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.
2016 Kerry James Marshall - Mastry - The Met Original Poster
By Kerry James Marshall
Located in Winchester, GB
Beautiful poster created for the 2016 exhibition of American artist Kerry James Marshall at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or The Met, in New York. Held from October 2016 to January...
Paper
James Bond 'Goldfinger' Original Vintage Film Poster, Swedish, 1967
By Gosta Aberg
Located in Devon, GB
Considered the quintessential and definitive Bond film, the third instalment in EON Productions' James Bond series set the template for many of the subsequent films, with its tongue in cheek humour, extensive use of gadgets and technology and multiple foreign locations. The first Bond blockbuster, 1964s 'Goldfinger' was also the first Bond film to utilise a standalone pre-credits sequence, the first to employ a pop star to sing the theme song and the first to win an Academy Award. The plot saw 007 uncover a plot to contaminate the United States gold reserve at Fort Knox while investigating the smuggling activities of powerful gold magnate Auric Goldfinger. This stunning poster designed by prolific Swedish...
Linen, Paper
$1,310
H 55.12 in W 39.38 in D 0.04 in
Original Vintage James Bond Film Poster Agente 007 Missione Goldfinger Rerelease
Located in London, GB
Original vintage 007 movie poster for the Italian re-release of the classic British spy thriller Goldfinger (the third film in the James Bond...
Paper
$1,177
H 30.71 in W 23.63 in D 0.4 in
Original Movie Poster, 007 James Bond, Goldfinger, Sean Connery, Gun, 1980
Located in SAINT-OUEN-SUR-SEINE, FR
Promotional poster for the famous film "Goldfinger," the third film in the James Bond 007 saga, released in 1964. This particular version of the poster is a 1980s re-release. Artist...
Paper
$1,654
H 28 in W 19.5 in D 0.01 in
James Bond 'Dr. No' Original Vintage Movie Poster, Yugoslavian, 1962
Located in Devon, GB
Based on Ian Fleming's novel of the same name, the 1962 release of 'Dr. No' first introduced the world to one of the most enduring characters in Western cinema and kicked off one of the most successful film franchises of all time. Suave British spy James Bond travels to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of a fellow agent, where he battles a megalomaniac scientist bent on disrupting the US space programme. In the same way that the first film established many of the themes and visual aspects that came to be associated with the James Bond series, the first film posters set a template for the visual representation of Bond that has seen little deviation over the past 60 years. Based on a design by David Chasman, illustrator Mitchell Hooks...
Paper, Linen
Original James Bond 'For Your Eyes Only' Poster, c.1981
Located in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent
A rare and original poster from the James Bond 007 blockbuster, For Your Eyes Only. A 1981 British spy film directed by John Glen (in his feature directorial debut) and produced by Albert R. Broccoli. The film stars Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond, and co-stars Carole Bouquet, Chaim Topol, Lynn-Holly Johnson...
Paper
$17,238
H 30 in W 39.75 in D 0.1 in
James Bond 'Goldfinger' Original Vintage British Quad Movie Poster, 1964
Located in Devon, GB
Considered the quintessential and definitive Bond film, the third instalment in EON Productions' James Bond series set the template for many of the subsequent films, with its tongue in cheek humour, extensive use of gadgets and technology and multiple foreign locations. The first Bond blockbuster, 1964's 'Goldfinger' was also the first Bond film to utilise a standalone pre-credits sequence, the first to employ a pop star to sing the theme song and the first to win an Academy Award. The plot saw 007 uncover a plot to contaminate the United States gold reserve at Fort Knox while investigating the smuggling activities of powerful gold magnate Auric Goldfinger. The film's lasting image is of the gold-painted girl, featured here on the sought after 'Style A' British Quad poster for the original UK release in 1964. Robert Brownjohn...
Paper
$1,172
H 41 in W 27.18 in D 0.01 in
James Bond 'The Spy Who Loved Me' Original Vintage Movie Poster, American, 1977
By Bob Peak
Located in Devon, GB
A dynamic US One Sheet poster for the 1977 blockbuster Bond classic 'The Spy Who Loved Me', designed by legendary poster artist Bob Peak. Considered Roger Moore's most memorable outi...
Paper
$2,068
H 39.25 in W 27.75 in D 0.01 in
James Bond 'Goldfinger' Original Vintage Film Poster, Swedish, 1965
By Gosta Aberg
Located in Devon, GB
Considered the quintessential and definitive Bond film, the third instalment in EON Productions' James Bond series set the template for many of the subsequent films, with its tongue ...
Linen, Paper
$48,266
H 30.25 in W 40.25 in D 0.01 in
James Bond 'Dr. No' Original Vintage British Quad Movie Poster, 1962
Located in Devon, GB
A scarce and sought after country-of-origin poster for the first release of the first James Bond film. Based on Ian Fleming's novel of the same name, the 1962 release of 'Dr. No' fir...
Linen, Paper
$8,963
H 45 in W 59.5 in D 0.1 in
James Bond 'You Only Live Twice' Original Vintage Movie Poster, 1967
By Robert E. McGinnis
Located in Devon, GB
The fifth film in EON Productions' James Bond series and the last of Sean Connery's first stint starring as the suave secret agent, it was announced during filming of 'You Only Live ...
Paper
JAMES BOND 007 Original Vintage French Film Poster, c. 1969
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
JAMES BOND 007 Original Vintage French Film Poster, c. 1969 The 1969 James Bond poster is for the film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the sixth in the official James Bond series ...
Linen, Paper
$1,516
H 55.12 in W 39.77 in D 0.04 in
Original Vintage Movie Poster Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger James Cameron
Located in London, GB
Original vintage movie poster for the Italian release in 1985 of the 1984 American science fiction film The Terminator directed by James Cameron and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in...
Paper