Kerry James Marshall : mastry / edited by Helen Molesworth.

This book is published on the occasion of the exhibition organized by and held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (April 23-September 25, 2016); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (October 25, 2016-January 29, 2017); and The Museum of Contemporay Art, Los Angeles (March 12-July 2, 2017).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Foreword / Madeleine Grynsztejn -- Directors' acknowlegments / Thomas P. Campbell, Madeleine Grynsztejn, Philippe Vergne -- Curators' acknowlegments / Ian Alteveer, Helen Molesworth, Dieter Roelstraete -- A different light : Kerry James Marshall's western exposure / Ian Alteveer -- Thinking of a Mastr Plan : Kerry James Marshall and the Museum / Helen Molesworth -- Visible man : Kerry James Marshall, realist / Dieter Roelstraete -- Black lives, matter / Lanka Tattersall -- Shall I compare thee ...? / Kerry James Marshall -- Plates, with catalogue entries by Anna Katz, Karsten Lund, Abigail Winograd -- Writings by Kerry James Marshall, 2000-15 -- Artist's biography -- Selected bibliography -- Checklist of the exhibition -- Kerry James Marshall selects: works from the Metropolitan Museum of Art -- Lenders to the exhibition -- Exhibition sponsors -- Contributors -- Index.

"The definitive monograph on contemporary African American painter Kerry James Marshall, accompanying a major traveling retrospective. This long-awaited volume celebrates the work of Kerry James Marshall, one of America’s greatest living painters. Born before the passage of the Civil Rights Act, in Birmingham, Alabama, and witness to the Watts riots in 1965, Marshall has long been an inspired and imaginative chronicler of the African American experience. Best known for large-scale interiors, landscapes, and portraits featuring powerful black figures, Marshall explores narratives of African American history from slave ships to the present and draws upon his deep knowledge of art history from the Renaissance to twentieth-century abstraction, as well as other sources such as the comic book and the muralist tradition. With luscious color and brushstrokes and highly detailed patterning, his direct and intimate scenes of black middle-class life conjure a wide range of emotions, resulting in powerful paintings that confront the position of African Americans throughout American history. Richly illustrated, this monumental book features essays by noted curators as well as the artist, and more than 100 paintings from throughout the artist’s career arranged thematically by subject: history painting; beauty, as expressed through the nude, portraiture, and self-portraiture; landscape; religion; and the politics of black nationalism."--Publisher's website.