Big Portraits

When you’re at a museum, observing a larger-than-life face in a spectacular gold frame, you can’t help but wonder, “Who is that? Why did that person get painted? Is that face a famous one?” I was recently struck by such a painting, Mrs. Hale as “Euphrosyne” by Kehinde Wiley in the North Carolina Museum of Art. Wiley’s street models are imbued with a sense of importance as they assume poses from art history.

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