All Objects

Speaker: Richard J. Powell on Miss T

I’m Richard J. Powell, I’m the John Spencer Bassett Professor of Art and Art History at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. 

Barkley was ahead of his time. Barkley was very attuned to not just bodies but their accoutrements. And fashion is a part of the bigger picture for Barkley L. Hendricks and his work. Fashion is something that’s quite obvious and visible on the streets of America during this time period. When you see these paintings, you really understand a moment in some ways that other artists simply don’t address. 

Miss T is 1969 personified. She is very much of that moment. I’m also a child of the 60s so I remember the clothes from that era that were tight around the hips and waist, but then the legs would just flare out. And also these accents like the chains on the hips. This is an element of fashion that is unnecessary, and that is the art of fashion in the late 60s early 1970s. It’s an era of excess, plastic, fake fur, just all sorts of things that speak to elaboration beyond elaboration but make a statement. 

What I like about Miss T is the way it balances or volleys between figural representationalism and abstraction. I love how Barkley employs a kind of a hyperrealistic approach to painting, where we see her features so carefully delineated, where we see the details of her clothing so finely created and fashioned. But then, you take the painting as a whole and you are engaging with a shape that is set against a white field. And that shape against the white field has a kind of a charge, has a kind of an excitement. And I can’t help but feel that Barkley, despite being a realist painter, also understands the power of painting. And therefore chroma, and pattern, and design, and all of those elements that go into fundamental painting he’s using even within the context of something that’s figural and representational.  

Something else I like about it, I’ll just say, is that this is a moment of heightened consciousness on the parts of African Americans. I believe the rallying cries of “Black is Beautiful” were being shouted and voiced all throughout the late 1960s. I can’t help but look at Miss T and think that what Barkley has done is he has visualized “Black is Beautiful” without having a label, without having a big sign that says “Black is Beautiful” or “Black power,” even. When I look at Robin Taylor’s body and in particular her head, I’m thinking about the afro hair fashion of that time, not just being a celebration of natural hair but once it is combed out, once it is pushed out into the world from someone’s head, it gives the feeling of something very proactive, of something very assertive, of almost a fist [laughs]. It’s a body in the shape of a fist, and Barkley has captured that. 

I first met Barkley here in New York City. He had a show, I believe it was on Madison Avenue actually, and I went to the gallery. You know, it wasn’t until later when I got to know him that I realized he was a dandy. And that he was really into shoes, and particular styles of clothing, and it was just fun to see him come up with interesting—as we say in the vernacular—“getups.” [laughs] But they were never out of taste; they were cool. So, with Barkley’s fashions on his own body one can really see that he is a child of Philadelphia, a child of kind of urban style and elegance, that was him.  

Speaker: Linda McClellan on October’s Gone . . . Goodnight

I’d been married for almost a year. My husband was in the military in Georgia, and he was just a second lieutenant; we didn’t have a lot of money. So, I was looking for jobs on campus, and one of the jobs was that you could model for the art classes. And I modelled for a couple of classes, and one of them was, well, no, the only one was his, I believe. At that point, he asked me would I pose for him. That’s how I met Barkley.

He had definite ideas about how he wanted me to look and dress. He said “bring some things over.” Basically, long dresses. So, I brought the one that as you see in the painting and a few more things. But he preferred that dress. Even though I only wore my glasses for reading, he wanted me to wear those. And he wanted me to wear red fingernail polish which I really never wear. And the big hoop earrings, which I did wear.

I knew as the painting progressed, that it was going to be white-on-white. And uh, I didn’t know why because how are you going to see the dress? It’s white; it’s on white. But [laughs] you know, it turned out ok.

He didn’t talk a lot. He was very focused on his art. He was always concentrating on his on his painting. He did have music playing. He’d give me a break every now and then. But he was very, very focused. And I got really bored if you want to know the truth. I would be thinking about what I’m going to eat for dinner, if I have enough money for pizza, no probably not, things like that. I need to call my husband, I miss him. I was pretty much bored and tired.

I just figured it would be boxed up, it was going to stay in his studio. I had no idea. Because at the time he was an art teacher and I thought it was just practicing his craft. You know I had no idea he was going to really be as big a figure in the art world as he is. If I had I would’ve asked for more money. I would’ve said “hey Barkley how about maybe another hundred dollars an hour?” [laughs]. But anyway. I’m sure he couldn’t have afforded it at that time.

When I used to pose for Barkley in his art class, it was full of females because you know initially Connecticut College was a female college. And they were all admiring him. I would not be surprised if there were girls in the class who were so enamored of him that someone in the class may have been writing him, but it wasn’t me. So anyway, never in my lifetime, wrote anonymous letters to anyone, but there were a lot of admiring young women there that one of them may have been writing him anonymous letters. I could see it. Because they were all very much taken with Barkley. Probably especially after he did his nude painting.

I had cancer of the scalp. And so, now I can’t grow my hair long anymore I have short hair again. After 50 something years. So, I look more like my painting now. Cause I used to have braids. Isn’t that interesting? Such a coincidence, isn’t it?

When I see those figures, I see my three daughters standing there. He never knew that was going to happen. But it just makes you think doesn’t it?

Speaker: Jack Shainman on October’s Gone . . . Goodnight

My name is Jack Shainman; I own the Jack Shainman Gallery here in New York City.

We met because he was in several of our group shows, and we kind of kept a friendship. He really liked Claude Simard, my partner in the gallery who passed away. They had a very special relationship. And Barkley would often just kind of show up at our front desk and all of a sudden, “Bah! Barkley Hendricks is here!”

He really did care where the paintings went. In fact, many of the early works were kind of earmarked for museum only.

October’s Gone we placed with the Fogg Museum at Harvard. Helen Molesworth was the curator, and Helen spent, I think, almost her whole yearly budget on this painting, although it was not so expensive at the time, compared to now. Because Helen wanted to retell the story, the art history that happened in the 60s, the 70s, into the 80s, because we have such kind of a myopic view of this very white, male-dominated art world, like nothing else was happening. Meanwhile, Barkley was happening, and if you look on this, the white-on-white painting, and dealing with this idea of form, line, abstraction, figuration, all together, was an important thing, and Helen really purchased this painting because she wanted to tell the right story, the true story, what was happening. It was a milestone, especially because he went to Yale, and all of that; he wanted his paintings to hang in places where they would be seen, and matter.

He was always open to listening, I think, I believe; but he was totally steadfast in his beliefs, probably more than anybody that I’ve ever met in my life. He really believed deeply in his values and in everything that he did.

Some of the meetings with journalists didn’t go so well, sometimes it became very combative [laughs]. You know, a few that I can think of, maybe I shouldn’t mention their names, but in the New York Times once, quote-unquote, “After a combative interview with Barkley Hendricks,” but it went on to be a good review.

We had just such a lovely relationship; he was such an extraordinary man.

Speaker: Donald Formey on Blood (Donald Formey)

The first time I actually saw him or heard of him was actually in his class. It was the first day of class. And it was really a different experience, even the first day. We’d see him around campus all the time, but I was lucky enough to choose to be in an art class the first year. And it was not like any art I’d ever seen before.

Well, you know, I’m from the south, you know that’s the bible belt, and the first day of class there was a nude person, a lady, over to the right. I’m like “what in the world…”, and then over to the left there was a nude guy. And I’m like “Uh Toto, we’re no longer in Kansas.” And it was really a different experience. And this teacher was like the coolest guy you’d ever seen, or ever met, he was always the same demeanor, he’d be smiling but usually kind of quiet. And he had his Fu Manchu mustache going, he had earrings, and I, you know, I wasn’t really used to any—I wasn’t used to the earrings anyway, coming from Georgia. He’d made everybody feel pretty comfortable, he’s a great guy.

I would call him Professor Hendricks in class, you know—but he wanted us to call him Barkley, so we ended up doing that. My mama, she wouldn’t want me calling no grown person by their first name like that [laughs]. Oh, I was grown but I was a kid, I was like what, 18 at the time? And so that’s been a long time ago. But you know I’ll always remember him because he was always the nicest guy, no matter where you saw him. Race meant nothing to him, whatsoever, you know. And back then in the 70s you know that was the Civil Rights Movement and all that stuff, but he kind of was a person that was kind of a loner in a way to himself, but he got along with everybody. It didn’t matter who you were, he made everybody feel comfortable. And me especially, I was from the South, and, you know not too many people in that school were from the south, you know, let alone folks with my ethnic origin in that particular school, and he always made me feel kind of comfortable. He painted a whole lot more cooler people than me. And you could flip through that book and you can tell, I mean these guys have these cool outfits on. That was that was my jacket, and that was my cap, but it wasn’t my pants. [laughs] And he just kind of, he got creative, you know, and I’m kind of famous for that suit now I guess, so…[laughs].

Believe me it’s not a big time jacket I’m not even sure where I got it from. It was like your regular department store you know, and I was in Connecticut. It seemed like a lot of folks were dressing in these bright colors and stuff and I just was trying to fit in. And the cap, no that was, that was a Donald specialty there, I’d wear that anywhere you know, and I still do with these kind of caps, you can see, just little more mature type.

He came to me one day after class and he just asked me point blank, would you consider me painting a portrait of you. And I was honored to hear it, you know, because I mean, nobody ever asked me to do that before, and I wasn’t always a person that was in the forefront of anything, but I was glad to do it because I liked him as a person, and he was always real nice as a teacher and everything else. So, he just asked me would I do it and I told him yes, and he invited me to his home to do it and when I went into his home it was like this big art studio on the inside. Maybe unfinished paintings and stuff like all over the place. And I was standing there, and he was playing some kind of jazz or something like that, and I was just tapping my foot and he goes “Oh, very musical” and he found a tambourine that he had, and he asked me did I mind holding it? I told him no, cause you know back then tambourine was pretty cool. I mean in all the parties and stuff on campus I used to go to the guy to, the tambourine was the man you know, so..[laughs] So, I was more than happy to do that.

He kind of like, brought to the forefront what I thought was cool anyway. He just kind of validated that for me but [laugh]. I couldn’t believe he asked to paint me though. I didn’t really realize exactly how famous he was, until I was actually out of school. I didn’t know. Yeah, I saw his picture on his, you’ve heard of Dewar’s liquor? He was on Dewar’s profiles once when I was back home, out of college, I go “Hey, hey!” telling everybody, “This is, this is my friend and my professor.” I was so impressed, and amazed, and turns out that more than an art professor, he was just a real, real deep guy.

It was amazing. I was mesmerized, like just stand and just stare at it for the longest time. And I was a person, like I was not really all that popular necessarily around campus until that happened. And I would like you know, I don’t know if you have ever been in the Cummings Art Center where it was, but down in that sort of area, courtyard, on the outside, you could look up and see my portrait through the window, for like, two or three months? You know, I’m like “unbelievable,” I was a big star [laughs]. I pretty much have to give him credit for that. I was no longer invisible. And, everywhere I’d go, students would be like, I was all of a sudden this popular guy that I wasn’t before.

I’ll never forget him. I talked about him all the time, even before I realized how popular this painting would end up being. I would, you know talk about him with my family and friends back home all the time. I mean just the coolest guy imaginable. He really was. My man.

Speaker Dr. Zoé Whitley on Lagos Ladies (Gbemi, Bisi, Niki, Christy)

Lagos Ladies was completed in the year following FESTAC '77. It was described by Ebony magazine as a “family reunion” for the whole of the African Diaspora. It was held in Lagos, Nigeria. Pre-eminent attendees included musicians such as Stevie Wonder, Sun Ra, Gilberto Gil from Brazil, Miriam Makeba from South Africa, and writers such as Nigeria’s Wole Soyinka and the singer from Trinidad the Mighty Sparrow. Notably, for Barkley Hendricks, the festival was not the artist’s first time travelling outside the United States.

In fact, he told me that while he enjoyed travelling in Africa, he never felt compelled to alter his personal aesthetic as an artist to make it "more African," to visualize some immediately legible notion of Africa (using, say, a high-saturation color palette preferred by some artists or by referencing specific, recognizable West African textile patterns).

He was consistently drawn to people and so identifying compelling subjects for his work was just as easy in Lagos as it would have been in Philly or New Haven. Barkley considered his camera to be a “mechanical sketchbook.” He translated a photograph of a group of friends into this, one of his most enduring limited palette paintings. Their white uniforms establish a continuous field while their postures, expressions, accessories, and hairstyles each a very distinctive presence.

Hendricks' striking combination of slow-drying oil paint and fast-drying acrylic paint defines each woman’s pristine uniform, her skin tone and her distinctive jewelry. He adds to this the defining detail of each wearer’s shoes in yellow, green, red and blue. He crops the feet as a means of effectively conveying them as larger-than-life personalities, albeit on a slightly smaller than life-size scale of canvas.

Make no mistake: had he wanted to depict the cityscape of Lagos, he would have been up to the task! He spent every summer painting precise landscapes in Jamaica and also spent considerable time in Ghana. He had a very particular intention when painting people. He was drawn to them, not their surroundings.