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Portfolios%3D%223092%22%20and%20Century%3D%2221st%20Century%22%20and%20Sort_Artist%3D%22Wiley,%20Kehinde%22
Painting
After Memling’s Portrait of a Man with a Letter
Kehinde Wiley, 1977 -
Wiley, Kehinde
United States
1977
Male
Primary
24 1/2 x 19 3/4 x 4 13/16 in. (62.2 x 50.1 x 12.2 cm)
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overall
frame
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sight
image
Oil
Oil
2013
2013
2013
Images of Black People
Painting
This portrait is one of eight in Kehinde Wiley’s series based upon the work of Northern Renaissance painter Hans Memling (1430–1494). Memling created sensitive, quiet portraits of the growing merchant class of his time set within landscapes and cast in natural light. Here, Wiley blends Memling’s style with contemporary street culture in a way that elevates and immortalizes his modern sitter, a resident of Brooklyn, Rafton Glean (his name is painted on the doors of the frame).
Wiley has explained, “I try to use the black body in my work to counter the absence of that body in museum spaces throughout the world.” In 2018, the artist was chosen by President Barack Obama to paint his official portrait (right), now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery. At the unveiling, the President commended Wiley for his ability to show “the beauty and the grace and the dignity” of black people.
[Label text for Hawks Gallery reinstallation, summer 2019]
back of panelinside doors of frame, the model's name
Kehinde Wiley
2013.79
item
Memorial Art Gallery
9/5/2013
2013.79DI#1
digital image
9/5/2013
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2013.79DI#2
overall with frame
digital image
00/00/00
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2013.79DI#3
detail
digital image
Right side
00/00/00
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2013.79DI#4
digital image
Detail
5/27/2015
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2013.79DI#5
digital image
5/27/2015
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