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Artists›Will Barnet

Will Barnet

Will Barnet

1911–2012

WA-00026089

PaintingExpressionismFiguration

Representation

None documented

6

Institutional Exhibitions

30

Works in Collection

51

Assets Indexed

3

Authority-backed Facts

0

Publications Referenced

90%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (3)

WikidataQ1566998 ULAN500010278

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

A Museum Menagerie

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1975–1976

No image

Posters in the Penthouse

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1974–1975

No image

American Prints: 1913�1963

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1974–1975

No image

Recent Acquisitions

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1960–1961

No image

American Prints of the 20th Century

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1954

No image

Summer Exhibition: New Acquisitions; Recent American Prints, 1947�1953; Katherine S. Dreier Bequest; Kuniyoshi and Spencer; Expressionism in Germany; Varieties of Realism

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1953

Field Verification (3 fields)

3 cross-verified · 0 single-source

Birth yearDuplicate Merge· 85%✓
Death yearDuplicate Merge· 85%✓
Primary mediumDuplicate Merge· 85%✓

Source Registry (1)

MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/342
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

Will Barnet was an American painter and printmaker whose practice spanned nearly a century, from abstraction to figuration. Working primarily in oil, tempera, and lithography, he developed a distinctive vocabulary of simplified human and animal forms set within austere, geometric compositions. His work emerged alongside postwar abstraction but increasingly emphasized portraiture and domestic interiors rendered with spare elegance and formal restraint. Barnet taught extensively and remained committed to printmaking as a primary medium throughout his career.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 1mo ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Expressionism

Medium

Painting

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

Cleveland Museum of Art Museum of Modern ArtNew York Art Institute of Chicago

Canonical record

Artworks (30)

Bob

2005 · Intaglio

plate: 9 7/8 × 4 7/8" (25.1 × 12.4 cm); sheet: 14 7/8 × 10 1/16" (37.8 × 25.6 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

2002 · Carbon pencil and oil paint

Image: 61.5 x 40.7 cm (24 3/16 x 16 in.); Sheet: 69.2 x 47.3 cm (27 1/4 x 18 5/8 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Untitled from A Wave

Untitled from A Wave

2002 · One from the supplemental suite of eight lithographs

composition: 6 9/16 x 5 9/16" (16.7 x 14.1 cm); sheet: 14 3/16 x 11 1/4" (36 x 28.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from A Wave

Untitled from A Wave

2002 · One from the supplemental suite of eight lithographs

composition: 5 13/16 x 4 7/16" (14.8 x 11.2 cm); sheet: 14 3/16 x 11 1/4" (36 x 28.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from A Wave

Untitled from A Wave

2002 · One from the supplemental suite of eight lithographs

composition: 5 11/16 x 4 7/16" (14.5 x 11.3 cm); sheet: 14 3/16 x 11 1/4" (36 x 28.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from A Wave

Untitled from A Wave

2002 · One from the supplemental suite of eight lithographs

composition: 5 1/2 x 4 3/8" (14 x 11.1 cm); sheet: 14 3/16 x 11 1/4" (36 x 28.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from A Wave

Untitled from A Wave

2002 · One from the supplemental suite of eight lithographs

composition: 6 11/16 x 4 15/16" (17 x 12.5 cm); sheet: 14 3/16 x 11 1/4" (36 x 28.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from A Wave

Untitled from A Wave

2002 · One from the supplemental suite of eight lithographs

composition: 4 3/16 x 5 7/16" (10.7 x 13.8 cm); sheet: 14 3/16 x 11 1/4" (36 x 28.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from A Wave

Untitled from A Wave

2002 · One from the supplemental suite of eight lithographs

composition: 6 9/16 x 5 9/16" (16.7 x 14.1 cm); sheet: 14 3/16 x 11 1/4" (36 x 28.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

A Wave

2002 · Illustrated book with eight lithographs

overall (closed): 14 3/8 x 11 1/2 x 13/16" (36.5 x 29.2 x 2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

2002 · Illustrated book with eight lithographs and supplemental suite of eight lithographs

book (overall, closed): 14 3/8 x 11 1/2 x 13/16" (36.5 x 29.2 x 2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from A Wave

Untitled from A Wave

2002 · One from the supplemental suite of eight lithographs

composition: 7 15/16 x 7 1/16" (20.2 x 18 cm); sheet: 14 3/16 x 11 1/4" (36 x 28.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Between Life and Life

Between Life and Life

1998 · Lithograph

Sheet: 29 x 29 3/4" (73.7 x 75.6 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Duluth from American Abstract Artists 60th Anniversary Print Portfolio

Duluth from American Abstract Artists 60th Anniversary Print Portfolio

1997 · One from a portfolio of forty lithographs

composition: 6 5/8 × 9" (16.8 × 22.8 cm); sheet: 9 5/8 × 12 5/8" (24.4 × 32 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Homage to Leger with K. K. [Katharine Kuh]

Homage to Leger with K. K. [Katharine Kuh]

1982 · Oil on canvas

100.3 × 1003 cm (39 1/2 × 39 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Study for Portrait of Katharine Kuh

Study for Portrait of Katharine Kuh

1982 · Charcoal frottage with stumping, and graphite, on ivory wove paper

61 × 48.3 cm (24 1/16 × 19 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

The Book, from 1776 USA 1976: Bicentennial Prints

The Book, from 1776 USA 1976: Bicentennial Prints

1975 · Color serigraph on white wove paper

Image: 66.3 × 46 cm (26 1/8 × 18 1/8 in.); Sheet: 75.7 × 56.5 cm (29 13/16 × 22 1/4 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Waiting from Kent Bicentennial Portfolio: Spirit of Independence

Waiting from Kent Bicentennial Portfolio: Spirit of Independence

1975 · Lithograph and screenprint from a portfolio of six lithographs, four screenprints (one with collage additions), and two lithograph and screenprints

composition: 34 × 33 1/16" (86.3 × 84 cm); sheet: 39 7/16 × 36 7/8" (100.2 × 93.6 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

The Book from 1776 USA 1976 Bicentennial Prints

1975 · One screenprint from a portfolio of six lithographs, five screenprints and one aquatint

composition 26 1/4 x 18 3/16" (66.8 x 46.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

1964 · Woodcut

(irreg) composition 32 11/16 x 22 3/16" (83.1 x 56.3 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Enveloping Forms

1963 · color woodcut

Cleveland Museum of Art

1962 · aquatint

Cleveland Museum of Art

Golden Tension

1959 · Oil and gold leaf on canvas

64 x 39 7/8" (162.5 x 101.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Enfant

1951 · Lithograph

composition: 16 3/4 x 14" (42.5 x 35.5 cm); sheet: 22 1/4 x 20" (56.5 x 50.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

View all 30 artworks →

Artwork sources (3)

30 published of 48 catalogued · 37 with image

MoMA
18 publishedof 36 catalogued32 img
Cleveland Museum of Art
7 published
Art Institute Chicago
5 published5 img

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 7)

7 entries · 1 sources

The Dream
2002 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
The Zither
1939 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Positano
1962 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Laurels Number One
1947 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Strange Birds
1947 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Enveloping Forms
1963 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Swing Shift
1937 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

Artsy artist portrait

Artsy

Homage to Leger with K. K. [Katharine Kuh] (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Homage to Leger with K. K. [Katharine Kuh] (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Relationships

6

Movements2

Expressionism Figuration

Collections4

Cleveland Museum of Art Museum of Modern Art Art Institute of Chicago Rago

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

Market

Auction sale history

Houses that have sold works by this artist at auction

Market

Auction History

Work	Auction House	Date	Estimate	Hammer Price
Untitled	Rago	Mar 2026	$1,500 – $2,500	Unsold