Richard Gordon Kendall

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Richard Gordon Kendall (also Kendell) was an American self-taught artist who is often described as an outsider or naïve artist. He was born on November 17, 1933, in Paris, Texas, and died on January 30, 2008, in Paris, Texas. His birth name was Charles Gordon Kendall; his mother corrected his birth certificate in 1944 to read Richard Gordon Kendall.

Kendall grew up in Paris and graduated from Gibbons High School in 1954. He played on the high school basketball team that won a state championship in 1953–54.

In the mid-1990s, Kendall lived on the streets of Houston, where he drew city buildings to keep his skills sharp. Around 1995, he was discovered by Jay Wehnert, a curator of outsider art, who championed his work. Wehnert helped Kendall gain recognition, but they lost contact around 1998. Kendall died in 2008.

Kendall's drawings have continued to be shown posthumously. Notable exhibitions include Haunts in New York in 2015 (paired with Frank Jones); Self Taught: Margins Beyond in Dallas in 2017; Lone Stars: A celebration of Texas Culture in Waxahachie in 2018; and the Outsider Art Fair in New York in 2019, where his drawings were shown alongside other Texas artists. Notable works include Bank of American Building at Christmas (circa 1995), Church (circa 1995), and Untitled, Building with Clock (circa 1995). A portrait of Kendall by Mary Lawton is listed among related works.

He had a brother, Lindsey Kendell (Lenius Kendell), who died in 1952 while serving in Korea with the 8th Army during the Korean War.