John Wesley Hardrick

(1891-1968)

The majority of the works presented in this collection are from the personal collection of Rev. Joy L. Thornton, of Indianapolis.  Rev. Thornton attended the Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia and has served as the Senior pastor of the Greater St Mark Baptist Church in Indianapolis since 1999.  He became very interested in the artwork of Black painters who worked in Indianapolis, such as John Hardrick, W.E. Scott, William Majors and Hale Woodruff; and also John Howard, who taught at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, and who was also a close friend of Woodruff’s.  Rev. Thornton amassed an impressive collection of works by these artists over the years, but he was especially intrigued with the work of John W. Hardrick.