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Slick
- Man
- African-American Artist
- Self-portrait
- Portrait
- Barkley Hendricks
- White
- Gold
- Brown
- Black
"The Artist Sees New London," The Lyman Allyn Art Museum/The Williams School, New London, CT, September 15 - November 17, 1991.
"Work of the Month," Chrysler Museum of Art, McKinnon Galleries of Modern Art, May 2001. * Barkley Hendricks, whose painting, "Dixwell" was included in the exhibition "To Conserve a Legacy" at the Chrysler Museum of Art and Hampton University Museum, spoke during an Artists' Panel at Hampton University Museum on May 5, 2001.
"Barkley L. Hendricks: Birth of the Cool," Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham, NC, February 7- July 13, 2008; Studio Museum in Harlem, November 12, 2008-March 15, 2009; Santa Monica Museum of Art, May 9 - August 15, 2009; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, September 18 - December 20, 2009.
"Remix Redux: A Fresh Mix For Our Modern And Contemporary Galleries," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, August 15 - December 30, 2012.
"Barkley L. Hendricks: Portraits at the Frick," The Frick Collection Madison Avenue, New York, NY, September 21, 2023 - January 7, 2024.
American, 1945 - 2017
Slick, 1977
Oil, acrylic, and Magna (acrylic resin paint) on canvas
“You think you’re slick. Just wait. One day a woman is going to straighten you out!”
This wry comment by Hendricks’ sister inspired the title of this self-portrait. The essence of cool, the artist is stylishly dressed in a white linen suit and stands against a neutral backdrop. The white-on-white environment becomes a witty metaphor for the racial politics of the era. Drawing attention to his face and colorful African cap, Hendricks invites us to contemplate his identity—a vision that is literally reflected in his glasses as they catch the light from his studio’s arched windows.
Gift of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York 78.62