Amy Sherald, What’s precious inside of him does not care to be known by the mind in ways that diminish its presence (All American), 2017; private collection, Chicago; Copyright Amy Sherald; photo: Joseph Hyde, courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
National Portrait Gallery
8th and G Streets, NW
Washington, DC
Amy Sherald: American Sublime is the largest, most comprehensive exhibition of the artist’s work to date. Organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), American Sublime is the artist’s first major museum survey, bringing together paintings made from 2007 to the present. New and rarely seen works join the artist’s now iconic portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama (2018), commissioned by the Portrait Gallery for its collection, and her powerful portrait of Breonna Taylor (2020). The exhibition marks the return of Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance) (2014) to Washington, where the painting garnered first prize in the Portrait Gallery’s 2016 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. Sherald is the first contemporary Black artist to receive a solo exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.
Amy Sherald: American Sublime is organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and curated by Sarah Roberts, former Andrew W. Mellon Curator and Head of Painting and Sculpture at SFMOMA. The Washington, D.C., presentation of American Sublime is curated by Rhea L. Combs, director of curatorial affairs for the National Portrait Gallery.
The National Portrait Gallery is grateful to the Ford Foundation, whose support has made the Washington, D.C., presentation of this exhibition possible.
