NARRATOR: ArtistTitus Kaphar places William Lee, George Washington's enslaved valet, front and center in this painting. That would have been unheard of during Lee's lifetime.

TITUS KAPHAR: I felt a kind of freedom to explore and tell the story that wasn’t told, but in my mind and my understanding of this country, had to be true. And that is there were dignified black people who existed with intelligence, purpose and power, and even though those are not the kinds of representations that we find on many museum walls, I wanted to give myself permission to imagine William Lee in that way.

I’m not a historical painter. I have no interest in being a historian.There’s just so much unknown. Those spaces of the unknown is where our imagination is activated—when we see what should be a portrait, but there’s no face there. What you have is this tar on the surface, which is pure blackness. It is blackness in all of its complexity and all of its darkness and all of its depth and all of its beauty.

NARRATOR: William Lee organized Washington's personal affairs, carried messages, and accompanied him nearly everywhere during the Revolutionary War. Some portraits of Washington, such as the one by John Trumbull in this gallery, also depict a figure believed to be Lee—but as a type, not a real person.

TITUS KAPHAR: Who is Billy? Who is William Lee? I wish we knew what brought Billy Lee joy. I wish we knew what he hoped for. I wish we knew what he dreamed about. I wish we knew what he feared. I wish we knew what he loved. I wish I knew what he would think of this painting.