Maxwell Hendler (born 1938) is an American painter. In 1975, he became the first contemporary artist to have pictures in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.[1]
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1938, Hendler moved to Los Angeles in 1955. He received a BA in 1960 and an MA in 1962 from the University of California, Los Angeles. He did post-graduate studies in painting at UCLA between 1962 and 1964. In 1967, Hendler became a full-time instructor of the arts at California State University at Northridge. In 1969, he became an associate professor at California State University at Long Beach in the School of Fine Arts.
Hendler's work from the 1960s to the mid-1970s was exemplified by a precise approach produced from direct observation of his subjects, not by working from photographs. His paintings were usually small, most were less than 12inches square. In addition, Hendler created five paintings between 1965 and 1975.
By the 1980s, Hendler began producing work that featured painted words and textured grounds. Many of these works synthesize idioms of pop art, minimalism and conceptual art practices.
In 1990, Hendler produced the first of his poured and polished polyester resin paintings. These works feature monochromatic and highly polished surfaces in a range of sizes and proportions.
Solo exhibitions
2010 Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2008Two Approaches to Monochrome, (two-person exhibition with James Hayward) Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2005, 2002, 2000, 1998, 1995,Patricia Faure Gallery, Santa Monica, California
1993, 1989, 1987, 1985 Asher/Faure, Los Angeles, California
1986Selected Paintings 1978–1986, Rio Hondo College, Whittier, California
1983 Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1981, 1978 Robert Miller Gallery, New York, New York
1975Maxwell Hendler, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
1969 Eugenia Butler Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1965 Ceeje Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1962 Ceeje Gallery, Los Angeles, California (two-person exhibition with Arlene Goldberg)
1962 Dickson Art Center, University of California, Los Angeles, California
Group exhibitions
2010Groupings, Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2009Made in America, Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2008
Mostly Black & White, Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, California
Color Blind: Black, White and Gray in Contemporary Art, Cardwell-Jimmerson Contemporary Art, Culver City, California
Fall Selections, Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2007Monochrome Paintings: Some Versions from Ad Reinhardt to Present, Cardwell-Jimmerson Contemporary Art, Culver City, California
2005Pink, Patricia Faure Gallery, Santa Monica Originals, Curated by Bruria Finkel, Arena 1, Santa Monica, California
2004White on White, Paper, Patricia Faure Gallery
2003Hyperrealismees - USA, 1965–1975, Strasbourg, France
2002Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina, Fitz Gibbon Exhibition, The Pilot Hill Collection of Contemporary Art, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
2001
Simply Complex: Monochrome Paintings from L.A., Curated by Reuben Baron and Joan Baron, Hunsaker/Schlesinger Fine Art, Santa Monica, California
Group Exhibition, Patricia Faure Gallery
Conceptual Color: In Albers’ Afterimage, Fine Arts Gallery, San Francisco State University, College of Creative Arts, San Francisco, California
Cloud 9, Curated by David Pagel, Gensler & Assoc., Santa Monica, California
Made, POST, Los Angeles, California
2000
Simply Complex: Monochrome Painting from Louisiana, Dorsky Gallery, New York, New York; traveled to Storrs, Connecticut; Boston, Massachusetts; Santa Fe, New Mexico
The Flower Show: An Invitational, Patricia Faure Gallery, Santa Monica, California
LuminocitA’ Colori Dalla California: Hendler, Huerta, Kaufmann Studio La Citta, Verona, Italy
1999Size Matters, Patricia Faure Gallery, Painting: Fore and Aft, ACME, Los Angeles, California 1998Hendler/Kraal/Thurston, Hunsaker/Schlesinger Fine Art, Santa Monica, California, Double Trouble: The Patchett Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, La Jolla, California 1997Some Lust, Patricia Faure Gallery, Painting Beyond the Idea, Curated by Bennett Roberts. Manny Silverman Gallery, 1996Seven Strangers, Patricia Faure Gallery, Red Painting, Newspace, Los Angeles, California Fifteen Artists, Patricia Faure Gallery, 1995Murder, Curated by John Yau, Thread Waxing Space, New York, New York and Bergamot Station Arts Center, Santa Monica, California, Very Visual Dialogue, Rancho Santiago College, Santa Ana, California 1994
Recent Painting, Asher Faure,
Visual Dialogue: Personal Journeys in Abstract Painting, Rancho Santiago College Art Gallery
Blue, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, California
Plane/Structures, traveling exhibition, Curated by David Pagel, Otis Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, California; Renaissance Society, University of Chicago,
I to Eye 2, Cirrus, Los Angeles, California
1991Art-Over-the Sofa, Curated by Jan Butterfield, Boritzer/Gray, Los Angeles, California, Not on Canvas, Asher/Faure, 1990Group Show, Asher Faure Gallery, Hollywoodland, fiction/nonfiction, New York, New York, California A-Z and Return, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio 1987Reduced Scale, Rio Hondo College, Whittier, California, Industrial Icons: Painting, Photography and Sculpture, University Art Gallery, San Diego State University, San Diego, California. 1986
A Southern California Collection, Cirrus Gallery, Los Angeles, California
Invitational Drawing Show, Golden West College, Huntington Beach, California
American Realism/20th Century Drawings & Watercolors, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California
1985
Levels of Reality: the realist paintings of Michiel Daniel, Maxwell Hendler and Mark Wethli, Saddleback College, Mission Viejo, California
California Art from the Frederick R. Weisman Foundation, Senate Office Building, Washington, DC
To the Astonishing Horizon, Curated by Peter Frank, Design Center, Los Angeles, California
New Work, Asher/Faure, Los Angeles, California
Crime and Punishment, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California
A Focus on California, Ahmanson Gallery, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
Ceeje Revisited, Curated by Faith Flam, Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Park, Los Angeles, California
Frederick Weisman Foundation Collection of Contemporary Art, Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, California
1983
Hassam and Speicher Fund Purchase Exhibition, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, New York
California: Idioms of Surrealism, traveling exhibition organized by The Fisher Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California; The USC Atelier, Santa Monica, California; Art Gallery, California State College, Stanislaus, Turlock, California; Prate Manhattan Center Gallery, New York, New York; Pratt Institute Gallery, Brooklyn, New York.
American Accents, traveling exhibition Curated by Henry Geldzahler, The Gallery Stratford, Stratford, Ontario; College Park, Toronto;Musee du Quebec, Quebec, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia; Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, The Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta; Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia; Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta; Musee d’Art Contemporain, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
West Coast Realism, Traveling exhibition, curated by Lynn Gamwell, Laguna Beach Museum of Art, Laguna Beach, California; Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Center for Visual Arts, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois; Fresno Art Center, Fresno, California; Louisiana Arts and Science Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Museum of Art, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine; Colorado Springs, Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, Colorado; Spiva Art Center, Joplin, Missouri; Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont, Texas; Sierra Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, Nevada; Edison Community College, Fort Myers, Florida.
Limited Palettes, Asher Faure, Los Angeles, California
1982Drawings by Painters, The Oakland Museum, Oakland, California; Mandeville Art Gallery, University of California, San Diego, California; Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California
1980
Three Realist Painters, L.A. Louver Gallery, Los Angeles, California
Still Life Today, Curated by Janice Oresman, Goddard-Riverside Community Center, New York, New York
Contemporary Naturalism, Nassau County Museum of Fine Art, Nassau, New York
1978
Representations of America, Curated by Henry Geldzahler, The Hermitage, Leningrad, Russia; Pushkin Museum, Moscow, Russia
A Sense of Scale, The Oakland Museum, Oakland, California
Painting and Sculpture in California: The Modern Era, Co-curated by Walter Hopps & Henry Hopkins, The National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, DC; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California
1976
Los Angeles Eight: Painting and Sculpture, 1976, Curated by Maurice Tuchman, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
1975The Realist Image, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California
1973Separate Realities, Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1971
Eleven Los Angeles Artists, Der Neue Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, West Germany; Palais de Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium; The Hayward Gallery, London, England, Curated by Maurice Tuchman & Jane Livingston,
Faculty Exhibition, California State University, Long Beach, California
All City Art Festival, Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California
Annual National Competition, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio
1965Annual Southern California Competition, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California
1964Fifth Annual Festival of the Arts, Whittier College, Whittier, California
1961Lake Arrowhead Conference Center, University of California, Lake Arrowhead, California, Inaugural Exhibition, Art Rental Gallery, Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, California
Articles and reviews
2008Take Pleasure in Monochrome, David Pagel, Los Angeles Times, April 11
2004The Many Colors of White, Explored, Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, March 19
2002Hendler Paintings Mesmerized with Intense Hues, Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, June 14, So Simple, Yet So Difficult to Arrive At, Hunter Drohojowska-Philip, Los Angeles Times, May 19.
2001Conceptual Color in Albers’ Afterimage at SFSU, Colin Berry, Artweek, November
2000For Hendler, It’s a Bright, Bright World, David Pagel, Los Angeles Times, May 5
1998
The Best of 1998, Dave Hickey, ArtForum, December
The Best of 1998, Lisa Liebmann, ArtForum, December
Maxwell Hendler at Patricia Faure, Jody Zellen, d’Art International, Fall
Hendler Evokes Simple Yet Complex Joys, David Pagel, Los Angeles Times, June 5
Style Over Substance in ‘Beyond the idea’, David Pagel, Los Angeles Times, October 12
Exhibition blurs lines between art and kitsch, Robert Pincus, San Diego Union, July 5
1995Maxwell Hendler, Master of the Colorful, David Pagel, Los Angeles Times, May 4, Plane/Structures Requires Altered Behavior, Graham Shearing, Pittsburgh Review, Feb 10
1994Like Gazing Into a Deep Pool at Night, ‘Plane/Structures’ at Otis College of Art and Design, Jan Tumlir, Artweek, Oct 6
1993
Images Play with Light, Sight at Asher/Faure,” David Pagel, Los Angeles Times, March 4
Starting with McLaughlin, Hendler, Kraal, Thurston, Art Picks of the Week, Peter Frank, LA Weekly, May 1–7
Maxwell Hendler, David A. Greene, Art Issues, May/June
1993Maxwell Hendler at Asher/Faure, Michael Anderson, Art in America, October. Looking in on Diversity in Three Acts, William Wilson, Los Angeles Times, May 22.
1990X is for MaXwell Hendler, John Fitz Gibbon, The Butler Institute of American Art, June - August
1989The Galleries, Los Angeles Times, Marlene Donahue, July 21
1987Art 9/87, Maxwell Hendler, California Magazine, September, Los Angeles, Maxwell Hendler, Colin Gardner, ArtForum, October, The Art Galleries, Los Angeles Times, Sept 4, Cathy Curtis
1985
Words as Images (ABC NO GAGA), Joan Hugo, Artweek, August
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