The lesson of falling leaves, 2017

The lesson of falling leaves displays Amy Sherald’s signature use of grayscale, or a mix of only black and white, to depict skin tone. It is a reference to historic daguerreotype photographs from the nineteenth century, which include some of the earliest portraits of African Americans (who have rarely been the subjects of painted portraits in the history of western art). Sherald takes great care in choosing sitters, often strangers, whom she describes as “existing in the past, present, and future.” For this reason, she depicts the anonymous young person in this painting in timeless clothing and sets him against a monochrome background, deliberately obfuscating the particularities of time and place.