Morgan Martin
Head of Department
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
Lot 91
Ernie Barnes(1938-2009)Hustler 36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm.)
18 November 2021, 14:00 EST
New YorkSold for US$27,812.50 inc. premium
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Aaron Anderson
Specialist, Head of Sale
Ernie Barnes (1938-2009)
Hustler
signed 'Ernie Barnes' (lower right)
acrylic on canvas
36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm.)
Painted circa 1978.
signed 'Ernie Barnes' (lower right)
acrylic on canvas
36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm.)
Painted circa 1978.
Footnotes
Provenance
Private collection, Los Angeles, California.
Estate of the above.
Acquired from the above by the present owner, circa 1985-89.
The copyright to this painting is reserved by the Estate of Ernie Barnes.
This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the work of Ernie Barnes being prepared by the artist's estate. We wish to thank the artist's estate for their kind assistance in cataloging this lot.
Ernie Barnes' Hustler depicts the colorful and celebrated actor, Jackie Gleason (1916-1987) as Minnesota Fats in the 1961 film The Hustler. Barnes depicts Fats, with eyes closed, chalking the end of his pool stick and presumably calculating his next move in the game before him. A distinct feature in Barnes' work, especially those that touch on the subject of race, often depict the subjects with closed eyes. When discussing in an interview his "The Beauty of the Ghetto" exhibition that toured major American cities from 1972 to 1979, Barnes explained the symbolism behind this choice, remarking "I began to see, observe, how blind we are to one another's humanity. Blinded by a lot of things that have, perhaps, initiated feelings in that light. We don't see into the depths of our interconnection. The gifts, the strength and potential within other human beings. We stop at color quite often. So one of the things we have to be aware of is who we are in order to have the capacity to like others. But when you cannot visualize the offerings of another human being you're obviously not looking at the human being with open eyes." ("Personal Diaries" with Ed Gordon, BET, 1990) At the end of the film, Paul Newman's (1925-2008) character Eddie returns to challenge Fats after suffering a big lose to him at the beginning of the film. Eddie defeats Fats so badly that Fats is ultimately forced to quit.
