Nadia Kisseleva is reviving the “tronie” genre of portrait painting that originated in the Netherlands, using the African woman.
Tronie painting aims to portray expression or character instead of a real likeness. The most famous tronie is Girl with a Pearl Earring, by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer.
Kisseleva’s tronies form the exhibition The Other Kind of Beauty, showing at the Nairobi National Museums.
Painted in broad brushstrokes, many paintings are of two women who look alike, side by side in similar attire and wearing hooped earrings. On closer inspection you notice subtle differences in their expressions, like the two women wearing strapless dresses in Smile. One is smiling, the other remains tight lipped.
The two Samburu girls in scarlet clothes and beaded jewellery sit side by side in the Girl Adorned. They look like sisters with different expressions — a look of uncertainty next to a timid smile. You feel like Kisseleva’s women are staring at you.
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