Exhibition Guide

Visual Description

“For Love, and for Country” is a vertical oil painting on linen, measuring 123 ¼ inches by 93 1/8 inches, of two masculine-presenting figures kissing in a pose that echoes the male and female couple in the widely circulated 1945 Alfred Eisenstaedt photograph, “V-J Day in Times Square.” Both figures’ skin tones are rendered in grayscale. One figure leans forward and cradles the other in their arms, supporting their partner’s waist with their right hand and the back of their head with their left. He stands solidly behind the cradled figure, with the heel of their right foot elevated slightly forward. The other figure dips deeply back, standing firmly on their left foot and popping up their right heel. Their fingers are visible around their partner’s torso. Both figures’ eyes are closed. 

The cradling figure wears a white sailor’s cap and a white short-sleeved button-up shirt with images of flower bouquets running along the placket, which hangs open at their chest to reveal a double-layered pearl necklace, a golden cross pendant necklace, and the top of a white undershirt. The shirt is untucked over light blue denim jeans cuffed over black combat boots. The boots have a subtle yellow stitch along their soles. He wears a gold ring around their right pointer finger and small gold hoop earrings. The figure being cradled has a bald or closely shaved head and wears a red scarf tied around their neck that falls over a short-sleeved T-shirt with a horizontal pattern of navy-blue and white stripes. The shirt is untucked over pale yellow chinos that are cuffed at their ankles over white sneakers. A white sailor’s cap dangles at their side from their left hand. The background is a solid hue of bright baby blue.

 

Artwork Label

The tender embrace depicted here reimagines V-J Day in Times Square, Alfred Eisenstaedt’s 1945 photograph of a sailor kissing a woman amid the public celebration of World War II’s end. That image—widely circulated in Life magazine—has long symbolized American victory, yet it also reflects a narrow vision of patriotism shaped by whiteness, heteronormativity, and masculine conquest.
In Sherald’s restaging, the kiss is shared between two Black men in uniform. Through this act of reclamation, she honors the countless Black soldiers whose service went unacknowledged and whose freedoms were deferred upon returning home. The painting reframes love itself as an expression of courage that transcends prescribed boundaries of race, gender, and nation.