This spring I went to see the exhibition Kehinde Wiley: An Archaeology of Silence at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The supersized scale, vivid botanical backdrops, and haunting, tragic poses of Kehinde Wiley‘s portraits of Black women and men made for a powerful viewing experience.

The richly colored, monumental paintings were paired with life-size bronze sculptures elevated on plinths, each one spotlit in a dim room.

Wiley uses “the visual language of heroes, martyrs, and saints as portrayed in Western European historical art,” says MFAH. His The Death of Hyacinth, for example — a woman in a red blouse and ripped jeans — references a mid-1700s painting called The Death of Hyacinthus…

…complete with orange drapery, a dropped racket, and white flowers.

These reimagined classical figures, vulnerable and prone, cut down in their youth, are a commentary on society’s violence toward Black individuals.

They are also beautiful and life affirming. In each painting, the subject is portrayed with individuality and dignity against a backdrop of life represented by twining vines, flowers, and leaves.

Those familiar with the classical references would get even more out of the show, I imagine.

But the tenderness of representation is moving even without an extensive knowledge of art history.

If you have a chance to see the exhibition, I recommend it. It opened in San Francisco and then went to Houston. Next up are Miami and Minneapolis:

• Pérez Art Museum Miami (July 26, 2024–January 12, 2025)
• Minneapolis Institute of Art (February 22–June 22, 2025)

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Digging Deeper

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