Amy Sherald’s Parables of Black American Life

Amy Sherald’s Parables of Black American Life

Amy Sherald, “Breonna Taylor” (2020), oil on linen; The Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky (© Amy Sherald; photograph by Joseph Hyde)In the contemplative gazes of Amy Sherald’s characters, we might see ourselves, our friends and family, or any passersby. The Georgia-born artist situates her meticulous figurative paintings in the tradition of American Realism. Her focus on the universal, the “ordinary,” is characteristic of the movement, whic…

Amy Sherald’s Black Beauty

“I wanted to evoke a sense of beauty, majesty, and emotional depth that often gets overlooked in portrayals of Black life,” artist Amy Sherald says of her major new exhibition at the Whitney.

Beauty and strength at The Whitney and The Bronx Museum

By SouleoAs Arewà Basit walked up to view her portrait for the first time at the Whitney Museum of American Art, she could barely hold back the tears. A crowd gathered around her and watched with pride as Basit took in the moment. Basit, a multidisciplinary artist, is one of many figures featured in the new exhibition Amy Sherald: American Sublime. For Basit, her inclusion is about ensuring marginalized communities are visible within history.  “…