New to the collection:
John Wesley Hardrick spent his entire career in and around Indianapolis. His teachers encouraged his artistic talent from an early age and rallied the community to support his attendance at the John Herron School of Art, where he studied with the American Impressionist painter William Forsyth. After he completed his studies, he continued to paint, but supported his growing family through work in a metal foundry and his family’s trucking business. He briefly shared a studio with Hale Woodruff, another up-and-coming painter in 1924, and both artists were featured in a 1927 exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago devoted to African American art.
Although he occasionally worked in other genres, for most of his career, Hardrick focused on landscape, portraiture, and still life painting. Stylistically, his work was informed by William Forsyth’s adaptation of impressionist techniques. Still Life in a Blue Vase is typical of his floral painting and depicts a bowl of purple and white chrysanthemums against an orange background. Rapid brush strokes evoke fallen petals and convey Hardrick’s careful attention to natural forms.
JOHN WESLEY HARDRICK
American, 1891–1968
Still Life in a Blue Vase, ca. 1935
Oil on board
20 x 24 inches
Gift of Peggy and Keith Kunkel, 2025.9