Celebrating Will Barnet: A Public Reception

Join library staff, special guests, and members of the Barnet family for a public reception to celebrate the re-opening of the library's Barnet Gallery, which was renovated in 2013, and the life of Beverly native and artist Will Barnet (1911-2012).

Barnet was the only American-born child of Russian parents. His decision at a young age to become "a painter - an American painter" was heavily influenced by time he spent as a child viewing art books at the Beverly Public Library. Both self-taught and formally trained at the School of the MFA in Boston and the Art Students League in New York City, Barnet did indeed reach his goal of becoming an important American artist: his prints and paintings appear in more than 200 museum collections around the world, including the MFA Boston, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Guggenheim in New York, the Vatican Museum in Rome, and the British Museum in London. He taught in many higher learning institutions, and was a member of the National Academy of Design and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in London. He received the National Medal of Arts from President Obama in 2011.

The reception is free and open to the public, and will take place in the Barnet Gallery on the ground floor of the main library, 32 Essex Street. A program will take place at 3 p.m.; details will be posted soon at the library website, www.beverlypubliclibrary.org. Refreshments will be served. For more information, please contact Robin at 978-921-6062 or flynn@noblenet.org.