Amy Sherald: American Sublime

Amy Sherald: American Sublime brings together some fifty paintings by one of the foremost artists of our time. In her first major museum survey, Amy Sherald (b. 1973, Columbus, Georgia; lives and works in the New York City area) presents work from 2007 to the present, from her poetic early portraits to the incisive and moving figure paintings for which she is best known. Iconic portraits of First Lady Michelle Obama and Breonna Taylor—two of the most recognizable and significant paintings made by an American artist in recent years—are joined by early works, never or rarely seen by the public, and new work created specifically for this presentation. American Sublime, Sherald’s first solo exhibition at a New York museum, considers the powerful impact of her paintings on contemporary art and culture while positioning her squarely within the art historical tradition of American realism and figuration. In her intentional privileging of Black Americans as her subjects, she extends that tradition to include a population who has historically been omitted from portraiture and representation. Sherald has described her paintings of everyday people as a more expansive vision of interiority and selfhood. The resulting body of work is a profoundly resonant ode to the multiple facets of American identity, and a convincing testament, as Sherald believes, that “imagination is image in action.”

Amy Sherald: American Sublime is organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and curated by Sarah Roberts, SFMOMA’s former Andrew W. Mellon Curator and Head of Painting and Sculpture. The presentation at the Whitney Museum of American Art is organized by Rujeko Hockley, Arnhold Associate Curator.