Title: Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps
Artist: Kehinde Wiley
Place of Origin: New York, USA
Date: 2005
Dimensions: 108” x 108”
Materials: oil on canvas
Though nearly four centuries following Velazquez’s painting, this work by Kehinde Wiley also contemplates the individual as they compare to systems of power. Wiley quite obviously references the early 19th century work by Jacques-Louis David, Napoleon Crossing the Alps. His method of “street casting” for portraits places ordinary African Americans in a position traditionally held only by powerful white men. By appropriating imagery from a masterpiece of art created two hundred years prior, Wiley further questions portraiture tradition. He includes elements of hip hop fashion blended seamlessly with the French style from the reference painting. Wiley as the artist has accomplished something with this work that artists continue to do in modern art. He applies multiple aesthetics, even obviously re-using imagery, to draw upon the connotations of each while creating his own meaning. Wiley makes us question the ways that African Americans have been depicted in art historically at the same time as he puns on the connection between larger-than-life hip hop culture and the overblown masculinity and power displayed in traditional military portraits. As an artist, he draws from historical traditions of art and mixes it with styles and aesthetics that are, for reasons of prejudice and power, not considered in the same league as “fine art.” This work makes us questions what is considered art and who has the authority to decide that.
Dr. Gayle Clemans, “Kehinde Wiley, Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps,” Smarthistory, December 21, 2016, https://smarthistory.org/kehinde-wiley-napoleon-leading-the-army-over-the-alps/.
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