John Stephen Hockensmith
Henry Faulkner: eccentric, flamboyant, exploitative. However one described the Kentucky artist, no one could deny his creative genius.
“He had a purpose for everybody, and they were to facilitate him in his endeavors, and he used them,” said John Hockensmith, a friend of Faulkner’s and publisher of The Gift of Color: Henry Lawrence Faulkner—Paintings, Poems, and Writings, a collection of Faulkner’s paintings and writings interspersed with the artist’s biography.
“He was different to everybody, and the only people that he looked up to were … people who had tremendous fame. You go down his collectors list, and you see the people that Henry revered. The rest of us were bit players in his theater.”
But Hockensmith is quick to qualify his portrayal of the man known for bringing baby goats to his own art exhibits or wandering down Lexington streets late at night, singing happily to his sleeping neighbors.
“He was electric. He would suck the oxygen out of any room … You couldn’t help but be transfixed and be caught in his mystical ways,” said Hockensmith, a Georgetown art photographer. “Henry was many things—outrageous at times, by choice or not—but that was not the totality. It was an honor to be in the presence of someone who was in command of so much creativity.”
Before his death in a December 1981 Lexington car accident, the abundantly creative Faulkner had produced around 5,000 pieces of art and written numerous poems.
That legacy will be honored at Lexington’s Headley-Whitney Museum of Art with the Henry Faulkner Exhibition: Celebrating Faulkner’s 100th Birthday. The exhibition, which opens Sept. 8 and runs through Nov. 12, will offer visitors a comprehensive retrospective of the Kentucky native’s work. Prior to the opening, a documentary film about the life and creativity of the artist titled Henry Faulkner: Poetry in Paint will premiere at the Kentucky Theatre on Sept. 7.
Faulkner was born in Holland (Allen County) in 1924. At age 2, he lost his mother and was placed in foster homes before settling with the Whittimore family near Falling Timber Branch in Clay County. But his effeminate nature, coupled with rebellious and unorthodox tendencies, led his foster father to return the then-15-year-old to a Louisville orphanage. Faulkner wouldn’t stay there long. His wanderlust and passion for the arts inspired him to travel the globe over the decades. He eventually settled in Lexington after making a name for himself in the art world.
“Henry was a vagabond, a scam artist, seeing his way through any door … He was audacious, much more so than outrageous,” Hockensmith said. “He was not just the naive Kentucky bumpkin that was part of his sales pitch. He was highly schooled in both East and West Coast arts and European arts, trained by other professionals. They liked him because he captivated them, because they saw talent.”
For more information about the Headley-Whitney Museum’s Faulkner exhibit, visit headley-whitney.org.