Kerry James Marshall Special

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1955 and raised in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Marshall’s upbringing was shaped by the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. This early exposure to pivotal moments in American history profoundly influenced his artistic direction, instilling in him a sense of social responsibility to address the "vacuum in the image bank" regarding Black representation. A key characteristic of Marshall's work is his use of a distinct, deep black pigment for the skin of his subjects, a deliberate choice to counteract the historical lack of Black figures in Western art. He uses different types of black paint, including carbon black, iron oxide, and ivory black, to create nuanced and varied tones. This technique is not about creating realistic skin tones but about making an "unequivocally, emphatically black" statement. His 2016 retrospective, "Mastry," which traveled to major museums in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, was the largest to date, featuring nearly 80 works spanning his 35-year career. The exhibition was a critical success and cemented his status as one of America's greatest living painters. In 2017, he was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people. Marshall's work commands significant prices at auction. His 1997 painting "Past Times" sold for $21.1 million in 2018, setting a record for a living African American artist at the time. Another piece, "Vignette 19," fetched over $18.4 million in 2019, more than double its high estimate. He often reinterprets classical Western art genres, such as history painting, landscape, and portraiture, to feature Black subjects. For example, his "Garden Project" series critiques the idyllic names of housing projects by depicting the realities of urban life, while works like "School of Beauty, School of Culture" reference Old Masters like Hans Holbein. Marshall's influence extends to a younger generation of Black artists, including Kara Walker and Kehinde Wiley, who also explore themes of race and representation in their work. He has also created public art, including two stained-glass windows commissioned for the Washington National Cathedral in 2023.