Kerry James Marshall’s work travels to France
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Kerry James Marshall, an African-American artist from Alabama, opened a major retrospective of his work on Wednesday at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris.
Though celebrated for bringing Black figures into Western art galleries, Marshall expressed discomfort with being labelled a trailblazer, noting historical precedents for Black representation in art. His paintings often depict Black people in everyday settings, mirroring the style of classical European portraiture while challenging historical depictions of Black subjects as servants or slaves.
Marshall’s work frequently references significant events in American history. For example, his 1993 painting “De Style” shows patrons of a Black hair salon viewing a calendar marking the date of the Rodney King beating. Another work, “Black Painting” from 2003, portrays a couple embracing in a dark bedroom with a book by activist Angela Davis visible on a bedside table. Marshall grew up in racially segregated Birmingham, Alabama, and later moved with his family to Los Angeles in the 1960s.
He experienced racial tensions and violence in his childhood, witnessing the Watts riots of 1965. While he achieved recognition later in his career, with his first major retrospective occurring ten years ago in Chicago, his travelling exhibition “The Histories” has received critical acclaim in London, Zurich, and now Paris, where it will run until January 2027.
