Kehinde Wiley (American, b. 1977). Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps, 2005. Oil on canvas. Collection of Suzi and Andrew B. Cohen, L2005.6. Photo taken in the Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Lobby of the Brooklyn Museum courtesy rubykhan via Flickr.
If the large equestrian portrait in the Brooklyn Museum lobby didn’t catch your eye, you need to look again. It’s a portrait by Kehinde Wiley imitating the posture of Napoleon Bonaparte in Jacques-Louis David’s painting “Bonaparte Crossing the Alps at Grand-Saint-Bernard.” Wiley substitutes powerful figures drawn from seventeen century Western art with anonymous young Black man dressed in contemporary clothing.
In the last few years, Wiley has lived and worked in different countries around the world appropriating local influences. This is evident in his current show entitled The World Stage: Africa, Lagos – Dakar now on view at the Studio Museum in Harlem (July 17th – October 26th, 2008). It definitely a must see for this summer.
Don’t miss out on seeing more work by Wiley in our upcoming Fall exhibition entitled 21: Selections of Contemporary Art from the Brooklyn Museum.
Also,
Author RSS 
RSS 
Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum
I am looking forward to seeing the upcoming Fall exhibition!
I will have to take another look at the equestrian portrait in the Museum’s lobby.
The show at Studio Museum Harlem is worth a visit. GO check it out!
Definitely looking forward to the Brooklyn Museum’s fall exhibit. The show at the Studio Museum is amazing – go see it!
And if you find yourself in DC, you can check out some of Kehinde Wiley’s portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, in their “Recognize!” exhibit, until late-October:
http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/recognize/paintings.html
Just caught the show uptown – sooo good.
Excuse the asterisks but never was I such an art-star f*r.
*Swoon*
Kehinde Wiley will be at SMH
October 9, 2008;
7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
Free but RSVP
http://www.studiomuseum.org/?m=20081009&cat=7
I am 99% sure I’m going, most likely with a friend or two, any non-psycho-killers wanna join up? (My first real test of the power of W2.0 – like-minded absolute strangers)
& Ben up there forgot to mention that there’s a nice little interview on the NPG site too: http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/recognize/interview_paintings.html
Argh…I’ve got to see if I’m in town for this – thanks for letting us know. No way I’ll make it to DC, tho. Check out the New Yorker Talk of the Town piece.
This guys work really ROCKS!