Kerry James Marshall and the exhibition arc of The Histories
Published on 08/24/2026 at 11:35 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Kerry James Marshall has spent decades building a painterly canon in which Black life occupies the center of the frame. His touring exhibition The Histories, developed with the Royal Academy of Arts, Kunsthaus Zürich and Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, concentrates that project in more than seventy works across Europe.
The European tour of The Histories
The exhibition Kerry James Marshall: The Histories opened at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in September 2025, presenting around seventy works and marking his largest exhibition in the UK to date. It then traveled to Kunsthaus Zürich, where it is on view from February 27 to August 16, 2026, positioning Marshall’s paintings as a major anchor in the Swiss museum’s 2026 program.
From September 18, 2026 to January 24, 2027, the show will be presented at Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, the first exhibition in France devoted to Marshall. Across these venues, the curatorial framework follows his insistence that the histories of Black subjects belong in the mainstream narrative of Western painting.
Monday focus on exhibition & show
At Kunsthaus Zürich, The Histories is described as Marshall’s largest exhibition outside the United States and the first major survey of his work in the German-speaking world. The display combines key paintings from the past three decades with new works produced specifically for the tour, underlining how his language of densely composed scenes continues to evolve.
In Paris, the Musée d’Art Moderne underscores that the exhibition is organized with the Royal Academy and Kunsthaus Zürich, and highlights eight new paintings made for the project. This institutional triangle places Marshall in dialogue with different national traditions of history painting while keeping the focus on Black protagonists and their everyday environments.
All news and background on Kerry James Marshall
Readers who follow Kerry James Marshall’s exhibitions and public projects can find additional coverage, context and market data in the AD HOC NEWS archive.
The work core and medium
Marshall works primarily in painting, often at mural scale, combining acrylic on canvas with collage elements and text fragments to build layered scenes of Black social life. His figures frequently appear against deep black grounds or heightened color fields, pushing the tonal range of black pigment as both material and metaphor.
Where the artist stands now
Against this backdrop, Kerry James Marshall’s practice sits in an active touring phase, with The Histories completing its Zürich run in mid August 2026 and preparing for presentation at Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris later in the year.
Kerry James Marshall at a glance
- Artist: Kerry James Marshall
- Medium / Genre: Painting (history painting and figurative scenes)
- Born: 1955, Birmingham, Alabama, United States
- Place(s) of practice: Studio practice anchored in the United States, including long-term work in Chicago, as noted in institutional biographies and past retrospectives.
- Active since: Active as an exhibiting artist since the late 1970s, with broader international recognition building from the 1990s onward through museum shows and major commissions.
- Key work groups: Large-scale history paintings such as The Histories works, the earlier series connected to the retrospective Mastry, and emblematic canvases including Past Times and Knowledge and Wonder that have circulated between public institutions and the market.
- Current/last exhibition: Kerry James Marshall: The Histories, Kunsthaus Zürich, February 27–August 16, 2026, with the tour developed by the Royal Academy of Arts in collaboration with Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris.
- Major collections: Works by Marshall are held by institutions including the National Gallery of Canada, where the 2026 donation from Bob Rennie added key pieces such as the multi-part work Wake to the collection.
- Awards: Marshall’s institutional recognition includes major retrospectives and commissions rather than headline prizes, with his prominence reflected in museum projects like Mastry and the current European tour.
- Next date: The exhibition Kerry James Marshall: The Histories is scheduled to open at Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris on September 18, 2026, extending the touring arc into early 2027.
Frequently asked questions about Kerry James Marshall
Where can I see Kerry James Marshall’s work in 2026?
In 2026, the touring exhibition Kerry James Marshall: The Histories has been on view at Kunsthaus Zürich from February 27 to August 16 and is announced to open at Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris on September 18.
What defines Kerry James Marshall’s exhibition The Histories?
The Histories gathers around seventy works, including eight new paintings, and is described by the participating institutions as the artist’s largest exhibition outside the United States, focused on Black figures within history painting.
How is Kerry James Marshall represented in public collections?
Marshall’s work appears in a range of public collections; a notable recent move is the 2026 donation to the National Gallery of Canada, where the multi-part work Wake joins other pieces that bring narratives of the transatlantic slave trade into the museum context.
This article was produced with a.i. support and editorially reviewed. All statements without guarantee; auction results, exhibition dates and awards may change at short notice.
