Barbara Fendrick, a Washington art dealer who helped introduce the region to the work of luminaries such as Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, first by selling prints and drawings that she stored in boxes under her bed, then by opening an elegant Georgetown gallery that became a linchpin of the D.C. art scene for two decades, died Jan. 1 at her home in Chevy Chase, Md. She was 94.
Washington
Barbara Fendrick, one of Washington’s premier art dealers, dies at 94
One of her daughters, Julia Fendrick, confirmed the death but did not give a specific cause.
Through her namesake gallery, Ms. Fendrick organized the first Washington solo shows of artists including Robert Arneson, Jim Dine, Helen Frankenthaler, Louise Nevelson and Johns, the protean painter, sculptor and printmaker whom she described as her “good-luck artist.” Twenty-one of his etchings and lithographs were featured at the Fendrick Gallery’s opening, in 1970; nearly 20 years later, they were taken out of Ms. Fendrick’s personal collection and used to open the gallery’s short-lived New York branch, in SoHo.
An energetic dealer with an expansive, at times unorthodox approach to art, Ms. Fendrick began selling drawings and prints in 1960 at the suggestion of her husband, Daniel Fendrick, a research official at the State Department. They had four young children, with a fifth to come. Her husband saw a need for more Washington art dealers, and he also was looking for a way to find Ms. Fendrick work outside the home.
He “felt that I was overwhelmed with small children in diapers,” she recalled in a 2007 oral history for the organization ArtTable, “and I better do something.”
Ms. Fendrick had no formal credentials, although she got what she considered a free education in art while working as a docent at the National Gallery. She also had help from a well-connected cousin, the painter and sculptor Irena Baruch Wiley, who introduced her to a friend who was trying to offload a collection of European prints.
Before long, Ms. Fendrick was traveling the country, selling modernist works by Braque, Picasso and Miró and expanding into American art with prints by Josef Albers, Robert Motherwell, Frank Stella and Roy Lichtenstein. She hosted clients at her home, which was filled with antique French furniture and framed prints, as well as a makeshift gallery of art by her children. (“Look at this — it was definitely influenced by a Rouault print we had here,” she told a Washington Post reporter in 1962. “And this one has something of a Picasso we have upstairs.”)
As Ms. Fendrick told it, she opened her gallery in Georgetown after her children got tired of having to finish dinner early and run upstairs, “out of sight, out of mind,” so that she could meet with curators and other clients. But the business remained a family affair: Her husband, a co-owner of the gallery, wrote its monthly newsletter and designed its plexiglass display frames, while her children helped out at openings and receptions, cleaning and cooking and occasionally serving champagne.
Under her direction, the three-story gallery became a showcase for Washington artists such as Sam Gilliam, John Grazier and Andrea Way. It also featured the work of sculptors such as Albert Paley, who gained national recognition for the decorative “Portal Gates” he created for the Renwick Gallery, and spotlighted artists whose mediums were seldom represented in major galleries or museums, such as glass artist Dale Chihuly and furniture makers Wendell Castle and Arthur Cotton Moore.
“I like to do one offbeat show every year,” Ms. Fendrick told the magazine Craft Horizons, looking back on shows such as “The Book as Art,” from 1976, which explored the intersection between writing and painting. The show included work by John Cage, Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol, and followed on the success of another unconventional show, “Clay USA,” which the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art deemed “the first major show of contemporary ceramics on the East Coast.”
Asked about her philosophy as a gallerist, Ms. Fendrick said that her mission was simple: “To show the best.” Yet she also suggested that with shows built around mediums such as metal, clay and wood, she had grander ambitions as well.
“I was trying to point out,” she said in the oral history, “that objects can be as interesting and as worthy as a painting.”
The younger of two children, Barbara Johnson Cooper was born in Indianapolis on Dec. 18, 1929. Her mother was a homemaker, and her father was a Navy lawyer whose job led the family to move to Florida and Washington, where she graduated from Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School.
At 17, she went to Lisbon to live with her cousin John Cooper Wiley, the U.S. ambassador to Portugal, and his wife, Irena, the artist who helped her launch her career as a dealer. Ms. Fendrick affectionately described them as her aunt and uncle and accompanied the couple to their next diplomatic posting, in Tehran.
Irena “taught me how to look,” she said, by taking her to European churches and art museums. Years later, she agreed to be represented by Ms. Fendrick’s gallery.
Ms. Fendrick attended Georgetown University and met her husband when they were both enrolled at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, known as Sciences Po. They married in 1953 and settled in Chevy Chase a few years later, where Ms. Fendrick began selling art while drawing inspiration from two other prominent women in the art world: Alice Denney, a Washington impresario of the avant-garde, and Tatyana Grosman, a printmaker and publisher who encouraged her interest in fine-art prints.
In addition to her daughter Julia, survivors include four other children, Lila, Peter, Anne-Marie and John Fendrick, and 10 grandchildren. Her husband died in 1992, the year after Ms. Fendrick closed her galleries in Washington and New York amid an economic downturn.
Business was bad, she said, but she was also exhausted by putting on monthly shows. She turned instead to working as an art consultant, appraiser, lecturer and guest curator. “I’m always urging people to please go out and look,” she said in the oral history, “because there’s always something there.”
On a perfect day in Seattle for football, Washington took the field inside Husky Stadium for its first scrimmage of spring practice, and ahead of his third season at the helm, Jedd Fisch seemed pleased with the results.
“Guys played and competed their ass off,” he said after the Huskies ran 120 plays. “That’s the type of day we want to have…We have a lot to work on, but we’re excited that today gave us this opportunity.”
The 120 plays had a little bit of everything, but the biggest thing the Huskies showed during the day was that, despite the inexperience that Fisch’s coaching staff is looking to lean on at several positions, there’s plenty of talent littering the roster. The best example of that is sophomore safety Paul Mencke Jr., who had his best practice in a Husky uniform after Fisch announced on Saturday that senior CJ Christian is out for the year after suffering a torn Achilles tendon during Tuesday’s practice at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center.
“Paul’s done a great job of competing and being physical and playing fast, and you could see over these three years, he’s really grown into understanding now the system, and what’s asked of him as a safety,” Fisch said. “I think there’s a lot of in him that he wants to be like (safeties coach Taylor) Mays. He sees himself as a tall, linear, big hitter. So when you have your coach that is known for that type of play, I think Paul has done a great job.”
Mencke was all over the field. Not only did he lay some big hits, just like his safeties coach did during his time at USC, but the former four-star recruit also tallied a pair of pass breakups, an interception in a 7-on-7 period, and multiple strong tackles to hold ball carriers to limited yards.
While the defense did a good job getting pressure throughout the day and making the quarterbacks hold the ball with different looks on the back end, with safety Alex McLaughlin, linebacker Donovan Robinson, and edge rusher Logan George all among the players credited for a sack, quarterback Demond Williams Jr. got an opportunity to show off how he’s improved ahead of his junior year.
Early on, he showed off his well-known speed and athleticism, making the correct decision on a read option, pulling the ball and scampering for a 25-yard gain before displaying his touch. Throughout the day, his favorite target was junior receiver Rashid Williams, whom he found on several layered throws of 15-plus yards in the various scrimmage periods of practice.
On a day when every able-bodied member of the team was able to get several reps of live action, here are some of the other noteworthy plays from the day.
Spring practice notebook
- Freshman cornerback Jeron Jones was unable to participate in the scrimmage and was spotted working off to the side with the rest of the players rehabbing their injuries.
- The running backs delivered a pair of big blows on the day. First, cornerback Emmanuel Karnley was on the receiving end of a big hit from redshirt freshman Quaid Carr before the former three-star recruit ripped off a 13-yard touchdown run on the next play. Later on, every player on offense had a lot of fun cheering on freshman Ansu Sanoe after he leveled Zaydrius Rainey-Sale, letting the sophomore linebacker hear all about it when the play was whistled dead.
- Sophomore wide receiver Justice Williams put together a strong day with several contested catches, showing off his strong hands and 6-foot-4 frame, including a 25-yard catch and run off a drag route from backup quarterback Elijah Brown.
- Of all the tackles for a loss the Huskies were able to rack up throughout the day, two stood out. First, junior defensive tackle Elinneus Davis burst through the middle of the line to wrap up freshman running back Brian Bonner. Later on, freshman outside linebacker Ramzak Fruean wasn’t even touched as he shot through a gap in the offensive line to track down a play from behind, letting the entire offensive sideline know about the play on his way back to his own bench.
- The Huskies experimented with several defensive line combinations on Saturday, and for the first time this spring, it felt like freshman Derek Colman-Brusa took the majority of his reps alongside someone other than Davis, who he said has taken on an older brother role to help mentor the top-ranked in-state prospect in the 2026 class.
“Elinneus is a phenomenal guy. Great work ethic. He’s kind of taken on that older brother mentor for me. He’s been a great help just to learn plays and learn the scheme. Can’t say enough good things about the guy.”
- Ball State transfer Darin Conley took a handful of reps with the first team, while rotating with Colman-Brusa, who got a lot of work in alongside Sacramento State transfer DeSean Watts.
Twenty Sioux Falls School District art teachers have their own original pieces on display at the Washington Pavilion’s University Gallery now through May 31.
The “Teachers as Artists” exhibit showcases their work not just as educators, but as artists inside and outside of the classroom, and highlights how art education builds critical thinking, creative problem-solving and self-expression skills.
Edison Middle School art teacher Meagan Turbak-Fogarty said she dreamt of such a showcase since her first year teaching.
She and Kathy Dang, an art teacher at Marcella LeBeau Elementary School who also serves on the city’s Visual Arts Committee, partnered with the city and Washington Pavilion to bring the showcase to life.
Turbak-Fogarty has taught at Edison for five years and said her passion for art is “instantly felt” on her classroom walls, but that students have asked where they could see her art in the classroom, or what kind of art she creates in her own time.
“I always felt the feeling that I stand in front of all these kids every single day and preach about how much I love art, and how art has changed my life,” Turbak-Fogarty said. “That got me thinking, ‘I want to show them.’”
Some of her works on display at the Pavilion include art she created in her first year teaching, including a large Cheetos bag she created as an example for her eighth grade classroom when they were working on a large chip bag project. Turbak-Fogarty said she loves painting, working with acrylics and unconventional materials.
“I wanted to show my students that art can be anything,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be hanging up in a museum to be considered art.”
Continuing to do her own art while teaching the subject helps keep her inspired, Turbak-Fogarty explained, adding that it helps her push her own creativity when it comes to projects she works on with students.
Samantha Levisay, an art teacher at John Harris Elementary School, showed three pieces in the show — “Moments in Time,” “Midnight Butterfly Garden” and “Whimsy” — with the same mixed media, watercolor and printmaking skills that she teaches in different units at every elementary grade.
Levisay educates her students that “art is everywhere.” She said her favorite memories as an art teacher are “moments when I show students a lesson, and they take it even further.”
“Kids are so creative; I marvel at them all the time,” she said. “They inspire me every day with their endless creativity and imagination.”
Roosevelt High School art teacher Ruth Hillman showed two pieces in the show: “The Potato on the Wall,” a mixed media work, and a collection of her handmade clay charms in a shadow box.
She also wore some of her art — miniature potato earrings made of clay.
Hillman is in her third year at RHS. When she’s not teaching art, she’s also making art, and sells her charms at shows like the Art Collective.
Washington High School art teacher Mollie Potter displayed a three-part painting series at the show that she said were inspired by her English language learner students’ stories, and how teachers help students “take flight,” as represented by balloons, parachutes and kites in her work.
Porter said she is often inspired by her students’ art in the classroom; for example, one former student was obsessed with swans, and Porter said she later created a painting inspired by one of the student’s stories about swans.
At an April 17 reception, Mayor Paul TenHaken emphasized the arts as an “important economic driver in the community,” and said the show honored educators “who are artists in and of themselves,” but who might not have had a chance to display their art outside the classroom before.
“This is a way for us to honor them and show their incredible work,” TenHaken said.
Full Episode:
Washington Week with The Atlantic full episode, 4/17/26
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