Amy Sherald Withdrew ‘American Sublime’ Exhibition From Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Citing ‘Culture of Censorship’

In the trailer introducing “Amy Sherald: American Sublime” at the Whitney Museum of American Art, exhibition curator Rujeko Hockley said, “Hopefully in walking through the exhibition and seeing the paintings… you might have that feeling of being kind of overwhelmed, positively, by the vastness, the breadth, the range of the American people.” | Video by Whitney Museum of American Art

SLATED TO OPEN in September at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery (NPG), the largest-ever exhibition of Amy Sherald has been canceled. The artist said she pulled the exhibition on the grounds of censorship. The Washington, D.C., museum expressed concerns over a painting featured in the show, “Trans Forming Liberty” (2024), a portrait of a trans woman posed in the fashion of the Statue of Liberty.

“I have made the decision to withdraw my exhibition American Sublime from the Smithsonian‘s National Portrait Gallery,” Sherald said in a statement provided to Culture Type by her gallery Hauser & Wirth. “As a painter, I believe in portraiture’s power to witness, to dignify, and to insist on presence, especially for those too often rendered invisible. We live in a society with a selective memory, one that frequently overlooks lives at its margins.”

Sherald continued: “I was informed by the National Portrait Gallery that concerns had been raised internally about the museum’s inclusion of a portrait of a trans woman titled Trans Forming Liberty. These concerns led to discussions about removing the work from the exhibition. While no single person is to blame, it’s clear that institutional fear shaped by a broader climate of political hostility toward trans lives played a role.”

The presentation of “American Sublime” at the National Portrait Gallery was announced last September. The show would have marked a milestone, the first-ever solo exhibition of a Black female artist since the museum opened its doors in 1968. Sherald would have also become the first Black artist active in the contemporary era to have a solo show at NPG.

Sherald’s decision to cancel the show was first reported by the New York Times last Thursday. The newspaper said the museum’s caution regarding the painting was an effort “to avoid provoking President Trump.”

The artist explained her position in a letter to Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III, according to the Times. “I entered into this collaboration in good faith, believing that the institution shared a commitment to presenting work that reflects the full, complex truth of American life,” Sherald wrote. “Unfortunately, it has become clear that the conditions no longer support the integrity of the work as conceived.”

“I have made the decision to withdraw my exhibition American Sublime from the Smithsonian‘s National Portrait Gallery. As a painter, I believe in portraiture’s power to witness, to dignify, and to insist on presence, especially for those too often rendered invisible.” — Amy Sherald

AMY SHERALD, “Trans Forming Liberty,” 2024 (oil on linen, 123 × 76 1/2 × 2 1/2 inches / 312.4 × 194.3 × 6.35 cm). | Courtesy the artist and Hauser and Wirth. © Amy Sherald. Photo by Kevin Bulluck

Sherald has become one of America’s most prominent contemporary artists working in figuration. She is best known for her portraits of First Lady Michelle Obama and Breonna Taylor, both of which, ironically, are owned by the Smithsonian. She usually paints ordinary people who serve as archetypes for her timeless, poetic, and engaging portraits.

Making portraits of African Americans who represent the beauty and wide array of the American people is important to Sherald as the population has gone largely unseen in art history. She uses a range of gray tones to depict the skin of her subjects in order to emphasize their individuality and humanity first, rather than any preconceived stereotypes about race, skin color, or Blackness.

“American Sublime” is a mid-career survey of more than 40 paintings produced between 2007 and 2024. The most comprehensive presentation of Sherald’s work opened at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) last fall and is currently on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, through Aug. 10. The show was scheduled to travel to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington this fall.

Both SFMOMA and the Whitney Museum displayed “Trans Forming Liberty” without issue. The Smithsonian suggested producing a video to accompany and “contextualize” the painting. Sherald declined the idea and, when the parties were unable to agree upon a compromise, she elected not to move forward with the exhibition.

A Smithsonian spokesperson provided a statement to Culture Type and in the email emphasized that the video was not intended to replace the painting, but rather be presented in tandem with the painting to “contextualize” the work.

“The Smithsonian has a long-standing and valued relationship with artist Amy Sherald. We are and continue to be deeply appreciative of her and the integrity of her work. While we understand Amy’s decision to withdraw her show from the National Portrait Gallery, we are disappointed that Smithsonian audiences will not have an opportunity to experience American Sublime,” the statement said.

“The Smithsonian strives to foster a greater and shared understanding. By presenting and contextualizing art, the Smithsonian aims to inspire, challenge and impact audiences in meaningful and thoughtful ways. Unfortunately, we could not come to an agreement with the artist. We remain appreciative and inspired by Ms. Sherald, her artwork and commitment to portraiture.”

“We are and continue to be deeply appreciative of her and the integrity of her work. While we understand Amy’s decision to withdraw her show from the National Portrait Gallery, we are disappointed that Smithsonian audiences will not have an opportunity to experience American Sublime.”
— Smithsonian Statement

Amy Sherald. | Photo by Olivia Lifungula, Courtesy Hauser & Wirth

Source of the Smithsonian’s Caution

ESTABLISHED BY CONGRESS in 1846, the Smithsonian is an institution of art, history, culture, and science composed of 21 museums, 14 education and research centers, and the National Zoo. The Smithsonian is not overseen the President. The independent federal institution is governed and administered by a board of regents, a body that includes the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (who also serves as chancellor of the Smithsonian), Vice President of the United States, six members of Congress, and nine private citizens. Appointed by the board, the secretary of the Smithsonian manages the institution.

The federal government provides about 62 percent of the institution’s budget with the balance raised from private donations (corporations, foundations, individuals), plus revenues from Smithsonian Enterprises (shops, restaurants, magazines, etc). Congress appropriated nearly $1.1 billion to the Smithsonian for fiscal year 2024.

Federally funded arts and cultural institutions have found themselves in the crosshairs of Trump since he took office in January and began an unprecedented campaign to dismantle the federal government. The National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities have endured personnel cuts and grant cancellations. Leadership at the Library of Congress and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has been targeted. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is under threat of elimination.

Trump turned his attention to the Smithsonian on March 27 when he issued a problematic executive order that opened with the following claim: “Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.”

The order further declared: “Once widely respected as a symbol of American excellence and a global icon of cultural achievement, the Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.” Under a section titled “Saving Our Smithsonian,” the document directs Vice President Vance to lead an effort to “effectuate the polices” of the order in his role on the board of regents.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) and the Smithsonian American Art Museum are called out by name in the order. Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery at the time, was targeted two months later by Trump. At the end of May, Trump announced on social media that he had fired Sajet, who he described as a “highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI…”

Initially, Sajet remained in her position. Then the Smithsonian put out a five-paragraph statement highlighting the institution’s mission, history, and governance structure. In the second paragraph the Smithsonian specified its authority over staff. The statement said, “All personnel decisions are made by and subject to the direction of the Secretary, with oversight by the Board.”

The fourth paragraph included the following: “To reinforce our nonpartisan stature, the Board of Regents has directed the Secretary to articulate specific expectations to museum directors and staff regarding content in Smithsonian museums, give directors reasonable time to make any needed changes to ensure unbiased content, and to report back to the Board on progress and any needed personnel changes based on success or lack thereof in making the needed changes.”

The Smithsonian statement was issued June 9. Sajet resigned on June 13. She was the first woman to serve as director of NPG. Upon her departure, she issued a statement. “This was not an easy decision, but I believe it is the right one,” Sajet said, according to the Times. “From the very beginning, my guiding principle has been to put the museum first. Today, I believe that stepping aside is the best way to serve the institution I hold so deeply in my heart.”

“To reinforce our nonpartisan stature, the Board of Regents has directed the Secretary to articulate specific expectations to museum directors and staff regarding content in Smithsonian museums, give directors reasonable time to make any needed changes to ensure unbiased content, and to report back to the Board on progress…” — Smithsonian Statement

First Lady Michelle Obama and Amy Sherald reveal portrait at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 12, 2018. | © 2018 Chuck Kennedy, Courtesy National Portrait Gallery

Following the unveiling ceremony, featured from left, artists Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald; Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery; Smithsonian Secretary David J. Skorton; with First Lady Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama. | © 2018 Chuck Kennedy, Courtesy National Portrait Gallery

Connection Between Amy Sherald and Smithsonian

‘AMERICAN SUBLIME’ is the latest casualty of the White House’s unchallenged posture toward the Smithsonian. Sherald’s show was highly anticipated on the fall exhibition calendar. It’s a real loss for Washington, where museum goers lined up to see Sherald’s portrait of Obama. Not to mention the fact that the Smithsonian is a popular destination for American tourists, international travelers, and student groups from across the nation. The show would have also been a big draw for the city’s Black population, which stands at about 40 percent.

In addition, admission is always free for everyone at Smithsonian museums, making the National Portrait Gallery accessible to a wide audience. Whereas standard adult admission at SFMOMA and the Whitney Museum is $30.

The outcome is also unfortunate given Sherald’s connection to the Smithsonian, the National Portrait Gallery in particular. Less than a decade ago, Sherald came to prominence after winning a portrait competition at NPG.

When the museum announced “American Sublime,” Rhea L. Combs cited the history between the artist and the institution and said the occasion “celebrates a full circle of sorts.” Combs, director of curatorial affairs at NPG, was curating the museum’s presentation of the exhibition.

“Sherald’s work premiered at the museum in 2016, when the artist won first prize in the Portrait Gallery’s triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. Her painting then reached a global stage when she unveiled her remarkable portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama in 2018,” Combs said in the announcement. “For the past eight years, Sherald’s art has enthralled viewers with its technical astuteness. The empathy it extends to the individuals in her portraits captivates those who experience the paintings. With this mid-career survey, it is an honor to share with audiences the breadth and depth of Sherald’s practice.”

From left, 2016 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition Winner: AMY SHERALD,” Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance),” 2014 (oil on canvas, 54 × 43 × 2 1/2 inches /137.16 × 109.22 × 6.35 cm). | Private Collection. © Amy Sherald. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photograph by Joseph Hyde; “Innocent You, Innocent Me” (2016) by Amy Sherald appeared on the cover of the September 2016 issue of Smithsonian magazine in celebration of the opening the National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sherald bested more than 2,500 entries and won the Outwin Boochever competition with a painting titled “Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance)” (2014) becoming the first woman and first Black person to take the top prize.

She won in March and a few months later another one of her paintings landed on the cover of Smithsonian magazine. Four different covers were produced for a special issue celebrating the grand opening of the National Museum of African America History and Culture on Sept. 24, 2016. Sherald’s cover featured “Innocent You, Innocent Me” (2016), a portrait of a teenage boy wearing a yellow and white striped hoodie and holding a cone topped with two scoops of strawberry ice cream.

Meanwhile, another project was percolating. The Outwin Boochever win included the opportunity to make a portrait of a notable living person for the museum, which changed the trajectory of her career. The timing coincided with the moment when the Obamas were making plans for their portraits and Sherald landed among a select group of artists interviewed for the job.

When Michelle Obama chose Sherald, the artist nabbed another first, becoming the first Black artist commissioned to paint an official First Lady portrait for the museum. After the unveiling, the portrait entered NPG’s collection, which includes First Lady portraits dating back to Martha Washington.

Sherald’s Obama portrait also went on display at the museum, drawing record crowds. Heightened and sustained public interest in the portraits of President Barack Obama (painted by Kehinde Wiley) and First Lady Michelle Obama inspired a five-city tour with the paintings traveling to museums across the country. The National Portrait Gallery also published a book celebrating the Obama paintings.

The Smithsonian owns a second painting by Sherald, her portrait of Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old emergency room technician who was awakened in the middle of the night by police who shot and killed her in her home in 2020. The moving work was co-acquired by the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Ky., Taylor’s hometown, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

“I thought that it was important for it to be in line-of-sight of the government in Washington D.C.,” Sherald said in an Art21 “Everyday Icons” episode (2023) in reference to the portrait entering the collection of NMAAHC.

“I thought that it was important for it to be in line-of-sight of the government in Washington D.C.,” Amy Sherald said regarding her portrait of Breonna Taylor.

AMY SHERALD, “Breonna Taylor,” 2020 (oil on linen, 54 × 43 × 2 1/2 inches. | The Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, Museum, purchase made possible by a grant from the Ford Foundation; and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Purchase made possible by a gift from Kate Capshaw. © Amy Sherald. Photo by Joseph Hyde

Portrait Painter as American Storyteller

MORE THAN A DECADE AGO, Christopher Bedford visited Sherald’s studio and viewed her work for the first time during his tenure as director of the Baltimore Museum of Art. Now he heads SFMOMA, where “American Sublime” was on view last fall. On the occasion of the exhibition, Bedford lauded the artist’s contributions to American portraiture.

“I’ve felt for a long time that Amy is not only our most significant living portraitist, chronicler of American life and an amazing history painter, but one of our greatest living artists,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I’ve always been struck that while she paints Black life, she’s also painting humanity. The experience of walking through this exhibition and being surrounded by those humans at this moment in American history I found to be deeply meaningful, resonant and unlike any show I’ve seen for a long time.”

Born in Columbus, Ga., in 1973, Sherald earned an MFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Md. She spent her post-graduate years and developed her practice in Baltimore. She has said she worked as a waitress to support her art practice until she was 38 years old. Today, she works out of a studio in Jersey City, N.J.

“I really have this deep belief that images can change the world. It’s not that I started making work with that belief, but it’s what I’ve come to know. It’s a beautiful way to tell a story,” Sherald said in the Art21 documentary. “I consider myself an American realist. For me, it means just recognizing my Americanness first, and just wanting the work to join a greater ongoing conversation. Edward Hopper or Andy Wyeth, they’re telling these American stories and I’m also telling American stories.”

“American Sublime” showcases nearly two decades of the artist’s storytelling. Sherald has explored numerous individuals in her portraits—the girl next door, a young fisherman, a woman holding a camera, a man wearing an American flag shirt with a cowboy hat, beachgoers, a woman with a young child on her hip, a farmer on a tractor.

Early portraits captured singular figures with quirky objects and accessories against vibrant backgrounds. For example, “Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance),” Sherald’s winning painting in the Outwin Boochever competitions, is a charming portrait of a young woman. She is wearing a red hat, navy blue and white polkadot dress, and her white-gloved hand is holding an oddly oversized teacup and saucer.

In the years following her national recognition, Sherald has mastered styling the clothing of her subjects and pushed herself to venture into new realms. She produces environmental portraits, often depicts more than one person, and moved into a larger studio space where she can work on a grander scale.

“For love, and for country” (2022) stands 10-feet-tall and is the largest painting featured in “American Sublime.” The monumental double portrait is Sherald’s interpretation of Alfred Eisenstaedt’s famous 1945 photograph of a U.S. Navy sailor kissing a woman in Times Square on “V-J Day,” marking the end of World War II. Her contemporary version replaces the white heterosexual couple with two Black men, making a powerful statement about love, evolving social norms, queer rights, and freedom and safety in public places.

“This painting (‘Trans Forming Liberty’) exists to hold space for someone whose humanity has been politicized and disregarded. I cannot in good conscience comply with a culture of censorship, especially when it targets vulnerable communities.” — Amy Sherald

Installation view of “Amy Sherald: American Sublime,” Whitney Museum of American Art (April 9-Aug. 10, 2025). Shown from right, “Ecclesia (The Meeting of Inheritance and Horizons),” (2024) with “Trans Forming Liberty” (2024). | Photo by Tiffany Sage/BFA.com. © BFA 2025

Last year, Sherald made a few new paintings shown for the first time in “American Sublime.” The exhibition opens with, “Ecclesia (The Meeting of Inheritance and Horizons),” (2024), a monumental, three-panel triple portrait influenced by the work of filmmaker Wes Anderson. The setting appears to be a beach and the scene features three figures each looking out of the window of a narrow structure on stilts. “American Grit” (2024) pictures a boxer who was born without legs, posed on a stool. His boxing shorts are red and blue and his boxing gloves are white, the same patriotic palette Sherald employed for the ropes of the boxing ring in the background.

The artist photographs her subjects and uses the images as a reference as she paints. The muse for “Trans Forming Liberty” was a New York model, actor, and singer. She attended the opening party and exhibition preview for “American Sublime” at the Whitney and walked into the museum wearing a long white coat over her gown. “Black Trans Lives Matter” was painted on the back of the coat. Inside, she posed in a sleek floor-length gown and proudly took photos in front of the portrait she inspired.

The exhibition label next to the painting describes Sherald’s motivation for making the portrait:

In her most recent paintings, Sherald has responded directly to the increasing threats, violence, and legislation against gay, transgender, and gender-nonconforming people across the United States. This work recasts the Statue of Liberty as a non-binary trans-femme person, radically redefining this iconic symbol of American freedom and suggesting that the ideas of acceptance inscribed on the sculpture—”Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” free from Emma Lazarus’s poem “The New Colossus” (1883)—be applied unequivocally to all citizens, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, and other identifiers.

The audio guide that accompanies the portrait encourages visitors to hear from the model for the work. She said:

I am so honored to be a muse of Amy Sherald’s. When I see this, I see all of the years being told that I had to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. And when I found the truest meaning of what that pledge is, I see this version of Lady Liberty. And it’s really just a lady who is empowered, empowering, and represents the fullness of what liberty and justice could give and what it can mean.

It’s really, really wild, because I model. I’m a singer, I’m an artist, and so I’m very comfortable being in front of audiences and performing and to be completely honest, when I see this image, I see myself, I truly see myself, which is remarkable. What I’m seeing and feeling in this that I think excites me and makes me want to celebrate myself being perceived in this way is a pride. A full pride and acceptance of oneself.

And there are some moments where I think the world tries to tell us that being proud is a negative thing. Whether that be because of legislation, or the administration or other social systems that will try to tell me that I shouldn’t be proud of who I am, I can always look back to this image and be reminded that the lack of pride will never serve me like the pride serves me.

“Trans Forming Liberty” is one of 42 paintings currently on view in “American Sublime” at the Whitney Museum. Sherald concluded her statement about the decision to cancel the presentation of the exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery with a strong rebuke of censorship.

“This painting exists to hold space for someone whose humanity has been politicized and disregarded. I cannot in good conscience comply with a culture of censorship, especially when it targets vulnerable communities,” Sherald said.

“At a time when transgender people are being legislated against, silenced, and endangered across our nation, silence is not an option. I stand by my work. I stand by my sitters. I stand by the truth that all people deserve to be seen—not only in life, but in art.” CT

BOOKSHELF
“Amy Sherald: American Sublime” documents the first major survey of the artist. The fully illustrated volume is the first comprehensive monograph of Amy Sherald. Edited by Sarah Roberts, the catalog includes contributions by Elizabeth Alexander, Dario Calmese, Rhea L. Combs, and Deborah Willis. “Amy Sherald: The World We Make” was published on the occasion the artist’s first international exhibition at Hauser & Wirth gallery in London. A detail of her monumental painting “For love, and for country” (2022) graces the cover of the book, which includes a conversation between Sherald and Ta-Nehisi Coates. “Amy Sherald” documents her 2018-19 exhibition organized by the Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis. Sherald was included in a few group exhibitions where her work graced the cover of the accompanying catalogs. Those volumes include Ekow Eshun’s “Reframing the Black Figure: An Introduction to Contemporary Black Figuration” and “Women Painting Women.” In addition, Sherald’s portrait of Breonna Taylor anchored “Promise, Witness, Remembrance” at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Ky., and covers the exhibition catalog. Also consider, “The Obama Portraits” and, for children, “Parker Looks Up: An Extraordinary Moment.”