BARBARA JUNE ARNOLD KNEGO

the Valkyrie
1929 – 2021
San Francisco, California

Barbara was born in San Francisco, California and attended Marin Community College in Marin County where she majored in Art and was a central member of the Art Club. Upon graduation she joined the Foreign Service and was stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow in 1950 at the height of the Cold War. She attended Soviet military parades in Red Square and was close enough to see Joseph Stalin’s expression. She later described the event as “ominous.” Barbara was also stationed at the Embassy in Vienna, Austria where she lived for some time. From these vantage points, Barbara was able to travel throughout Europe, spending much time especially in France, Italy, Sicily, Austria, Germany, Greece, Finland and other countries.

Barbara always loved the arts and especially the opera and the ballet and attended performances of the Bolshoi Ballet at the famed Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, among others. Upon returning to the U.S. she raised a family in Napa, California. By this time she was devoting herself to painting as often as possible, working in watercolor, pen and ink and crayon, in subjects ranging from portraits to rural landscapes and circus performers. Although she never exhibited to the public she was known among family and friends for her output. She visited museums often and counted early Picasso and Matisse among her favorite artists. Even in her retirement her paint tubes, brushes and mixing bowls were always on her desk amid a clutter of sketches and half-finished paintings.

She traveled widely and her apartment was filled with artifacts and objets d’art from her many experiences, including antique rosewood organs, Russian icons, antique European prints, Hong Kong ceramic figures and Faberge eggs. It was impossible to view them all in one sitting.

Barbara taught her children from an early age that racism is always evil, abhorrent and wrong, and instilled in her children a sense of decency and respect for all people; she was especially concerned about the situation of Native Americans and African Americans, and she was once quoted as saying her votes were guided by a determination to keep the racists out of power.

Keeping up her love of the opera and ballet, she attended both the San Francisco and Seattle Opera’s production of Wagner’s “The Ring of the Nibelungen.” She also continued her global tour, with visits to the Silk Road, Southeast Asia, Crete, Israel, New Zealand and the Caribbean multiple times. And she never stopped painting.

Barbara thought of herself as a Valkyrie, the heroic figure from Norse mythology who takes fallen warriors to Valhalla, the afterlife, and this moniker or versions of it became her username of choice.

Barbara created many beautiful paintings in her life, in different genres, and painted as she took each breath and every step – with grace and dignity, unassuming, without drawing attention to herself, despite her obvious beauty.

Ultimately, her greatest creation was, simply, herself; with her vision, unequivocal warmth and smile.