Collaged image of Amy Sherald
 
 

AMY SHERALD

b. 1973

Columbus, Ohio

Painter

Sherald is a contemporary painter most famous for her portraits of Michelle Obama and Breonna Taylor. The majority of her work focuses on painting Black figures in classic, everyday settings. A unique piece to this is the gray shade she uses for the skin tone of her figures.

She received her B.A. at Clark-Atlanta University and a graduate degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art.

Her official portrait of Michelle Obama catapulted Sherald out of the shadows, making her the first Black woman to complete a presidential portrait.

  • Bethesda Painting Award (2016)

    First woman to win the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition Grand Prize, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (2016)

    Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (2013)

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