Ernie Barnes was born July 15, 1938 in Durham, North Carolina. He passed away from blood cancer (eloid leukemia) on April 27, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. Ernie had 5 children, Deidre and Michael with first wife Andrea Burnett and Sean, Erin and Paige with second wife Bernadine Gradney.
It was in his childhood that Ernest would adopt his love and interest for art. He was often allowed to go to work with his mother, the overseer of household staff to an attorney she worked for. The attorney encouraged Ernest to read books and listen to his collection of classical music. Ernie was introduced to many artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec, Delacroix, Rubens and Michelangelo. (insert reference here from bio) During his school age he was…show more content… In a television interview, Ernie said, “It was in 1971 when I conceived the idea of 'The Beauty of the Ghetto' as an exhibition. And I exposed it to some people who were Black to get a reaction. And from one (person) it was very negative. And when I began to express my points of view (to this) professional man, he resisted the notion. And as a result of his comments and his attitude I began to see, observe, how blind we are to one another’s humanity. Blinded by a lot of things that have, perhaps, initiated feelings in that light. We don’t see into the depths of our interconnection. The gifts, the strength and potential within other human beings. We stop at color quite often. So one of the things we have to be aware of is who we are in order to have the capacity to like others. But when you cannot visualize the offerings of another human being you’re obviously not looking at the human being with open eyes. We look upon each other and decide immediately: This person is Black, so he must be... This person lives in poverty, so he must be...”…show more content… Of this exhibition, Barnes said, “I am providing a pictorial background for an understanding into the aesthetics of black America. It is not a plea to people to continue to live there (in the ghetto) but for those who feel trapped, it is...a challenge of how beautiful life can be.” When the exhibition was on view in 1974 at the Museum of African Art in Washington, DC, Rep. John Conyers stressed the important positive message of the exhibit in the Congressional Record.
