Napoleon Leading the Army Over the Alps. (Self-Portrait)

[NNadir]

Kehinde Wiley (1977- ), American, 2005

At the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. What a great parody, my dear NNadir!

It's wonderful, and it made me smile...

I don't know the artist, but he's obviously modern. What a great observation this painting is.

Thank you!

[NNadir]

2. Kehinde Wilde's commentary on art history is very much about enobling ordinary...

...African Americans and changing the still evident perception of them as well, "ordinary" or, regrettably, less.

My wife and my son turned me on to the PBS documentary "The Economy of Grace" about his process of working.

He walks around the streets of Brooklyn, approaching ordinary men and women with a book of his work, and asks them to model for him, and then sets them in "tongue in cheek" reproductions of classic paintings.

(In the case above, he chose himself as a model.)

In the documentary, he approached ordinary women - one, for example, was a prison guard - and explained that he was going to dress them in dresses designed and made for them by Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci - he flies to Paris to discuss the making of the dresses after touring the Louvre (on a night it's closed) - has the dresses made, flown to the US, photographs the women wearing them, and then flies to China to paint them.

It's a really fascinating documentary, particularly as it follows the process of the women, the ordinary women, as they are transformed into subjects of regal beauty. It's great to watch the reactions of the women when they arrive at the opening night of the show.

I recommend the documentary highly. It's a "can't miss."