September 20th, 2025 — Kerry James Marshall’s (CRF 1998) monumental exhibition The Histories at the Royal Academy in London officially opened today and will run through January 18th, 2026. Called “[a]s necessary as it is unmissable” by The Guardian, this exhibition of 70 of his paintings has been the largest outside of the US, and the first chance for many to experience his works in the UK, including the never loaned before mural commission from the City of Chicago Public Art Program/Chicago Public Library titled Knowledge and Wonder (1995).
Kerry arrived at Civitella unsure of what he wanted to work on. During his time in residency however, he worked on a large drawing in twelve 4×8 foot sections that would become the preparatory study for the 8×50 feet Untitled (1998) woodcut. He wrote,
“My experience at Civitella was exhilarating at every turn. [It] could not have come at a better time. I had just completed a cycle of work so stressful, I was near collapse. The new friends my wife and I made, the places we went to, the things we saw, have enriched our lives in ways we will savor for a long long time. Everyone made us feel so special.”
His vivid and mostly large-scale paintings place the Black figure front and centre, making visible those who were so noticeably absent in the works that came before in the Western tradition of history painting.
