Barkley L. Hendricks: Portraits at the Frick

American artist Barkley L. Hendricks (1945–2017) revolutionized contemporary portraiture with his vivid depictions of Black subjects beginning in the late 1960s. This book contextualizes Hendricks’s portraits at different stages of the country’s history and places him in the pantheon of innovative twentieth-century artists.

This catalogue accompanies an exhibition at The Frick Collection opening on September 21 2023 that juxtaposes the portraiture of the visionary Black American painter Barkley L. Hendricks with European art from the Renaissance to the modern era. With a foreword by Thelma Golden and essays by Aimee Ng and Antwaun Sargent, this richly illustrated catalogue investigates Hendricks’s relationship to the Old Masters and to the Frick, which he visited frequently over a period of four decades.

Featuring numerous previously unpublished archival photographs, the book also considers Hendricks’s legacy through contributions by eight prominent artists and cultural figures who were influenced by his practice including Derrick Adams, Hilton Als, Nick Cave, Awol Erizku, Rashid Johnson, Fahamu Pecou, Mickalene Thomas, and Kehinde Wiley.

Author(s): Thelma Golden, Aimee Ng, and Antwaun Sargent

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Hardcover, Rizzoli Electa in association with The Frick Collection, 2023
160 p,  7 1/2 × 10 1/2 in.