Ernie Barnes

Ernest "Ernie" Barnes was an American artist renowned for his distinctive style characterized by elongated characters and a sense of movement. Additionally, he had a career as a professional football player, actor, and author.

Biography of Ernie Barnes

Ernie Barnes was born in 1938 in Durham, North Carolina. He grew up during the era of Jim Crow racism and racial profiling, attending racially segregated schools.

In 1956, he graduated from Hillside High School with 26 athletic scholarship offers. However, segregation prevented him from attending nearby Duke University or the University of North Carolina. He decided to stay at home and enrolled at the all-Black North Carolina College at Durham (formerly known as the North Carolina College for Negroes, now North Carolina Central University). There, he pursued a major in art while benefiting from a full athletic scholarship.

At the age of 21 in 1959, Barnes made his first sale as an artist, with his painting "Slow Dance" fetching $90 from Boston Celtic player Sam Jones.

In 1967, Barnes participated in an episode of the game show "To Tell the Truth." The panelists correctly identified him as the former professional football player turned artist. In the 1969 motion picture "Number One," Barnes portrayed the character Deke Coleman. In 1971, Barnes, alongside Mike Henry, co-created the "Super Comedy Bowl," a variety show featured in a CBS television special that showcased professional athletes alongside celebrities.

Barnes's artwork was also featured in several television series, including "Columbo," "The White Shadow," "Dream On," "The Hughleys," "The Wayans Bros.," "Wife Swap," and "Soul Food," as well as in the movies "Drumline" and "Boyz n the Hood."

In 1990, Barnes received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from North Carolina Central University. In 1999, he was honored with "The University Award," the highest recognition bestowed by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors.

The artist passed away in 2009 due to myeloid leukemia. His ashes were cremated and scattered in two locations: one in his hometown of Durham, North Carolina, near the site of his family home, and the other at the beach in Carmel, California, one of his cherished cities.

Ernie Barnes's Art Style

Growing up during the era of Jim Crow racism and racial profiling, Barnes acquired an aesthetic education by perusing books and catalogs available at the home of his mother's employer, a prominent Durham attorney. These experiences not only introduced him to art history but also immersed him in the essence and culture of the South—something he later referred to as the "spiritual currency of the ghetto."

His talent for portraying subjects, which included vibrant depictions of Black joy, athleticism, and the lyrical aspects of Southern life, would eventually develop into his distinctive "neo-mannerist" style of painting.

Drawing inspiration from the figuration of Italian Mannerist artists, Barnes created paintings featuring elongated, sinuous figures with closed eyes and distorted limbs. He also dedicated himself to the study of 20th-century American Masters such as Thomas Hart Benton, Andrew Wyeth, and Charles White.

His artful compositions, richly layered, reflect his dual background as a former NFL professional athlete and his upbringing in rural, southern Black communities. His works vividly depict scenes like young men using peach baskets for makeshift basketball games, a dynamic mix of sportsmen and their sculpted physiques, and the vibrant ambiance of rhythm and blues dance halls filled with people and passion.

With a belief that the challenges of poverty provided a profound layer of meaning often overlooked by most, Barnes critiqued the stifling influence of media on depictions of underprivileged Black youth. His art mirrored the social complexities embedded in the myth of the culturally deprived Black individual. He dedicated his work to challenging the prevailing narrative of his time, which portrayed Black art as "culturally blind," by creating paintings that celebrated virtuosity and the vitality of the Black experience.