Kerry James Marshall. The Histories

Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris

From 18 September 2026 to 24 January 2027, the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris presents the first exhibition in France devoted to the American artist Kerry James Marshall (born in 1955 in Birmingham, Alabama, United States). Organised by the Royal Academy of Arts in Londres, and in collaboration with the Kunsthaus de Zurich, the exhibition Kerry James Marshall: The Histories presents seventy works, including eight previously unseen paintings created specially for the exhibition. Considered one of the most influential contemporary painters, Kerry James Marshall is known for his monumental compositions that place Black people at their centre, frequently elevating the mundane to the rank of epic. By inscribing these figures within the archetypes of art history, the artist invites the viewer to take the measure of the undeniable power of their presence. Kerry James Marshall addresses themes such as the forced crossing of enslaved Africans to the Americas, and the legacy of Black American mobilisations such as the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, without ever directly depicting violence and alienation. His work draws inspiration both from the canon established by Western art history and from other forms of visual expression rooted in popular culture, notably nineteenth-century French painting, contemporary culture, Afrofuturism, comic books, and science fiction. Conceived with the artist's support, the exhibition aims to trace more than four decades of his career. It presents numerous cycles of a body of work that unfolds primarily in the field of painting but also through prints, drawings and a sculpture, drawn from museums and private collections in North America and Europe. The Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris honours the work of Kerry James Marshall, thus continuing a series of pioneering monographic exhibitions in France devoted to Black American artists, notably Kara Walker (2007) and Jean-Michel Basquiat (2010). Kerry James Marshall works in series and cycles, as reflected in the chrono-thematic organisation of the exhibition, which presents eleven groups of works created between 1980 and the present day.

Source: Paris Open Data ↗