Black American Portraits

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is presenting “Black American Portraits” through April 17. Co-curated by Christine Y. Kim the LACMA Curator of Contemporary Art and Spelman College Museum of Fine Art’s executive director Liz Andres, with support from Breanne Bradley, Curatorial Assistant, Contemporary Art at LACMA, the presentation comprises around 140 artworks from the museum’s collection, refocusing the lens of portraiture to highlight Black American subjects and spaces. The works on view span over two centuries, through the periods like the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights era, and the Black Power movement, organized into themed sections like family, legacy, memory, myth, futurism, and more. Featuring names like Kahlil Joseph, Charles Gaines, Tavares Strachan, Kerry James Marshall, and Augusta Savage, “Black American Portraits” was first conceived to accompany the “Obama Portraits Tour” of Kehinde Wiley’s portrait Barack Obama and Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama by Amy Sherald, which closed on January 2.