Aaron Anderson
Specialist, Head of Sale
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, CALIFORNIA
Lot 4
Will Barnet(1911-2012)Portrait of Mariann Wells 36 1/8 x 32 1/8 in. (91.8 x 81.6 cm.)
30 April 2025, 14:00 EDT
New YorkUS$40,000 - US$60,000
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Morgan Martin
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Mary Manfredi
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Will Barnet (1911-2012)
Portrait of Mariann Wells
signed and dated 'Will Barnet ''96-97' (lower right) and inscribed with title (on the turnover edge) and signed again (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
36 1/8 x 32 1/8 in. (91.8 x 81.6 cm.)
Painted in 1996-97.
signed and dated 'Will Barnet ''96-97' (lower right) and inscribed with title (on the turnover edge) and signed again (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
36 1/8 x 32 1/8 in. (91.8 x 81.6 cm.)
Painted in 1996-97.
Footnotes
Provenance
Estate of the artist.
Harmon-Meek Gallery, Naples, Florida, from the above. (as Portrait of Marianne Wells (Farmyard))
Acquired by the present owner from the above, March 2018.
Exhibited
The San Diego Museum of Art, extended loan for public exhibition, 2021-22.
The present work is believed to be a portrait of Mariann (née Wells) Wark (1943-2020), an artist who trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. While enrolled in the Academy, Mariann studied under Henry Pearson (1914-2006), Warren Rohrer (1927-1995) and Will Barnet. Barnet served as painting instructor at the Academy and a general critic. In the present work, Mariann is seated in profile, balancing a bird on her finger and surrounded by several pigs, a horse, and musical notes laced throughout the greenery of the background. Barnet's style was influenced heavily by abstraction in the latter half of the twentieth century and is evident in his explorations in portraiture. The Portrait of Mariann Wells, while capturing her image and likeness, is aptly infused with elements of abstraction, most notably in how Barnet constructs the picture plane with an overwhelming sense of flatness. The present work is also a fine example of Barnet's abilities to manipulate figuration while interlacing fictitious and dreamlike elements into the composition to compliment his sitters.