Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Valor & Grace Nurse”?
Artist Statement
The Valor & Grace Nurse print represents one of the many healthcare workers whose selfless acts of compassion and service are always meaningful, but at this moment are especially heroic. I'm inspired to glorify those who don't seek glory, but rather to serve humanity when it is most challenged. I want the portrait to emanate the comforting warmth and empathy healthcare workers provide in the midst of anxiety and crisis. Dear Frontline currently has a #ProtectAllWorkers program, where you can send out customized postcards to frontline workers. Proceeds from the print sales will go to their new initiative, Dear Frontline Workers Public Art Fund, where they are raising funds are to produce large scale murals and displays of gratitude for frontline workers. Installations are planned near the hospitals that have been hardest hit by COVID-19 and in other public spaces. -Shepard Valor & Grace Nurse. 18 x 24 inches. Screen print on Cream Speckle Tone paper. Signed by Shepard Fairey. Numbered edition of 450. $70.
Summary
Valor & Grace Nurse is a 2020 screen print measuring 18 x 24 inches on Cream Speckle Tone paper, signed by Shepard Fairey in a numbered edition of 450, priced at $70. The portrait honors healthcare and frontline workers, whom Fairey describes as performing especially heroic acts of compassion during the crisis. He aimed for the image to emanate comforting warmth and empathy amid anxiety. Proceeds support Dear Frontline's new Dear Frontline Workers Public Art Fund, which raises money to produce large-scale murals and displays of gratitude near hard-hit hospitals and in public spaces, connected to its #ProtectAllWorkers program.
Why It Matters
Valor & Grace Nurse is one of Fairey's most direct tributes to frontline workers during the COVID-19 era, and its documented intent makes it a meaningful record of how an activist artist responded to the pandemic. In his own words, Fairey set out to glorify those who do not seek glory but serve humanity when it is most challenged, and to make the portrait radiate warmth and empathy against a backdrop of anxiety and crisis. That stated purpose gives the print emotional and historical weight beyond a generic portrait. The benefit structure is specific and concrete: proceeds support Dear Frontline's new Public Art Fund, tied to its #ProtectAllWorkers program, to produce large-scale murals and gratitude displays near the hospitals hardest hit by COVID-19. This links a collectible print to real-world public art and to a particular moment of collective gratitude. As a signed screen print numbered to 450, it occupies a place in Fairey's portrait tradition while carrying an unusually clear humanitarian mission. For collectors it functions as both a portrait of pandemic-era heroism and a documented act of solidarity, qualities that differentiate it sharply from his political and consumerist work of the same year.
Collector Perspective
This resonates with collectors of Fairey's portrait work, healthcare and frontline workers, and buyers who value art with a documented charitable mission. The warm, empathetic nurse portrait gives it broad emotional appeal and makes it suitable for display in homes, clinics, or community settings. At 18 x 24 inches, signed and numbered to 450, it sits comfortably as a collectible mid-size screen print. Its tie to the Dear Frontline Workers Public Art Fund and the #ProtectAllWorkers program gives it a strong narrative for mission-driven collectors. It groups naturally with Fairey's other 2020 civil-rights and benefit portraits, and its pandemic-era origin makes it a documentary keepsake of a specific historical moment.
Historical Context
The print is a defining example of Fairey's pandemic-era output, when he repeatedly turned his portrait practice toward acts of solidarity and benefit. Released in May 2020, it directs proceeds to Dear Frontline's Public Art Fund to produce murals and gratitude displays near COVID-hit hospitals, situating the print within a wider public-art response to the crisis. It belongs to the same 2020 cluster of civil-rights and humanitarian prints as his Black Lives Matter and voting-rights releases, reflecting how that year concentrated his social-justice and benefit work. The nurse portrait extends his long-running use of heroic, empathetic figures to carry social messages.
FAQ
Who does Valor & Grace Nurse honor?
Fairey created the portrait to honor healthcare and frontline workers, describing their acts of compassion as especially heroic during the crisis. He wanted the image to emanate the comforting warmth and empathy these workers provide amid anxiety, glorifying those who serve without seeking glory.
What cause does this print support?
Proceeds support Dear Frontline's new Dear Frontline Workers Public Art Fund, connected to its #ProtectAllWorkers program. The fund raises money to produce large-scale murals and gratitude displays near the hospitals hardest hit by COVID-19 and in other public spaces.
What are the specifications of this print?
It is a screen print measuring 18 x 24 inches on Cream Speckle Tone paper. It is signed by Shepard Fairey and issued in a numbered edition of 450, with a release price of $70 in 2020.
What feeling did Fairey want the portrait to convey?
He wanted the portrait to emanate the comforting warmth and empathy that healthcare workers provide in the midst of anxiety and crisis, glorifying people who serve humanity at its most challenged moments rather than seeking recognition for themselves.
Related Works
About the Artist
Shepard Fairey (b. 1970, Charleston, South Carolina) is an American street artist, graphic designer, and activist, and a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. His 1989 “André the Giant Has a Posse” sticker grew into the global OBEY GIANT campaign — an ongoing experiment in propaganda, obedience, and visual culture. He reached worldwide recognition with the 2008 “Hope” portrait of Barack Obama, now held by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Across screen prints, stencils, murals, and collage, Fairey channels propaganda aesthetics toward themes of peace, justice, environmentalism, and civil rights. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and LACMA.