View of Montpelier

Painting

Vermont Historical Society

Name/Title

View of Montpelier

Entry/Object ID

1989.45.1

Description

Oil-on-masonite landscape painting showing Montpelier, Vermont from across the river. The painting is done in thick, heavy strokes. There is a metal bridge on the right side, and church steeple in the center.

Type of Painting

Panel

Artwork Details

Medium

Oil

Subject Place

City

Montpelier

County

Washington County

State/Province

Vermont

Country

United States of America

Continent

North America

Context

The bulk of Herbert Barnett's work represents his life in New England. His distinctive style of painting draws upon both an American tradition of representation as well as the innovation of the Cubists. Born in Cranston, Rhode Island, Barnett grew up in Providence. While still in high school, he began to study painting at the Rhode Island School of Design. From 1927-31, he studied at the Boston Museum School and soon acquired a reputation for technical proficiency. After art school, Barnett spent three years traveling and studying in Europe. From the time of his return to the United States in 1934 until 1940, he divided his time between Cape Ann, Mass. and New York City. In 1940, he became the head of the Worcester Museum School and began summering in Vermont, where he produced a distinctive group of landscapes of quarries, farms, bridges and mills. In 1951, Barnett became dean of the Art Academy of Cincinnati, the school of the Cincinnati Art Museum. Until his death in 1972, he remained at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, returning to central Massachusetts each summer to paint.

Acquisition

Accession

1989.45

Source or Donor

Sawyer, Richard

Acquisition Method

Purchase

Made/Created

Artist

Barnett, Herbert Phillip (1910-1972)

Date made

circa 1940

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Painting

Nomenclature Class

Art

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

Dimensions

Dimension Description

Unframed

Height

14 in

Width

27 in

Dimension Description

Framed

Height

21 in

Width

34 in

Depth

2-1/2 in

Interpretative Labels

Label

View of Montpelier, ca. 1940 Oil on masonite Herbert Phillip Barnett Barnett seldom depicted Vermont's cities; this view of Montpelier is a rare exception. Although the distinctive steeples of the town's churches are visible, the cityscape is largely subsumed behind the landscape elements that were often the artist's focus: iron bridges spanning the Winooski River; the lush greenery of ample trees; and the hillside rising behind the city and defining its contours.

Label

Herbert Barnett (1910-1972) was born in Providence, Rhode Island and studied art at the Rhode Island School of Design, The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and in Europe. He taught at UVM in 1943. Barnett's abstract Cubist style shows Montpelier's downtown with the steeple of Christ Church in the center background on the Washington County Courthouse tower on the right.