Description:

Virginia Barnes
American/Alabama, 1895-1984
"Forever Changing", "Untitled: Blue Abstract" and "Untitled: Pink Abstract"
3 woodblock aquagraphs on paper
one pencil-signed, titled, dated 1974 and numbered "13/50" lower margin; together with one double-sided watercolor on paper, unsigned, each unframed. (4 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: 15 x 22 in. (38.1 x 55.9 cm.) to 21 x 27 in. (53.3 x 68.6 cm.)
  • Medium: 3 woodblock aquagraphs on paper
  • Condition: No signs of past restoration; each with foxing, heavy folds and creases, stains, marks and accretions throughout, some likely hand of the artist; "Forever Changing" has minor tears and small losses along lower edge; "Blue Abstract" has minor tear along upper edge.

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

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