From the day Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald were announced as the artists charged with painting former President Barack Obama and First lady Michelle Obama, Leslie Smith III waited in suspense for the reveal.
“I was both surprised and amazed with the finished paintings,” says Smith, an associate professor of painting and drawing at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “They both undoubtedly exhibit the nuances of each artists’ current studio practices while remaining sensitive to specific archetypal characteristics of both President Obama and Michelle Obama.”
The former first couple’s official portraits were recently unveiled at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. While other presidential portraits have been more straight-forward, the portraits of the Obamas have drawn attention for their much less conventional style.
“It is the modesty of Wiley’s painting of Obama that I enjoy. It exhibits a different and timely representation of Black masculinity. His painting of Obama includes subtle signifiers of his past, including specific flowers from Kenya, Hawaii and Chicago,” Smith says. “I enjoy that the symbolism is not didactic or overwhelming. I am most intrigued by Wiley’s choice to obscure the ground Obama’s feet are planted on. Confusing the placement of the horizon-line flattens the foreground of the painting, making it appears as if it could be perceived as background or foreground. In effect giving Obama a majestic presence. As if he were levitating in the moment captured by Wiley’s painting.”The former first couple’s official portraits were recently unveiled at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. While other presidential portraits have been more straight-forward, the portraits of the Obamas have drawn attention for their much less conventional style.