Matthew Barnes: Painter Of The Night

Once San Francisco’s best-known modernist, avidly collected by East Coast patrons and championed by the Museum of Modern Art, Matthew Barnes has languished in obscurity since his death in 1951, only now finding recognition with the current vogue for dark surrealism. Known variously as an imagist, surrealist, and expressionist, Barnes was recognized as a major talent by significant early critics and proponents of modernism. Showcasing him as the original master of California “noir,” with shadowy and often macabre landscapes representing the very antithesis of the state’s penchant for sunshine.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.