This month David and Harry visit the Kerry James Marshall, The Histories exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, Piccadilly, London.  This is the first of 3 parts exploring the artist’s work. We invite you to view the image while listening.  Please click on the paintings title to go to an image of the work.

Kerry James Marshall is one of the most influential contemporary painters working today, renowned for a practice that confronts the historical absence of Black figures from Western art. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1955 and raised in Los Angeles, Marshall came of age during the civil rights movement. This social and political context profoundly shaped his understanding of art as a tool for cultural visibility, historical correction, and political agency. A defining feature of Marshall’s practice is his sustained engagement with the canon of Western art. He draws on the compositional strategies, formats, and genres of Old Master paintings, while reworking them to include Black subjects who were historically excluded.

Creative lead and contents: David Johnson and Harry Baxter

Producer: Ian Rattray

Audio production: Clear Voice Enterprises

Our thanks to the Royal Academy of Arts for allowing the recording of this episode of the Reading Paintings Podcast.

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