Herbert Barnett: Vermont Life and Landscape, 1940-1948

The exhibition will seek to reexamine the contribution of this mid-century modernist painter through the subject matter and decade in which his distinctive style found its greatest expression: his Vermont landscapes of the 1940s. Combining a cubist approach to structure and paint application with a deep interest in Renaissance and Baroque composition, Barnett portrayed the winding paths of Vermont quarry towns, the patchwork of farmers’ fields, and aspects of daily farm life. When Barnett identified such a picturesque scene, he depicted it in a variety of media, from paintings and oil studies to drawings in ink, pencil, charcoal, and chalk. The exhibition will be structured around these multiple expressions of his favorite themes.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.