barnes' solo exhibition The Beauty of the Ghetto, which was subtitled Exhibition of Neo-Mannerist Paintings – and that "neo-mannerist" is apropos, given that a hallmark of Barnes' work is how elongated and fluid his human figures are; Barnes' background as an athlete granted him a breathtaking interpretation of bodies in motion. And Quintet ranks among Barnes' greatest achievements, a joyful depiction of jazz musicians at work and at play, a piece so alive it echoes with a bebop soundtrack. Their eyes are closed – a hallmark of Barnes' work that dates back to 1971, when he said he first conceived of The Beauty of the Ghetto as an exhibition. "I began to see, observe, how blind we are to one another's humanity," Barnes said. "We don't see into the depths of our interconnection. The gifts, the strength and potential within other human beings." Barnes has long been acknowledged as a master by musicians who often used his works as album covers, among them Curtis Mayfield, BB King and Gaye. His lithe, ecstatic works look almost like sheet music – figures like notes dancing across the staff. Which should come as no surprise: Barnes' father played piano in the family's Durham, North Carolina home, and Barnes was so influenced by dad he framed each painting in distressed wood as a tribute: "Daddy's fence," he once said, "would hug all my paintings in a prestigious New York gallery." The painter, too, was raised listening to church choirs. Listen closely. Quintet, much like Sugar Shack, roars and reverberates like the long Saturday night before the Sunday morning. The painting brings the viewer dir
Heritage Auctions
sold
May. 12, 2023
Ernie Barnes (American, 1938-2009) Scrum, 1980 Acrylic on canvas 23-3/4 x 48 inc
Est: $30,000 - $50,000
Ernie Barnes (American, 1938-2009) Scrum, 1980 Acrylic on canvas 23-3/4 x 48 inches (60.3 x 121.9 cm) Signed lower right: Ernie Barnes PROVENANCE: The artist; Private collection, acquired from the above, 1989; By descent to the present owner. Ernie Barnes' career as a professional football player afforded him a distinctive ability to illustrate the spirit of movement in sports, and to capture the essence of sportsmanship in a singular image. The present work encapsulates the intense moment of restarting the play in rugby football, called scrummage, or ‘scrum' for short. Utilizing a low, intimate vantage point, with dust kicking up in all directions from the chaotic huddle of faceless bodies and taught muscles, Barnes immerses his viewer into the group of athletes as they attempt to gain possession of the ball. What makes Barnes' work so special is the way he captures the humanity of the players. Despite the physical intensity of the game, the players are shown banded together as a team, with empathy and respect, recognizing the human element of camaraderie that often gets lost in the heat of competition. The artist's message is clear: sports are not just about winning or losing, but about the bonds of teamwork and the thrill of pushing ourselves to the limits. HID01801242017
Heritage Auctions
sold
May. 12, 2023
Ernie Barnes (American, 1938-2009) The Team, study, 1989 Acrylic on paper 40 x 3
Est: $50,000 - $70,000
Ernie Barnes (American, 1938-2009) The Team, study, 1989 Acrylic on paper 40 x 32 inches (101.6 x 81.3 cm) (sheet) Signed and titled lower right: Ernie Barnes / Color study for "The Team" PROVENANCE: The artist; Estate of the above; Acquired by the present owner from the above, circa 2018. By the mid-1980s, Ernie Barnes' vibrant and powerful depictions of athletes were nationally recognized as among the finest expressive paintings of sports since those of George Bellows. His towering, monumental figures absorbed in the intensity of their sport feature characteristically elongated limbs and exaggerated features which impart an exquisite combination of willowy elegance and mighty musculature to their visual impact. Barnes' approach to figuration has been described as Neo-Mannerist, owing to the way he stretched and distorted the human body for dramatic and heroic effect. As the first professional American athlete to become a noted painter, Barnes used his athletic proficiency and intimate understanding of anatomy to express both the power and grace of the sportsman's form. His groundbreaking images resonated broadly within the popular visual culture of the era and earned him numerous accolades, including official sports artist of the 1984 Olympic Games and America's Best Painter of Sports, as named by the American Sport Art Museum & Archives. Barnes was commissioned to paint artwork for NBA and NFL teams, educational institutions, corporations, musicians, celebrities, and professional athletes. In 1987, the Los Angeles Lakers commissioned Barnes to paint their signature championship image, after winning their 10th NBA title over the Boston Celtics. Barnes' resulting work, Fast Break, featured the starting five--Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Kurt Rambis and Michael Cooper—charging down the court in a seemingly harmonized and masterful siege on their opponents. Abdul-Jabbar wrote of Barnes' painting, "The four of us who are black and in the foreground seem to be communicating telepathically, as if we understood what this game—what all games—meant to us individually and to other African Americans. That we were playing for all of us." In the present work, painted two years after Fast Break, Barnes' focus again moves beyond the physicality of the players in this apparent pick-up street game; it highlights the bond among these men. The circle of men leaning into one another conveys an immediate sense of the mutual understanding of the goal that the men share, and a profound solidarity that implicitly transcends the basketball court. Clinée Hedspeth, Former Director of Curatorial Services, DuSable Museum of African American Art History identified the same cultural subtext on display in another of Barnes' epic basketball scenes, Slam before the Storm, stating it "provides the viewer with more than a snapshot of Black leisure, rather, it forces the viewer to experience Black male bonding. The basketball court was the Black male country club." HID01801242017
Heritage Auctions
sold
May. 09, 2023
Ernie Barnes (1938-2009); Destination Unknown;
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) Destination Unknown, 1979 Lithograph in colors on wove paper, signed in pencil and numbered 156/300, published by London Arts Group, Detroit and with the inkstamp of the printer Z. Rather, Detroit, with full margins. 16 1/2 x 22in (41.9 x 55.9cm) sheet 19 1/2 x 25in (49.5 x 63.5cm)
Bonhams
sold
Apr. 22, 2023
ERNIE BARNES, THE FINISH, POSTER
Est: $800 - $1,000
Artist: Ernie Barnes, American (1938 - 2009) Title: The Finish Year: 1984 Medium: Poster, signed in marker Size: 33 x 22 in. (83.82 x 55.88 cm)
RoGallery
sold
Apr. 22, 2023
ERNIE BARNES, SPRINGBOARD, OFFSET LITHOGRAPH
Est: $400 - $500
Artist: Ernie Barnes, American (1938 - 2009) Title: Springboard Year: circa 1980 Medium: Offset Lithograph Size: 15 x 18 in. (38.1 x 45.72 cm)
RoGallery
sold
Apr. 12, 2023
ERNIE BARNES (1938-2009) Untitled (Boston Patriots), circa 1962 (This work is included in the Catalogue Raisonné by the artist's estate. The copyright to this painting is reserved by the Ernie Barnes Family Trust.)
Est: $70,000 - $100,000
ERNIE BARNES (1938-2009) Untitled (Boston Patriots), circa 1962 signed 'ERNIE BARNES' (lower right) acrylic on canvas 35 x 24 in. 88.9 x 61 cm. This work is included in the Catalogue Raisonné by the artist's estate. The copyright to this painting is reserved by the Ernie Barnes Family Trust.
Bonhams
sold
Apr. 06, 2023
ERNIE BARNES (1938 - 2009) Daddy.
Est: $250,000 - $350,000
ERNIE BARNES (1938 - 2009) Daddy. Acrylic on cotton canvas, 1973. 1219x914 mm; 48x36 inches. Signed in arcylic, lower right recto. Titled in pencil on the stretcher bars, and stamped with the artist's copyright statement, verso. Provenance: acquired directly from the artist; private collection, North Carolina. Exhibited: the travelling solo exhibition The Beauty of the Ghetto, the Museum of African Art, Washington, DC, September 1974. This large canvas is an impressive example of Ernie Barnes' uniquely expressive painting. His depiction of a powerful, playful and protective figure is a moving depiction of African American fatherhood. It also can be seen as an homage to his close relationship with his father, whom he also referred to as "Daddy". Barnes often framed his early paintings with the distressed wood from a weathered picket fence in honor of his late father, and many of his painting scenes were inspired by fond memories of his childhood growing up in Durham, NC. Daddy is related to Barnes's 1970 painting My Miss America in the collection of the California African American Museum. Both canvases depict a towering, heroic figure against a fiery background of orange and burnt umber in the same sized format. The muscular figure of Daddy also recalls the figurative artwork of Charles White - one of Ernie Barnes's inspirations as a young artist working in California. The year before, Barnes had moved to the Fairfax district of Los Angeles. Daddy wonderfully encapsulates Barnes' art and his larger-than-life depictions of everyday people. Daddy was part of one of Barnes's most influential exhibitions, The Beauty of the Ghetto. This solo exhibition, which began at the Heritage Gallery in Los Angeles in 1972, travelled nationally for the next seven years. Influenced by the Black Arts cultural movement, Barnes' paintings presented Black popular culture as a rich subject, broadening the representation of the Black experience in art; he said, "I am providing a pictorial background for an understanding into the aesthetics of Black America. It is not a plea to people to continue to live there (in the ghetto) but for those who feel trapped, it is…a challenge of how beautiful life can be." Daddy was included in the exhibition in 1974 when it was on view at the Museum of African Art in Washington, DC, and was hosted by US Representative John Conyers of Michigan. This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné prepared by the Ernie Barnes estate. We would like to thank Luz Rodriguez at the Ernie Barnes estate for her assistance in cataloguing this work.
Swann Auction Galleries
sold
Feb. 17, 2023
ERNIE BARNES (1938-2009) Study: Woman in Pink Walking, 1992 (This work is included in the Catalogue Raisonné by the artist's estate. The copyright to this painting is reserved by the Ernie Barnes Family Trust.We wish to thank the Ernie Barnes...
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
ERNIE BARNES (1938-2009) Study: Woman in Pink Walking, 1992 signed and inscribed 'ERNIE BARNES STUDY' (lower right) acrylic on paper 24 7/8 x 19 3/8 in. 63.2 x 49.2 cm. This work is included in the Catalogue Raisonné by the artist's estate. The copyright to this painting is reserved by the Ernie Barnes Family Trust. We wish to thank the Ernie Barnes Family Trust for their kind assistance in cataloging this lot.
Bonhams
sold
Feb. 17, 2023
ERNIE BARNES (1938-2009) The Sideline, 1963 (This work is included in the Catalogue Raisonné by the artist's estate. The copyright to this painting is reserved by the Ernie Barnes Family Trust.We wish to thank the Ernie Barnes Family Trust fo...
Est: $30,000 - $50,000
ERNIE BARNES (1938-2009) The Sideline, 1963 signed 'ERNIE BARNES' (lower right) acrylic on paper mounted on board 20 x 30 in. 50.8 x 76.2 cm. This work is included in the Catalogue Raisonné by the artist's estate. The copyright to this painting is reserved by the Ernie Barnes Family Trust. We wish to thank the Ernie Barnes Family Trust for their kind assistance in cataloging this lot.
Bonhams
sold
Feb. 04, 2023
ERNIE BARNES, THE BACKSTRETCH, LITHOGRAPH
Est: $1,200 - $1,600
Artist: Ernie Barnes, American (1938 - 2009) Title: The Backstretch Year: Circa 1980 Medium: Lithograph, Signed in Pencil Edition: AP Size: 17 x 26 in. (43.18 x 66.04 cm) Frame Size: 21 x 33 inches
RoGallery