Original Henry Faulkner painting circa 1959 “Floral on Table and Chair.”

This Matisse-influenced floral painting by Henry Faulkner was acquired in 2021 by Hockensmith’s Fine Art Editions, Georgetown, Kentucky. This early 10″ x 8 “painting on paper cold mounted on masonite has a unique provenance. It was initially sold by Art Collectors of America Gallery Inc of New York City. This painting was one of the first paintings Faulker ever sold through any gallery. In 1959 Art Collectors of America Gallery Inc sold out all of Faulkner’s consignments and put the first professional money in his pockets. These first launched Faulkner’s 30-year career selling paintings through a network of galleries and private commissions. For more information on this early era of Faulkner, see the book Henry Lawrence Faulkner: The Gift of Color.

John S. Hockensmith states that this Faulkner floral painting has documentation showing it came from Art Collectors of America in 1959. Hockensmith relies on information gathered for the 2018 award-winning coffee table book, Henry Lawrence Faulkner: The Gift of Color. Hockensmith says that based on the chronological evolution of Faulkner’s painting style, color palette, and composition construction, this painting would have been painted circa 1959 in the period that Faulkner was transitioning his material selections from paper to the black gessoed masonite.

Faulkner was experimental throughout his career, very exploratory in the mid-to-late 50s and early 60s. His early works were primarily on paper using mediums like watercolor or pencil sketches, and he even painted on shirt boards that he acquired from the dry cleaners. His materials varied, and his artistic expression was ever-evolving in this early creative period. However, in 1959, Faulkner discovered the substrate masonite. He began to cold mount paper paintings onto the masonite; then, he pioneered his techniques to cover the masonite with textured black gesso and paint directly on the masonite. Faulkner’s talents for exploration evolved into a unique painting technique that exposed the black gesso to create lines and texture. By 1962, his material was almost exclusively on black gessoed masonite. For a better explanation of Faulkner’s painting practices and procedures, refer to page 86 in the bookstore edition of Henry Lawrence Faulkner: The Gift of Color.”

Henry Lawrence Faulkner’s artistic career was a carousel of expressing himself in various visual, writing, poetry, and performance art techniques. He was an international artist from Italy to California. Faulkner’s life was tragically cut short at age 55 in a car accident near his home on Third Street in Lexington, Kentucky, on Dec the 5th, 1981.