Posted on 10/07/2009 4:50:30 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Michelle Obama oversaw the transformation to the White House décor
Barack Obama's pledge to usher in a new era at the White House has borne fruit in the décor, now heaving with abstract art after a drastic makeover.
Not since the exterior had to be painted white after the British reputedly set it ablaze during the 1812 War, have the walls of the US presidential residence undergone such a startling transformation.
The landscapes, still life and portraits of the past have been ousted by bold colours, irregular shapes and squiggly lines.
Abstract works by modern art icons such as Jasper Johns and Mark Rothko, as well as sculptures by Degas, are sharing hanging space with contemporary African-American and Native-American pictures by relatively obscure artists.
The influx does not just extend to paintings – patent models for a gear cutter and a steamboat paddlewheel now sit in the Oval Office.
Michelle Obama oversaw the transformation, borrowing some 45 works from local museums to decorate both their private living quarters and the public spaces of the East and West Wings.
Other recent first families hung a few modern pieces in their living quarters – Jacqueline Kennedy liked Cezanne, Hillary Clinton put up some Kandinsky and de Kooning – but none approached the scope of the Obamas, said William Allman, the White House curator.
For their living quarters, the couple chose Glenn Ligon's Black Like Me No. 2, a 1992 "text painting" that reproduces some of the contents of Black Like Me, a 1961 book by a white man who travelled the American South disguised as a black man.
Michael Smith, the Obamas' decorator visited Harry Cooper, curator of modern and contemporary art at the National Gallery in Washington, shortly before Mr Obama's inauguration to see what could be borrowed
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I assumed (without reading the article) that was used as an example of what was removed.
We agree completely. I was in drawing class with one of those untalented people. Her work was so bad everyone was terrified that they might be asked to critique it. Then one day she announced “I have found my calling, I am an abstract painter”. She threw some paint at the canvas and won a ribbon in the next student show. Oh well!
My favorite is Zeichnung. It reminds me of Japanese Shodo calligraphy.
I had to Google that one. Looks very similar to Anime. Is it?
No, I believe he has this painting over his bed...
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16193297#
According to http://flavorwire.com/42206/obamas-select-art-for-white-house-media-analysis-ensues: "One of the edgier pieces on loan to the Obamas is a 1992 work by Glenn Ligon, Black Like Me #2, a text-based painting greatly informed by the artist’s experience as an African-American gay man living in the United States."
"...artist’s experience as an African-American gay man living in the United States."
Hmmm ... but no. Catlin is one of the artists the Obama's wanted. See this Washington Post article or this list.
I thought maybe the Telegraph mistakenly thought George Catlin was one of the Native American artists the Obamas wanted, rather than a White painter who depicted Indians, because there's nothing new about Catlin in the White House. See Laura Bush's remarks here.
Nice - LOL
If her taste in interior decor is anything like her wardrobe.....no class.
Did your kid paint that?
/s
(Sarah as Catwoman -- hmmmm!)
You read my mind, I spent 20 years in and out of my childrens elementary school, alot of that “art” looks like it came outta Mrs.Hittle’s 3rd grade classroom.
Hitlery’s self-portrait?
what a conceded bit*h!
Reputedly? I know it's a British paper but sheesh....
I can’t wait for Obama’s term to be up. We need someone back in the White House that has some class. My 5 yr old grandchild paints better pictures than that trash he’s hanging on the walls.
They’re gonna need a D-9 Cat and a steam cleaner to douche out the place once we rid ourselves of them...
Thinking the same thing. Sometimes you have to tear buildings down to get the stench out.
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