American, b. 1973
Born in Columbus, Georgia, and now based in the New York City area, Amy Sherald documents contemporary African American experience in the United States through arresting, intimate portraits. Sherald engages with the history of photography and portraiture, inviting viewers to participate in a more complex debate about accepted notions of race and representation, and to situate Black life in American art. Sherald received her MFA in painting from Maryland Institute College of Art and her BA in painting from Clark Atlanta University. Sherald was the first woman and first African American to ever receive the grand prize in the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. In 2018, Sherald was selected by First Lady Michelle Obama to paint her official portrait for the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. The same year, she was also awarded the Pollock Prize for Creativity by Pollock-Krasner Foundation, as well as the David C. Driskell Prize from the High Museum of Art. Her work is held in public collections such as the Baltimore Museum of Art; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
