As a follow-up to our previous post Lecture and Exhibition: Jamaican Artist Barrington Watson at The National Gallery, we turn our attention to last year’s publication of an important book for the Caribbean art world, Barrington: 50 Years of Drawing 1958-2008. With this book—which includes more than 200 drawings dating back to 1958—master painter Barrington Watson celebrated 50 years  of drawing as well as his 80th birthday. The book also precedes a forthcoming retrospective of the artist’s work by the National Gallery of Jamaica. The Gleaner describes:

The drawings, many of which were executed into brilliant paintings like ‘Mother and Child’, which hangs in the National Gallery, display the full range of Watson’s phenomenal talents— figure drawing, portraits, nudes and landscapes. They employ a variety of media from pencil, crayon and conte sketches, through pen and wash drawings, to more complex watercolor studies.

While many of the drawings are to be found in the collection of Watson’s Gallery Barrington in St. Andrew, the majority of those displayed in the book are in private collections and, therefore, not normally accessible to the general
public. This book provides a unique opportunity for collectors, art lovers, students and the general public to gain an appreciation of Watson’s impressive oeuvre and explains why he is credited as the person responsible for introducing the academic canons of scale, composition and draughtsmanship to the realist branch of Jamaican mainstream art.

[. . .] Watson, who continues to paint, mentor and teach young artists from his remote Orange Park studios in St Thomas, is a recipient of the Gold Musgrave medal from the Institute of Jamaica and the Order of Jamaica (OJ) in recognition of his achievements.

The book is available at Gallery Barrington, Ian Randle Publishers, and leading bookstores and galleries in Jamaica.

For full article, see http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20101024/arts/arts41.html