commissioned by Jerry & Rosalind Richardson
acrylic on canvas 6 ft. x 10 ft
unveiled July 23, 1996
It’s game day. One of those cool, crisp Carolina lucid-blue sky days when the weather is just right for football. It’s the Panthers’ most important game of the season: against the San Francisco 49ers at Ericsson Stadium.
The game is in overtime. The field is furrowed from the contact of player against player. There are seconds to go. The Panthers are on their 22-yard line and the score is tied, 31-31. The scene of the painting portrays the winning play. As the primary composition centerpiece, Ernie Barnes selected the touchdown catch by Baltimore Colts’ Jerry Richardson in the 1959 championship game against the New York Giants. Says Barnes, “Jerry was No. 87. It seemed appropriate, and I was intrigued by the idea of portraying the catch made by the owner.”
In keeping with the Mannerist tradition, it is a compact canvas of epic drama. The viewer does not see everything at once. The eye leaps from one helmet to the next, linking diverse parts of the artist’s vision. Through his manipulation of space, and by positioning his point of view from the corner of the end zone, Barnes achieves an extraordinary level of drama by bringing into focus the 22 players, seven officials and a bevy of media photographers on the sidelines.
In contrast to the mayhem on the field, the upper portion of the painting shows a calmer mood of the Charlotte skyline. The sun’s reflection is glimmering off the buildings’ windows. This is counterbalanced by the contest on the field as the artist allows the viewer to wander through the scene and feel the tension of huge, muscular and robust linemen engaged in pass protection. With jerseys ripped and bodies stretching, they are caught, as if in perpetual motion. After having thrown the ball, the quarterback is firmly “in the grasp” and is being dumped by a linebacker.
The ultimate emotional impact of the painting arises from the passionate gestures of the players. Their exaggerated expressions and emphasized movements are the style in which mannerism moves. The anguish shown by one player who has fallen to his knees is a direct appeal to the emotions and contributes greatly to the spiritual center of the painting. The elongated form of the official signaling a touchdown (and just to the left of center), has the appropriate effect of an exclamation point.
Looking at the work, its dynamic composition is accentuated by a single stream of movement which directs the eye to No. 87 hovering triumphantly in the air with the ball firmly in his grasp. It is an obvious touchdown. The Panthers win!