Barry Watson Lauded
MASTER artist Barrington Watson passed away at his Kingston residence on Tuesday night. He was 85.
Watson’s wife Doreen confirmed his death.
“He died at 10:00 last night,” she told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.
According to Mrs Watson, the painter had been ailing for some time.
“He was diagnosed with cancer last February. He got worse over the weekend… He wanted no chemotherapy, no radiaton, no surgery. That was his wish,” she said.
Meanwhile, persons close to Watson hailed his contribution to Jamaican art.
Film-maker Lennie Little-White remembers Watson as the quintessential artist.
“Back in the days, the arts had been something that people looked down on. Barrington Watson made art into a noble profession and gave today’s artists, especially painters in Jamaica, respectability. In doing so he created the modern art movement in Jamaica,” Little-White said.
Last year, Little-White released a documentary on the painter entitled They Called Me Barrington.
“He was in love with it. He said he never knew something like this could have been done in his lifetime, “ said Little-White.
Dr David Boxer, former curator of the National Gallery of Jamaica, described Watson as “our finest and most influential realist painter’.
“I think most people would agree for that type of realist art, he had no equal… He was the most highly trained artist, so he brought the academic principles to art. Quite simply, a display of great competence based on extraordinary drawing skill,” Boxer said.
Born in Hanover, Watson attended Kingston College where he excelled at football. Despite being discouraged by his father, he enrolled in the Royal College of Art in London. He continued his studies in Amsterdam and Spain.
He returned to Jamaica in 1962 and became the first director of studies at the Jamaica School of Arts and Crafts (now part of the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts).
Watson was awarded the Institute of Jamaica’s Gold Musgrave Medal and the Order of Jamaica for his contribution to art.
Watson is also survived by four children.
