Barkley L. Hendricks - Lawdy Mama, 1969

Oil and gold leaf on canvas, 53 3/4 x 36 1/4 in. (136.5 x 92.1 cm).

Thursdays are dedicated to honoring artists who have passed away but whose contributions to the art world remain significant. Their impact should never be forgotten. 

Barkley L. Hendricks (1945–2017)

© Barkley L. Hendricks, courtesy of the Estate of Barkley L. Hendricks and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

One of Barkley Hendricks’s earliest portraits, Lawdy Mama imbues the Black feminine form with integrity, while also alluding to Byzantine and medieval religious icons. Elevating the Black figure to a subject worthy of veneration, the artist draws a visual comparison between his sitter and iconic depictions of Kathleen Cleaver, Angela Davis, and other women of the Black Power movement in the 1960s. The painting, which depicts the artist’s cousin, also comments on the overall lack of painted representations of Black bodies.