The Smithsonian Museum has selected a Nigerian-American artist, Kehinde Wiley, to do the portrait of former US President Barack Obama. This portrait would be placed in the National Portrait Gallery of the museum where those of other former US presidents and first ladies are kept. Hence, artists that designed these portraits are of notable handicrafts and skills. Making this appointment a great deal for Nigeria and Africa. Wiley is known for his high naturalist design of portraits of some important personalities. In 2005, he painted “Napoleon Leading the Army Over the Alps” which was based on the Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David. This work was started as one of his greatest paints.
Announcing Wiley’s selection, the National Portrait Gallery said it was delighted to be working with the young artist along with the Baltimore-based artist Amy Sherald. Amy Sherald will be doing a portrait of the former American First Lady Michelle Obama.
“The Portrait Gallery is absolutely delighted that Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald have agreed to create the official portraits of our former President and First Lady. Both have achieved enormous success as artists, but even more, they make art that reflects the power and potential of portraiture in the 21st century,” said Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery.
The museum further stated that Wiley was specifically selected by the former President Obama for his rich and highly inundated colour palette and his use of embellished patterns.“Over the course of his career, Wiley (b. Los Angeles, 1977), whom President Obama selected, has frequently portrayed young African American men wearing the latest in hip-hop street fashion. His rich, highly saturated colour palette and his use of decorative patterns complement his realistic, yet expressive, likenesses. The theatrical poses and props Wiley assigns to his subjects make references to iconic portraits of powerful figures by Western artists,” the museum wrote on its website. Both Obamas’ portraits will be unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery in 2018, where they will be added to the museum’s permanent collection. Wiley’s work adds a modern twist to re-imagined Western classic paintings, showing contemporary African-Americans in theatrical poses.
One of his works takes on Jacques-Louis David’s famous portrait of Napoleon crossing the Alps atop his favourite horse, Marengo. Wiley’s reinterpretation shows the same white horse, but ridden instead by a black man in camouflage and Timberland boots.“What I choose to do is to take people who happen to look like me black and brown people all over the world, increasingly and to allow them to occupy that field of power,” he told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in 2015. His works include portraits of LL Cool J, Michael Jackson and Notorious B.I.G.Sherald is a Baltimore-based artist who took first place in the Portrait Gallery’s 2016 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. She won out over more than 2,500 entries, according to the museum. The National Portrait Gallery will raise private funds for the two portraits, the unveiling event, educational programs and website, according to its press statement.