
Re-Birth of the Cool: A Second Printing of the Catalog for the Seminal Barkley Hendricks Exhibition Has Been Published
A DECADE AGO TODAY, “Barkley L. Hendricks: Birth of the Cool” opened at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University (Feb. 7-July 13, 2008). The traveling survey brought renewed attention to Barkley L. Hendricks (1945-2017), the artist and photographer whose powerful portraits dating from the 1960s and 70s masterfully capture the individuality, attitude...

Holiday Gift Guide 2017: Exhibition Posters for the Art Lovers on Your List
AN EXHIBITION POSTER featuring “Bid ‘Em In/Slave (Angie)” by Barkley Hendricks (1945-2017) was produced on the occasion of “Black Fire: A Constant State of Revolution,” a 2015-16 group show at the Sheldon Museum of Art in Lincoln, Neb. I discovered the poster last spring, shortly after the artist died. The image features a female...

Nasher Museum Hosting Barkley Hendricks Memorial Celebration, Presenting Special Tribute Exhibition of Artist’s Work
Barkley Hendricks (1945-2017). | Photo by Duke University, Courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery THE NASHER MUSEUM OF ART at Duke University is celebrating the life and work of Barley L. Hendricks (1945-2017) today. The extended museum and campus community, along with the family, friends, and fans of Hendricks are gathering at the museum to pay...

Sotheby’s Posthumous Sale of 3 Paintings by Barkley L. Hendricks Yields Artist Record
Lot 187: BARKLEY L. HENDRICKS, “Yocks,” 1975 (acrylic on canvas). | Estimate $300,000-$400,000. Sold for $942,500 (including fees) WEARING A GREEN LEATHER COAT with wide, white fur lapels, the “Boston-based brother” who appears in a triple portrait by Barkley L. Hendricks (1945-2017) was among the subjects for which the artist “felt one pose was...

Barkley L. Hendricks, 72, the Artist Known for his Life-Size, Realist Portraits, Has Died
BARKLEY L. HENDRICKS, “Slick (Self Portrait),” 1977 ARTIST AND PHOTOGRAPHER Barkley L. Hendricks (1945-2017) died today. He was 72. With a practice spanning painting and photography and landscapes and figuration, he was most recognized for his life-size realist portraits painted in the 1970s of subjects whose cool poses and style of dress conveyed a...

Auction Results: New Records Set for Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Henry Taylor, and Alma Thomas, Compelling Works by El Anatsui Among Many Others by Black Artists Sold Too
ACROSS THE UNITED STATES and in London, auctions of post-war, modern and contemporary art were held at the end of February and early March. Records were set in Los Angeles, where an Alma Thomas painting was offered, and London where Henry Taylor and Njideka Akunyili Crosby achieved new benchmarks. Auction values for Nigerian-born, Los Angeles-based...

How Much is That Painting? Top 25 Auction Lots by African American Artists, 2014-2016
Julie Mehretu, “Looking Back to a Bright New Future” (2003). EARLY NEXT MONTH, major auction houses in New York and London are holding post-war and contemporary art sales. In anticipation of the first significant offerings of the year, Culture Type is assessing the state of art by Black artists. In recent years, a cluster...

At Art Basel, Significant Sales of Works by African American Artists, including Njideka Akunyili Crosby
MUSEUMS HAVE TAKEN AN INTEREST in Njideka Akunyili Crosby. At Art Basel, Victoria Miro Gallery of London sold “Super Blue Omo” (above), a new, large-scale figurative work by the Los Angeles-based painter to a museum. According to BLOUIN ARTINFO, the painting went to “an unidentified American museum for an otherwise indeterminate five-figure price.” UPDATE:...

Dec. 15: Next Swann African American Art Auction Features Diverse Slate of Significant Modern and Contemporary Works
SWANN AUCTION GALLERIES has released the catalog for its fall African American Fine Art sale on Dec. 15 in New York. The selection, which it describes as including its “strongest offerings to date,” features a number of Norman Lewis paintings, several works by Hughie Lee-Smith, Lois Mailou Jones, Beauford Delaney, and Charles White, along with...

Prominent African American Artists Break Records at Swann Auction
LAST THURSDAY WAS A HISTORY-MAKING DAY in African American art. Sales results show Swann Auction Galleries recorded $2.36 million in total sales (including fees), four lots sold for more than six figures and, most notably, seven artists achieved record prices. Swann Auction Galleries held its first African American fine art auction of the year on...

‘Ascension’: Swann’s April 2 African American Fine Art Auction Features Barkley L. Hendricks
THE MOST CELEBRATED WORKS by Barkley L. Hendricks are his 1970s portraits of cool characters he encountered at Yale University and knew in the years following. Last year, in an interview at Swann Auction Galleries, Hendricks regaled the audience with amusing stories about his colorful subjects, but then noted the importance of his technique for...