![](https://the-easel.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/sherald2-250x220.jpg)
The American realism of painter Amy Sherald
Hilarie Sheets | Cultured | 9th September 2019
Having painted Michelle Obama’s portrait, some things follow – notably higher expectations. Sherald doesn’t seem fazed, holding fast to the idea of painting people like herself “just being themselves … [not] about identity necessarily”. The Obama portrait is about a specific person but her other portraits are less about individuals and more conceptual, ““archetypes” of black experience”.