In his multifaceted work, Kerry James Marshall strives to address “the lack in the image bank” by elevating Black figures who have been excluded from Western art. Using a variety of black pigments, the artist heightens the skin tones of his subjects to honor their identities rather than ignore them. Best known for his large-scale paintings, Marshall also works in collage, photography, video and other media.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Marshall later grew up in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, where his family relocated in 1963. As he studied art, including at the Otis Art Institute (now Otis College of Art and Design) in Los Angeles, he was struck by the absence of Black bodies in art history and museums. At the age of 25, he painted A Portrait of the Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self (1980). Its central figure, whose features almost merge with the background in their varying shades of black, references Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, the protagonist of which cannot be seen as a human being by other members of society because he is Black. For Marshall, A Portrait marked the start of an ongoing examination of the simultaneous visibility and invisibility of Black Americans.
Marshall’s practice has continued to concentrate on confronting stereotypes in the Black experience by celebrating joy and commemorating moments of Black history. His paintings frequently engage with the white-dominated traditions of the art historical canon by borrowing elements of style ranging from the Renaissance to the abstract movements of the 20th century. While he has said that he is driven by a sense of social responsibility for what he witnessed growing up in the South before the Civil Rights Act and in Los Angeles during the Watts riots of 1965, Marshall doesn’t focus on trauma in his works’ narrative scenes. Instead, they regularly depict people involved in everyday activities yet portrayed with the monumentality of a tableau painting.
Now based in Chicago, Marshall is recognized as one of the country’s leading contemporary painters, with a 2016 retrospective, "Mastry," touring the MCA Chicago, MOCA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2018, his painting Marshall’s Past Times (1997) sold for $21.1 million, the highest ever auction price for a work by a living Black artist.
Browse a collection of Kerry James Marshall’s art on 1stDibs.
Large MOCA LA Street Vinyl Outdoor Banner for Kerry James Marshall Show - RARE
By Kerry James Marshall
Located in New York, NY
Kerry James Marshall MOCA LA Street Banner (Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles), 2017 Silkscreen on Vinyl 95 × 34 inches Original Gigantic Flagpole Banner exhibited on the stree...
Plastic, Screen
SCOUT SERIES SET OF 6
By Kerry James Marshall
Located in Washington , DC, DC
Comes with original packaging
Thread
Mastry New and Sealed Exhibition Hardcover Catalogue
By Kerry James Marshall
Located in Draper, UT
The definitive monograph on contemporary African American painter Kerry James Marshall, accompanying a major traveling retrospective. This long-awaited volume celebrates the work of ...
Archival Paper
$350
H 24 in W 18 in
PEARL JAM X Streaming Seattle Poster on Wood Veneer Ian Williams
Located in Draper, UT
"Pearl Jam Seattle 2021 Streaming Event" Wood Edition by Ian Williams Discover the rustic charm of "Pearl Jam Seattle 2021 Streaming Event" by acclaimed artist Ian Williams. This uni...
Screen
Bhutan Abstraction PF-2
By Ricardo Mazal
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This unframed, signed, limited edition pigment print by world renown artist Ricardo Mazal exists in an edition of 30. The image is printed at full bleed to the edge of the paper. Bo...
Archival Paper, Archival Pigment
Bhutan Abstraction PF-1 and PF-2
By Ricardo Mazal
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This unframed, signed, limited edition pigment print by world renown artist Ricardo Mazal exists in an edition of 30. The image is printed at full bleed to the edge of the paper. Bo...
Archival Paper, Archival Pigment
$180
H 6 in W 6 in
"Junk Drawer" paper collage, hand-embroidery, rubber band ball, french knot
By Kelly Kozma
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This piece titled "Junk Drawer" is an original artwork made from collage, hand embroidery, and latex paint on canvas by Kelly Kozma. This piece is shipped in the pictured white frame and measures 6"h x 6"w framed. The catalyst for this new body of work was a jar of leftover magazine cutouts from a collage I made in 2010. Reusing leftover materials as well repurposing items that might end up thrown away, has become a very important part of my process the past decade. Stumbling across this jar of coin sized images that had waited patiently on a shelf for 12 years, ignited my creative process and drove me to explore collage in a new way. Unlike the piece from 2010 in which I assembled the images by piecing them together, I decided to examine each individual cut out on its on. By removing the image from any other context it allows you to focus solely on its meaning, purpose or feelings that it may evoke. Each image is embedded in a field of French knots which felt like a way of creating a time capsule of sorts for the object. Another inspiration behind this collection is my six year old son and his endless piles of sticks, stones, leaves, etc in our home. Only to him they aren’t sticks and stones, they are treasures. His ability to find a tiny twig or scrap of paper and not only cherish it but give it a backstory of why it is so special, is a beautiful thing and one I have tried to tap into with my new work. By placing a picture of a rubberband ball or a set of Dracula teeth or a banana in this embroidered box...
Thread, Paper
$3,200
H 8 in W 8 in D 1 in
Journey Trees III, Sara Brennan, hand-woven textile wall sculpture
By Sara Brennan
Located in Wilton, CT
Journey Trees III, linens and swing threads, 8" x 8" x 1", 2021. This figurative woven textile piece is by UK-based textile artist, Sara Brennan (b. 1963...
Fabric, Textile, Tapestry, Linen, Thread
Untitled
By Jesus Carlos de Vilallonga
Located in Barcelona, CT
Includes a Certificate of Authenticity
Engraving
$3,200
H 7.5 in W 8 in D 1 in
Journey Trees IV, Sara Brennan, hand-woven textile wall sculpture
By Sara Brennan
Located in Wilton, CT
Journey Trees IV, linens and swing threads, 7.5" x 8" x 1", 2021. This figurative woven textile piece is by UK-based textile artist, Sara Brennan (b. 196...
Fabric, Textile, Tapestry, Linen, Thread
$160
H 6 in W 6 in
"Pink Me Up" paper collage, hand-embroidery, french knot, blue and pink
By Kelly Kozma
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This piece titled "Pink Me Up" is an original artwork made from collage, hand embroidery, and latex paint on canvas by Kelly Kozma. This piece is shipped in the pictured white frame and measures 6"h x 6"w framed. The catalyst for this new body of work was a jar of leftover magazine cutouts from a collage I made in 2010. Reusing leftover materials as well repurposing items that might end up thrown away, has become a very important part of my process the past decade. Stumbling across this jar of coin sized images that had waited patiently on a shelf for 12 years, ignited my creative process and drove me to explore collage in a new way. Unlike the piece from 2010 in which I assembled the images by piecing them together, I decided to examine each individual cut out on its on. By removing the image from any other context it allows you to focus solely on its meaning, purpose or feelings that it may evoke. Each image is embedded in a field of French knots which felt like a way of creating a time capsule of sorts for the object. Another inspiration behind this collection is my six year old son and his endless piles of sticks, stones, leaves, etc in our home. Only to him they aren’t sticks and stones, they are treasures. His ability to find a tiny twig or scrap of paper and not only cherish it but give it a backstory of why it is so special, is a beautiful thing and one I have tried to tap into with my new work. By placing a picture of a rubberband ball...
Thread, Paper
$2,250
H 24 in W 18 in
Ozzy Osbourne Back to the Beginning Print Black Sabbath Farewell Tour Street Art
By Shepard Fairey
Located in Draper, UT
Manufacturer: Obey Giant Edition Details: Year: 2025 Class: Poster Status: Official Released: 07/10/25 Run: 223/500 Technique: Screen Print Paper: 80# True White Speckletone Paper wi...
Screen
$2,100
H 12.75 in W 10.38 in
Dans la glu (from the Yvette Guilbert portfolio)
By Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Located in New York, NY
Lithograph printed in black with a beige tint stone background, 1898. From the first edition of 350. Published by Bliss, Sands & Co., London. Sheet size: 15.13 x12.88 inches, with ...
Lithograph
$1,000
H 11.25 in W 9 in
Chuck Sperry Blotter Acid Screenprint "Joy" Contemporary Music Art
By Chuck Sperry
Located in Draper, UT
Chuck Sperry lives in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, where he’s made his particular style of rock poster designs for over 15 years. He operates Hangar 18, a silkscreen...
Screen
$1,150
H 30 in W 40 in
Photography of Wild Horses, Wild Mustang, "Wonder Horses" 30 x 40 Photograph
By Shane Russeck
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This is a contemporary photograph on archival paper. Shane Russeck is know worldwide for his wild horse imagery. This is one of only 3 color images he created in this series. Edi...
Archival Paper, Archival Pigment
Sold
H 19 in W 25 in D 0.1 in
Kerry James Marshall Souvenir 1 Pillow Sham Mastry Los Angeles
By Kerry James Marshall
Located in Draper, UT
200 Produced on behalf of the 2017 Mastry Exhibition in Los Angeles Condition is sealed in original plastic 19 x 25 inches Digital Screenprint on Cotton Percale and Cotton Duck Thr...
Cotton
SCOUT SERIES SET OF 6
By Kerry James Marshall
Located in Washington , DC, DC
comes with original packaging
Thread