Free Republic

Yesterday, the White House announced that it was removing Alma Thomas’ plagiaristic piece “Watusi (Hard Edge)” from its walls. The White House announced that the painting was moved “because it didn’t fit the space right.” The Washington Post pointed out that posters at FreeRepublic.com had examined the similarity between “Watusi (Hard Edge)” and Henri Matisse’s “The Snail” (1953), ignoring the fact that Big Hollywood actually broke the story. The Washington Post covered for the White House, explaining, “Stephens’s explanation makes sense because it is inconceivable that the White House’s art experts would imagine Thomas’s painting was fraudulent or a copy...

A painting by the artist Alma W. Thomas, which had been selected to go on Michelle Obama's wall in her East Wing office, will no longer be mounted. "The reason why it was moved was because it didn't fit the space right," Semonti Stephens, the first lady's deputy press secretary, said of "Watusi (Hard Edge)," which had been borrowed from the Hirshhorn Museum. Stephens noted that the Obamas still "have a piece of [Thomas's] work in the residence. So they appreciate the artist's work." A Thomas artwork titled "Sky Light," also on loan from the Hirshhorn, hangs in the family's...

.SNIPARTnews has reported that the White House has quietly de-listed a painting by Alma W. Thomas that it chose last month, among some 45 pieces borrowed from several Washington museums, to decorate the private White House residence and the West and East Wings. Titled, “Watusi (Hard Edge)” from 1963, the work takes a Matisse collage and, as Holland Cotter wrote in The New York Times, praising the selection, “shifts the pieces around, cools the colors down, and adds a title that refers to a Chubby Checker song.” “But through copying Matisse,” Mr. Cotter added, “she began to work out a...

McNoughton's response to liberal criticisms of "One Nation Under God." Incredible painting. As you move your cursor over the various images, a brief description is revealed on the side panel.

Back when Norman Rockwell ruled Saturday evenings, Adobe wasn't even a gleam in some nerd's eye, but a new book shows that the painter was, nevertheless, a photoshop god. Very few Gizmodo readers were even born when Rockwell painted his last Saturday Evening Post cover, but we all know them. You hear that name and suddenly you can picture those overly detailed, cartoonishly dramatic but ultimately kinda corny depictions of American life. Well, Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera, written and compiled by Ron Schick, has given me immense newfound respect for the man, for the meticulous photography, the real people...

NEW YORK — Shepard Fairey's claim that he had the right to use a news photo to create his famous Barack Obama "HOPE" poster became a widely watched court case about fair use that now appears to have nearly collapsed. By Friday night, his attorneys – led by Anthony Falzone, executive director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford University – said they intend to withdraw from the case and said the artist had misled them by fabricating information and destroying other material. Fairey himself admitted that he didn't use The Associated Press photo of Obama seated next to...

"Shepard Fairey has now been forced to admit that he sued the AP under false pretenses by lying about which AP photograph he used to make the Hope and Progress posters," Kasi said. "Mr. Fairey has also now admitted to the AP that he fabricated and attempted to destroy other evidence in an effort to bolster his fair use case and cover up his previous lies and omissions." Kasi said the AP would continue to "vigorously pursue its countersuit alleging that Fairey willfully infringed the AP's copyright in the close-up photo of then-Sen. Obama."

A statement emerged tonight from AP concerning its long battle with artist Shepard Fairey over his use of an AP photo as the basic image for his famous Obama campaign poster. AP claims that Fairey's attorneys admit he tried to destroy some evidence, faking others and that his attorneys have sought to get off the case. Statement from Srinandan R. Kasi, VP and General Counsel, The Associated Press, follows. * Striking at the heart of his fair use case against the AP, Shepard Fairey has now been forced to admit that he sued the AP under false pretenses by lying...

Here is a quote from Mao, concerning art: "There is in fact no such thing as art for art's sake, art that stands above classes, art that is detached from or independent of politics. Proletarian literature and art are part of the whole proletarian revolutionary cause." Why does that sound familar? Oh yeah...A 39-year-old Los Angeles film producer is accusing the National Endowment for the Arts of initiating a "call to action" to artists to support President Obama's domestic agenda. The film producer, Patrick Courrielche, said he was one of roughly 75 artists, musicians, writers, poets and others on an...

A painting from 1617 appears to show a type of telescope thought not to have been built until much later. It's hard to find an invention more emblematic of the birth of modern science than the telescope. And yet surprisingly little is known about its early development. The inventor of the telescope remains unknown to this day. Now a study of the paintings of Jan Brueghel the Elder, a Flemish painter of the Baroque era who was working in Amsterdam at the beginning of the 17th century, is throwing some light on the early development of the telescope. It has...

A portrait of a young woman thought to be created by a 19th century German artist and sold two years ago for about $19,000 is now being attributed by art experts to Leonardo da Vinci and valued at more than $150 million. The unsigned chalk, ink and pencil drawing, known as "La Bella Principessa," was matched to Leonardo via a technique more suited to a crime lab than an art studio — a fingerprint and palm print found on the 13 1/2-inch-by-10-inch work. Peter Paul Biro, a Montreal-based forensic art expert, said the print of an index or middle finger...

The controversial works are part of a wider exhibition of 60 pieces that are being shown for two weeks from Wednesday at the former Holy Trinity Church, now known as One Marylebone, in central London. The exhibition featuring 16 artists, called The Age of Marvellous, coincides with the Frieze Art Fair in nearby Regent's Park. Organisers say the exhibition is designed to “integrate areas of human knowledge that exist outside the boundaries of traditional art making”. Among the more controversial pieces on display in the historic church, which was built in 1825 by Sir John Soane, are two from Paul...

Art Market Fingerprint points to $19,000 portrait being revalued as £100m work by Leonardo da Vinci 12 October 2009   ATG correspondent SIMON HEWITT gains exclusive access to the evidence used to unveil what the world’s leading scholars say is the the first major Leonardo Da Vinci find for 100 years.   New scientific techniques have uncovered evidence that this picture is a previously unrecognised work by Leonardo da Vinci.  Is this 13 x 9in (33 x 24cm) portrait, in chalk, pen and ink on vellum, mounted on an oak board, a long-lost work by Leonardo da Vinci? That...

Bigger Version here.

Like his art? Let him know: larryart@insightbb.comThanks again Larry, keep up the great work!

Yesterday, the NYT ran a story about the White House acquiring art. It included a slide show of a dozen artworks. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/arts/design/07borrow.html?_r=1 This Freeper took a look and found one abstract work he admired:"Watusi (Hard Edge)," by Alma Thomas, a longtime Washington resident who is an African-American painter. Photo: Gift of Vincent Melzac/Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. As I admired it, I thought it reminiscent, even derivative of a favorite artwork of mine by Matisse. I recall seeing that one decades ago at the Tate Gallery in London. A giant collage (about ten feet tall) from late in Matisse's life,...

The Obamas’ taste in art is as broad as abstract canvases by Josef Albers, American Indian scenes by George Catlin and paintings by little-known figures like Alma Thomas, the African-American Expressionist painter. Works by those artists were among some 45 pieces that the first couple borrowed from several Washington museums to decorate their private White House residence and the West and East Wings, the White House press office announced on Tuesday.

If you believe, as Maurizio Seracini does, that Leonardo da Vinci’s greatest painting is hidden inside a wall in Florence’s city hall, then there are two essential techniques for finding it. As usual, Leonardo anticipated both of them. First, concentrate on scientific gadgetry. After spotting what seemed to be a clue to Leonardo’s painting left by another 16th-century artist, Dr. Seracini led an international team of scientists in mapping every millimeter of the wall and surrounding room with lasers, radar, ultraviolet light and infrared cameras. Once they identified the likely hiding place, they developed devices to detect the painting by...

Whoopi Goldberg offered a practical defense — that what Polanski did was not "rape-rape," a distinction she left imprecisely delineated. Which may leave you with the vague impression that this was one of those deals where you're in a bar, and the gal says to you she's in 10th grade, and you find out afterward she's only in seventh.

Even though Obama's popularity has been sliding significantly, Shepard Fairey, designer of the viral blue-and-red Manifest Hope poster, thinks it's the perfect time to release a slick and comprehensive anthology of celebratory Obama-related artworks: Art for Obama, which he co-edited with Evolutionary Media Group founder Jennifer Gross, comes out October 2. In addition to getting a look at the imagery, we spoke with Fairey about Obama's approval ratings, how political art reaches beyond politics, and his thoughts on the artistic deification of our leader.Watch the Slideshow Siegel: Tell us about the idea behind Art for Obama. Fairey: People undervalue...

Mothering God by Sandra Miesel    10/03/09     Like a sunbeam passing through a windowpane, the Eternal Light entered and exited His mother's body without harming the seal of her virginity. In fact, nearly all patristic and medieval authorities taught that her delivery of Jesus was as quick and miraculous as her conception of Him.   But if being born of a virgin points to Christ's divinity, developing in the womb of a woman and being fed by her breasts bear powerful witness to His humanity. Both before and after birth, in signs visible to others, the God-Man...

Last week, we learned of that possibly unethical connection between the White House and the NEA, a public agency instituted to support excellence in art by providing taxpayer funds via grants to all deserving artists. However, it's not supposed to be promoting the agenda of the current administration. The conference call included artists who had been involved with President Obama's 2008 election campaign and other NEA grant recipients and community stakeholders.

Long a subject of derision from conservatives, the National Endowment for the Arts ran into more trouble earlier this month when it was revealed NEA funding was granted to artists for creating works of art designed to promote President Obama and his domestic policy agenda. This was a clear case of the taxpayer-supported NEA stepping outside the ideals under which it was created. While some form of federal funding for the arts has occurred practically since our nation’s founding, the National Endowment was created by an act of Congress and signed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 as part of...

Rare Artwork by Mount Rushmore Creator For years, it sat as a paperweight in the home of Jeane Funkhouser. In fact, her daughter, Charlene Mitchell, remembers having to dust under it the entire time she was growing up. It turns out she was dusting under what may be worth millions of dollars. For several decades, the Victoria family has been in possession of an extremely rare Steuben Glass George Washington head created by artist Gutzon Borglum, the man behind the Mount Rushmore sculpture. Funkhouser, also an artist, was given the model as a gift from Borglum's son, Lincoln Borglum, in...

Propaganda, Health Care and ACORN: Full Context of NEA Conference Call Reveals Disturbing Pattern by John Nolte At first glance, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) conference call of August 10th, 2009 sounds innocent enough because it’s supposedly been organized by Michael Skolnik, political director for Russell Simmons and someone not officially associated with any government agency. Skolnik appears to be acting independently as a concerned citizen and to have taken it upon himself to gather together a group of artists and art organizations hoping to move them towards “national service.” And how nice of the White House, the...

Michelle Malkin has a picture of the promotional poster for the "Islam on Capitol Hill" rally this Friday: Compare with the Obama campaign poster promoting his speech in Germany: Coincidence???

Kseniya Simonova's Amazing Sand Drawing Kseniya Simonova is a Ukrainian artist who just won Ukraine's version of "America's Got Talent." She uses a giant light box, dramatic music, imagination and "sand painting" skills to interpret Germany's invasion and occupation of Ukraine during WWII.

The American artist has created a portfolio of inflatable works using ordinary party balloons, which resemble menacing deep sea creatures. Mr Hackenwerth spends up to three days building each piece by inflating the balloons and twisting them together to make the unusual shapes. Some of his designs are so big and ambitious that the 39-year-old has to "wrestle" the balloons into place – his largest sculpture was over 40ft long. Mr Hackenwerth, from New York, gets through so many balloons that he has to buy them in bulk, ordering 5,000 at a time. He started using balloons for his art...

The Sand Painting of Kseniya Simonova Posted by Moe Lane Sunday, September 20th To describe it is to do it a disservice: it must be watched to be appreciated. Like Andrew Malcolm, I found it amazing, and I think that you will too. Check URL

The creator of the barrel monster, a popular work of art made out of construction barrels, is working on another masterpiece in Raleigh. While the old monster resembled an angry pedestrian, the new one looks like a dinosaur. The 17 foot tall dinosaur is made out of orange and yellow construction barrels. It will be on display this weekend at a festival that celebrates creativity in the Triangle.

One example of Anti-ACORN Guerilla Art Popping Up in LA. For the other photo visit Hot Air.

Bob Dylan has shape-shifted more times in his career than any other pop musician. His music has always reflected that need to seek out new forms of self-expression. What's less known is that his paintings function in the same way -- providing virtual chapter markings and sign posts in a lifetime filled with twists and turns. In a museum show that's scheduled to open in Europe in 2010, Dylan will exhibit nearly 100 of his works, including the world premiere of 30 large-format paintings from the artist's upcoming "Brazil" series. The show will also feature original paintings from Dylan's "The...

I've gotten to know Chris a bit over the last year or so. I love his artwork. Most is not political in nature, but he sent this to me earlier today and I asked if it was okay if I shared this at FR. Hope y'all enjoy.

Ever since Glenn Beck took to the Fox television airwaves recently to offer a bizarre reading of the art commissioned 70 years ago for New York's Rockefeller Center, I've been puzzled by the graphic design element of his 9-12 Project. The logo (pictured) for his affiliated groups' rally in Washington, D.C., this weekend derives from century-old communist, socialist and other left-wing designs. Those were the motifs he railed against in his Rockefeller rant. For the logo, three raised and clenched red fists are superimposed over the U.S. Capitol. Obviously the bloody fist represents the tea-baggers' themes of unity and resistance....

Von Hildebrand remarks further that it's vitally important for human beings to be aware of their ontological value -- their dignity as persons made in God's image and likeness. The pantheistic view that we're but drops in an immense universe is fake humility, a subtle lack of gratitude for the fact that God -- in His infinite bounty and generosity -- has metaphysically "knighted" us. Apart from ontological values that are more or less beautiful according to their ontological rank, von Hildebrand speaks about qualitative values, moral values, intellectual values, and aesthetical values, to mention the most important ones. These...

I accidentally stumbled upon this. YOU WILL ENJOY THIS YOUTUBE

After 'Obama Joker' debacle, Flickr changes takedown policy September 2, 2009 Flickr came out looking like the bad guy when it removed an image of President Obama portrayed as the Joker from "The Dark Knight." Onlookers accused Flickr of having a "political agenda" and being a "bully." For the most part, Flickr has stuck to a retort along the lines of: Sorry, kids, but that's the way the law works. But the Yahoo-owned photo-sharing site has since retreated, at least in one respect. Flickr revised its takedown policy Tuesday to be more clear when something has been removed as a...

On Wednesday Glenn Beck continued reporting on the story from the previous day's show which detailed a secret push by the Obama administration to use the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to create (or some would say, maintain) a cult of personality around President Obama.

Last week, NEA Communications Director Yosi Sergent denied claims that memos asking artists to draft Obama policy art came from his office at NEA. They did. You can see those memos themselves now, with the email addresses originating from Sergent's office at NEA. Also, the Official Obama healthcare website, Organizing For America, now features a post that calls ObamaCare opponents "Heirs of bin Laden" and "Right Wing Domestic Terrorists." And all that's just for starters.

Yes, we can! With tax dollars!* * * * *Patrick Courrielche reveals at Big Hollywood that he participated in a teleconference call in which the National Endowment for the Arts --the largest funder of the arts in the U.S.-- encouraged artists to create pro-Obama art: I was invited by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to take part in a conference call that invited a group of rising artist and art community luminaries “to help lay a new foundation for growth, focusing on core areas of the recovery agenda - health care, energy and environment, safety and security, education,...

Art student Anna Odell has been fined by Stockholm District Court after acting out a faked suicide attempt as part of an art project. Odell had denied the charges of false alarm, violent resistance and fraudulent practice, date back to January 21st 2009 when she was detained by police on Stockholm's Liljeholmen bridge following what at first appeared to be an attempt to commit suicide. She was then taken to the psychiatric ward at St. Göran's Hospital for treatment, only to reveal the following day that the whole episode had been faked as a part of her final art exam...

For centuries, Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" and her enigmatic smile have inspired as much speculation as admiration. Now she's ready to answer questions -- in Mandarin. A digital, interactive version of the renowned 16th century painting is one of 61 high-tech replicas breathing life into classical and ancient art works in the "World Classic Interactive Arts Exhibition" which opened in Beijing last week.

Once again looking to duplicate the 2008 campaign, the Obama administration is bringing in creative types who were key in helping President Obama win in November. Now in the role of government, the administration is using its power to corral these artistic community through the National Endowment for the Arts(NEA). A conference call hosted by the White House Office of Public Engagement, the NEA, and United We Serve happened on August 10th.

OTTAWA -- Ottawa artist Karen Bailey says the Defence Department is giving the cold shoulder to her attempts, in paintings and a book, to honour the work of Canadian medical personnel serving in a military hospital in Afghanistan. "They're just not interested," Ms. Bailey says of the Canadian Forces leadership. The issue does not appear to be the quality or content of Ms. Bailey's paintings showing Canadian military doctors, nurses and others working in the Kandahar hospital called Role 3, but the very attempt by Ms. Bailey to single out the medical crew for praise and recognition in a planned...

Special forces have recovered a stolen Picasso and arrested a man planning to sell the painting during a raid of his house in southern Iraq, Iraqi police said Wednesday. The painting, "The Naked Woman," apparently had been among the artwork looted from Kuwait during Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion, said police spokesman Maj. Muthana Khalid. It was seized Tuesday during a raid on the house belonging to the suspect near the mainly Shiite city of Hillah, about 60 miles (95 kilometers) south of Baghdad. Khalid said the man was trying to sell the painting for $450,000, but some Iraqi experts who...

<p>A Nebraska man who stole a painting of the Virgin Mary to finance an abortion for a teen he raped has been convicted of first-degree sexual assault and felony theft.</p>

This ancient art was made during the late Pleistocene, about 10,000 to 35,000 years ago, and has typically been the purview of art historians and anthropologists, many of whom view Paleolithic art as done by accomplished shaman-artists... Using new forensic techniques on fossil handprints of the artists and examining thousands of images, "I found that all ages and both sexes were making art, not just the senior male shamans," Guthrie said. These included hundreds of prints made as ocher, manganese, or clay negatives and a few positive prints made with pigments or mud applied to hands that were then placed...

"OMAHA, Neb. » A Nebraska man who stole a painting of the Virgin Mary to finance an abortion for a teen he raped has been convicted of first-degree sexual assault and felony theft. Aurelio Vallerillo-Sanchez, 39, of Omaha pleaded no contest to the charges Friday and faces up to 70 years in prison when sentenced in October, Douglas County prosecutor Brenda Beadle said Saturday. A call to the county public defender representing Vallerillo-Sanchez wasn't answered Saturday. Beadle said Vallerillo-Sanchez fled to Mexico with the 300-year-old painting worth $100,000 and the pregnant teen in March 2007. "The plan was that when...

Annie Leibovitz is as famous as the people she photographs but now the genius behind the lens is close to financial ruin -- a victim, some say, of her own relentless artistic ambition. Among the qualities making Leibovitz, 59, the most sought after portrait photographer in the world are legendary perfectionism and the pouring of resources into lavish sets. Over the course of her long career, nothing has been too extreme in Leibovitz's pursuit of the perfect picture. She put former action icon and current California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on top of a mountain, submerged black actress Whoopi Goldberg in...

An Omaha man had less-than-divine designs for the centuries-old Virgin Mary painting he stole from St. Cecilia Cathedral. Aurelio Vallecillo-Sanchez planned to use money from selling the sacred painting to pay for an abortion for the 14-year-old girl he raped, prosecutors say. That wasn't the only detail revealed Friday as Vallecillo-Sanchez, 39, pleaded no contest to sexual assault and theft. Prosecutors say he threatened to kill the girl and her family if she went to police about the sexual assault. Advertising And, prosecutors say, they believe Vallecillo-Sanchez was responsible for the thefts of dozens of pieces of religious artwork from...