Barks paintings

[Stefan Diös]

I'd like to thank everyone who shared their opinions (and assertions) about 
Carl Barks' oil paintings recently on this list. I'm about to write an 
article about that time in Barks' life, and I'm not savvy enough to the 
fine arts to give a valuable opinion myself.

But I do recall when some paintings were exhibited in Copenhagen in 1994. 
Myself, I liked them because I knew they were Barks and I recognized the 
characters and situations, but I couldn't say anything really deep as to 
the artistic quality... I was more like "well, cool, this is nice, I 
guess". One of my friends, however, whom I do trust to have an eye for art 
as well as being a dedicated Barks fan, expressed some disappointment at 
the paintings. I'm talking from memory here with some uncertainty, but the 
idea was that Barks' talent was vastly greater for comics than for oil 
painting. I remember some phrase like "they may look good in all those 
posters and reproductions, but when you come close to the real thing, it's 
immediately apparent what amateur stuff this really is".

So, it was refreshing for me to see similar views expressed on this list, 
but maybe even more so to find the different viewpoint represented. I 
especially appreciated Donald Ault's touching description of what this 
meant to Barks himself, and John Garvin's almost equally touching account 
of what it meant to him! Not to mention his detailed analysis explaining 
the finer points of the paintings. Thank you, all!

I'll soak up some of this information and try to present it in my article 
as balanced as possible. If anyone has something to add regarding Carl 
Barks' life after his retirement from comics, don't hesitate to contact me 
in private mail.


Stefan Dios
Malmo, Sweden