Portraits by Barkley L. Hendricks Will Hang With Old Masters at the Frick
NEW YORK TIMES
He is the first artist of color to have a solo show at the 87-year-old museum, organized by Aimee Ng and Antwaun Sargent.
The portrait artist Barkley L. Hendricks, who died in 2017, considered the Frick Collection one of his favorite museums. Now Hendricks’s celebratory, large-scale paintings of Black Americans will hang in that institution, long the home of Rembrandt, Bronzino and Van Dyck, as the first artist of color to have a solo show at the 87-year-old Frick.
What You Didn’t Know About Barkley L. Hendricks
NEW YORK TIMES
The less celebrated side of the artist’s career, his photographs, receive deserved attention in a new book.
Barkley L. Hendricks portrayed Black people who exude attitude. “In the Black community, you stand out because you declare your own sense of identity beyond your environment,” said his longtime friend Richard J. Watson, artist-in-residence at the African American Museum in Philadelphia. “When you see yourself shown as a standout — and not because you haven’t eaten in three days and you’re a symbol of poverty — that gives you respectability.”
Basketball and Barkley Hendricks: The Lesser Known Work of an Influential Artist
NEW YORK TIMES
A digital exhibition at Jack Shainman Gallery in New York includes several never-before-seen works by Hendricks relating to his love of the sport.
Breaking the rules always came easy to Barkley L. Hendricks. One of the most influential artists and photographers of the 20th century, he was best known for his portrayal of everyday black life in the United States. He often eschewed convention and experimented with shapes and space in his works unlike anyone had before him.