There are fewer representations of black figures in the historical record. — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share Image
One of the reasons I paint black people is because I am a black person. — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share Image
Blackness has always been stigmatised, even amongst black people who flee from the density of that blackness. Some black people recoil from… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share Image
Black painters have done all kinds of work. It's the treatment of forms they engage in-that's what determines the value of the… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share Image
When I started, I was aware of using the black as a rhetorical device. It's understanding that black people come in a… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share Image
My first black-on-black picture was 'The Portrait of an Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self.' I started using it as… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share Image
When I go to the movies, I'm expected to identify with all of the characters, and most of them are white. But… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share Image
As a black person, I'm used to going to places in which I might be the only black person that shows up… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share Image
I tend to think having that extreme of color, that kind of black, is amazingly beautiful...and powerful. What I was thinking to… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share Image
The condition of visibility as it relates to black people was crucial. Connected to that, I've always been interested in science fiction… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share Image
I still make paintings and use the figure; it's hard to do and hard to succeed. On some levels, because I am… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share Image
In [Ralph] Ellison's case, it's more psychological than it is phenomenal, and it's conditioned by anger, animosity, and lack of desire to… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share Image
One of the things I recognized early on, doing whatever studies of black history I have, is that even though black folks… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share Image
Part of what I am dealing with, with this blackness, is asking the question, "Where are those black people, who are as… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share Image
I just thought someone has to figure out how to break through that barrier and create a narrative for a black super… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share Image
Part of the history of black people in the western hemisphere, in some ways, has been fleeing from this notion that they… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share Image
For black people in the western hemisphere, if you can't generate a mythology that creates models of heroism and power out of… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share Image
What I preserved in the figures [at Invisible Man] are those white eyes and white teeth, because that's still connected to the… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share Image
If you look at the image [ Portrait of the Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self ], it treads on… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share Image
Just like in the art museum, and notions of beauty and pleasure, if the hero is always a white guy with a… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share Image
[My picture A Portrait of the Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self ] was a way of demonstrating that there… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share Image
There's nothing more special than intellect and labour that makes painting work. There's no magic there; it's information, and it's work. — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share
When art works travel from place to place, what you have is the opportunity to engage with the intellect of another person who has… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share
I stumbled upon Charles White purely by chance while looking through a book 'Great Negroes, Past and Present' in the library at Forty-Ninth Street… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share
The lighter the skin, the more acceptable you are. The darker the skin, the more marginalised you become. I want to demonstrate that you… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share
Artwork operates on two different levels: On one level there's artwork as a mode of expressivity, and then there's the other side, where the… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share
One of the things I recognized early on, doing whatever studies of black history I have, is that even though black folks were transported… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share
If you walk into any magazine store, I guarantee that nine out of 10 covers will feature white, blonde, blue-eyed, slim women because that's… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share
For black people who are really dark - and a lot of black people were averse to be dark skinned - it was believed… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share
Before people outside of the Western European tradition started asking to be in there, the people who were accumulating objects for the museum were… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share
What I hope 'Mastry' ends up doing is completely undermining or doing away with the notion that artists are a savant: that they do… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share
My dream was always to be in museums. It's a big and important milestone and a fulfillment of one of my primary ambitions. — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share
In [Ralph] Ellison's case, it's more psychological than it is phenomenal, and it's conditioned by anger, animosity, and lack of desire to engage with… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share
When I started, I was aware of using the black as a rhetorical device. It's understanding that black people come in a wide range… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share
No one has a right to occupy the privileged position all the time, so it should be contested. It should always be messy in… — Kerry James Marshall Copy Share
![“In [Ralph] Ellison's case, it's more psychological than it is phenomenal, and it's conditioned by anger, animosity, and lack of desire to engage with the black body. There was always simultaneity that had nothing to do with visuality. You can be there and not be there at the same time and be fully…” quote by Kerry James Marshall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a13/kerry-james-marshall-5157_animosity_in-ralph-ellison-s-case-it-s-more-psycho_338598.jpg)
![“What I preserved in the figures [at Invisible Man] are those white eyes and white teeth, because that's still connected to the way in which blackness, in the extreme, has been stigmatized and the way it was often joked that you couldn't see black people in the dark until they had their eyes open…” quote by Kerry James Marshall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/19a/kerry-james-marshall-5157_black_what-i-preserved-in-the-figures-at-invis_2863321.jpg)
![“If you look at the image [ Portrait of the Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self ], it treads on a kind of popular stereotypical image of the black figure, in both its flatness and slightly comic edge. To take that image as a starting point and to render it in a proto-classical medium, like egg…” quote by Kerry James Marshall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/584/kerry-james-marshall-5157_art_if-you-look-at-the-image-portrait-of-the_829024.jpg)
![“[My picture A Portrait of the Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self ] was a way of demonstrating that there was a broad range of possibilities and fairly unlimited utility for a black figure that didn't have to comprise its blackness in order to preserve a place in the field of representation.” quote by Kerry James Marshall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2d/kerry-james-marshall-5157_art_my-picture-a-portrait-of-the-artist-as-a_2641070.jpg)