Many Mansions

Kerry James MarshallWW-1994-013381

1994·Acrylic on paper mounted on canvas·289.6 × 342.9 cm (114 × 135 in.)

Many Mansions is the first in Kerry James Marshall’s series of five large-scale paintings depicting public housing projects in Chicago and Los Angeles such as Rockwell Gardens, Wentworth Gardens, or, as in Many Mansions, Stateway Gardens. Struck by the absurdity of the term “garden” to describe these failed solutions to low-income housing, Marshall was inspired to represent the profound contradictions of living in such an environment. Many Mansions is filled with ironic and startling juxtapositions of the real and artificial—from the unnaturally cheerful landscape to the three haunting, ebony-skinned figures dressed in nostalgic Sunday best. The title of the painting, visible on the red ribbon above, is a variation on Christ’s oft-quoted remark found in John [14:2]: “In my Father’s house there are many mansions.”

Catalogue

Year: 1994
Medium: Acrylic on paper mounted on canvas
Dimensions: 289.6 × 342.9 cm (114 × 135 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Kerry James Marshall

Artist

Kerry James Marshall

Painting

Kerry James Marshall is an American artist and professor, known for his paintings of Black figures. He previously taught painting at the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In 2017, Marshall was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. He was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, and moved in childhood to South Central Los Angeles. He has spent much of his career in Chicago, Illinois.

Birmingham, United States

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