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.

Wiley is among the most recognizable and acclaimed contemporary artists, working across the globe in sculpture, stained glass and his primary medium, oil painting. He is redefining the art of portraiture for today’s world, portraying contemporary African American and African figures with virtuosic technique, in poses inspired by the conventions of historical European art. Wiley’s renown has grown in recent years, following his commissions for the official presidential portrait of Barack Obama in 2018 and the monumental bronze equestrian statue Rumors of War for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts the following year.

Measuring almost nine feet tall, The Two Sisters is part of Wiley’s 2012 series of paintings, An Economy of Grace. In this pioneering body of work, Wiley portrayed women for the first time. Following his unique process developed during the previous decade as he made portraits of men, Wiley selected his subjects through a process he called “street casting,” identifying and approaching the women depicted in The Two Sisters as they went about their lives in New York City. Wiley also continued his approach of modeling his compositions after historical European portraits and incorporating rich decorative motifs. In the museum’s new acquisition, Wiley was inspired by French artist Theodore Chasseriau’s 1843 double portrait of his sisters that hangs in the Louvre.

The Two Sisters is on view in the Conversations Gallery, just off the museum’s main entrance and lobby, alongside two other recent additions to the museum by Wiley, bronze busts of Mame Kewe Aminata Lo and Barthelemy Senghor. Later this year, The Two Sisters will move to the second floor collections galleries.