NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� A dozen years ago, Barkley L. Hendricks, the pioneering portrait artist known for vivid, stylish paintings of Black men and women, stood outside the Frick Collection in Manhattan, known for its works by European Old Masters. He was explaining his love for Rembrandt.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like good music,鈥� . "You can be replenished every time you hear it.鈥�
By the time Hendricks , the art world was finally giving overdue recognition to his work, which applied centuries-old traditions of European painting to depictions of Black figures 鈥� friends, relatives or strangers he photographed in the streets with his Polaroid. Still, curators say, he'd likely have never imagined that in 2023, he鈥檇 be the first artist of color to have at the 88-year-old Frick.
鈥淚 think this is probably beyond his wildest dreams,鈥� said co-curator Antwaun Sargent as he surveyed the room ahead of the show's opening late last week, 鈥渢o be showing in the institution that he so revered.鈥�
It鈥檚 not surprising that Hendricks would have loved the Frick, given his admiration for artists like Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Van Eyck, Vel谩squez and others. What is more unusual is that a museum focusing on the 14th through 19th centuries would devote a show to a contemporary portraitist like Hendricks. The Frick does not collect works made after 1900.
So it's an important moment not only for Hendricks and his legacy but for the museum and its place in the cultural life of New York, says co-curator Aimee Ng.
鈥淭his is as much about the story of the Frick and its identity and place in New York City,鈥� Ng said in an interview ahead of the opening. She said the exhibit, along with celebrating Hendricks, celebrates the museum 鈥渁s an institution that inspired people like Barkley, who would seem to have nothing to do with historic art as a contemporary artist, but went on to mine the Frick as a place for his own innovations.鈥�
The exhibit is also the last major show to take place at the museum鈥檚 temporary digs, Frick Madison, before a return next year to its grand Beaux-Arts setting on Fifth Avenue following a renovation.
The Hendricks show, which runs through Jan. 7, features 14 large paintings, beginning with the noted early work 鈥淟awdy Mama鈥� (1968.) It鈥檚 a portrait that has evoked to many, Hendricks has noted, the activist Angela Davis 鈥� but is actually the artist鈥檚 cousin, Kathy Williams. She is surrounded by gold leaf akin to a Byzantine icon, with her Afro appearing like a halo. The title was inspired by Nina Simone lyrics.
Born in Philadelphia, Hendricks studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and later attended Yale鈥檚 school of art, after which he joined the art department at sa国际传媒icut College, teaching there from 1972 until 2010.
The exhibit鈥檚 accompanying catalog contains testimonials from artists and other luminaries speaking of his influence, including , painter of the famous Barack Obama portrait, who begins simply: 鈥淣o figurative artist can approach painting without considering Barkley Hendricks.鈥�
Among the works on display is 鈥淢iss T,鈥� the first in a series of what Hendricks called 鈥渇ormer lovers/friends,鈥� this time an old girlfriend. Nearby, 鈥淲oody" features a male dancer in a yellow leotard, arms and right leg extended wide, against the same bright yellow background. It recalls the movement of an Alvin Ailey dancer, perhaps, but is actually of Woodruff Wilson, a dancer Hendricks likely photographed on the grounds of sa国际传媒icut College.
The yellow-on-yellow composition echoes Hendricks鈥� white-on-white paintings, which fill their own small room. 鈥淪teve鈥� depicts a man in a white trench coat and white trousers with a toothpick in his mouth. His sunglasses reflect the buildings outside Hendricks' studio, and even contain a tiny reflection of the artist himself.
鈥淲hat I love about this room,鈥� says co-curator Sargent, who is a director at the Gagosian gallery, 鈥渋s that the flesh tones are different in each of these images. It allows us to think about this idea of the person and their individuality.鈥�
Hendricks did not paint famous people. 鈥淚 just think he painted what was around him,鈥� Sargent says. 鈥淗is world, strangers, or people in the neighborhood.鈥� He recounts that when Hendricks traveled in Europe and examined portraits in great museums of royalty and nobility, 鈥渉e said upon returning, 鈥楤ut where are MY people?鈥欌�� And he sought to portray them.
Although he based his paintings on photos, Hendricks often embellished them later, adding details to express personality. For 鈥淢a Petite Kumquat," a 1983 portrait of his wife, Susan, he photographed her dressed all in black, and in the painting added colorful details like furry leg warmers, a green cord and tassel, red-and-green ribbon bows on her shoes 鈥� and a kumquat in her hand, to add a warm color.
Similarly, Hendricks added eyeglasses and a tambourine to the portrait 鈥淏lood (Donald Formey),鈥� featuring a former student of Hendricks at sa国际传媒icut College, dressed in a reddish plaid jacket.
Ng quotes Formey, who came by the museum to see his portrait last week, as saying Hendricks, in choosing to paint him, "had made him feel no longer invisible 鈥� like it was giving him this sort of personhood. It was so powerful for him.鈥�
Hendricks created art in the '60s and 鈥�70s that, unlike some of his counterparts, did not focus on the civil rights or Black Power movements. Rather, he wanted to focus on his subjects as individuals. 鈥淗e removes that (social context) and he says, 鈥榊ou have to deal with these people as people,鈥�" says Sargent. 鈥淪o you read the landscapes of their lives through their expressions, through the way their hair is done, the shirts and dresses and pants they're wearing, the accessories they have.鈥�
The curators acknowledge there might be some resistance from purists in the Frick community who might not be expecting something quite so contemporary. There have been contemporary works displayed in past shows, but never on this scale.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 less so about Barkley Hendricks,鈥� notes Sargent, 鈥渁nd more so about institutions that operated in one way for a very long time ... just to present something that's of this century might ruffle some feathers.鈥�
Of the 14 portraits on display, there is admittedly one well-known subject: Hendricks himself. 鈥淪lick鈥� features the artist in a white suit against a white background, wearing a cap of African design.
Why call it 鈥淪lick鈥�? The catalog provides the anecdote. Hendricks said his sister told him one day: 鈥淵ou think you鈥檙e so slick, just wait, one day a woman is going to straighten you out.鈥�
鈥淎h,鈥� the artist thought. 鈥淎 great title for a painting.鈥�
Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press
