CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 7/4/2023

For love, and for country

This holiday weekend, we wanted something a little fresher than the usual red, white and blue, and we found it in Amy Sherald's “For love, and for country” (2022)—reproduced from the artist's recent Hauser & Wirth monograph, The World We Make. In contrast to Alfred Eisenstaedt’s iconic “V-J Day in Times Square” (1945), Sherald “decisively queers the intimate pose, swapping out a straight, white couple in favor of two black males in uniform,” Jenni Sorkin writes. “Keenly political, Sherald’s painting exemplifies the era of military policy known as ‘open service,’ in which homosexuality is no longer treated as a crime, a shameful secret or a deficiency. Floating on a bright blue background, Sherald’s couple is the embodiment of the celebratory slogan ‘out, loud, and proud’—both for love, embedded in their own chemistry, seemingly oblivious to the external world, and for country, their patriotism embodied by the white-and-blue-striped sailor shirt, topped with a jaunty red scarf knotted at the throat.”