Critical Review

Commissioned Portrait of Oprah Winfrey Exhibition:

1. The National Portrait Gallery. Commissioned Portrait of Oprah Winfrey Exhibition. Senior Curator: Ann Shumard, Charlotte Ickes: Curator of Time-Based Media Art and Special Projects, and Taína Caragol: Curator of Painting, Sculpture, Latino Art, and History.
2. Oprah Winfrey stands in what appears to be a private garden or backyard in a purple dress she holds an olive branch and is surround by trees. The artist Shawn Michael Warren says that the ‘twelve trees that surround Oprah are correlated to the twelve disciples” (Warren, para. 2). He also says that the “purple of Oprah’s dress symbolizes the impact of The Color Purple has had in her life” (Warren, para. 2). The artist also acquaints Oprah’s generosity into his work through including an olive branch in her right hand (Warren, para. 2).
3. Unfortunately, there was no digital technology throughout the piece. There are no interactives or digital media pieces included in the space.
4. I think the commissioned piece is trying to argue that Oprah is one of the most influential, generous, wisest, and strongest women in history and she deserves her own portrait that conveys that message. I think the purpose of this exhibition is to give power back to women in world that has taken a lot of their power away. I think it’s trying to show young black girls and women just how successful you can be if you give every situation your all. I think the curators wanted this portrait to contribute to brining in a younger audience to see one of the most famous and generous women of all time. The exhibit does offer an explanation as to why the items in the portrait where included, why the colors were chosen, and why the landscape/background of the portrait was chosen. 
5. I believe the target audience is young women and girls because of the use of color and symbolism in the portrait. I think that the audience was meant to be young women and girls because with the inclusion of the olive branch representing generosity, elegance, kindness, and playfulness, to an extent those are words that would historically describe younger women and girls. I think that also with the background being a peaceful garden, that to me personally looks like a quiet place to read would also historically describe young women and girls wanting some excitement in their life, so they go outside somewhere quiet to read. I think the use of a brighter purple also shows the young spirit of a young teen or little girl. Especially because children are more drawn towards color when they are that young because they may not understand symbolism, so the first thing they are most likely to look at is color. The lush green color also gives off an aura of calmness. 
6. I think that the challenges faced by curators for this exhibition were that it would not be someone’s definition of an exhibition, especially because it is just one portrait and normally an exhibition would have multiple things or ideas involved, not just one singular thing. I do think it is a more difficult exhibition to realize because just by looking at it at first glance you wouldn’t really want to dig deeper necessarily because it just looks like a portrait of a famous person, when in reality there are many elements to the portrait not just the celebrity herself. I think that from what I read on the website about the portrait was that it was difficult to come across and multiple donors, at least four or five, that had to buy and put in their own money to bring in the portrait. Considering the expenses of having multiple people having to bring in the portrait I do believe it took a little while to bring in and acquire the portrait. 
7. I liked exhibition as a whole and I really loved the execution of the portrait, I think the artist did an amazing job at including symbolism, color, and feelings into this portrait. I think that the exhibition does achieve it’s intended purpose. A few issues that I have with the portrait is that there are no digital technology aspects to the exhibition. I think that the artist could’ve included a QR code that could’ve taken viewers to a website where Oprah’s books are listed for sale, her television episodes are listed to watch, merchandise is available for purchase, and her special projects that she’s worked on in her lifetime are listed. Videos of her explain what the portrait means to her and her explaining the aspects included in the painting. 

Refernces:

SisumD, “Commissioned Portrait of Oprah Winfrey,” Text, December 6, 2023, https://npg.si.edu/exhibition/oprah-winfrey.