Bo Bartlett is a contemporary American realist painter who paints the world around him; his family, friends, and his wife, in scenery drawn from his homes in Georgia and Maine. These settings evoke a dreaminess to his work with undertones of mystery, surrealism and current events.
Bartlett was born in Columbus, Georgia in 1955 and by the age of 19 had traveled to Florence, Italy to study under Ben Long. Upon his return to the US, Bartlett studied at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He also studied anatomy at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine as well as liberal arts at the University of Pennsylvania from 1980 to 1981.
After receiving a certificate in Filmmaking from New York University in 1986, Bartlett collaborated with Betsy Wyeth on a film about her husband, Andrew Wyeth. “Snow Hill” was met with critical acclaim as an insightful look in to one of the world’s greatest painters and began a lifelong friendship between Bartlett and Wyeth. His background as a filmmaker lends a cinematic composition to his paintings.
Bartlett credits Thomas Eakins, Edward Hopper, Winslow Homer, Balthus, Norman Rockwell and Andrew Wyeth as influences for his work.
His work can be found in numerous private and public collections, galleries and museums including the Greenville County Museum of Art, the Seattle Art Museum, Crystal Bridges and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
“Bo Bartlett is an American realist with a modernist vision. His paintings are well within the tradition of American realism as defined by artists such as Thomas Eakins and Andrew Wyeth. Like these artists, Bartlett looks at America’s heart—its land and its people—and describes the beauty he finds in everyday life. His paintings celebrate the underlying epic nature of the commonplace and the personal significance of the extraordinary.
“Bartlett was educated at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where realist principles must be grasped before modernist ventures are encouraged. He pushes the boundaries of the realist tradition with his multilayered imagery. Life, death, passage, memory, and confrontation coexist easily in his world. Family and friends are the cast of characters that appear in his dreamlike narrative works. Although the scenes are set around his childhood home in Georgia, his island summer home in Maine, his home in Pennsylvania or the surroundings of his studio and residence in Washington state, they represent a deeper, mythical concept of the archetypal, universal home.”
– Tom Butler, excerpt from the book Bo Bartlett, Heartland
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016 Ameringer McEnerey Yohe, New York, NY
2014 Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, GA
2013 The University of Mississippi Museum, Oxford, MS
“Love and Other Sacraments,” Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland, ME 2011 “Paintings of Home,” Ilges Gallery, Columbus State University,
Columbus, GA
“A Survey of Paintings,” W.C. Bradley Co. Museum, Columbus, GA “Sketchbooks, Journals and Studies,” Columbus Bank & Trust, Columbus, GA
2010 Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland, Maine “Paintings of Home,” P.P.O.W., New York, NY
US Artists, Philadelphia, PA
2009 “Bo Bartlett,” Forum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Forum Gallery, New York, NY
David Klein Gallery, Birmingham, MI
“Bo Bartlett,” Ogden Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
2008 US Artists, Philadelphia, PA
2007 “Travelogue,” Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE
US Artists, Philadelphia, PA
“Still Point,” Farnsworth Museum, Rockland, ME David Klein Gallery, Birmingham, MI
Winston Wächter Fine Art, Seattle, WA
2006 “This Inner/Outer World,” P.P.O.W., New York, NY 2004 Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA
“Innocence Found,” DFN Gallery, New York, NY
“Still Point of the Turning World,” P.P.O.W., New York, NY
“New Paintings and Works on Paper,” Winston Wachter Gallery, Seattle, WA
“Still Point,” Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
“Heartland,” Santa Barbara Art Museum, CA
2003 Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC Columbus Museum, Columbus, GA
2002 P.P.O.W., New York, NY
2001 Brendan Walter Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
More Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2000 “Water Series,” University at Buffalo Art Gallery, SUNY, Buffalo, NY
P.P.O.W., New York, NY 1998-2000 Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL
Torch Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
P.P.O.W., New York, NY 1998 P.P.O.W., New York, NY
1997 Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GA
The More Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1996 P.P.O.W., New York, NY
Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, KS
F.A.N. Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1995 John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Struve Gallery, Chicago, IL 1994 P.P.O.W., New York, NY
1993 F.A.N. Gallery, Philadelphia, PA The More Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1992 Daniel Saxon Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1991 P.P.O.W., New York, NY
1990 Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC 1988 P.P.O.W., New York, NY
The Cast Iron Building, Philadelphia, PA 1986 The More Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 1985 The More Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1983 Columbus Museum of Arts, Columbus, GA 1982 Marian Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2015 “American Masters,” Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE 2014 “Art Chicago,” Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe, Chicago, IL
2013 “Nocturnes: Romancing the Night,” National Arts Club, New York, NY “The Philadelphia Story,” Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC
“The Outwin Boochever 2013 Portrait Competition Exhibition,” Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.
“Best of the Northwest: Selected Paintings from the Permanent
Collection,” Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA 2012 “Perception of Self,” Forum Gallery, New York, NY
“Not So Silent Benefit,” Flux Factory, Long Island City, NY
“Texas Contemporary Art Fair,” P.P.O.W, Houston, TX
2010 “Real: Realism in Diverse Media,” Imago Galleries, Palm Dessert, CA
“American Masters,” Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE Dallas Art Fair, Forum Gallery, Dallas, TX
“Thriving In Seattle: A Retrospective,” GAGE Academy of Art, Seattle, WA
“private (dis)play,” New York Academy of Art, New York, NY “Figure As Narrative,” Columbus State University, Columbus, GA “The Figure – Then and Now,” Delaware County Community College, Media, PA
“Solemn & Sublime: Contemporary American Figure Painting,” Akus Gallery, Eastern
Connecticut State University, Willimantic, CT
2009 Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA
“private(dis)play,” Center of Creative Arts, St Louis, MI
The Armory Show, New York, NY
Art Chicago, Chicago, IL
“Five Artists of Accomplishment from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,” Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE
“American Green Summer Selections,” Forum Gallery, New York, NY Portsmouth Museum of Fine Art, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
“PAFA Alumni Invitational: Legacies,” Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
“private (dis)play,” The Emerson Gallery at Hamilton College, Clinton, NY
2008 Forum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
“Direct Encounters: Essence of Portraiture,” Art Chicago, Chicago, IL Los Angeles Art Show, Los Angeles, CA
Pulse Miami, Miami, FL
Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
“Yesterday and Today,” PAFA Alumni Invitational
“Eby Bartlett: An Exhibition of Works by Betsy Eby and Bo Bartlett,” David Floria Gallery, Aspen, CO
2007 Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
“Andrew Wyeth in Context,” David Floria Gallery, Birmingham, MI “Solstice,” David Floria Gallery, Birmingham, MI
“Bo Bartlett and Betsy Eby: Recent Paintings,” Pulse Miami, Miami, FL
2004 “6th Annual Realism Invitational,” Karen Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA “Not Just Another Pretty Vase: A Comprehensive Exhibition Still Life Painting,” Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA
“The Art Show,” ADAA, New York, NY
2003 “Transforming the Commonplace,” Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, PA
Edie Caldwell Gallery, Sausalito, CA
2002 “Aquaria,” Traveling Exhibition originating at Aufsttellung in der
Ausstellung, Linz, Austria
2000 “In the Shadow of the Flag,” Tippy Stern Fine Art, Charleston, SC 1999 “Indomitable Spirits: The Figure at the end of the Century,” The Art Institute of Southern
California, Laguna Beach, CA, curated by Grady Harp (catalogue) “Changing Faces: Contemporary Portraiture,” Jim Kemper Fine Art, New York, NY
1998-99 “Oil Patch Dreams,” Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, TX;
The Museum of the Southwest, Midland, TX; The El Paso Art Museum, El Paso, TX; Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX
1997 “Re-Presenting Representation III,” Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY 1996 “Reality Bites: Realism in Contemporary Art,” The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Kansas City, MO
1996-98 “Heroic Painting,” Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston- Salem, NC; Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL; Queens Museum of Art, New York, NY; Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN; The Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH; Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS; University Gallery, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Amherst, MA; Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL; Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC; Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ
1995 “25 Years,” John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
“Tattoo Your Dog,” Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC
1994 Group Exhibition, F.A.N. Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
“Too Human,” Philadelphia, PA, curated by Annie Gawlak
“Points of Interest/Points of Departure,” John Berggruen Gallery, San Fransisco, CA
“Fallen Idylls: American Figurative Painting,” P.P.O.W. and Christopher
Sweet, Art Miami, Miami, FL
1993 “Drawing on the Figure,” organized by Stanley I. Grand, Carlsten Art
Gallery, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Stevens Point, WI “Twilight Intervals,” organized by Christopher Sweet, Patricia Shea Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
“Preternatural Worlds,” Center for the Visual Arts, Metropolitan State College of Denver, Denver, CO
1992 “Beyond Realism: Image and Enigma,” curated by Paul Binai, Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Loretto, PA
1991 “Three on the Figure,” Butler Art Institute, Youngstown, OH “Ex-Patriots,” Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, GA
“Of Nature and the Human Spirit,” Daniel Saxon Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
“Ten Contemporary Philadelphia Painters,” Westmoreland Museum of Art, Greensburg, PA
“Art for Your Collection,” Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of
Design, Providence, RI
1990 “Salon Show,” New York Academy of the Arts, New York, NY
“Regarding Art: Artworks About Art,” John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI
“Contemporary Philadelphia Artists,” Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
1989 “Revelation and Devotion: The Spirit of Religion in Contemporary Painting,” Sherry French
Gallery, New York, NY; Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA; Art Gallery at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, MN; Valpariso University of Art, Valpariso, IN; Arnot Museum of Art, Elmira, NY “Love and Charity: The Tradition of Caritas in Contemporary Painting,” Sherry French Gallery, New York, NY
Dowd Fine Arts Gallery, SUNY at Cortland, NY
The Noyes Museum, Oceanville, NJ
Roland Gibson Gallery, SUNY at Potsdam, NY
“Trains and Planes: The Influence of Locomotion in American Painting,” Sherry French Gallery, New York, NY
Roberston Center for the Arts, Binghamton, NY National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. Evansville Museum of Arts, Evansville, IL
The Noyes Museum, Oceanville, NJ
“Delaware Biennial,” Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE Commission: Warner Gateway, Developer: Trammell-Crow, Los Angeles, CA
Commission: LaSalle University, Philadelphia, PA
“Art for your Collection,” Group Exhibition, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
“Art of Paper,” Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, NC
1988 “New York Inspired: Past and Present,” John Szoke Gallery, New York,
NY
1987 “Fellowship Show,” Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia,
PA
1985 “Centennial Exhibit,” N.C. Bradley Collection
1984 “Disdain for False Authorities,” Alternative Space, Philadelphia, PA 1983 “Fellowship Exhibition,” Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts,
Philadelphia, PA
“Midyear Show,” Butler Institute of Fine Art, Youngstown, OH 1981 “Group Show,” Marian Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
“Midyear Show,” Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH
“Eastern Pennsylvania Regional Drawing Exhibition,” Beaver College, Glenside, PA
“Rutgers National,” Rutgers University, Camden, NJ
“Cresson Show,” Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA “New Talent,” Marian Locks Gallery, Philadelpia PA
1979 “Columbus Museum of Art,” Columbus, GA
