By the time Carl Barks retired in 1966, he had spent more than thirty-five years drawing the Disney Ducks and was ready for something new. But if he was no longer 'the old duck man,' the professional cartoonist turning out hundreds of comic-book pages a year, then who was he? He began painting full-time and would spend the next five years trying to find an answer. Between 1966 and early 1971, Barks completed over 179 paintings exploring an astonishing number of subjects: churches, landscapes, Soboba Indian churches, Ramona scenes, ancient Native Americans, ranch girls, little girls, and more. 146 of those paintings are reproduced here, many for the first time. These paintings, a record of his search for a new artistic identity, are from the only period of Barks' lifetime of work that hasn't been fully explored. Meticulously researched using Barks' painting ledger, color slides, and other documents from the Barks estate, Carl Barks: Paintings and Drawings 1966-1971 includes more than thirty essays examining important themes, individual paintings, and his evolution as a painter.
