Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

Is this an original painting or a copy?

It is an original painting and it directly references works from the history of art. Wiley poses his models in the same gestures from the history of art. I am curious, what about this work looked like it might be a copy?

Firstly, there's no plaque with name of artist and the color doesn't look like paint. What kind of paint does the artist use?

Wiley uses oil paint in his work and paints in a manner that his brushstrokes are not so visible (especially from a distance). The object label with artist, title, and information is located near the entrance to that gallery (to the right of the video installation).

Who is depicted here?

For that piece, Kehinde Wiley did not actually give us the name of the sitter. For many of his works, Wiley asks men that he meets on the street to pose for his work (although he has admitted to sometimes using models). We don't know for this piece if this is one of the men he met on the street or if this is a model.

Wiley's process of painting these portraits is very interesting. He often collaborates with the men he paints, letting them chose their poses from art history books and letting them pose in their favorite clothes. This pose is based on a painting titled "Female Prophet Anne, Who Observes the Presentation of Jesus on the Temple."

Passing/Posing (Female Prophet Anne, Who Observes the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple)

Kehinde Wiley

Contemporary Art

Kehinde Wiley presents large-scale portraits of young black men as saints and angels, in poses inspired by paintings from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. In creating these monumental paintings, Wiley borrows poses, imagery, and titles from works by master painters such as Tiepolo (1727–1804). Dressed in their everyday clothes, the figures float over flat, brightly colored backgrounds suggestive of infinite space. By placing these "new" subjects within the context of art history, Wiley challenges the prevailing representations of black men in contemporary American society.

ARTIST Kehinde Wiley, American, born 1977

MEDIUM Oil on canvas mounted on panel

DATES 2003

DIMENSIONS 96 x 60 x 1 1/2 in. (243.8 x 152.4 x 3.8 cm)

COLLECTIONS Contemporary Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 2003.90.2

CREDIT LINE Mary Smith Dorward Fund and Healy Purchase Fund B

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Young black man standing in a dramatic pose with his head turned in profile (to his proper right), his eyes gazing at his uplifted hand. The number 30 is on the v-neck jersey he's wearing. A large, ornate halo surrounds his head and shoulders. The canvas is arched at top and is decorated with ornate and intertwined floral scrolls.

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

RECORD COMPLETENESS

Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.

Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

Is this an original painting or a copy?

Firstly, there's no plaque with name of artist and the color doesn't look like paint. What kind of paint does the artist use?

Who is depicted here?