Amy Sherald. | Photo by Kelvin Bulluck, Courtesy Baltimore Museum of Art
THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE EXHIBITION of Amy Sherald will open at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) in November. Announced today, the news comes after the artist canceled the presentation of “Amy Sherald: American Sublime” at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. The exhibition was scheduled to open at the Smithsonian museum on Sept. 19, until Sherald pulled the plug citing censorship and the institution’s concerns over “Trans Forming Liberty” (2024), her portrait of a Black trans woman posed in the fashion of the Statue of Liberty.
A mid-career retrospective, “American Sublime” features about 40 paintings, produced between 2007 and 2024. After opening at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and traveling to the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the third stop of the exhibition will now be in Baltimore, just about 40 miles from the Smithsonian. The San Francisco and New York presentations included “Trans Forming Liberty.” The Baltimore version will also feature the portrait.
“I’ve had the great pleasure and joy of knowing Amy Sherald for a decade. In that time, she has become a cultural force, capturing the public imagination through works that are powerful and resonant in their profound humanity. Amy’s story is also deeply intertwined with Baltimore. Beyond her education and time lived in our beloved city, Baltimore is rooted in her subjects, on her canvases, and in her titles,” BMA Director Asma Naeem said in a statement. “Presenting American Sublime at the BMA is a celebration of our creative community and a joyful reunion with those shaped by Amy’s extraordinary power to connect. We’re thrilled to share her transformational work with our visitors.”
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 ANNOUNCED HER DECISION to withdraw her exhibition from the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in July. In a statement at the time, Sherald said: “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 New York Times reported that the museum’s caution was an effort “to avoid provoking President Trump.”
A Smithsonian spokesperson provided a statement to Culture Type and emphasized the institution’s intent was not to remove the painting from the exhibition, but to “contextualize” the work by presenting it in tandem with an explanatory video.
“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 Smithsonian 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.”
Sherald followed up with an Aug. 24, opinion piece published on MSNBC’s website titled “Censorship has taken hold at the Smithsonian. I refused to play along.” She wrote in part: “When the Trump White House announced its plans to ‘review’ the Smithsonian (which includes 21 museums, research centers, an arboretum and a zoo), that statement, to some, may have sounded bureaucratic or even harmless. It is neither. When governments police museums, they are not simply policing exhibitions. They are policing imagination itself.”
“Presenting American Sublime at the BMA is a celebration of our creative community and a joyful reunion with those shaped by Amy’s extraordinary power to connect. We’re thrilled to share her transformational work with our visitors.” — BMA Director Asma Naeem
AMY SHERALD, “Ecclesia (The Meeting of Inheritance and Horizons),” 2024. | Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. © Amy Sherald. Photo by Kelvin Bulluck, courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth
‘AMERICAN SUBLIME’ SHOWCASES Sherald’s timeless, poetic, and engaging portraits. Making paintings of African Americans who represent the beauty and wide array of the American people is central to her mission as the population has gone largely unseen in art history.
Now the exhibition has landed at the Baltimore Museum of Art. It’s a fitting result. Sherald has close ties to Baltimore. She earned her MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore and developed her practice in the city, where she spotted the many interesting people who inspired her portraits over the years.
Another connection: Naeem, BMA’s director, was a curator at the National Portrait Gallery when Sherald won the museum’s 2016 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. The prize proved to be a career-defining opportunity for Sherald, leading to her commission to paint First Lady Michelle Obama’s official portrait for the museum and, shortly thereafter, becoming one of America’s most prominent contemporary artists working in figuration.
In addition, BMA already intended to honor Sherald at the 2025 BMA Ball on Nov. 22, where she will receive one of the museum’s “Artist Who Inspires” awards.
“Baltimore has always been part of my DNA as an artist,” Sherald said in a statement. “Every brushstroke carries a little of its history, its energy, its people, and my time there. To bring this exhibition here is to return that love.” CT
“Amy Sherald: American Sublime” will be on view at the Baltimore Museum of Art, from Nov. 2, 2025-April 5, 2026
AMY SHERALD, “What’s precious inside of him does not care to be known by the mind in ways that diminish its presence (All American),” 2017 (oil on canvas, 54 × 43 × 2 1/2 inches / 137.16 × 109.22 × 6.35 cm). | Private collection, Courtesy Monique Meloche Gallery. © Amy Sherald. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo by Joseph Hyde
AMY SHERALD, “Breonna Taylor,” 2020 (oil on linen, 54 × 43 × 2 1/2 inches). | The Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Ky., 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
AMY SHERALD, “Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama,” 2018 (oil on linen, 72 1/8 × 60 1/8 × 2 3/4 inches / 183.1 × 152.7 × 7 cm). | National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. The National Portrait Gallery is grateful to the following lead donors for their support of the Obama portraits: Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg; Judith Kern and Kent Whealy; Tommie L. Pegues and Donald A. Capoccia. Courtesy Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery
AMY SHERALD, “For love, and for country,” 2022 (oil on linen, 313 x 236.5 x 6.4 cm / 123 1/4 x 93 1/8 x 2 1/2 inches). | San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; © Amy Sherald; photo: Joseph Hyde, courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth
AMY SHERALD, “A Midsummer Afternoon Dream,” 2021 (oil on canvas, 106 × 101 × 2 1/2 inches / 269.24 × 256.54 × 6.35cm). | Private Collection. © Amy Sherald. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo by Joseph Hyde
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.”
