Bart Forbes: American Illustrator and Artist
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
Bart Forbes is a distinguished American painter and illustrator whose career has spanned more than five decades and who has become one of the most recognized figures in sports art and commercial illustration in the United States. Known for his loose yet realistic style, Forbes’s work has been featured in major magazines and institutional collections, and he has earned recognition from some of the most prominent art institutions in America.
Bart Forbes was born in 1939 in Altus, Oklahoma, into an Air Force family. His father’s military career meant the family moved frequently, exposing the young Forbes to a variety of geographic and cultural landscapes that would later inform his visual sensibility. Although specific names of his parents are not widely documented in most public sources, Forbes himself has spoken about how his parents encouraged his artistic inclinations from an early age. Growing up in military-associated environments, his father took him to major league baseball games, igniting a lifelong interest in sports that would become a signature theme in his later art. His childhood experiences drawing and observing varied landscapes laid a foundation for his artistic career. (Gangelhoff, Bonnie. 2017. “Bart Forbes paints expressive interpretations of universal places,” Southwest Art).
Forbes’s formal art education began at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1961. After college, he served briefly in the U.S. Army before pursuing further study at the ArtCenter College of Design in Los Angeles, a prestigious institution known for its rigorous training in illustration and design. It was at ArtCenter that Forbes refined his technical skills and developed the style that would distinguish him in commercial and sports illustration. (“About Bart Forbes,” Fine Art Limited).
Upon completing his studies, an instructor advised him that Dallas, Texas, represented a growing market with opportunities for illustrators. In 1967 Forbes moved to Dallas, where he began to build his professional network and establish a career in illustration—eventually working with clients across the nation without needing to relocate to New York, the traditional center of the illustration world. (Kirkpatrick, Hannah. 2017. “Artist Joins Illustrators Hall of Fame,” People Newspapers).
Forbes’s work has appeared in many prominent publications and on behalf of numerous corporate clients. Early in his career, his illustrations appeared in magazines such as Time, Sports Illustrated, Ladies’ Home Journal, McCall’s, and Golf Digest. He later expanded into corporate and institutional projects, including commissions for NBC, ABC-TV, the NFL, Pepsi-Cola, Exxon, and General Electric. He became particularly well-known for his sports illustrations, creating iconic images for major sporting events, including the Boston and New York Marathons, the Kentucky Derby, the America’s Cup, and PGA golf tournaments such as the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Ryder Cup. His murals at the PGA’s TPC Clubhouse at Sawgrass stand as some of his most visible work in sports venues. (“About Bart Forbes,” Fine Art Limited).
Forbes also designed more than 20 commemorative postage stamps for the U.S. Postal Service, including stamps honoring Lou Gehrig, Jesse Owens, and—as more recent commissions—the Ronald Reagan Centennial. These designs demonstrate his range beyond sports art into cultural and historical commemoration. (“About Bart Forbes,” Fine Art Limited).
Perhaps his most internationally visible role came when he was selected as the Official Artist for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, creating paintings that depicted each Olympic event. He subsequently produced official Olympic art for the U.S. Olympic Committee for the 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta Games. (Ibid.)
Forbes’s artistic style is distinguished by a blend of loose brushwork and realistic representation, balancing expressive gesture with recognizable forms. Although his work is grounded in representational imagery—especially in sports and figure work—critics and art historians note that his landscapes and later gallery work edge toward atmospheric abstraction. Forbes has cited the influence of French Impressionists on his approach to color and light, describing his aim as creating a sense of feeling rather than focusing strictly on photographic detail. (Gangelhoff, Bonnie. 2017. “Bart Forbes paints expressive interpretations of universal places,” Southwest Art).
His work occupies a unique position in American visual culture, bridging commercial illustration and fine art. In an era when illustration was increasingly sidelined by digital media and design, Forbes’s work maintained its relevance through technical mastery and a wide public reach. His images have helped define visual narratives of American sport and cultural memory in the late 20th century. (Kirkpatrick, Hannah. 2017. “Artist Joins Illustrators Hall of Fame,” People Newspapers).
Among his many honors, Forbes was named Sports Artist of the Year by the American Sport Art Museum and Archives in 1986—a prestigious distinction recognizing his significant contributions to sports imagery. His work has submitted more than 55 Awards of Excellence from the New York Society of Illustrators, the organization that also inducted him into its Illustrators Hall of Fame in 2017, one of the highest honors in American illustration. (Fine Art Estates).
His paintings are held in numerous private and institutional collections, including the Smithsonian Institution, the Presidential libraries of George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, the Olympic Museum in Seoul, the PGA Hall of Fame, and the private collections of figures such as Arnold Palmer, Pat Summerall, Tiger Woods, and Jerry Jones. (Ibid).
Today, Bart Forbes remains active as a painter, having transitioned some of his focus from commercial illustration toward gallery painting and personal artistic exploration. His recent work emphasizes expressive landscapes, still lifes, and explorations of texture and light, allowing him greater freedom beyond commissioned sports and commercial art. While semi-retired from active illustration work, Forbes continues to exhibit his art and influence younger generations of artists through his sustained presence in galleries and art institutions. (Ibid). Forbes is represented in two galleries: Valley House Gallery in Dallas, Texas, and Telluride Gallery in Telluride, Colorado.
His legacy in American art history is multifaceted: he represents both the apex of traditional sports illustration and a successful transition to fine art, bridging commercial practice and personal expression in a career that spans the analog and digital eras of American visual culture.
Learn more here:
Website: https://www.bartforbesgallery.com/
Comments