Bo Bartlett was born in Columbus, GA, and studied in Florence, Italy before attending the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Described as an American painter with a modernist vision, Bartlett works in the tradition of American realism defined by artists such as Thomas Eakins, Grant Wood, Edward Hopper, and Andrew Wyeth. In an excerpt from the book Bo Bartlett, Heartland, former Director of the Columbus Museum of Art (Columbus, GA) Tom Butler writes, “Like these artists, Bartlett looks at America’s heart – its land and its people – and describes the beauty he finds in everyday life. His paintings celebrate the underlying epic nature of the commonplace and the personal significance of the extraordinary.”
In 2018, the Bo Bartlett Center in Columbus, GA officially opened its doors with a vision of serving the community through transformative art and rich programs. A unique partnership between Bartlett and Columbus State University, the center is an interactive gallery space that features a diverse range of exhibitions, concerts, lectures, and film.
Bartlett currently lives and actively works between Columbus, GA and Wheaton Island, ME alongside his wife Betsy Eby, an American encaustic painter.
Bartlett’s work is included in the collections of Greenville County Museum of Art (SC), La Salle University Museum of Art (PA), Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PA), Santa Barbara Museum of Art (CA), the Columbus Museum of Art (GA), Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art (PA), United States Mint (Philadelphia, PA), Office of the Governor (Harrisburg, PA), Curtis Institute (Philadelphia, PA), Franklin Institute (Philadelphia, PA), Hunter Museum of American Art (TN), Morris Museum of Art (GA), Denver Museum of Art (CO), and the Seattle Art Museum (WA).