Cat and Canary by Will Barnet

Cat and Canary by Will Barnet shows a black cat with yellow eyes lounging next to a canary drinking out of a water bowl on a brown,orange and grey geometrical background done  in simple clean lines that  “makes us experience the interplay between the personal and the universal” a quote from the American historian and biographer James Thomas Flexner about Barnet’s work. While remaining representational, the simple elegance of the figures and their flat surfaces reflect Barnet’s  exploration with abstraction. This original serigraph is an artist’s proof ( A. P. ) signed and titled in pencil by the artist and in excellent condition.

American artist Will Barnet  (1911-2012 ) worked in many mediums including painting, water color, drawings and prints. During his life time he moved thru various movements from his early social realist work to his final signature style of clean lines and carefully placed volumes of solid color in a kind of minimalist representational approach. His work is in most public collections in the United Sates including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Jewish Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He has had over eighty solo exhibitions in museums all over America and has been the recipient of numerous awards including the first Artist’s Lifetime Achievement Award Medal given on the occasion of the National Academy of Design’s 175th anniversary among many others.