Month: February 2018

Calling developer Gerald Wolkoff’s painting over of the famous graffiti murals – with no warning for the artists – “an act of pure pique and revenge for the nerve of the plaintiffs to sue” (what’s more, Wolkoff was an arrogant brat in the courtroom), Judge Frederic Block awarded each artist the maximum legal amount, $150,000, for each destroyed work.

“Ben Enwonwu’s 1974 painting of the Ife princess Adetutu Ademiluyi, known as Tutu, is a national icon in Nigeria, with poster reproductions hanging on walls in homes all over the country. The artist, regarded as the founding father of Nigerian modernism, painted three versions of Tutu and the image became a symbol of national reconciliation. But all three were lost and became the subject of much speculation.” Until late last year, that is.

The Obamas took a significant chance on both artists and were rewarded with powerful images that will shake up the expectations and assumptions of visitors to the traditionally button-down presidential galleries.

Holland Cotter: “Not only are the Obamas the first presidential couple of African descent to be enshrined in the collection. The painters they’ve picked to portray them — Kehinde Wiley, for Mr. Obama’s portrait; Amy Sherald, for Mrs. Obama — are African-American as well. Both artists have addressed the politics of race consistently in their past work, and both have done so in subtly savvy ways in these new commissions. Mr. Wiley depicts Mr. Obama not as a self-assured, standard-issue bureaucrat, but as an alert and troubled thinker. Ms. Sherald’s image of Mrs. Obama overemphasizes an element of couturial spectacle, but also projects a rock-solid cool.”