This coming Monday, February 12, 2018, there will be a portrait unveiling for President and Mrs. Barack Obama at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.
The two portraits were commissioned by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Artist Kehinde Wiley — best known for his vibrant, large-scale paintings of African Americans — was selected to create President Obama’s portrait. Baltimore-based artist Amy Sherald, first-prize winner of the Portrait Gallery’s 2016 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, was selected to paint Mrs. Obama.
Wiley’s painting will be permanently installed in the Portrait Gallery’s acclaimed “America’s Presidents” exhibition. Sherald’s painting will be on view in the museum’s “Recent Acquisitions” corridor through early November 2018.
Sign up to receive Fine Art Today, the weekly e-newsletter from
Fine Art Connoisseur magazine.
