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Untitled (Painter) by Kerry James Marshall (American) - Acrylic on PVC panel / 2009 - Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (Illinois) #WomenInArt #art #artwork #artText #MCAchicago #KerryJamesMarshall #ContemporaryArt #AfricanAmericanArt #AfricanAmericanArtist #Acrylic #MuseumofContemporaryArtChicago
American artist Kerry James Marshall is known for his paintings of Black figures that extend the grand traditions of painting and populist imagery. In this 2009 "Untitled (Painter)" acrylic painting on PVC, he's created a modern version of Dutch Golden Age painter Judith Leyster's iconic c. 1630 "Self-portrait" in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Both women are classy, and highly overdressed for painting, but this time the woman is Black and her surroundings are incredibly colorful. Her (super fancy) smock has at least five different colors and her palette has even more. Her sustained, self-aware gaze demands that we engage actively with the work. The painting within a painting—or, more precisely, the painting about painting—is a time-honored motif taken up by many of the greatest artists in the Western tradition to which Marshall now contributes. But he has given this theme a twist as the only white that we see is what has not yet been filled in on a paint-by-numbers canvas. The numerical indications give each of us the means to participate and complete the painting. At first this might seem to belittle the "painter" as a hobbyist, but the paint-by-number system enables anyone to paint—even those who never thought they had the ability to make art. By not following the prescribed colors, these artists are also making the system their own. Paint by numbers was a cultural phenomenon that arose in the 1950s, alongside the stirrings of the civil rights movement. Attuned to this meaningful coincidence, Marshall conjured the presence of African American artists who are painting themselves into being. He intentionally makes his Black subjects "unequivocally black, emphatically black" as a color and a concept, asserting their presence and richness. His central theme is the inclusion and assertion of Black figures in the history of Western art, which he views as an expansion rather than a critique of the canon.
August 26, 2025 at 10:43 PM
menasgallerychi.bsky.social
"Chicago has a great potential to become an art capital." From Dream to Reality - the story of Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art.

stories.mcachicago.org/2017/10/20/f...

#museumofcontemporaryartchicago #mca #mcastories #origins #FromDreamToReality #chicagoart #chicagoarthistory #chicagoartmuseum
An image of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, when it was located at 237 E Ontario St in the late 1960's
May 14, 2025 at 5:39 PM
picturethispost.com
Celeste Rapone paints figures as both actors and scenery to explore the everyday experiences of women and contemporary anxieties. Click to read the preview in the Picture This Post Chicago edition. #MuseumofContemporaryArtChicago #PictureThisPostArt #ChicagoArt
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Presents ATRIUM PROJECT: CELESTE RAPONE — Preview
A spokesperson says--- "...Rapone paints figures to become both actors and scenery. Her paintings, known for purposefully flat and compressed compositions, emb
www.picturethispost.com
July 4, 2026 at 6:14 PM