The genre of portraiture has a rich history revolving around the empowerment of the white body, while simultaneously disenfranchising the black body. The artistic canon has set a precedent that favours Masterpieces with European tendencies and aspects. Kehinde Wiley, an African-American artist, employs the apt use of the appropriation of historical pieces to challenge the traditional art historical canon that defines masterpieces. When replacing the usual white male subjects who appear in notable positions of power, with young black men, Wiley confronts the viewer with issues of race and gender through the act of defamiliarization. By using different imagery then the audience expects in a traditional medium such as oil painting, Wiley disrupts the art historical canon and forces the viewer to reflect on their own prejudices and presumptions about what they anticipate the subject to be.
The article The Cultural Politics of Worldmaking Practice: Kehinde Wiley's …show more content…
The piece Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps, 2005, is an appropriative work referencing J.L. David’s Napoleon Crossing the Alps,1801 -a classical equestrian portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte. Historically, a portrait composition favours representing the white body. Even on the rare occasion, the model was a person of colour, the aspects of the paintings continued to favour whiteness. Christian and European cultural iconography was still overwhelmingly apparent in these portraits, and the subjects were lit in ways that favoured the lighter complexion. When black bodies are included in portraits of white models, they are used as decorative objects; adornments to the main subject of the painting. They are condescendingly shown as status symbols of the slaveholders, rather than human beings. Consequently, always depicted in the background or to the side, never obscuring the white
The article The Cultural Politics of Worldmaking Practice: Kehinde Wiley's …show more content…
The piece Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps, 2005, is an appropriative work referencing J.L. David’s Napoleon Crossing the Alps,1801 -a classical equestrian portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte. Historically, a portrait composition favours representing the white body. Even on the rare occasion, the model was a person of colour, the aspects of the paintings continued to favour whiteness. Christian and European cultural iconography was still overwhelmingly apparent in these portraits, and the subjects were lit in ways that favoured the lighter complexion. When black bodies are included in portraits of white models, they are used as decorative objects; adornments to the main subject of the painting. They are condescendingly shown as status symbols of the slaveholders, rather than human beings. Consequently, always depicted in the background or to the side, never obscuring the white