In Kerry James Marshall’s work on paper entitled “A Portrait of the Artist as a Shadow o

In Kerry James Marshall’s work on paper entitled “A Portrait of the Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self,” a smiling Black man is situated against a dark grey background, wearing a black hat and black jacket. He appears to disappear into the background, except for areas of white that include his teeth, eyes, and a section of the white shirt visible underneath his jacket. Only a small area of his gums are painted dark brown. The rest of his face is painted black so that his nose and ears are invisible.  Marshall created this small work on paper (ca. 8”x 6.5”) using egg tempera, which was widely used until the 15th century when oil painting came to the fore. Marshall cited his inspiration from Ralph Ellison’s 1952 novel Invisible Man: “… Until I read Ralph Ellison—his description, in the introduction to Invisible Man, of the condition of invisibility literally changed everything for me. What I was reading there, the notion of being and not-being, the simultaneity of presence and absence, was exactly what I had been trying to get at in my artwork.” (p. 49)Image 1: Front coverImage 2: “A Portrait of the Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self” 1980Kerry James Marshall : mastryedited by Helen Molesworth.Marshall, Kerry James, 1955- [artist, author]Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; New York: Skira Rizzoli Publications, 2016280 pages: illustrations (chiefly color); 30 cmEnglishHOLLIS number: 990146810270203941 -- source link
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