Kehinde Wiley, ‘Portrait of Anet Arias,’ 2023. Oil on linen painting: 48 by 36in, framed, 56 1/2 by 44 5/8 by 3 1⁄2in. Photo: Max Yawney © Kehinde Wiley Courtesy: Sean Kelly
NEW YORK (AP) – Kehinde Wiley was already well into his influential art career when his portrait of Barack Obama – arms crossed, perched on a chair amid brilliant foliage – was unveiled in 2018. But there’s no doubt it changed the artist’s life.
Kehinde Wiley, ‘Portrait of Melissa Thompson,’ 2020. Oil on linen, 265.5 by 201.8cm (104 1/2in by 79 1/2in). Copyright Kehinde Wiley. Courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. Photo by Todd-White Art Photography
LONDON – Portrait of Melissa Thompson, a 2020 work by American artist Kehinde Wiley, is now on display in the V&A museum’s William Morris Room (room 125) in the British Galleries, alongside William Morris’s Wild Tulip designs that inspired it. The exhibition runs through October 26, 2023.
Kehinde Wiley (American, b. 1977-), ‘The Two Sisters’ 2012, oil on canvas, framed 106 3/8 by 82in. (270.2 by 208.3cm), Cincinnati Art Museum; gift of the Ragland family, 2023.1 © Kehinde Wiley
CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Art Museum has acquired The Two Sisters, a monumental double portrait made in 2012 by Kehinde Wiley (American, b. 1977-), thanks to a generous gift from the Ragland family, longtime supporters of the museum.
Metal of Honor: Gold from Simone Martini to Contemporary Art, Installation View 5, 2022. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.
BOSTON – Metal of Honor: Gold from Simone Martini to Contemporary Art, on view at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (ISGM) through January 16, 2023, explores how painters across centuries have used gold to honor and commemorate their subjects. The exhibition features works by legendary Renaissance master Simone Martini, juxtaposing his devotional paintings with portraits by contemporary artists – Titus Kaphar, Stacy Lynn Waddell and Kehinde Wiley.
Left, Pablo Picasso, ‘Grande Tete de Femme,’ est. $60,000-$80,000; Right, Kehinde Wiley, ‘After Sir Anthony Van Dyck’s Triple Portrait of Charles I,’ est. $20,000-$30,000. Images courtesy of Heritage Auctions
DALLAS — Headlined by some of the most famous and popular artists of all time, Heritage Auctions‘ April 19 Prints & Multiples Signature® Auction presents a who’s who of the Modern and Contemporary art landscape. Featuring a museum’s worth of highlights, the event includes works by the likes of Pablo Picasso, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Joan Mitchell and Kehinde Wiley. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.
Left: Kehinde Wiley, ‘Barack Obama,’ a 2018 oil on canvas from the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, © 2018 Kehinde Wiley | Right: Amy Sherald, detail of ‘Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama’ a 2018 oil on linen from the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. The National Portrait Gallery is grateful to the generous donors who made these commissions possible and proudly recognizes them at npg.si.edu/obamaportraitstour. Support for the national tour has been generously provided by Bank of America.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery announces the final chance to view the popular portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama by Amy Sherald before it departs Washington, D.C. for a five-stop national tour with Kehinde Wiley’s iconic portrait of President Barack Obama. The Obama Portraits Tour will begin in Chicago on June 18 and will continue across the United States through May 30, 2022 before returning to Washington.
Kehinde Wiley, ‘Ivelaw I,’ from his series ‘The World Stage: China,’ estimated at €100,000-€150,000
PARIS – Piasa will hold its Africa & Modern & Contemporary Art sale on May 19. For the first time in the context of a contemporary African art sale in Paris, this auction will present the work of two major African American artists: Beauford Delaney, the great African American painter of the post-war period, and Kehinde Wiley, a rising figure on the other side of the Atlantic who, among other achievements, painted the famous portrait of American President Barack Obama that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.