The Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin has announced its presentation of a quintessential piece of American art, The Sugar Shack (1976) by Ernie Eugene Barnes. The celebrated, iconic work, which depicts dancing figures in a Black music hall in segregated North Carolina, is on view through November 10, 2024. The work made headlines when it sold for $15.2 million at Christie’s last May.
Born in 1938 in Durham, North Carolina, Barnes grew up amid Jim Crow laws in the southern United States, which deeply influenced his artwork capturing the complexities of Black life in the American South. Barnes is celebrated for his style of elongation and movement, particularly evident in The Sugar Shack.
The Sugar Shack originally gained recognition when it adorned the cover of Marvin Gaye’s 1976 album “I Want You” and was further immortalized through the sitcom Good Times. The painting is currently part of a loan from Houston-based collectors Bill and Lara Perkins, who acquired the piece at the record-setting auction. The painting will be featured along with notable works of social realism, such as Philip Evergood’s Dance Marathon (1934) and Thomas Hart Benton’s Romance (1931-1932).
from Artsy News https://ift.tt/T92l4qx
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