The multi-phase selection process was led by Rockeymoore Cummings and included a committee of BMA and community leaders. The work is oil on canvas and measures 36 by 48 inches, unframed. Its title is I Only Have A Minute, 60 Seconds In It…
“In life Elijah and I enjoyed supporting the diversity of artists and events hosted by the Baltimore Museum of Art,” Rockeymoore Cummings said, in a statement. “It is providence that I was able to bring Elijah’s official portrait to life in partnership with the BMA’s transformational leader Christopher Bedford and his team of world-class experts, as well as community arts leaders and wonderfully supportive donors. We are exceedingly pleased with the result. Jerrell Gibbs is a masterfully expressive painter and his stunning portrait perfectly captures Elijah’s essence and majesty. It is a timeless masterpiece.”
“It is our great honor to have worked with Maya on the commission for the portrait of the iconic Elijah Cummings, and to share it now with our community,” said Bedford, the museum’s Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director, in a statement.
“The Congressman’s life was guided by the belief that our diversity and our differences only strengthen us, as individuals and as a society. These are beliefs that the entirety of the BMA team and leadership hold and are ones that we try to bring to our own work every day. I am grateful to Maya for the opportunity to support this process, to everyone at the BMA that helped realize it and the accompanying events, and to Jerrell, who has brought his inspired vision to this portrait and whose work so beautifully captures the daily experiences and lives of our community.”