Lynette Yiadom-Boakye

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye

A true pioneer, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s fictional portraits have influenced the 21st century renaissance of the black figure in mainstream art. 

The Tate opened in 1897. It took until 2021 for a black woman to have a solo show there.

The pioneering artist Lynette Yiadom Boakye was born in London, 1977 to Ghanaian immigrants. She studied Fine Art at St Martins and has been painting ever since. Lynette’s fictional portraits contributed to the 21st century renaissance of the black figure in mainstream art. 

Painting of two black men in underwear putting on socks on a dark background

The Generosity, 2010

Her figurative oil paintings exist outside of a historical context and place, and are entirely fictional. The paintings are a mixture of her imagination, memory, and found imagery. Their timelessness celebrates Blackness on its own terms. They are about feeling, and how we have empathy with her portraits. 

Lynette’s timeless and radical portraits continue to break through a historically white art world.

Painting of black woman in yellow top and orange ribbon in hair on dark brown background

All that we may afford, 2006

Painting of woman sat with green hue over

Magret de Canard, 2005

Painting of black woman in red coat with deep red background

First, 2004


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