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Sherald often draws on imagery—a beauty queen, a sailor returning from war, a farmer, a white picket fence—that symbolizes American identity and history. Simultaneously acknowledging and critical of the sustained resonance of such national myths and related ideas of freedom, beauty, and success, her work addresses the absence of Black people from these defining stories and invites reflection on their misrepresentations and omissions, both past and present. The title of this exhibition, American Sublime, hints at this complexity. It invokes Elizabeth Alexander’s 2005 poetry collection of the same title, which considers centuries of African American creativity, history, and culture. At the same time, it nods to Sherald’s interest in the philosophical concept of the sublime—or being overcome by emotion in the face of art or the natural world. As her paintings demonstrate, this same emotional groundswell can be summoned by the American people, in all their range and beauty.
For Love, and for Country, 2022
Amy Sherald, For Love, and for Country, 2022. Oil on linen, 123 1/4 × 93 1/8 × 2 1/2 in. (313 × 236.5 × 6.4 cm). San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, purchase, by exchange, through a gift of Helen and Charles Schwab. © Amy Sherald. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photograph by Joseph Hyde
The tender embrace shown here conjures V-J Day in Times Square, the iconic 1945 photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt of a male sailor kissing a woman. Published in Life magazine, that image embodies the spirit of celebration felt at the end of World War II. In restaging the kiss with a Black gay couple, Sherald reflects on the Black soldiers who returned from the war to a still segregated society, and advocates for a more nuanced understanding of masculinity.