Officer of the Hussars

2007

Kehinde Wiley American, born 1977

On View

About Children, Level 2, South Wing

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About the Artwork

Kehinde Wiley begins his anachronistic compositions by wandering casually through urban neighborhoods until someone’s distinct appearance and style catches his eye. He invites the person to his studio, where they page through art history books to select a classic portrait. The “model” recreates the pose, which Wiley photographs for reference. In such paintings as Officer of the Hussars, Wiley inserts young African Americans into a tradition that has previously excluded them. Sitting high on a leopard skin saddle and wielding a sabre, Wiley’s model mirrors the subject of Théodore Géricault’s The Officer of the Hussars (1812; Musée du Louvre). His garments—an athletic t-shirt, low-riding jeans, and Timberland shoes—differ from those of the European cavalry officer but serve to project a parallel image of confident masculine power. Bringing visual codes into convergence, Wiley answers what he believes is the most important question in contemporary America: “Why do we continue to undervalue the lives of young black men?”

From Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 89 (2015)

Title Officer of the Hussars

Artwork Date 2007

Artist Kehinde Wiley

Life Dates born 1977

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Framed: 108 3/16 × 105 7/16 × 1 7/16 inches (274.8 × 267.8 × 3.7 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department African American Art

Credit Museum Purchase, Friends of African and African American Art

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 2008.3

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Provenance

2008-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Exhibition History

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Published References

Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic. Exh. cat., Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn, New York, 2015, pp. 68-69 (ill.).

Tuite, Diana, ed. Bob Thompson: This House is Mine. Exh. cat., Colby College Museum of Art. New Haven, 2021, p. 66 (fig. 22).

Schmuckli, Claudia, Valerie Cassel Oliver, and Emil Wilbekin, and Janna Keegan. Kehinde Wiley: An Archaeology of Silence. New York, 2023, p. 15 (fig. 1).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Kehinde Wiley, Officer of the Hussars, 2007, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum Purchase, Friends of African and African American Art, 2008.3.