Amy Sherald, a Columbus native, has chosen the High Museum of Art Atlanta as the final stop of her four-city “American Sublime” tour. As her largest display of works ranging throughout her career, this exhibition features several globally recognized pieces like of Breonna Taylor and Michelle Obama, plus rarely-viewed early works of grey-toned figures. 

Painting the epitome of American life, Sherald approached this body of work with a reflective lens on the homeland typically observed through a Caucasian-American veil. Her monochromatic style of choice, grisaille, strips her subjects of bias while captured in simple moments of their daily lives. 

“While Amy and her work have been present in Atlanta for many years, this will be the first opportunity to engage with the full measure of her practice,” said the High’s Director Rand Suffolk. “We are really proud to share that with Atlanta while celebrating an artist whose work so strongly resonated with our community,” he added. 

American Core

For years, Sherald has analyzed American culture and who it chooses to project or represent it. With the use of grisaille, a paint technique that only uses grays, blacks, and whites, she bluntly challenges that representation. Her practice places African American figures in traditionally American places or activities; at work, by the pool, or on the playground. She approaches the thought of who or what people get to tell those stories in these simple moments. Sherald’s iconographies resurface the diversity of a true America. 

As mentioned, the exhibition contemporarily features both former First Lady, Michelle Obama and Miss Breonna Taylor’s portraits, not only as a way to further cement them into American history, but also to aureate their inner simplicity. 

At the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery unveiling of her portrait in 2018, Michelle Obama expressed her emotional involvement with the work. 

“I’m also thinking about all the young people–particularly girls and girls of color–who in years ahead will come to this place and they will look up and they will see an image of someone who looks like them hanging on the wall of this great American institution. I know the kind of impact that will have on their lives, because I was one of those girls,” she said. 

Circling back to Atlanta as the final stop for her exhibition, “American Sublime” debut in 2024 by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), then moved to the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Baltimore Museum of Art before making its way to Sherald’s home state of Georgia. 

“Bringing American Sublime to the High Museum is exciting because it is where my story began as a young art student in Columbus, Georgia,” said the artist. “As a former Atlantan, I’m looking forward to returning to celebrate the cultural and artistic power that is born in this city,” she added.

Visitors can view “American Sublime” at The High Museum of Art from May 15th – September 27th of this year and can find more information for their visit online. 

Image Credits
Header: Kevin Bulluck 

Portrait images are compliments of The High Museum of Art Atlanta

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