Amy Sherald is one of our greatest living portraitists. What’s her secret? (original) (raw)

SAN FRANCISCO — Amy Sherald’s official portrait of former first lady Michelle Obama was revealed to the public in 2018, and as it toured the country over the next few yearsof the first Trump administration, the painting became a sort of traveling relic.

Sherald, 51, is now the subject of a superb traveling retrospective called “Amy Sherald: American Sublime,” which is now on display at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art before it visits New York and D.C. next year. It’s rare to see contemporary portraits that so confidently hold their own in a museum setting, quietly but irresistibly pushing their way into the audience’s space.