jan 1, 2012 - Judith and Holofernes | Kehinde Wiley

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Kehinde Wiley (born 1977) is an American portrait painter based in New York City, who is known for his highly naturalistic paintings of Black people, frequently referencing the work of Old Master paintings (any painter of skill who worked in Europe before about 1800, or a painting by such an artist). He was commissioned by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery to paint a portrait of Barack Obama, and was included in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2018.
In this painting, made in 2012, Judith is a black woman, wearing a blue dress, barefooted. Her mountain of hair is above her head in a complicated hair do, and she is holding a white woman’s head - Holofernes - by her hair. She is looking directly at the viewer with a hard expression, daring. Behind her is a floral background. The composition is inspired by a 17th-century painting by Giovanni Baglione. Many of Wiley’s portraits are of people he meets on the street, Judith being someone he met in a shopping mall and Holofernes his assistant (harsh).

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