The Royal Academy of Arts in London has opened 'Kerry James Marshall: The Histories,' the largest-ever UK exhibition of the American artist, featuring over 70 works spanning 1980 to the present. The show includes eight new paintings that confront the transatlantic slave trade and the role of Black Africans who participated in the enslavement of their own people, alongside celebrated pieces like 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self' (1980) and 'Knowledge and Wonder' (1995), the latter displayed outside Chicago for the first time.
This exhibition matters because it positions Marshall as one of the great history painters of our time, directly challenging the historical absence of Black subjects in Western art canon. By centering Black figures and exploring complex, uncomfortable histories—including Black complicity in slavery—Marshall pushes the boundaries of representational painting and collective memory. The show also highlights ongoing debates about art, race, and institutional accountability, as seen in the controversial history of 'Knowledge and Wonder,' which was withdrawn from auction after public outcry.