If the Smithsonian was worried about Amy Sherald’s “Trans Forming Liberty” painting, The New Yorker clearly is not.

Sherald, the renowned artist and Maryland Institute College of Art alumna, canceled her anticipated “American Sublime” exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, The New York Times reported on July 24. The decision, she said, came after Sherald was told the Washington, D.C., museum was considering removing the work — which depicts trans model Arewà Basit as the Statue of Liberty — to avoid potential ire from President Donald Trump.

On Monday, Sherald revealed that “Trans Forming Liberty” is the cover of The New Yorker’s Aug. 11 issue. The accompanying story about the controversy also published online Monday.

The “American Sublime” exhibit was originally scheduled to open in September. Now based in New York, Sherald was unavailable for comment about the decision to pull the National Portrait Gallery exhibit, but Hauser & Wirth, the gallery that represents her, shared a statement from the artist.

“This painting exists to hold space for someone whose humanity has been politicized and disregarded,” it reads in part. ”I cannot in good conscience comply with a culture of censorship, especially when it targets vulnerable communities.”

A Smithsonian spokesman told The New York Times in a statement that the museum “could not come to an agreement with the artist” over the exhibit’s presentation.

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This is not the only New Yorker cover this year for Sherald, who is perhaps best known for painting first lady Michelle Obama’s official 2018 White House portrait. Her painting, “Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance),” graced the front of the March 24 edition. A New Yorker spokesperson said Baltimore-area residents should be able to buy a copy of the Aug. 11 issue on newsstands this week.

Trump has embraced a culture war of sorts since taking office in January. He replaced numerous Kennedy Center board members with his supporters before essentially making himself chairman of the cultural institution, which Trump criticized for its “woke” culture. In May, hundreds of arts groups across the country saw grants from the National Endowment for the Arts canceled.

And after the Republican-led Congress voted to cut $1.1 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the nonprofit behind National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service said last week it will shut down in 2026.

Locally, Baltimore theater educator Tavish Forsyth lost jobs at the Kennedy Center and Johns Hopkins University after their nude protest video against the Trump administration went viral.

“At a time when transgender people are being legislated against, silenced, and endangered across our nation, silence is not an option,” Sherald wrote in her statement. “I stand by my work. I stand by my sitters. I stand by the truth that all people deserve to be seen—not only in life, but in art.”

Marylanders interested in seeing “American Sublime” still have time: The exhibit is on display through Sunday at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.