Kehinde Wiley
1977–

Introduction

Kehinde Wiley (born February 28, 1977) is an American portrait painter based in New York City. He is known for his naturalistic paintings of black people that reference the work of Old Master paintings. In 2017, Wiley was commissioned to paint former President Barack Obama's portrait for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. The Columbus Museum of Art hosted an exhibition of his work in 2007 and describes his paintings as "heroic portraits which address the image and status of young African-American men in contemporary culture."

Wiley was included in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2018.

Wikidata identifier

Q329092

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Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Accessed November 21, 2024.

Country of birth

United States

Roles

Artist, painter, portraitist

ULAN identifier

500126014

Names

Kehinde Wiley

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Information from the Getty Research Institute's Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License. Accessed November 21, 2024.


On the Hour

A 30-second online art project:
Maya Man, A Realistic Day In My Life Living In New York City

Learn more about this project

Learn more at whitney.org/artport

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