MARSHALL, Kerry James; GODFREY, Mark (ed.)
Kerry James Marshall: The Histories

The most extensive publication on the Kerry James Marshall to date, this book reveals the complex ways in which the artist has transformed histories of Western painting, centring Black bodies in ambitious compositions set in barber’s shops, public-housing projects, parks and beauty salons. It charts his use of portraiture to memorialise individuals such as Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman and Olaudah Equiano. A new series, illustrated here for the first time, looks at under-acknowledged aspects of the history of Africa.

With lavish illustrations of all the works in the eponymous Fall 2025 exhibition at Burlington House in London, it also includes chapters on Marshall’s Rythm Mastr project and his various public commissions, including his stained-glass windows for the Washington National Cathedral. A survey by Mark Godfrey is accompanied by shorter essays by Aria Dean, Darby English, Madeleine Grynsztejn, Cathérine Hug, Nikita Sena Quarshie and Rebecca Zorach, with an interview between Kerry James Marshall and Benjamin H. D. Buchloh. [publishers' note]

Published by Royal Academy of Arts, 2025
Exhibition Catalogues / Painting