James Barron Art

About the Presentation
James Barron Art presents works by the self-taught artist Winfred Rembert (1945-2021). Raised in rural Georgia during the Jim Crow era, Rembert received little schooling and worked in the cotton fields from his early childhood. His memories from this period and the harrowing experiences of his youth would later inspire his extraordinary body of autobiographical works in tooled and dyed leather. Rembert learned the craft in prison; as a young man, he was incarcerated following a civil rights protest, he survived a near-lynching, and spent seven years’ laboring on chain gangs before his release in 1974. He began a full-time artistic practice in his early 50s and for the next 25 years made vibrant, textured paintings on leather that chronicled his turbulent life story. He was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his 2021 memoir Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South, a collaboration with Erin I. Kelly.

About the Gallery
James Barron founded his art business in 1987 as a private art dealer and consultant, and established James Barron Art in 2010. He specializes in modern and contemporary American and European art. Trained as an art historian (Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude) at Brown University, Barron is known for his refined vision and ability to juxtapose works in unexpected combinations. He exhibits regularly at art fairs including The ADAA Art Show, the Dallas Art Fair, the Outsider Art Fair, and Intersect Art and Design fairs

James Barron divides his time between Rome, Italy, and Kent, CT. He worked at Knoedler Gallery from 1980-85 with Post-War and Contemporary American art and at Jan Krugier Gallery from 1985-87, with the Marina Picasso Collection and Modern masterworks. He has sold Modern works by Picasso, Matisse, Arp, Giacometti and Pollock, as well as Contemporary art by Andy Warhol, Sol LeWitt, Beverly Pepper, Jules Olitski, Alice Neel, Winfred Rembert, Norman Lewis, and Cy Twombly. Barron is equally adept in guiding both new and experienced collectors.

The gallery has an ongoing series of interviews with artists and art historians, reflecting a longstanding tradition of art historical scholarship.