Conference Series│Kerry James Marshall Événement / Cycle

19h00 Time scale
1h30

Hours

From : Friday 18 September 2026

to : Thursday 14 January 2027

The : Thursday 14 January 2027 from 19h00 to 20h30

From September 18, 2026, to January 24, 2027, the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris presents The Histories, the first retrospective devoted to the American artist Kerry James Marshall in France. On this occasion, a series of four conferences offers an exploration of his work from a transatlantic and interdisciplinary perspective, addressing different aspects of his artistic practice.

Throughout the exhibition, the conferences will bring together artists, historians, curators, and exhibition curators specializing in European and American art, American Studies, as well as the histories and cultures of the African diaspora.

This series of conferences is part of the museum’s cultural program, which seeks to highlight contemporary artistic creation, societal debates, and artistic representations that have often remained on the margins of Western art history.

 

 

Friday, September 18 2026 at 4 pm

Introductive session : A Conversation with the Artist

with Kerry James Marshall, Mark Godfrey
moderated par Fabrice Hergott

 

This talk introduces Kerry James Marshall’s work in connection with the exhibition  Held on the day of the public opening, this conversation between the artist and the curators of the show, Mark Godfrey and Fabrice Hergott, explores Marshall’s career, the conception of the show, the significance of its title, and Marshall’s relationship with French painting.

Salle Matisse
Free admission, registration required, subject to availability
 

 Register 

 

Thursday, November 5, 2026, at 7 pm
Representations of Black figures

Speakers to be announced

Since the 1980s, Kerry James Marshall has engaged with the traditions, genres, and conventions of Western painting while placing the Black figure at the center of his work. The session explores how the Black figure has been represented in the West, as well as Marshall’s methods for reimagining and transforming the art historical canon.

Salle Matisse
Free admission, registration required, subject to availability

 

 Registration opening soon 

 

 

Thursday, December 3, 2026, at 7 pm
On History Painting

Speakers to be announced

This session takes the form of a discussion on history painting, approached through its structural and formal dimensions–composition, materiality, and colour–as well as through the distinctive narrative strategies developed by Kerry James Marshall.

Salle Matisse
Free admission, registration required, subject to availability

 

 Registration opening soon 

 

 

Thursday, January 14, 2027, at 7 pm
Art, Memory and Colonial Legacies

Speakers to be announced

Since the 1990s, Kerry James Marshall has engaged with the history of the transatlantic slave trade. This session examines how the historical and memorial narratives of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade, as well as their cultural legacies, are represented in his work. The session also opens a broader discussion on transmission of these narratives and on the enduring legacies of colonialism and slavery in contemporary societies. transforming the art historical canon.

Salle Matisse
Free admission, registration required, subject to availability

 

 Registration opening soon 

 

 

The Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris warmly thanks the Terra Foundation for American Art for its generous support in making this series of talks possible, presented as part of the exhibition Kerry James Marshall : The Histories.