James Barkley Paintings & Artwork for Sale | James Barkley Art Value Price Guide

Jun. 20, 2024
JAMES BARKLEY (1941-) The Merry Widow.
Est: $3,000 - $3,500
JAMES BARKLEY (1941-) The Merry Widow. Theatre poster art for London City Opera's American Tour of The Merry Widow, 2002. Watercolor and acryllic paint on board. 20 1/2 x 15 1/2, in 26 1/2 x 21 3/4-inch mat. Unsigned.
Swann Auction Galleries
May. 02, 2024
JAMES BARKLEY (B. 1941, AMERICAN) Solitude.
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
JAMES BARKLEY (B. 1941, AMERICAN) Solitude. Oil on canvas, c. 1988. Signed, Barkley, lower right. 1320x1117 mm; 52x44 inches. Provenance: Private collection.
Swann Auction Galleries
Dec. 14, 2023
JAMES BARKLEY Summer dream.
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
JAMES BARKLEY Summer dream. Promotional illustration for The Art Source, Inc., c. 1990. Watercolor and acryllic paint on board. 432x400 mm; 17x15 3/4 inches. Signed in center right image.
Swann Auction Galleries
Dec. 14, 2023
JAMES BARKLEY "Winter is coming."
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
JAMES BARKLEY "Winter is coming." Promotional illustration done for Dynamics Corporation, c. 1990. Watercolor and acryllic paint on board. 762x508 mm; 30x20 inches. Signed in lower left image. This captivating representation of late autumn features the effects of the changing weather on the flora and fauna. Snowflakes dot the winter coat of a fashionble woman who blends into the scene. Indicating the colors of the season, Barkley relies on brownish "feuille morte," the French term that translates to "dead leaf."
Swann Auction Galleries
Dec. 14, 2023
JAMES BARKLEY U.S. Post Office Montage.
Est: $2,500 - $3,500
JAMES BARKLEY U.S. Post Office Montage. Illustration created for MBI Corporation to commemorate the National Postal Museum, c. 1993. Watercolor and acryllic paint on board. 381x508 mm; 15x20 inches. Signed in lower right image. From the National Postal Museum: "James Barkley's montage highlights historic mail transportation, the theme of the National Postal Museum's 'Moving the Mail' exhibition gallery. It includes bicycles, mail trucks, and early airplanes. The Pony Express rider, recalling one of the most colorful chapters in postal service history, is also the subject of several museum displays. Mr. Barkley's distinguished philatelic career began in 1972, with his design of the Mount McKinley stamp in the National Parks Centennial series."
Swann Auction Galleries
Dec. 14, 2023
JAMES BARKLEY First moon landing.
Est: $2,500 - $3,500
JAMES BARKLEY First moon landing. Illustration created for MBI Corporation to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the first moon landing, 1994. Watercolor and acryllic paint on board. 381x508 mm; 15x20 inches. Signed in lower left image. From the National Postal Museum: "James Barkley's painting features a close-up of the first astronaut on the moon. His special space suit includes a life support system carried on his back to allow him to move about freely. In the background is the American flag, which is supported at the top by a metal wire to keep it extended on the windless moon. Mr. Barkley made his philatelic debut in 1972 with the design of the Mount McKinley stamp."
Swann Auction Galleries
Dec. 15, 2022
JAMES BARKLEY (1941-) "Queen." (AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY / ALEX HALEY / SLAVERY)
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
JAMES BARKLEY (1941-) "Queen." Illustration for the double-page introduction spread published in Alex Haley and David Stevens' novel of southern plantation life Queen: The Story of an American Family, (New York: Reader's Digest, 1994). Watercolor and collage with mixed media on board, mounted to foam core. 394x534 mm; 15 1/2x21 inches. Signed "Barkley" in pencil, center right image. The novel is a partly biographical, historical fiction story of a child born to an enslaved woman and her master, and chronicles how her life unfolds after abolition. It was made into a miniseries adaptation for CBS television titled "Alex Haley's Queen" in February 1993 starring Halle Berry in the title role.
Swann Auction Galleries
Dec. 15, 2022
JAMES BARKLEY (1941-) "Sounder." (AFRICAN-AMERICAN / RACIAL INJUSTICE / YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE)
Est: $12,000 - $18,000
JAMES BARKLEY (1941-) "Sounder." Complete set of 10 illustrations for the first edition of the Newbery Medal award winning young adult novel Sounder, by William H. Armstrong (New York: Harper & Row, 1969). Watercolor and graphite on paper mounted to Bainbridge board. Average image size 254x172 mm; 10x6 3/4 inches, on 14 1/2x10-inch boards. Signed "Barkley" in ink, rectos. Early window mattes taped town over margins. One illustration reproduced in The New York Times Book Review, with their stamp on verso. Winner of the 1970 Newbery Medal and an acknowledged landmark in children's literature, Sounder traces the tragedies and eternal faith of an African-American boy in the 19th-century South. Barkley beautifully depicted the heartbreaking young adult novel which begins when the African American sharecropper who has raised the titular dog, Sounder, from a pup, is hauled off to jail for stealing a hog, the only food they've had in days. In the fracas of the arrest, Sounder is shot, injured, and runs away. Though tattered and emaciated, he journeys home to await the return of his master. His constancy inspires to boy to also carry on with faith, while struggling to adulthood and suffering the regular taunts and assaults by convicts and guards as he searches for his father.
Swann Auction Galleries
Dec. 16, 2021
JAMES BARKLEY (1941- ) A Woman's Place. [AFRICAN-AMERICAN / WOMEN]
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
JAMES BARKLEY (1941- ) A Woman's Place. Cover illustration for A Woman's Place by Marita Golden (New York: Ballantine Books, 1986). Mixed media on board. 419x419 mm; 16 1/2x16 1/2 inches, image, on 19-inch square board, mounted to foam board. Signed on verso. Barkley's striking cover art for Golden's celebrated novel about three African-American women who meet and form enduring friendship at a New England college in the late sixties.
Swann Auction Galleries
Jul. 16, 2020
JAMES BARKLEY. "Birth Control."
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
JAMES BARKLEY. "Birth Control." Illustration for the NBC educational brochure The Population Problem as Explored by The Five NBC Television Stations, circa 1980. Watercolor, acrylic wash and pencil on board. 483x406 mm; 19x16 1/4 inches, on 22 1/2x20-inch board. Signed lower right margin, beneath artwork. Taped to matte along verso. A copy of the booklet accompanies the artwork. NBC published this brochure, illustrated with seven of Barkley's illustrations, to highlight a series of special programs by their five main stations devoted to the topic of population, particularly as it affected the metropolitan areas they served. This image, included in The Society of Illustrators' Annual Exhibition, Advertising category, for that year, accompanied the essay about WMAQ-TV Chicago's special "Less Than an Ounce of Prevention." It explored the Pill's effect on women's liberation, outlined the religious, political, and medical objections to it, and interviewed the doctors who invented it.
Swann Auction Galleries
Jul. 16, 2020
JAMES BARKLEY. "The Meeting." [DRINKS / BAR]
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
JAMES BARKLEY. "The Meeting." Illustration published in the novel The Estuary Pilgrim by Douglas Skeggs (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989). Watercolor, acrylic wash, and pencil on board. 610x450 mm; 24x17 3/4 inches. Unsigned. Adhered to window matte along verso edges. This image of a moody, clandestine meeting over drinks was created for Skeggs's novel about an international art fraud involving a painting by Monet (titled "The Estuary Pilgrim") thought destroyed, but discovered among other Nazi-appropriated masterpieces in a Resistance ambush in 1944.
Swann Auction Galleries
Jun. 04, 2019
JAMES BARKLEY. (STEPHEN KING / HORROR / CARRIE) "A Girl Possessed of a Terrifying Power."
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
JAMES BARKLEY. "A Girl Possessed of a Terrifying Power." Original cover illustration for the first mass-market paperback edition of "Carrie" by Stephen King (New York: Signet/New American Library, 1975). Watercolor and acrylic on paper, collaged over board. 590x482 mm; 23 1/4x19 inches. Signed twice, once in collage and again in painted background, both lower left. Taped along verso to matte.
Swann Auction Galleries
Dec. 06, 2018
JAMES BARKLEY. "Come One, Come All, Come to the Party."
Est: $3,000 - $4,000
JAMES BARKLEY. "Come One, Come All, Come to the Party." Illustration for a poem of the same name, and issued as a limited edition poster by DCR Publishing/Impact Arts. Watercolor and acrylic on board, center panel inset into border pieces. Square 670 mm; 26 1/4 inch-board. Initialed in lower right corner.
Swann Auction Galleries
Dec. 06, 2018
JAMES BARKLEY. 'Ring Around the Rosie."
Est: $3,000 - $4,000
JAMES BARKLEY. 'Ring Around the Rosie." Illustration published in Alex Haley's "Queen" (New York: Reader's Digest, 1994). Watercolor and acrylic on board. 216x584 mm; 8 1/2x23 inches. Initialed in lower right. Edges adhered to window matte.
Swann Auction Galleries
Dec. 14, 2017
JAMES BARKLEY. "African Princess."
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
JAMES BARKLEY. "African Princess." Illustration for an upcoming publication by Barkley titled "Black Visions," and previously printed as a limited edition poster in 2008 by DCR Publishing/Impact Arts. Watercolor and acrylic on board. 438x438 mm; 17 1/4x17 1/4 inches, framed to 24 1/4 inches square. Signed in lower right image. Framed.
Swann Auction Galleries
Dec. 14, 2017
(ADVERTISING / AVIATION.) JAMES BARKLEY. "Amelia Earhart."
Est: $1,200 - $1,800
JAMES BARKLEY. "Amelia Earhart." Illustration for a nylons advertisement and limited edition poster, circa 1990. Watercolor and acrylic on board. 623x432 mm; 24 1/2x17 inches. Signed lower right and stamped on rear. Stepped mattes adhered to surface.
Swann Auction Galleries
Jun. 17, 2017
James Barkley ,American illustrator, contemporary
Est: $400 - $600
James Barkly, American illustrator, contemporary Assorted subjects and media, including an Asian inspired scene,a monkey on tree branch, kissing couple, surrealist figure etc. Portrait of boy on verso : entry label School of Visual Arts {ARCARA4302/8} (PR)
Litchfield Auctions
May. 20, 2017
James Barkley ,American illustrator, contemporary
Est: $400 - $600
James Barkly, American illustrator, contemporary Assorted subjects and media, including an Asian inspired scene,a monkey on tree branch, kissing couple, surrealist figure etc. Portrait of boy on verso : entry label School of Visual Arts (ARCARA4302/8) [PR] Measurements:Various Condition:Edge damage to woman on phone, lifting and edge damage to kissing couple
Litchfield Auctions
Sep. 29, 2016
JAMES BARKLEY. "Freedom of Speech."
Est: $3,000 - $4,000
JAMES BARKLEY. "Freedom of Speech." Maquette for a poster published for the U.S. Bureau of Information that was commissioned for, and shown in, an exhibition on American values displayed in worldwide U.S. Embassies in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Acrylic and watercolor on board with collage. 508x533 mm; 20x21 inches. Signed in image, lower right. Matted and framed. Nd, circa 1980.
Swann Auction Galleries
Sep. 29, 2016
JAMES BARKLEY. "The Collector."
Est: $2,500 - $3,500
JAMES BARKLEY. "The Collector." Illustration published in the novel "The Estuary Pilgrim" by Douglas Skeggs, 1989. Acrylic and watercolor on board. 457x635 mm; 18x25 inches. Signed in image, lower right. Taped to window matte along verso edges.
Swann Auction Galleries