U.S. Department of State
Kehinde Wiley
PainterKnown for:
Old Master-style portraits of contemporary Black subjects; the official portrait of Barack Obama (2018)
Education:
San Francisco Art Institute (BFA, 1999); Yale University School of Art (MFA, 2001)
Kehinde Wiley inserts contemporary Black men and women into the compositional poses of Old Master portraits - against elaborate patterned backgrounds derived from wallpaper, Islamic art, and European decorative tradition - producing paintings that simultaneously affirm and critique the exclusions of canonical Western art history. He was commissioned to paint the official portrait of Barack Obama for the National Portrait Gallery in 2018. He has since expanded his practice to sculpture and stained glass, and runs studios in New York, Beijing, and Dakar.
Kehinde Wiley's Gear List(3)
Moleskine
Connection note
Wiley has discussed using sketchbooks for initial figure and composition studies in multiple interviews about his working process, noting the importance of drawing from life before developing his large-scale painted compositions.
Product description
The Moleskine notebook, revived from a nineteenth-century French stationer's design in 1997, became a standard sketchbook among illustrators, architects, and artists working in the early twenty-first century. Its acid-free paper, lay-flat binding, and compact size made it practical for drawing from life. The brand has cited Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, and Henri Matisse among the historical users of the original French version, though the connection is informal.
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Last updated March 20, 2026
