Addressing what he calls “the lack in the image bank” of Western art history, Kerry James Marshall foregrounds Black subjects in his paintings. Inspired by personal history as well as American experience, Marshall’s work revels in complexity and ambiguity, combining beauty, difficulty, and unknowability. Grounding his aesthetics in Black identity, Marshall painted a series of portraits named “Supermodel” in 1994, many spotlighting Black women. This series coincided with his famous "Lost Boys" series of portraits depicting young Black boys. This painting presents a figure, perhaps “self-satisfied,” as the artist often describes his confident Black subjects who are not defined by trauma

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