About the artist
Henry Taylor’s imprint on the American cultural landscape comes from his disruption of tradition. While people figure prominently in Taylor’s work, he rejects the label of portraitist. Taylor’s chosen subjects are only one piece of the larger cultural narrative that they represent: his paintings reveal the forces at play, both individualistic and societal, that come to bear on his subject. The end result is not a mere idealized image, but a complete narrative of a person and his history. Taylor explains this pursuit of representational truth: ‘It’s about respect, because I respect these people. It’s a two-dimensional surface, but they are really three-dimensional beings.’ [1]
Artwork images © Henry Taylor. Photo: Andrea Rossetti, Thomas Barratt
Portrait of Henry Taylor © Henry Taylor. Photo: Fredrik Nilsen
[1] Sargent, Antwaun, ‘Examining Henry Taylor’s Groundbreaking Paintings of the Black Experience,’ on: artsy.com, 16 July 2018
