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Positano
1960
Will Barnet
Born: Beverly, Massachusetts 1911
Died: New York, New York 2012
oil on canvas
57 x 42 1/4 in. (144.8 x 107.3 cm)
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Gift of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc.
1969.47.4
Smithsonian American Art Museum
4th Floor, Luce Foundation Center
". . . I'm a great believer in limitations. The better you understand limitations, the greater an artist you can become." Barnet, interview with Jordana Pomeroy, 1990
Will Barnet painted Positano in New York based on his memory of a moonlit night along Italy's southern coast. He had created monumental abstract canvases for several years and was about to return to painting human figures. This work hints at the shapes of heads and arms silhouetted against a luminous sky, but the darker forms themselves also suggest the vastness of a pitch-black night. In this way, the two principal areas of color shift back and forth from solid forms to empty spaces.
- This object is featured in the Luce Center's Mix Tape.
For more information about this work visit the Luce Foundation Center.
Keywords
Abstract - geometric
painting
paint - oil
fabric - canvas
About Will Barnet
Born: Beverly, Massachusetts 1911 Died: New York, New York 2012
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