Photo by Duke Photography.

Barkley L. Hendricks

Painter

American·b. 1945

Known for:

large-scale figurative portraits of Black Americans

Education:

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1963-1967); Yale University (MFA, under Walker Evans)

Barkley L. Hendricks spent decades painting large-scale, life-size portraits of Black Americans against white, gold, or patterned grounds with a formal precision derived from his study of the Old Masters at Yale, where he received his MFA in 1972. His paintings - of friends, family members, and the people he encountered in his Hartford neighborhood - were largely overlooked by the mainstream art world until a 2008 retrospective at the Nasher Museum of Art. He is now recognized as a decisive precursor to the generation of figurative painters who include Kehinde Wiley and Kerry James Marshall.

Barkley L. Hendricks's Gear List(3)

Bocour Magna Acrylic

Bocour

Connection Source

WhitneyWebsite

Connection note

Used Magna acrylic resin paint alongside oil and standard acrylic, as documented in works like Steve (1976)

Product description

Magna was a line of acrylic resin paints manufactured by Leonard Bocour in New York from the 1940s. Unlike water-based acrylics, Magna dissolved in turpentine and dried to a matte finish. It was used by Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, and Roy Lichtenstein. Production ceased in the 1990s.

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Oil Paint

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SiInterview

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Used oil paint for figures with a varnished finish, creating a deliberate material contrast with matte acrylic backgrounds

Product description

Oil paint — pigment suspended in a drying oil, typically linseed — has been the dominant painting medium since the fifteenth century. It dries slowly, allowing extended blending, and produces a rich, luminous surface. Available from dozens of manufacturers at student through professional grades.

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Acrylic Paint

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Connection Source

SiInterview

Connection note

Applied matte acrylics for backgrounds to contrast with varnished oil figures; learned the medium from a friend in Detroit

Product description

Acrylic paint — pigment suspended in an acrylic polymer emulsion — dries quickly to a water-resistant finish and can be thinned with water or medium. Introduced commercially in the 1950s, it became the dominant alternative to oil paint for contemporary painters working in flat color, mixed media, and large-scale formats.

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