Barkley L. Hendricks: Portraits At The Frick

American artist Barkley L. Hendricks (1945-2017) revolutionised contemporary portraiture with his vivid depictions of black subjects from the late 1960s onwards, amid a perceived bifurcation between abstraction and representation. His portraits, often made from photographs, were inspired by his research, travels and visits to museums such as the Frick Collection, where he studied centuries-old European paintings by artists such as Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Bronzino and others.

This publication presents some of the most inventive and striking examples of Hendricks' early portrait period, including limited palette canvases - depicting black figures dressed in white against a white background - a self-portrait, and brightly coloured works that highlight the dramatic styles and poses of their subjects. He places Hendricks' portraits in the context of the different stages of the country's history and places him in the pantheon of innovative twentieth-century artists.