Named for a beloved former Head of School, the Ethel Grey Stringfellow Art Case brightens Chapin’s entryway with rotating displays of unique artwork, often reflecting the subjects our students are discovering in their classes. Last month, in celebration of Black History Month, beautiful porcelain pieces featuring works by New York City-based portrait painter Kehinde Wiley were on display – a timely choice, as he was the artist behind the recently unveiled official portrait of former president Barack Obama.
In an effort to learn more about Kehinde Wiley, and to understand how President Obama’s portrait fits into the history of art, Class 4 welcomed a special guest during a recent class gathering, Chapin parent and art dealer Rebecca Kong. Ms. Kong worked with Mr. Wiley to produce the gorgeous plates (pictured above), which were on display in the case.
“To sell art, you have to tell its story. No one wants to buy art unless they know what it is trying to say,” she began. To demonstrate how portraits can tell us a story about a person, Ms. Kong helped the students to compare an official photograph of Michelle Obama with her new official portrait, painted by Baltimore-based artist Amy Sherald.
The students noted that in the photograph Mrs. Obama stands confidently at a table in the White House and is dressed professionally in a simple dress and pearls. In the portrait, however, she wears a colorfully printed floor-length gown and is posed casually in a chair in an indistinct location. One student pointed out that her skin tone in the portrait looks grey. “The artist wanted to take her skin color out of her identity,” Ms. Kong explained. She also noted that when we study a portrait we can look for clues that give us more information. “Everything is there for a reason. All symbols matter.”
To practice this further, the group looked at several different portraits and carefully studied them to find the clues hidden within. For example, after examining a painting of Dr. Hayot, the students shared the subtle details that would tell someone that she is a Head of School. “I can tell from the background that she is at a school,” one student noticed. “She is holding books and is professionally dressed,” added another.
They did the same with a portrait of Queen Elizabeth and discovered that her fancy clothes and snow-white skin tell us that she is upper class, while her ornate jewelry and crown indicate that she is royalty. “Her hand is resting on a globe to represent her desire to conquer the world,” added Ms. Kong.
Next, they moved on to the official presidential portraits, beginning with George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, Harry S. Truman, Jimmy Carter, and Andrew Jackson. “What do their poses say about them?” Ms. Kong asked.
The students, with help from their guest, determined that Washington posed in civilian clothes, rather than his military uniform, to demonstrate that he was “for the people”; his arm is extended to give him a strong and welcoming presence. They also noticed that in the majority of the presidential portraits the subjects look very serious and are standing in powerful poses while wearing business suits. “They are all older white men,” another student noted.
Two portraits, however, stood out as unique. The first was John F. Kennedy, who is portrayed with his arms folded and his eyes cast down. “It looks like he is thinking about something,” one student shared. Ms. Kong explained the reason his portrait looks a bit different could be because it was painted posthumously, after his assassination. The second portrait, Abraham Lincoln, was also posthumous, but stands out due to the subject’s casual pose. Lincoln was painted sitting in a chair and leaning forward, to show that he is listening.
As they turned their attention to Barack Obama’s new portrait, the group noticed that he modeled his pose after Lincoln, who is one of his personal heroes. “He is leaning forward in his chair. He is approachable. He is listening. He wants to be like you,” Ms. Kong explained.
When they compared President Obama’s portrait to those of the 43 presidents before, the students saw that it was much more colorful and unique. “He wants to be remembered as different,” Ms. Kong explained. “He wants to break from the past.” President Obama is pictured surrounded by flowers that represent his background: Jasmine, a Hawaiian flower to represent his mother, African Blue Lilies to represent his father, and Chrysanthemums, the flower of Chicago, where he began his career as a civil rights attorney and met his wife, Michelle. As they looked closer, the students noticed that the greenery in the painting seems to be growing up Barack Obama’s legs. Ms. Kong shared that this represents that the flowers are a part of him. “He can’t escape the reality of who he is and his history,” she noted.
President Obama chose from a large selection of artists for his portrait, and selected Kehinde Wiley, a renowned artist from a similar background. Both were raised by single, American mothers and had African fathers who were absent from their lives.
For this commission Mr. Wiley painted a man known around the world, but his typical subjects are everyday people. He began his career by walking up to strangers in his neighborhood in Harlem and asking to paint them. Those who agreed were brought to his studio and given books full of portraits of nobility throughout history, which they flipped through to select a pose. “By giving these people the dignity of these strong poses, he makes us think about power and see these ‘invisible,’ normal people in a new way,” Ms. Kong explained.
Mr. Wiley’s portrait of Barack Obama hangs in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C., where it will be observed by visitors for generations to come. “So, if a woman is president one day, her portrait would hang in the National Gallery too?” one hopeful student asked. Her teacher smiled as he proudly replied, “Not if… when.”