Review: Amy Sherald: Sublime at SFMOMA
Most people became aware of artist Amy Sherald in 2018 when her official portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama was unveiled at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. At first some were perplexed that Sherald had painted Mrs. Obama with gray skin, a standard feature of the artist’s work. But audiences – who doubled attendance at the Portrait Gallery in the first two years after the painting was on display – quickly embraced an image that invited them to look past skin color and focus on the look in the subject’s eyes. Amy Sherald, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, 2018; National Portrait Gallery,Smithsonian Institution.“Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama,” the most famous painting in “Amy Sherald: American Sublime,” Sherald’s midcareer retrospective at SFMOMA, is but one of dozens of compelling portraits of Black Americans being themselves. The exhibition, which debuted in San Francisco on […]
