Barbara Ernst Prey (born 1957,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
) is an American artist who specializes in the art of watercolor. In 2008 Prey was appointed to the National Council on the Arts, the advisory body of the
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
.
[An American View: Barbara Ernst Prey, essay by Corcoran Museum of Art Curator Sarah Cash p. 23] In 2015,
MASS MoCA
The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) is a museum in a converted Arnold Print Works factory building complex located in North Adams, Massachusetts. It is one of the largest centers for contemporary visual art and performing ar ...
commissioned Barbara Prey to create the world’s largest known watercolor painting
(8 by 15 feet) for its new Building 6, which opened in Spring 2017. She has worked in oil painting and illustration, the latter of which she contributed to
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
for a decade. She currently works and lives in
Long Island, New York, Maine and
Williamstown, Massachusetts
Williamstown is a town in the northern part of Berkshire County, in the northwest corner of Massachusetts, United States. It shares a border with Vermont to the north and New York to the west. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolit ...
.
Early life and education
Childhood
Barbara Ernst Prey was born in New York City in 1957. Her mother Peggy Ernst was an artist and Head of the Design Department at New York City's
Pratt Art Institute. Prey cites her mother as one of her greatest influences and inspirations.
[An American View: Barbara Ernst Prey, Paris Capitale, November 2007] At 16 she was awarded a summer scholarship to the San Francisco Art Institute.
[Bangor Metro by Annaliese Jakimides August 2010 pg. 50] She was 17 when Governor
Hugh Carey
Hugh Leo Carey (April 11, 1919 – August 7, 2011) was an American politician and attorney. He was a seven-term U.S. representative from 1961 to 1974 and the 51st governor of New York from 1975 to 1982. He was a member of the Democratic Part ...
purchased one of her early oil paintings.
[Robin Finn, "Public Lives", ''New York Times'', October 31, 2002]
Education
Prey received her B.A. in Art History with Honors from
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...
in 1979 where she was mentored by Lane Faison
and a master's degree from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
in 1986.
A 2007 article in
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...
stated that “Prey’s academic studies at Williams College with the art historian
Lane Faisson, and at Harvard University provide the connection between art and art history that so strongly informs her work.” After an internship at The Metropolitan Museum in New York City, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, enabling her to spend two years in southern Germany where she studied, worked and exhibited extensively. She then worked for a year as a personal assistant-court painter to Prince Albrecht Castell-Castell.
A grant from The
Henry Luce Foundation from 1986-1987 to Tainan, Taiwan, where she was a visiting Professor in Western Art, enabled her to continue to study with several Chinese master painters.
She continued to exhibit in Asia where she painted her first large, full-sheet paintings.
Career
Early work
Returning to New York in 1981 from her studies and exhibits in Europe, Prey lived in New York City where she worked in the Modern Painting Department at Sothebys. It was also at this time that she began to focus intently on drawing, and to sell her work to publications such as ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'', which bought and reproduced her illustrations for over ten years. Magazines such as ''
Gourmet
Gourmet (, ) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterized by refined, even elaborate preparations and presentations of aesthetically balanced meals of several contrasting, of ...
'', ''
Good Housekeeping
''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Hous ...
'', ''Horticulture'', as well as ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' followed suit, granting wide exposure.
[An American View: Barbara Ernst Prey, essay by Corcoran Museum of Art Curator Sarah Cash]
During this time, Prey continued work on her watercolors.
She began selling her work to family and friends, then made sales through private exhibitions and social gatherings, eventually retaining representation with numerous galleries.
Exhibitions
Prey's work has been featured in many national and international exhibits. For the past three years, her work has been featured in the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit: NASA Art: 50 Years of Exploration; and selected pieces can be found on exhibit at the
National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC and at the
Kennedy Space Center
The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...
. In 2008 the Mona Bismarck Foundation in Paris, France presented the retrospective An American View: Barbara Ernst Prey. Preys painting "Parade Route" was chosen to be exhibited at the U.S. Embassy Hong Kong in 2015.
Commissions and awards
![MASS MoCA Building 6](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/MASS_MoCA_Building_6.jpg)
Prey was commissioned by NASA to paint four paintings for their collection. She has painted the x-43, the world's fastest aircraft; a commemorative work for the anniversary of the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy titled "The Columbia Tribute; a rendition of the International Space Station"; and a painting of the Space Shuttle Discovery titled "Shuttle Discovery: Return to Flight". In 2003, Prey was commissioned by the President and First Lady to paint the official White House Christmas Card. Prey's painting is included in the White House permanent collection. In 2004 the New York State Senate honored Prey with the Senate's "Women of Distinction Award." Prey was also honored by the Heckscher Museum of Art at their 2011 Celebrate Achievement Gala for her achievements and contribution to American art and culture. Heckscher Museum Director Michael Schantz stated, "Barbara is one of America’s most gifted watercolorists whose works are rooted in the grand traditions of American landscape painting." In 2008, Prey was appointed by the President and approved by the Senate to the National Council of the Arts, which advises the National Endowment for the Arts. Chairman Dana Gioia stated to ARTFORUM “Barbara Prey’s nomination continues our tradition of having prominent visual artists as members of the National Council of the Arts.”
She has lectured at the National Gallery of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Dartmouth College, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum Madrid. In 2015 Prey's painting The Collection was selected by the U.S. State Department as the July 4th image for every U.S. Ambassador and Embassy invitation around the world for their Embassy celebrations. Prey has been commissioned by Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art
(MASS MoCA) to paint a monumental watercolor for their new Building 6. Prey's 8 x 15 feet interior portrait "MASS MoCA Building 6" is said to be the world's largest watercolor.
Work and reception
Prey is both an oil and water color painter but her primary medium is watercolor. She has said, “watercolor is a lot like jazz you kind of know where you’re going, but you’re going off along the way.”
She has expressed an interest in the use of strong color, especially applied to her study of Maine landscapes; "A clear blue sky speaks to your soul — it’s like a piece of music." Referring to her White House Christmas card in 2003, an article in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' stated that "Barbara Prey, may be, at this moment, the most widely viewed painter in the world." David Mitten, curator of the
Harvard Art Museums
The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...
, described Prey's paintings as, "Partaking of the universal values of light and color, while creating coherent evocative spaces of great beauty and enduring significance." In 2015 Prey was appointed to the board of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg."
Sarah Cash of the
National Gallery of Art has said that Prey’s works “connects us, as viewers, to the land (and the sea); these scenes link us to place, history, and elemental human pursuits in the face of our frenetic, technology-dominated lives. The pristine landscapes and seascapes… suggest the power and permanence of nature in contrast to the relative transience of human life. Our imaginations are not only enticed by the houses, boats and sheds themselves, but also by the exquisitely wrought details that animate the compositions.” The idea of American identity plays a large role in Prey’s work both in subject matter and context. An article in ''The Wall Street Journal'' stated, “Drawing from the tradition of renowned American artists such as Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper, contemporary artist Barbara Ernst Prey’s watercolors evoke symbols of the US”
Collections
MASS MoCA, The Brooklyn Museum, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., The White House, The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Kennedy Space Center, Williams College, Williams College Museum of Art, Hood Museum, Dartmouth College, The New-York Historical Society Museum, The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Center, The Farnsworth Art Museum, The Taiwan Museum of Art, Mellon Hall, Harvard Business School, The Henry Luce Foundation, Reader’s Digest Corporation and NASA Headquarters.
[Prey's Art Plumbs the Depths of her World Joseph Montebello Passport Magazine Winter 2013 pp22-25]
References
External links
* https://web.archive.org/web/20120118211019/http://www.barbaraprey.com/main.html barbaraprey.com
* http://art.state.gov/artistdetail.aspx?id=157268 Art in Embassies
* https://books.google.com/books?id=O8_OxrkKr3IC&pg=PA89&dq=Barbara+Ernst+Prey&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tEr5UOi-FYTTigKE-4DQCA&ved=0CEwQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Barbara%20Ernst%20Prey&f=false Mendelsohn, Janet. ''Maine's Museums: Art, Oddities & Artifacts'', p. 89-92. Countryman Press, 2011.
* http://articles.latimes.com/2004/oct/04/entertainment/et-lieberman4 Lieberman, Paul. Painter seeing a bigger picture, ''Los Angeles Times'', October 4, 2004.
* https://web.archive.org/web/20130313143558/http://www.nea.gov/news/news08/prey.html Barbara Ernst Prey Confirmed to Serve on National Council on the Arts, NEA, December 29, 2008
* CNN News with Carol Lin, February 2, 2004 (interview) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddNhnsuDK8k
* Paula Zahn NOW, CNN, December 23, 2003 (interview) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKplZu5VkEc
* Larry King Live, CNN, December 2003 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR6IMV-TLTc
* CBS Evening News, NASA Art Exhibit Launches in D.C July 16, 2011 http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/nasa-art-exhibit-launches-in-dc/
Bibliography
* An American View: Barbara Ernst Prey, essay by National Gallery of Art Curator Sarah Cash
* NASA, Art: 50 Years Harry Abrams, 2008
* Bush, Laura. Spoken from The Heart. May 2010: pg.298
* Rooney, Ashley E. 100 Artists of New England. February 2011: pg.58-59
* Seasons Greetings from the White House: The Collection of Presidential Christmas Cards, Messages and Gifts by Mary Evans Seeley, 2005
* Barbara Ernst Prey: Works on Water, essay by National Gallery of Art Curator Sarah Cash
* Art in Embassies Program, U.S Embassy Paris, The Ties that Bind. Les Liens qui nous unissent, Published by the ART in Embassies Program U.S Department of State, Washington D.C. May 2006
* United States Embassy Minsk, Published by the ART in Embassies Program U.S Department of State, Washington D.C. July 2004
* The Art In Embassies Program, Exhibition at the Resident of the U.S Ambassador in Prague, Published by the ART in Embassies Program U.S Department of State, Washington D.C. July 2004
* ART in Embassies Program, United States Embassy Madrid. Published by the ART in Embassies Program U.S Department of State, Washington D.C. April 2006
* Art in Embassies Program, Art at The Residence of the Ambassador of the United States of America to the Kingdom of Norway. Published by the ART in Embassies Program U.S Department of State, Washington D.C. July 2003
* Art in Embassies Program, Consulate General of the United States, Hong Kong and Macau. Published by Art in Embassies, U.S Department of State, Washington, D.C. December 2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prey, Barbara Ernst
American women painters
1957 births
Living people
Artists from New York (state)
Artists from Maine
American contemporary painters
Painters from Massachusetts
Artists from Massachusetts
Harvard University alumni
20th-century American painters
20th-century American women artists
Williams College alumni
21st-century American women artists
Manhasset High School alumni