Description:

Virginia Barnes
American/Alabama, 1895-1984
"Elderberry in Bud"
hand-enhanced woodblock on paper
1982, pencil-signed, titled, dated and inscribed lower right and lower margin; together with one woodblock aquagraph on paper, "Strathmore Aquarius" blind stamp lower left corner, unframed. (2 pcs.)

Note: Virginia Barnes was born in Livingston, Alabama and spent most of her life in the state. She earned an undergraduate degree from Alabama College in 1939 and additionally attended Agnes Scott College, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Columbia University. In 1939, Barnes began her teaching career at Montevallo High School. Barnes returned to Alabama College (later renamed the University of Montevallo in 1969), to teach in the art department from 1942 to 1965. During her years of teaching, Barnes continued to further her own studies, including at the famed Provincetown school of artist Hans Hofmann. Hofmann's abstract style and expressionistic use of color influenced hundreds of art students over the years, including Barnes, who spent the summers of 1950 and 1951 at his school.

While Barnes' training connected her to the New York art world, she was also deeply engaged with state and regional arts groups. Barnes was an active member of the Alabama Art League, an organization of artists from around the state who worked to establish the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in 1930. Barnes exhibited in the first show that the League hosted, and she continued to participate in it for the duration of her career. During her lifetime and posthumously, her works were exhibited and collected by museums around the nation and abroad. Early in her career, Barnes was known as a portraitist, but she is most celebrated today for her work with screen printing, woodcut and watercolor.

  • Dimensions: Sheets: 19 1/2 x 26 3/4 in. (49.5 x 67.9 cm.) to 21 7/8 x 29 3/4 in. (55.6 x 75.6 cm.)
  • Medium: hand-enhanced woodblock on paper
  • Condition: No signs of past restoration; marks, stains and ink spots throughout both margins, likely hand of the artist; each with foxing, waffling, folds and creases throughout.

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October 23, 2025 11:00 AM CDT
New Orleans, LA, US

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