Question 1

True or false: He exclusively paints figures with pitch-black skin to confront invisibility in art history.

Accepted Answer

True. Marshall deliberately uses extremely dark skin tones to assert Black presence in Western painting, where Black figures were often absent or marginalized.

Question 2

True or false: Marshall’s painting 'Past Times' sold for over $21 million, a record for a living Black artist.

Accepted Answer

True. In 2019, 'Past Times' (1997) fetched $21.1 million at auction, shattering previous records for a living African American artist.

Question 3

True or false: Marshall’s first major museum retrospective was at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Accepted Answer

False. His first major retrospective was at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago in 2016, not MoMA. It later traveled to the Met Breuer.

Question 4

True or false: Kerry James Marshall painted a series based on the comic 'The Amazing Spider-Man'.

Accepted Answer

False. He created 'Rythm Mastr', which reimagines African American heroes using West African sculpture and comic book style, not Spider-Man.

Question 5

True or false: He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and later taught at Yale University.

Accepted Answer

False. Marshall studied at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles and taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, not Yale.

Question 6

True or false: Marshall represented the United States at the 1997 Venice Biennale with his 'Garden Project' paintings.

Accepted Answer

True. His 'Garden Project' series, depicting public housing residents with dignity, was featured in the U.S. Pavilion at the 1997 Venice Biennale.

Question 7

True or false: Marshall’s work often includes hidden references to the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church.

Accepted Answer

True. In paintings like 'School of Beauty, School of Culture', he includes subtle nods, such as a clock stopped at 10:22, the time of the Birmingham church bombing.

Question 8

True or false: He once worked as a muralist for the City of Birmingham, Alabama’s public art program.

Accepted Answer

False. Marshall painted murals for Chicago’s public housing projects, not Birmingham. He was raised in South Central Los Angeles and later moved to Chicago.

Kerry James Marshall Trivia Questions