{{Short description|American artist (1968–2023)}} {{Infobox artist | name = Radcliffe Bailey | image = | imagesize = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1968|11|25}} | birth_place = Bridgeton, New Jersey, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2023|11|14|1968|11|25}} | death_place = Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. | field = Painting, sculpture, mixed media | training = Atlanta College of Art | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Victoria Rowell|2009|2014|end=divorced}} * Leslie Campbell Parks }} | children = 2 | movement = | works = | patrons = | influenced by = | influenced = | awards = • 2008 Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant <br>• 2010 Mallory Factory Prize for Southern Art }}
'''Radcliffe Bailey''' (November 25, 1968 – November 14, 2023) was an American contemporary visual artist noted for mixed-media, paint, and sculpture works that explore African-American history.<ref name="NYT">{{cite news|last1=Zigman|first1=Laura|title=Victoria Rowell and Radcliffe Bailey|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/fashion/weddings/12VOWS.html|accessdate=9 February 2020|work=The New York Times|date=July 11, 2009}}</ref><ref name="Shainman" /> He was based in Atlanta, Georgia.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=http://mocaga.org/collections/permanent-art-collection-artists/radcliffe-bailey/|title=Radcliffe Bailey|work=Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA)|access-date=2017-12-21|language=en-US}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Radcliffe Bailey was born in Bridgeton, New Jersey on November 25, 1968.<ref name="Shainman">{{cite web | url=http://www.jackshainman.com/artists/radcliffe-bailey/ | title=Radcliffe Bailey - Jack Shainman Gallery | work=Jack Shainman Gallery | accessdate=9 February 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Okwu |first=Julian C. R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wZ0aAQAAIAAJ&q=Radcliffe+Bailey+November+25+,+1968 |title=Face Forward: Young African American Men in a Critical Age |date=March 1997 |publisher=Chronicle Books |isbn=978-0-8118-1631-1 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Radcliffe Bailey (American, b.1968) |url=https://collection.mcnayart.org/persons/1426/radcliffe-bailey-american-b1968 |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=McNay Art Museum |language=en}}</ref> His mother was a school teacher.<ref name="man"/> His grandfather was a Baptist deacon and built a church near Charlotteville, South Carolina. Other members of his family were following Marcus Garvey.<ref name="man"/> Family on his father´s side had migrated and stopped in NJ on their way to Canada, as they were working on the railroad. They lived with the extended family all in the same rural area, his grandfather raising asparagus. At age four, in 1972 his family decided to move to Atlanta, Georgia to have their children grow up in a different area.<ref name="man">{{Cite web |last=Tyler Green |date=November 12, 2020 |title=No. 471: interview with Radcliffe Bailey |url=https://manpodcast.com/portfolio/no-471-radcliffe-bailey/ |access-date=2025-10-30 |website=The Modern Art Notes Podcast |language=en}}</ref> His interest in art was galvanised by childhood visits to the High Museum of Art and drawing classes he later took at the Atlanta College of Art.<ref name="High">{{Cite news |title=Radcliffe Bailey: Memory as Medicine |language=en-US |work=High Museum of Art |url=https://www.high.org/exhibition/radcliffe-bailey/ |access-date=9 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230128075852/https://www.high.org/exhibition/radcliffe-bailey/ |archive-date=28 January 2023}}</ref> He met Jacob Lawrence at an exhibition while in Middle School.<ref name="man"/> He cited Atlanta's history with civil rights and the Civil War as artistic inspirations,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/museums/radcliffe-bailey-exhibition-evokes-the-harsh-history-of-slavery/2017/06/28/e3ad8554-4c87-11e7-9669-250d0b15f83b_story.html|title=Review {{!}} Radcliffe Bailey exhibition evokes the harsh history of slavery|newspaper=Washington Post|language=en|access-date=2018-09-25}}</ref> as well as historical figures, such as George Washington Carver and Charleston-based blacksmith Philip Simmons.<ref name="Mayer" />
Bailey attended the Atlanta College of Art and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1991.<ref name=":0" /> He was trained as a sculptor but experimented with paint and mixed media.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fac.umass.edu/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=DIOTRadcliffeBaileyBiography|title=Radcliffe Bailey Biography|website=fac.umass.edu|access-date=2018-03-26}}</ref>
==Career== [[File:Untitled Radcliffe Bailey 2009 at NGA.jpg|thumb|right|''Untitled'' (2009) by Radcliffe Bailey at the National Gallery of Art's showing of ''Afro-Atlantic Histories'' in Washington, D.C., in 2022]] From 2001 to 2006, he taught at the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia.<ref name="Mayer">{{Cite web|url=http://www.bridgettemayergallery.com/artists/radcliffe-bailey/biography|title=Biography - Radcliffe Bailey|website=www.bridgettemayergallery.com|access-date=9 February 2020}}</ref> In 2006, he did a DNA test and learned that he had heritage from Mende people and Sierra Leone.<ref name="man"/> He worked within the convergence of painting and sculpture, utilizing items such as vintage photographs of his family, vinyl records, piano keys, and bottlecaps.<ref name="Shainman" /> Thematically, his art explores the intersection of ancestry, race, and cultural memory.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.gibbesmuseum.org/news/radcliffe-bailey-pensive/|title=Radcliffe Bailey: Pensive {{!}} Gibbes Museum of Art|date=2018-05-03|work=Gibbes Museum of Art|access-date=2018-09-25|language=en-US}}</ref> In 2003, he adopted a style of art conceptually inspired by Kongo minkisi, which he described as being "medicine cabinet sculptures."<ref name="Mayer" /> As a result, his work has been described as being three-dimensional and layered, incorporating elements of smell and sound.<ref name="Mayer" /> In a 2013 interview, Bailey described his creative process and fascination with the connection between past and present, stating: "The day by day experience of art, even though my work may seem to have this layer of history, it is also a cover for what I’m dealing with on a day to day. It’s very much about today. We were talking about where I go next: I’m still thinking about today and yesterday and what’s coming in front of me tomorrow."<ref name="Shainman" /> His large-scale installation ''Windward Coast'' (2009–2011), was presented as part of the ''First International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Cartagena de Indias'' in Colombia.<ref name="Shainman" /> In 2023, Bailey's work was included in the collective exhibition ''Spirit in the Land'' organized by the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University and later exhibited at the Pérez Art Museum Miami in 2024. The show talks about the natural environments of the United States and that of the Caribbean in relation social and cultural aspects.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Spirit in the Land |url=https://nasher.duke.edu/exhibitions/spirit-in-the-land/ |access-date=2024-02-28 |website=Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Spirit in the Land • Pérez Art Museum Miami |url=https://www.pamm.org/en/exhibition/spirit-in-the-land/ |access-date=2024-02-28 |website=Pérez Art Museum Miami |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schoonmaker |first=Trevor |title=Spirit in the land: Exhibition, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 2023 |date=2023 |publisher=Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University |isbn=978-0-938989-45-5 |location=Durham, North Carolina}}</ref>
In 2020 he discussed the story behind many of his works which deal with migration like Distant Stars II (1998), Tricky, (2006), which shows a ship and a hat, Storm at Sea (2007) with a sea of piano keys as well as in West Coast Slave Trade (2009-18), Door of No Return (2015 w ith a photo of the sea in Cuba, which were shown at Sheldon Museum of Art at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. His work Caravan (2018) shows a vintage photo of his family a ship and a railroad track in reference to his ancestors and Stars Over the Argonne Forest (2019) a military blanket.<ref name="man"/>
== Awards == He was recognized for his artistic contributions, receiving the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant in 2008 and the Elizabeth and Mallory Factory Prize for Southern Art in 2010.<ref name="Mayer" />
== Later life and death == On June 27, 2009, Bailey married American actress, dancer, and producer Victoria Rowell.<ref name="NYT" /> The wedding was announced in The New York Times. The couple divorced in 2014.<ref>{{cite web |date=January 2, 2014 |title='Young and Restless' Star My Marriage Has Been Cancelled |url=http://www.tmz.com/2014/01/02/victoria-rowell-young-and-restless-star-divorce/ |accessdate=24 September 2016 |work=TMZ}}</ref> Bailey later married Leslie Campbell Parks, daughter of photographer Gordon Parks.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dafoe |first=Taylor |date=2018-08-06 |title='I Always Have a Foot Back in Time': Radcliffe Bailey's New Show in a Former School Building Turns an Eye on Collective Memory |url=https://news.artnet.com/partner-content/1329452 |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Artnet News |language=en-US}}</ref> Bailey had two children, a son and a daughter.<ref name=":1" />
Radcliffe Bailey died on November 14, 2023, in Atlanta, Georgia, after battling brain cancer. He was 54.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Edward |first=Roz |date=2023-11-15 |title=Famed Artist Radcliffe Bailey Dies |url=https://atlantadailyworld.com/2023/11/15/famed-artist-radcliffe-bailey-dies/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Atlanta Daily World |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Greenberger |first=Alex |date=2023-11-15 |title=Radcliffe Bailey, Artist Who Found Black History in the Everyday, Dies at 55 |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/radcliffe-bailey-dead-1234686877/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=ARTnews.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Haggard |first=Hannah Grace |date=2023-11-15 |title=Atlanta Artist Radcliffe Bailey Dies At 55 |url=https://thegeorgiasun.com/2023/11/15/atlanta-artist-radcliffe-bailey-dies-at-55/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Georgia Sun |language=en-us}}</ref>
==Solo exhibitions== Bailey held solo exhibitions of his work at many galleries and institutions including:<ref name="artnet">{{cite web|title=Radcliffe Bailey|url=http://www.artnet.com/artists/radcliffe-bailey/biography|publisher=Artnet Worldwide Corporation|accessdate=20 December 2017}}</ref><ref name="Shainman" /><ref name="Mayer" />
* The Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, ''ARTCurrents II: Radcliffe Bailey'' (1992) *TULA Foundation Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia, ''Radcliffe Bailey: Places of Rebirth'' (1992) *Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, ''Spiritual Migration'' (2001) *Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts & Culture, Charlotte, North Carolina, ''Between Two Worlds: The Art of Radcliffe Bailey'' (2009) *High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia: ''Art of an Ancient Soul'' (2010), ''Radcliffe Bailey: Memory as Medicine'' (2011)<ref name="High" /><ref name="Sheets">{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/arts/design/high-museum-in-atlanta-shows-radcliffe-baileys-art.html?_r=0 | title=In the Picture: Atlanta, Africa and the Past | work=The New York Times | date=30 June 2011 | accessdate=9 February 2020}}</ref> *Bridget Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ''Notes'' (2015) *Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, US ''Radcliffe Bailey: Recent Works'' (2015) *SCAD Museum of Art Savannah, Georgia, ''Pensive'' (2018)
==Collections== Bailey's work is held in many permanent collections including:<ref name="The Met">{{cite web |title=Collection/Radcliffe Bailey |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search#!/search?q=radcliffe%20bailey&perPage=20&sortBy=Relevance&sortOrder=asc&offset=0&pageSize=0 |accessdate=20 December 2017 |publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art}}</ref><ref name="Shainman" /> * The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. * The Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C. * The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Artist Info |url=https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.40869.html |access-date=2023-02-09 |website=www.nga.gov}}</ref> * The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois * The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas * The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri * The Denver Art Museum, Colorado * The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia * Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|12313110}} * {{discogs artist|Radcliffe Bailey}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Radcliffe}} Category:1968 births Category:2023 deaths Category:People from Bridgeton, New Jersey Category:Artists from Atlanta Category:African-American artists Category:American contemporary artists Category:African-American contemporary artists Category:Atlanta College of Art alumni Category:American mixed-media artists Category:21st-century African-American artists Category:20th-century African-American artists Category:Deaths from brain cancer in Georgia (U.S. state)