Kerry James Marshall

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Intro

Kerry James Marshall

is a contemporary American artist.

Childhood

Marshall was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1955, but he grew up in Los Angeles, California.

Growing up

in L.A.

He lived near the Black Panthers’ Headquarters in Los Angeles. The Black Power Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Watts Rebellion all had powerful effects on the young artist.

Black Power

The Black Power Movement advocated safety, pride, independence, and equality for all black people.

Civil Rights

The Civil Rights Movement was part of an ongoing effort to end racist systems in the United States.

Charles White

In high school, Marshall studied under Charles White. White also used his artwork to chronicle African American life. He is best know for a mural he painted, The Contribution of the Negro to American Democracy.

Inspiration

“Under Charles White’s influence,” Marshall said, “I always knew that I wanted to make work that was about something: history, culture, politics, social issues. … It was just a matter of mastering the skills to actually do it.”

Otis

Marshall attended art school at the Otis College of Art and Design right here in L.A.

Bill Traylor

In college, he was inspired by the work of Bill Traylor.

Traylor was a self-taught artist from Alabama. He was born into slavery. He was 89 years old when he began using pencils and cardboard to document his life. He worked on sidewalks to create almost 1500 works of art in just 3 years.

Influence

Very few people recognized the importance of Traylor’s work during his lifetime, but he has held an evolving position in the fields of “Primitive Art,” “Outsider Art,” “Self-Taught Art,” and Modern Art.

Style

Over the course of his career, Kerry James Marshall developed a unique style. He paints people with extremely dark, often deep black skin.

Black is

Beautiful

He borrowed the motto of the Black Arts Movement, “Black is beautiful.” The slogan was important because of the prejudice that white people are more beautiful than black people.

Juxtaposition

His artwork combines black style with Western European traditions to show

the struggles of African-Americans.

MULTIPLE

MEDIUMS

He has explored this theme in comic books, sculptures, and the acrylic paintings for which he is most famous.

Kerry James Marshall lives in Illinois with his wife, the actor, Cheryl Lynn Bruce.

He teaches at the School of Art and Design at the University of Chicago. Otis College of Art and Design recognized Marshall’s accomplishments with an honorary doctorate. One of his paintings sold for $7,325,800 last year. He earned a prestigious MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant.”

HONORS &

ACCOLADES

Kerry James Marshall was featured in the first season of the documentary art series Art:21. You can watch that episode right now at PBS.org: https://www.pbs.org/video/art21-identity

ART:21

MUSEUMS

For a shorter visit with Kerry James Marshall, watch this 2 minute interview about the absence of black artists in most art museums: https://art21.org/watch/extended-play/kerry-james-marshall-on-museums-short/