Left: Thomas Gainsboroughs The Blue Boy (ca.
- installation view in the Thornton Portrait Gallery at The Huntington.
Photo: Joshua White.
Left: Thomas Gainsborough’s “The Blue Boy” (ca. 1770) installation view in the Thornton Portrait Gallery at The Huntington. Photo: Joshua White. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.Right: Kehinde Wiley’s “A Portrait of a Young Gentleman” (2021) installation view in the Thornton Portrait Gallery at The Huntington. Photo: Joshua White. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
Photo: Joshua White.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
For decades, Thomas Gainsborough’sThe Blue Boyhas been a hallmark of European portrait traditions.
Kehinde Wiley, “A Portrait of a Young Gentleman,” 2021. Oil on linen, 87 × 64 × 5 1/4 in. (frame). © Kehinde Wiley. Collection of The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, and commissioned through Roberts Projects, Los Angeles.
These intentional similarities pay homage to classical techniques while also reimagining Western European art to be more inclusive.
I was taken by their imagery, their sheer spectacle, and, of course, their beauty.
That distance gave me a removed freedom.
Kehinde Wiley’s “A Portrait of a Young Gentleman” (2021) installation view in the Thornton Portrait Gallery at The Huntington. Photo: Joshua White. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
Kehinde Wiley, A Portrait of a Young Gentleman, 2021.
Oil on linen, 87 64 5 1/4 in.
Photo: Joshua White.
Thomas Gainsborough’s “The Blue Boy” (ca. 1770) installation view in the Thornton Portrait Gallery at The Huntington. Photo: Joshua White. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
It will be on display at The Huntington until January 3, 2022.
Thomas Gainsboroughs The Blue Boy (ca.
Installation view in the Thornton Portrait Gallery at The Huntington. Left to right: Joshua Reynolds, “Diana (Sackville), Viscountess Crosbie,” 1777; Kehinde Wiley, “A Portrait of a Young Gentleman,” 2021; Thomas Gainsborough, “Elizabeth (Jenks) Beaufoy, later Elizabeth Pycroft,” ca. 1780. Photo: Joshua White. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
- installation view in the Thornton Portrait Gallery at The Huntington.
Photo: Joshua White.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
Installation view in the Thornton Portrait Gallery at The Huntington. Photo: Joshua White. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
Installation view in the Thornton Portrait Gallery at The Huntington.
Photo: Joshua White.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
Installation view in the Thornton Portrait Gallery at The Huntington. Photo: Joshua White. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
Installation view in the Thornton Portrait Gallery at The Huntington.
Photo: Joshua White.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
