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Amy Sherald, 1973 | Magic Realism painter

by Explore the Masters: , , , , , ,

Amy Sherald is an American painter.
She works mostly as a portraitist depicting African Americans in everyday settings.
Her style is simplified realism, involving staged photographs of her subjects.
Since 2012, her work has used grisaille to portray skin tones, a choice she describes as intended to challenge conventions about skin color and race.


In 2016, Sherald became the first woman as well as the first African American ever to win the National Portrait Gallery's Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition with her painting, Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance).

The next year, she and Kehinde Wiley were selected by former President Barack Obama (Wiley) and former First Lady Michelle Obama (Sherald) to paint their official portraits, becoming the first African Americans ever to receive presidential portrait commissions from the National Portrait Gallery.
The portraits were unveiled together in 2018 and have significantly increased attendance at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

In December 2020, her piece The Bathers (2015) was sold at auction for $4,265,000, nearly 30 times the presale estimate.
On November 17, 2021, Welfare Queen (2012), sold for $3.9M in a Phillips New York auction and brought to light the need for more governance around resale royalties for artists.


Public collections

Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery Washington, D.C.
Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, North Carolina.
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C..
The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri.
Embassy of the United States, Dakar, Senegal.
The Columbus Museum, Columbus, Georgia.
FTI Technologies Inc., Baltimore, Maryland.
National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C.















Amy Sherald è una pittrice Americana.
Lavora principalmente come ritrattista raffigurando afroamericani in ambienti quotidiani.
Il suo stile è un realismo semplificato, che coinvolge fotografie messe in scena dei suoi soggetti.
Dal 2012, il suo lavoro ha utilizzato la grisaglia per ritrarre le tonalità della pelle, una scelta che lei descrive come intesa a sfidare le convenzioni sul colore della pelle e sulla razza.


Nel 2016, Sherald è la prima donna e la prima afroamericana a vincere il concorso Outwin Boochever Portrait della National Portrait Gallery con il suo dipinto, Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance).


L'anno successivo, lei e Kehinde Wiley furono selezionate dall'ex presidente Barack Obama (Wiley) e dall'ex First Lady Michelle Obama (Sherald) per dipingere i loro ritratti ufficiali, diventando i primi afroamericani a ricevere commissioni di ritratti presidenziali dalla National Portrait Gallery.
I ritratti sono stati svelati insieme nel 2018 e hanno aumentato significativamente la partecipazione alla National Portrait Gallery di Washington, D.C.
Nel dicembre 2020, la sua opera The Bathers (2015) è stata venduta all'asta per 4.265.000 dollari, quasi 30 volte la stima prevendita.


Il 17 novembre 2021, Welfare Queen (2012), è stato venduto per 3,9 milioni di dollari in un'asta Phillips a New York e ha messo in luce la necessità di una maggiore governance sui diritti di rivendita per gli artisti.