Danielle Mckinney: Shelter

This spring, the Norton will present Danielle Mckinney: Shelter, a survey exhibition of paintings spanning the last five years of the artist’s practice. As the tenth artist to be exhibited as part of the Recognition of Art by Women (RAW) exhibition series, Danielle Mckinney (American, born 1981) creates artworks that depict her female subjects in private moments of solitude.

The women in Mckinney’s paintings possess a timeless quality, often situated within familiar domestic scenes that evoke a subtle nostalgia. While viewers may recognize the intimate spaces or the emotions reflected in the subject’s knowing glances, the paintings also maintain a distance. Mckinney balances this deep emotional resonance with the essential unknowability of the subject, reminding us that the full familiarity of another’s inner world remains outside our reach. This tension between the known experience and the private self creates a magnetic pull, transforming moments of quiet introspection into meditations on solitude, respite, and shared human connection.

Beyond the subject, Mckinney’s technique – her engagement with the history of art, color theory, and longstanding traditions of portraiture – further contributes to the allure of her paintings. Her figures emerge from dark grounds, recalling the tenebrism used by artists for centuries to focus the viewer’s attention and heighten atmosphere. The compositions also contain literal references to Modern painting, not only through the gestural strokes of paint, but also through the inclusion of paintings within paintings with allusions to works by artists such as Matisse and Picasso. This layering of historical references and techniques transforms Mckinney’s domestic spaces from ordinary rooms into settings that feel luxurious and exclusive, mirroring the idea of rest as a coveted commodity. 

Shelter is Mckinney’s largest museum exhibition to date. It will offer a collective understanding of the artist’s gift for weaving together art history, emotionally resonant subjects, and beautifully rendered paintings. Danielle Mckinney offers a powerful reflection on what it means to be seen yet remain unknown.