Will Barnet, The Blue Thread, 1984, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Frank K. Ribelin and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1996.72
Howard Kaplan
Writer
May 25, 2011
May 25, 2011 is the one hundredth birthday of American artist Will Barnet. His paintings often focus on domestic scenes that celebrate human (and animal) relationships. The Blue Thread, currently on view on the third floor of American Art, is one such scene that tells a story of three main characters--woman, child, cat--who inhabit the same world and are connected, perhaps, by the same thread. Listen to Will Barnet talk about this painting as well as other works.
