Amy Sherald: American Sublime

The year 2011 was a big one for Amy Sherald: it was the point at which the painter could stop waiting tables and support herself from her art alone. Even then, no one could have predicted the success that awaited her. In 2016 Michelle Obama, then First Lady, selected Sherald to paint her official portrait, and in 2020 Sherald’s The Bathers (2015) – a painting of two Black women in swimsuits holding hands against a cerulean background, only her second work to go to auction – fetched more than $4m. Perhaps the speed of her ascent goes some way to explaining why Sherald has never had a solo museum exhibition in New York, but the Whitney is rectifying this by putting on the most comprehensive show the artist has ever had, comprising nearly 50 paintings from the last 18 years (9 April–10 August). This includes the two works mentioned above as well as many others that cast Black figures as cowboys, farmers, beauty queens and various other all-American roles, usually featuring Sherald’s distinctive use of grey to depict Black faces.

Find out more from the Whitney’s website.
Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary

The Bathers (2015), Amy Sherald. Private collection. Photo: Joseph Hyde; courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth; © the artist

What’s precious inside of him does not care to be known by the mind in ways that diminish its presence (All American) (2017), Amy Sherald. Private collection, courtesy Monique Meloche Gallery. Photo: Joseph Hyde; courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth; © the artist

If You Surrendered to the Air, You Could Ride It (2019), Amy Sherald. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Photo: Joseph Hyde; © the artist