Kerry James Marshall
Kerry James Marshall: The Histories is the most extensive publication on the artist to date, celebrating half a century of his work. It reveals the complex ways in which he has transformed histories of Western painting, centering Black bodies in ambitious compositions set in barber shops, public housing projects, parks, and beauty salons. It charts his use of portraiture to memorialise individuals such as Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, and Olaudah Equiano. A new series, illustrated here for the first time, looks at under-acknowledged aspects of the history of Africa. With lavish illustrations of all the works in the accompanying exhibition, it also includes chapters on Marshall’s Rythm Mastr project and his various public commissions including his stained glass windows for the cathedral in Washington D.C.. A survey by Mark Godfrey is accompanied by shorter essays by Aria Dean, Darby English, Madeleine Grynsztejn, Cathérine Hug, Nikita Sena Quarshie, Rebecca Zorach, and an interview between Kerry James Marshall and Benjamin H.D. Buchloh.
Mark Godfrey was a curator at Tate Modern, London, from 2007 to 2021. Benjamin Buchloh was Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Modern Art at Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences from 2005 to 2021. Aria Dean is an American artist, critic and curator. Until 2021, she served as Curator and Editor of Rhizome. Darby English is Carl Darling Buck Professor of Art History at the University of Chicago. Madeleine Grynsztejn is Pritzker Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Fabrice Hergott is Director of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Cathérine Hug is Curator of Twentieth-century Art at Kunsthaus Zürich. Nikita Sena Quarshie is a London-based researcher, writer and curator. Rebecca Zorach is Mary Jane Crowe Professor in Art and Art History at Northwestern University, Evanston.