Elizabeth Catlett, Sharecropper, 1952, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of the 2011 American Art Acquisitions Group, © 2021 Catlett Mora Family Trust/licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

LACMA is open. Though the various stages of lockdown have at times quieted a typically bustling Miracle Mile over the past 18 months, LACMA has remained abuzz with both the visible construction of its new building stretching across Wilshire boulevard, and even more exciting work behind the scenes. When the museum welcomed guests back into its galleries on April 1, viewers were treated to six new exhibitions as well as a newly redesigned presentation of LACMA’s impressive Modern Art collection. The reimagined display, designed in collaboration with Frank Gehry, sees LACMA’s holdings of works by artists like Picasso and Giacometti in a new light, literally, with the gallery illuminated by the suffusive natural light of the top floor of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum building. This reframing of the existing treasures in LACMA’s extensive permanent collection gives viewers a taste of what the new Peter Zumthor-de-signed building will offer.

Progress continues on the mammoth project, with construction on the new building expected to extend into the second half of 2023. Conceptually, the gallery design of the singular space places art from all areas of the museum’s diverse collection in a single horizontal plane, giving equal footing to works of art across all mediums, eras and provenance. The new building will cover approximately 347,000 square feet and add 3.5 acres of park space for outdoor exhibits, events and programs.

Barack Obama by Kehinde Wiley, 2018, oil on canvas, National Portrait Gallery, Smith-sonian Institution, © 2018 Kehinde Wiley

In the meantime, LACMA continues to offer an excellent lineup of exhibitions in the nearly 100,000 square feet of gallery space of the BCAM and Resnick Pavilion buildings, including a display of the instantly iconic Obama portraits.

Beginning Nov. 7, LACMA will present “The Obama Portraits Tour” and the complementary exhibition “Black American Portraits,” curated by Christine Y. Kim, curator of contemporary art, and Liz Andrews, newly appointed executive di-rector of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art.

From the moment of their unveiling at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in February 2018, Kehinde Wiley’s portrait of President Barack Obama and Amy Sherald’s portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama inspired instantaneous public acclaim. In an effort to share the works with more people across the nation, the portraits will embark on a five-city tour, beginning at the Art Institute of Chicago (where the young Oba-mas shared their first date), and continuing on to the Brooklyn Museum, LACMA, Atlanta’s High Art Museum and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

LACMA’s presentation and the “Black American Portraits” exhibition will engage more deeply with the power that portraiture wields.

“Black Americans have always used the medium of portraiture to envision our-selves,” Andrews said.

“Black American Portraits” will feature works spanning 200 years, with portraits from the 19th century and Harlem Renaissance to contemporary works by artists like Titus Kaphar and others by Sherald and Wiley. Most pieces will come from LACMA’s permanent collection, with some works being displayed publicly for the first time, including a quilt by artist Deborah Willis.

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama by Amy Sherald, 2018, oil on linen, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Andrews hopes “the Obama portraits will draw people in, but the impact of the Black American Portraits is what people will leave with.”

The exhibitions come at a critical cultural time when some institutions are seeking to engage with last summer’s mobilization for racial equality.

and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

LACMA’s presentation and the “Black American Portraits” exhibition will engage more deeply with the power that portraiture wields.

“Black Americans have always used the medium of portraiture to envision our-selves,” Andrews said.

“Black American Portraits” will feature works spanning 200 years, with portraits from the 19th century and Harlem Renaissance to contemporary works by artists like Titus Kaphar and others by Sherald and Wiley. Most pieces will come from LACMA’s permanent collection, with some works being displayed publicly for the first time, including a quilt by artist Deborah Willis.

Andrews hopes “the Obama portraits will draw people in, but the impact of the Black American Portraits is what people will leave with.”

The exhibitions come at a critical cultural time when some institutions are seeking to engage with last summer’s mobilization for racial equality.