Diary
Three Questions for… Henry Taylor
Henry Taylor. Photo: Fredrik Nilsen
In the latest installment of Three Questions for—in which we cross-examine some of our favorite cultural figures—we hear from Henry Taylor on the occasion of his new solo exhibition at Musée national Picasso-Paris.
What object would you smuggle home from a museum?
I was just in Rome at the Ara Pacis Museum, and I saw this Max Beckmann on loan from the Detroit Institute of Arts. It was just a little still life, with some candles. Real simple. But I could see it from across the room. It was like, bam! That’s one I’d take. I don’t need anything big.
Max Beckmann, Still Life with Fallen Candles, 1929. Oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, City of Detroit Purchase, 29.322 © 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Desert island question: If you could bring only one album, what would it be?
Oh man, I don't know. That one’s always so hard to answer. But just this morning I was thinking a lot about Ziggy Marley. I don't know which album of his, hard to choose just one. But I think it would have to be something by Ziggy. Ziggy’s positive. He makes you feel good.
What is the best bit of advice you ever received?
My mom always said, “All your friends ain’t your friends.” And my teacher James Jarvaise said, “Sometimes the straight line has to be crooked.” Like when I’m in a jam, I just got to bend a little bit. Don’t get myself backed up into a corner when I’m working. It’s kind of a Bruce Lee thing, you know what I mean? Curve when you need to.
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“Henry Taylor: Where thoughts provoke” is on view at the Musée national Picasso-Paris until September 6, 2026.
Henry Taylor is a Los Angeles-based artist whose four-decade-long practice includes elements of figurative, landscape and history painting, as well as sculpture made from found objects. He has exhibited widely in the United States and internationally.