About the Author

Nicholas Cullinan is Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London, and curator of he Gallery's forthcoming exhibition Michael Jackson: On the Wall. He was formerly Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2013-15) and Curator of International Museum Art at Tate Modern (2007-13), where he co- -curated the hugely successful exhibition Henri Matisse: The Cut- -Outs (2014). Margo Jefferson is a Pulitzer Prize- -winning cultural critic. Her 2015 memoir, Negroland, received the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography and was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize. Her book On Michel Jackson was published in 2006. She has been a staff writer for the New York Times and Newsweek, and her reviews and essays have appeared in New York Magazine, Grand Street, Vogue and Harper's, among many other publications. Zadie Smith is the award- -winning author of the novels White Teeth (2000), The Autograph Man (2002), On Beauty (2005), NW (2012) and Swing Time (2016). Her collection of essays, Changing My Mind, was published in 2009. She was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2002 and joined New York University's Creative Writing Program as a tenured professor in 2010.

Reviews

This exhibition at teh National Portrait Gallery...explores Jackson's artistic impact and shine a light on those influenced by the singer-- who is, according to the institution, "the most depicted cultural figure in visual art."--Devonte Hynes "Artforum "
Works that offer diverse, complex and often personal interpretations of the entertainer.--Steve Dool "CNN "
[Michael Jackson] was an inspiration, a model, a tragedy. I have never thought about him so much as in the last 24 hours, and shall never think of him again as I did before. That is a measure of this exhibition.--Henri Neuendorf "Artnet "
Ambitious and thought-provoking.... As On the Wall makes clear, Jackson's own face -- through a combination of fame and relentless surgery -- became a mask, reflecting our own biases and ideals while concealing a deeper truth. His art and lasting appeal, on the other hand, function as a reminder to consider our own disguises, and what we might gain by letting them go.--Thomas Chatterton Williams "New York Times "
Brings together work from a huge variety of artists, who have all interpreted the musician's legend and legacy in their own unique way.--Ted Stansfield "AnOther Man "
Despite the controversies that followed Jackson through his late years, his lasting impact on our global culture is undeniable.--Michael Morris "Gayletter "