Maxwell Hendler
Maxwell Hendler 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.
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 12 inches 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, California2008 Two Approaches to Monochrome, Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, California2005, 2002, 2000, 1998, 1995, Patricia Faure Gallery, Santa Monica, California1993, 1989, 1987, 1985 Asher/Faure, Los Angeles, California1986 Selected Paintings 1978–1986, Rio Hondo College, Whittier, California1983 Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California1981, 1978 Robert Miller Gallery, New York, New York1981 King of Hearts II, Mendocino, California1976 Maxwell Hendler: Sandpainting, 1969–1976, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California1975 Maxwell Hendler, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York1969 Eugenia Butler Gallery, Los Angeles, California1965 Ceeje Gallery, Los Angeles, California1962 Ceeje Gallery, Los Angeles, California 1962 Dickson Art Center, University of California, Los Angeles, CaliforniaGroup exhibitions
2010 Groupings, Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, California2009 Made in America, Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, California2008 Mostly Black & White, Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, CaliforniaColor Blind: Black, White and Gray in Contemporary Art, Cardwell-Jimmerson Contemporary Art, Culver City, CaliforniaFall Selections, Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, California2007 Monochrome Paintings: Some Versions from Ad Reinhardt to Present, Cardwell-Jimmerson Contemporary Art, Culver City, California2005 Pink, Patricia Faure Gallery, Santa Monica Originals, Curated by Bruria Finkel, Arena 1, Santa Monica, California2004 White on White, Paper, Patricia Faure Gallery2003 Hyperrealismees - USA, 1965–1975, Strasbourg, France2002 Art 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 GalleryConceptual Color: In Albers’ Afterimage, Fine Arts Gallery, San Francisco State University, College of Creative Arts, San Francisco, CaliforniaCloud 9, Curated by David Pagel, Gensler & Assoc., Santa Monica, CaliforniaMade, 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 MexicoThe Flower Show: An Invitational, Patricia Faure Gallery, Santa Monica, CaliforniaLuminocitA’ Colori Dalla California: Hendler, Huerta, Kaufmann Studio La Citta, Verona, Italy
1999 Size Matters, Patricia Faure Gallery, Painting: Fore and Aft, ACME, Los Angeles, California
1998 Hendler/Kraal/Thurston, Hunsaker/Schlesinger Fine Art, Santa Monica, California, Double Trouble: The Patchett Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, La Jolla, California
1997 Some Lust, Patricia Faure Gallery, Painting Beyond the Idea, Curated by Bennett Roberts. Manny Silverman Gallery,
1996 Seven Strangers, Patricia Faure Gallery, Red Painting, Newspace, Los Angeles, California Fifteen Artists, Patricia Faure Gallery,
1995 Murder, 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 GalleryBlue, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CaliforniaPlane/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
1991 Art-Over-the Sofa, Curated by Jan Butterfield, Boritzer/Gray, Los Angeles, California, Not on Canvas, Asher/Faure,
1990 Group Show, Asher Faure Gallery, Hollywoodland, fiction/nonfiction, New York, New York, California A-Z and Return, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio
1987 Reduced 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, CaliforniaInvitational Drawing Show, Golden West College, Huntington Beach, CaliforniaAmerican 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, CaliforniaCalifornia Art from the Frederick R. Weisman Foundation, Senate Office Building, Washington, DCTo the Astonishing Horizon, Curated by Peter Frank, Design Center, Los Angeles, CaliforniaNew Work, Asher/Faure, Los Angeles, CaliforniaCrime and Punishment, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CaliforniaCalifornia: Idions of Surrealism, Fisher Art Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
1984 New Work, Paintings 1984, Asher/Faure,A Focus on California, Ahmanson Gallery, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CaliforniaCeeje Revisited, Curated by Faith Flam, Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Park, Los Angeles, CaliforniaFrederick 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 YorkCalifornia: 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, California1982 Drawings 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, CaliforniaStill Life Today, Curated by Janice Oresman, Goddard-Riverside Community Center, New York, New YorkContemporary 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, RussiaA Sense of Scale, The Oakland Museum, Oakland, CaliforniaPainting 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, CaliforniaAmerica As Art, The National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, DC1975 The Realist Image, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California1973 Separate 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
1970 22 Realists, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New YorkBeyond the Actual: Contemporary California Realist Painters, Pioneer Museum of Art, Stockton, CaliforniaAmerican Painting 1970, Virginia Museum of Art, Richmond, CaliforniaDirectly Seen: California Realist Painters, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Balboa, CaliforniaRealist Painters, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York; Albright Knox Museum of Art, Buffalo, New York
1969 New Faculty Exhibition, California State College, Long Beach, CaliforniaCalifornia Artist, University of Nevada, Reno, NevadaThird Annual Small Images Exhibition, California State College, Los Angeles, California1968 Artists Who Teach, Los Angeles County Museum of Art Rental Gallery, Los Angeles, California, The Beach Show, San Fernando Valley State College1967 Aspects of Realism, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Rental Gallery, New Faculty Exhibition, San Fernando Valley State College
1966 Faculty Collections Exhibition, San Fernando Valley State College, Northridge, CaliforniaAll City Art Festival, Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CaliforniaAnnual National Competition, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio1965 Annual Southern California Competition, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California1964 Fifth Annual Festival of the Arts, Whittier College, Whittier, California1961 Lake Arrowhead Conference Center, University of California, Lake Arrowhead, California, Inaugural Exhibition, Art Rental Gallery, Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, California
Articles and reviews
2008 Take Pleasure in Monochrome, David Pagel, Los Angeles Times, April 112005 Art Pick of the Week, Cindy Kolodziejski, LA Weekly, March 18–242004 The Many Colors of White, Explored, Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, March 192002 Hendler 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 19.2001 Conceptual Color in Albers’ Afterimage at SFSU, Colin Berry, Artweek, November2000 For Hendler, It’s a Bright, Bright World, David Pagel, Los Angeles Times, May 51998 The Best of 1998, Dave Hickey, ArtForum, DecemberThe Best of 1998, Lisa Liebmann, ArtForum, DecemberMaxwell Hendler at Patricia Faure, Jody Zellen, d’Art International, FallHendler Evokes Simple Yet Complex Joys, David Pagel, Los Angeles Times, June 5Style Over Substance in ‘Beyond the idea’, David Pagel, Los Angeles Times, October 12Exhibition blurs lines between art and kitsch, Robert Pincus, San Diego Union, July 51995 Maxwell Hendler, Master of the Colorful, David Pagel, Los Angeles Times, May 4, Plane/Structures Requires Altered Behavior, Graham Shearing, Pittsburgh Review, Feb 101994 Like 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 4Starting with McLaughlin, Hendler, Kraal, Thurston, Art Picks of the Week, Peter Frank, LA Weekly, May 1–7Maxwell Hendler, David A. Greene, Art Issues, May/June1993 Maxwell Hendler at Asher/Faure, Michael Anderson, Art in America, October. Looking in on Diversity in Three Acts, William Wilson, Los Angeles Times, May 22.1990 X is for MaXwell Hendler, John Fitz Gibbon, The Butler Institute of American Art, June - August1989 The Galleries, Los Angeles Times, Marlene Donahue, July 211987 Art 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 , Joan Hugo, Artweek, AugustArt Reviews, Kristine McKenna, Los Angeles Times, August 9Maxwell Hendler at Asher/Faure, Merle Shipper, ArtNews, OctoberLandscape: The Bus Stops Here, Suzanne Muchnic, Los Angeles Times, January 26Reviews,” Colin Gardner, Artforum, December1975 Maxwell Hendler at the Metropolitan Museum, Barbara Thomsen, Art in America, Nov/Dec.1971 11 L.A. Artists to Open in London, Los Angeles Times, Sunday, September 51965 Hendler’s Form One of Clarity, William Wilson, Los Angeles Times, December 3, Maxwell Hendler, Ceeje Gallery, E.K., ArtForum, November
Museum collections
- Buck Collection, Laguna Beach, California
- Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
- Oakland Museum, Oakland, California
- Weisman Foundation, Beverly Hills, California