Kerry James Marshall
born
1955
BirthplaceBirmingham, Alabama
BiographyKerry James Marshall was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1955. When he was eight years old, his family moved to Los Angeles. His father worked for the United States Postal Service, and his mother was a homemaker. As a child, Marshall spent time in the library, poring over books on art, artists, and artmaking, as well as on every other topic that interested him, from nature to arms and armor to varied artistic techniques like watercolor, etching, and woodcut. He studied and copied drawings by artists such as Goya, Rembrandt, Fragonard, and Michelangelo, focusing in junior high school on his technique and honing his drafting skills.
As a high school student, Marshall took a class at Otis Art Institute (now Otis College of Art and Design), where he was introduced to social realist artist and professor Charles White (1918–1979). Marshall always knew he wanted to be an artist, and this meeting, along with the impact that White’s work made on him, drew him to study at Otis. He graduated with a BFA in 1978 and continued making art and working at galleries around Los Angeles. In 1985, he received a fellowship from the Studio Museum in Harlem and moved to New York City. While there, he met his wife, Cheryl Lynn Bruce, and in 1987, he and his family relocated to Chicago. He taught at the University of Illinois, Chicago, from 1993 to 2006, and currently works and lives in Chicago and Los Angeles.
Marshall has received numerous grants and awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts grant in 1991; a MacArthur Fellowship in 1997; and an honorary doctorate from Otis College of Art and Design in 1999. He was elected an Honorary Royal Academician at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, England, in 2022. His work can be found in collections around the world, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Museum of Modern Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and Tate London.
As a high school student, Marshall took a class at Otis Art Institute (now Otis College of Art and Design), where he was introduced to social realist artist and professor Charles White (1918–1979). Marshall always knew he wanted to be an artist, and this meeting, along with the impact that White’s work made on him, drew him to study at Otis. He graduated with a BFA in 1978 and continued making art and working at galleries around Los Angeles. In 1985, he received a fellowship from the Studio Museum in Harlem and moved to New York City. While there, he met his wife, Cheryl Lynn Bruce, and in 1987, he and his family relocated to Chicago. He taught at the University of Illinois, Chicago, from 1993 to 2006, and currently works and lives in Chicago and Los Angeles.
Marshall has received numerous grants and awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts grant in 1991; a MacArthur Fellowship in 1997; and an honorary doctorate from Otis College of Art and Design in 1999. He was elected an Honorary Royal Academician at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, England, in 2022. His work can be found in collections around the world, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Museum of Modern Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and Tate London.