Henry Taylor, American born 1958

from an exhibition at the Whitney Museum of (North) American Art, NY in 2024

 

Henry Taylor’s family moved from Texas to California during the Great Migration after the ambush -murder of his grandfather. The artist has lived in California all his life.

 

In 1990, he began a Fine Arts degree at California Institute of Arts for which he paid by working as a nurse  (psychiatric technician) at Camarillo State Mental Hospital.  He worked there for 10 years and honed those skills which later made his reputation as a perceptive portraitist.  

 

The artist was in his 40’s before he received any professional attention.  In 2004, he had a solo exhibition in California gallery in 2004 followed by a museum show in 2007 at the Studio Museum in Harlem.  Since then, acclaim for his work has been rising steadily.

 

Admired for his portraits, Taylor’s primary focus has been his community.   

 

Violence and sadness and the omnipresence of the prison system run through the artist’s work.

But so does community, family, friendship, sports, music. 

 

Taylor has travelled in Africa and Asia.  2 paintings whose inspiration are Ethiopian are below.  

 

It’s H.I.M., 2012, acrylic on canvas.

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Private collection loan to the Whitney, NY

The last Ethiopian emperor depicted 37 years after his assassination. H.I.M. stands for one of his titles:  His Imperial Majesty.

Coffee is the country’s most famous export.  Tupac Shakur has no link with Ethiopia to my knowledge.

 

 

Untitled (Ethiopian Pharmacist), 2016, acrylic on canvas.

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Private collection loan to the Whitney, NY

Herbal medicine is in widespread use in Ethiopia and much prized.  On the left is a sign in Amharic on a butcher’s shop.

 

 

A Different Background, 2010, acrylic and charcoal on canvas. 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Private loan to the Whitney, NY

This was based on a 1999 photo of a wedding in Africa.  The museum did not note the location or ethnic group.

 

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Screaming Head, 1999, acrylic on canvas.

Henry Taylor, American born 1958.  Artist and his gallery’s loan to the Whitney, NY

 

 

 

Low Ride (99), 2004, acrylic and collage on canvas. 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Private loan to the Whitney, NY

 

 

 

Trail, 2005, acrylic on canvas

Henry Taylor, American born 1958.  Private collection loan to the Whitney, NY

George Jackson, whose book about his time in prison – Soledad Brother  The Prison Letter of George Jackson – laid out how much racism and brutality existed in prison for Black prisoners.  Bob Dylan wrote a song about George Jackson who was killed by prison guards when he was 29 while attempting an escape from San Quentin Prison.

 

 

Wegrett, 2006, acrylic and cardboard collage on linen. 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Private loan to the Whitney, NY

 

The artist represents himself kneeling in front of his mother who used W.E. Garrett & Sons Scotch snuff, a tobacco she used during his childhood.  Of this painting he said:  “I painted a picture of myself on my knees in front of my mama, and I don’t know why I painted that, but I just did, and I know I cried on that.” 

The title is thought to refer to the troubles of his mother’s life.

 

 

 

Untitled, 2006, acrylic on wood.

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Private loan to the Whitney, NY

 

 

Fatty, 2006, acrylic on canvas. 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Private loan to the Whitney, NY

 

 

Eldridge Cleaver, 2007, acrylic on canvas.

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Private loan to the Whitney, NY

A leading member of the Black Panther Party. writer and political activist.

 

 

 

Portrait of My Brother, Robert Randy Taylor, oil on canvas.

Henry Taylor, American born 1958.  Private loan to the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY in 2023

 

 

 

the dress, ain’t me, 2011, acrylic on canvas. 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958.  Private loan to the Whitney, NY

 

See Alice Jump, 2011, acrylic on canvas. 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Private loan to the Whitney, NY

 

Alice Coachman, seen here competing at Tuskegee, was the first Black American woman to win an Olympic gold, in 1948. Official racial segregation was still in force.  Civil rights changes were more than 25 years away.  Coachman is seen jumping over houses as a metaphor for how high the bar still was.

 

 

 

A Jack Move – Proved It, 2011, acrylic on canvas. 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Private loan to the Whitney, NY

 

Jackie Robinson, who integrated Major League Baseball after more than 60 years of segregation, was widely admired for his skills.  The title is slang for robbing someone of something.  In this image it refers to Robinson stealing bases in a baseball game.  A hint of someone stealing something is in top left corner where there are footsteps leaving the scene.

 

 

Resting, 2011, acrylic and collage on canvas. 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Private collection loan to the Whitney, NY

 

 

In the background are uniformed men in front of a penitentiary wall.  On the table are Canteen Correctional Service forms which are filled out by family members of prisoners to indicate what they can buy at the commissary.  

 

 

Warning Shots Not Required, 2011, acrylic on canvas.

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles loan to the Whitney, NY

 

 

 

Watch your back, 2013, acrylic on canvas.

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Hammer Museum, Los Angeles loan to the Whitney, NY

 

 

 

That Was Then, 2013, acrylic on canvas.

Henry Taylor, American born 1958.  Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh loan to the Whitney, NY

A painting based on a photograph of a Southern sharecropper during the 1930s. ‘Boy’ was a degrading epithet addressed to Black men of all ages.

 

 

 

Watch your back, 2013, acrylic on canvas. 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Hammer Museum, Los Angeles loan to the Whitney, NY

 

 

 

 

I’m Yours, 2015, acrylic on canvas 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958.  Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston loan to the Whitney Museum, NY in 2023

The artist with two of his three children.

 

 

Girl with Toy Rifle, 2016, acrylic on canvas. 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Private loan to the Whitney, NY

 

 

 

 

I’m not dangerous, 2015, acrylic on canvas. 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Private loan to the Whitney, NY

 

 

 

Portrait of Rob Pruitt, Done While Visiting Autumn King, 2016, acrylic on canvas. 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Private collection on  loan to the Whitney, NY

 

 

 

Hammons meets a hyena on holiday, 2016, acrylic on canvas. 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958.  National Museum of Art at Duke University loan to the Whitney, NY

 

 

David Hammons, Bliz-aard Ball Sale, 1983.

Photo by Dawoud Bey, American born 1953

 

The conceptual artist, David Hammons (American born 1943), famously sold snowballs in front of the former Whitney Museum in Manhattan in 1983.  Henry Taylor’s image above transfers David Hammons to the Great Mosque of Djenne in Mali with a hyena looking on and a Santa Claus coat hanging on the mosque gate as reference to the season.

 

 

 

Getting It Done, 2016, acrylic on canvas.

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Private loan to the Whitney, NY

 

 

 

Emery Lambus, 2016, acrylic on canvas.

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. The Museum of Contemporary Art, LA loan to the Whitney, NY

 

 

Elan Supreme, 2016, acrylic on canvas. 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Private loan to the Whitney Museum, NY

 

 

 

A HAPPY DAY FOR US, 2017, acrylic on canvas. 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Whitney, NY Biennial  in 2017

 

 

 

THE TIMES THEY AIN’T A CHANGING FAST ENOUGH,  acrylic on canvas, 2017

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Whitney, NY Biennial in 2017

 

Philando Castile was shot to death by a policeman on July 6, 2016 in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota.  His dying was live-streamed by Diamond Reynolds, his girlfriend. He died in hospital.  Her 4-year old daughter was with them in the car and could not have but watched.  This was a traffic stop.  Nationwide violence broke out.

The policeman was charged with homicide and in June 2017 was acquitted.  

 

 

The 4th, 2012-2017, acrylic on canvas.

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Whitney Biennial in 2017

An imagined portrait of Philandro Castile in happier times.

 

 

 

 

The Love of Cousin Tip, 2017, acrylic on canvas. 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Loaned to the Whitney, NY by the artist and his gallery

 

 

 

Ancestors of Ghengis Khan with Black Man on Horse, 2015-2017, acrylic on canvas

Henry Taylor, American born 1958.  Photo by Benjamin Sutton for Hyperallergic. 

 

 

 

 

A young master, 2017, acrylic on canvas. 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Fondation Louis Vuitton loan to the Whitney, NY

An imagined portrait of the much-regretted Noah Davis, a co-founder of Los Angeles’ Underground Museum who died at 32, two years before this painting.

 

 

 

Man, I’m so full of doubt, but I must Hustle Forward, as my daughter Jade would say, 2020, acrylic on canvas.

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Loaned to the Whitney, NY by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

 

 

 

My Great-Niece, Taylor Watson, 2020, acrylic on canvas.

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Loaned by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles to the Whitney, NY

 

 

Untitled, 2021, acrylic on linen.

Henry Taylor, American born 1958.  Loaned by the artist and his gallery to the Whitney, NY

The artist in the guise of Henry V from a portrait by an unattributed artist which Taylor saw in the National Portrait Gallery, London.  Taylor was an eighth child and often referred to himself as Henry VIII.

 

 

Untitled, 2022, acrylic on canvas. 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Loan by the artist and his gallery to the Whitney, NY

The artist’s brother today lives in Texas and raises dogs.  He was long associated with the Black Panthers which was first organized in Oakland, California.

 

 

 

Untitled, 2022, acrylic on canvas.

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Loaned by the artist and his gallery to the Whitney

 

 

Untitled, 2022, acrylic on canvas. 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Loaned by the artist and  his gallery to the Whitney, NY

A self-portrait with his third child, a daughter, Epic.

 

 

 

 

Untitled, 2022, acrylic on canvas. 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Loaned by the artist and his gallery to the Whitney, NY

 

Untitled, 2022, acrylic on canvas. 

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Loaned by the artist and his gallery to the Whitney, NY

 

 

 

 

Untititled, 2022, acrylic on canvas.

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Loaned by the artist and his gallery to the Whitney, NY

 

 

 

 

Untitled, acrylic on canvas, 2022.

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Loan by the artist and his gallery to the Whitney, NY

 

 

Untitled, 2022, acrylic on canvas

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Loan by the artist and his gallery to the Whitney, NY

 

Untitled, 2022, acrylic on canvas.

Henry Taylor, American born 1958. Private loan to the Whitney, NY