Posted on 10/08/2009 12:05:05 PM PDT by Atlas Sneezed
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, when his eyesight was failing:
The Snail (L'escargot), by Henri Matisse, Nice-Cimiez, Hotel Regina, [summer 1952-early] 1953, Gouache on paper, cut and pasted, on white paper, 9'4 3/4" x 9' 5" (287 x 288 cm) collection Tate Gallery, London.
I had planned to post them for comparison, and to share my admiration for both. But when I saw them side-by-side, the similarity clarified. I realized that the new one was EXACTLY the same composition as the Matisse, rotated 90 degrees.
Is this fraud? If the new piece has been titled "Homage to Collage" or "Matisse in Blue", I would think the artist wasn't trying to hide the copying. But I wonder whether anyone realized that the artist copied almost every aspect of a famous work to sell her artwork. Perhaps everyone involved knew that this is a re-colored reprint. If not, it seems to be an embarrassment for the "sophisticates" who failed to spot a copy hiding in plain sight.
As too many people say about abstract expressionist art: "Even I could have done THAT!"
The original itself is a hoax. Most modern art is.
kudos. that also looks like something my kids made in grad school. ;)
Looks almost the same Beelzebubba.
It is clearly a ripoff of the Matisse. And Matisse used purer, more saturated colors. I believe this was when he started using colored paper because he could not longer hold a paintbrush.
grade school i meant, not grad school
With a little guidance, a four-year-old could make “art” like that.
Still waiting for an example of “art”....
Grad school? You paid to have them do that??
My kids used to make those too.
Matisse on the Left, White House Art on the Right. Not exactly the same. I always thought that the later Matisse was something of a fraud and and a hack, btw.
The Snail (L'escargot), by Henri Matisse
I guess we just aren’t “sophisticated” enough to get it.
Clearly a ripoff. Maybe it should be titled “An Homage To A Better Artist Than I.”
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Henri Matisse, L'Escargot.
I guess I should be saving my leftover construction paper and turning them into “works of art.”
Maybe I’ll start saving my bellybutton lint too.
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