Painter, printmaker, and teacher Will Barnet died Tuesday at the age of 101 at his Manhattan home, the New York Times reports. His death was announced by Philippe Alexandre, owner of Alexandre Gallery, which represented him.
Born in Beverly, Mass., Barnet graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and later studied at the Art Students League in New York. He began his career as a printmaker in the Works Progress Administration, creating Social Realist images of people during the Depression. In his later work, he continued painting the figures around him, including family members and friends, in a style both realist and poetic.
Barnet, whose work has appeared at the Whitney Museum six times, also taught at the Cooper Union, New York, from 1945 to 1978. Earlier this year, he was awarded a National Medal of Arts by President Obama.
His first New York retrospective, “Will Barnet at 100,” took place one year ago at New York’s National Academy Museum.
