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Off the Wall: White House Changes Mind About Painting (FReeper Victory!)
The New York Times ^ | Wednesday, November 4, 2009 | Randy Kennedy

Posted on 11/04/2009 3:20:11 PM PST by kristinn

.SNIP

ARTnews 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 format she would use again and again.”

Some conservative Web sites, like Freerepublic.com, had criticized the painting as a fraud, calling it a “re-colored reprint” and questioning the wisdom of hanging it in the White House. By late October, the painting, which had been destined for the East Wing, had been removed from the list of works bound for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, ARTnews reported, though a second Thomas painting from 1973 remains on the list. The Hirshhorn Museum, which owns the painting, confirmed that the 1963 work had been sent back, but no one involved with the White House loans at the museum would say why, the publication said.

Semonti Stephens, the deputy press secretary for Mrs. Obama, said that the painting had been intended to go in the first lady’s office and that the the decision not to put it there was made only because its dimensions did not work in the space in which it was to hang.

(Excerpt) Read more at artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Culture/Society; Free Republic; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: affirmativactionart; almawthomas; art; cheaters; cultureofcorrution; fraud; frinthenews; likelystories; matisse; noclass; obama; painting; pajamapeoplerule; plagiarism; underthebus; watusi; youlie
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To: txroadkill

You’re missing the most important requirement: a cadre of snooty liberals to endore your work as art.


61 posted on 11/04/2009 4:06:08 PM PST by Teflonic
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To: Domandred

I don’t think this is such a big deal. The earlier thread found quotes from the “artiste” that stated the “painting” was a merely study of Matisse’s work. So, actually, there was no fraudulent intent. But,,,, the thing is a piece of cr@p, and so is the work by Matisse!


62 posted on 11/04/2009 4:07:36 PM PST by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ( Ya can't pick up a turd by the clean end!)
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To: kristinn

why doesn’t Michellemabelle just hang a pegboard with all those boob belts?


63 posted on 11/04/2009 4:14:17 PM PST by celtic gal
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To: Indy Pendance

Do you think “Green Bedroom Wall” is pretensious enough?


64 posted on 11/04/2009 4:15:33 PM PST by GeronL (http://tyrannysentinel.blogspot.com .... I am a rogue nobody. One of millions.)
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To: Brown Deer

bfl


65 posted on 11/04/2009 4:18:22 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
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To: Beelzebubba; kristinn; Pukadon
Here's my comparison from back then. The Matisse is on the left - the "copy was only rotated and re-sized to match. There are differences - its not an exact copy - but I now understand that if its termed "appropriation" instead of "plagiarism" then its ok. ;-)

66 posted on 11/04/2009 4:20:19 PM PST by Tunehead54 (Nothing funny here ;-)
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To: eureka!

Can’t wait till Christmas for HQ TV to show case Whitehouse Christmas. Should be real interesting and fun for all.


67 posted on 11/04/2009 4:22:34 PM PST by ducks1944 (GOD Bless the USA .)
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To: GeronL

How about ‘teenage daughter’s green bedroom wall’? (She’s an Iraqi Vet now, but we’ll have to cover that up) That’ll float their boat.


68 posted on 11/04/2009 4:22:55 PM PST by Indy Pendance (Conservatives, we are their worst nightmare)
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To: eureka!

Can’t wait till Christmas for HQ TV to show case Whitehouse Christmas. Should be real interesting and fun for all.


69 posted on 11/04/2009 4:23:20 PM PST by ducks1944 (GOD Bless the USA .)
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To: Tunehead54

The only reason it isn’t a forgery is that Matisse’s signature isn’t on it.


70 posted on 11/04/2009 4:23:33 PM PST by usmcobra (Your chances of dying in bed are reduced by getting out of it, but most people still die in bed)
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To: Tunehead54

They look NOTHING alike!!! sarc/


71 posted on 11/04/2009 4:23:47 PM PST by Ann Archy (Abortion,,,,,,the Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Beelzebubba
Yer gonna get Joe-the-Plumbered.....hell, now so will I just for posting in your direction.

Good work...

72 posted on 11/04/2009 4:24:04 PM PST by ErnBatavia (Obama is a DIC....... Ditherer-in-Chief)
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To: ducks1944

I’ll bet condoms on the tree are banned, bad press you know.


73 posted on 11/04/2009 4:27:53 PM PST by Indy Pendance (Conservatives, we are their worst nightmare)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

Really?


74 posted on 11/04/2009 4:33:42 PM PST by Brown Deer (4 Google execs are on Obama's staff - YouTube is owned by Google)
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To: AdmSmith; Berosus; bigheadfred; Convert from ECUSA; dervish; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Fred Nerks; ...
Some conservative Web sites, like Freerepublic.com, had criticized the painting as a fraud, calling it a "re-colored reprint" and questioning the wisdom of hanging it in the White House... Semonti Stephens, the deputy press secretary for Mrs. Obama, said that the painting had been intended to go in the first lady's office and that the the decision not to put it there was made only because its dimensions did not work in the space in which it was to hang.

75 posted on 11/04/2009 4:36:24 PM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__Since Jan 3, 2004__Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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To: kristinn

first lady said that the painting made her butt look big because the large painting was smaller than her butt. /s


76 posted on 11/04/2009 4:40:32 PM PST by guitarplayer1953 (Romak 7.62X54MM, AK47 7.62X39MM, LARGO 9X23MM, HAPINESS IS A WARM GUN BANG BANG YEA YEA)
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To: kristinn

Thanks for posting the original. Funny, but I like it and don’t like the repainted one. The colors are better, the painting skill sharper/surer.


77 posted on 11/04/2009 4:41:02 PM PST by patriciaruth (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1993905/posts)
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To: kristinn

FR: On the leading edge of Art (fraudulent painting), Letters (RatherGate) and Science (Space Shuttle Columbia).


78 posted on 11/04/2009 4:47:22 PM PST by rabidralph (http://www.thealaskafundtrust.com/ http://www.sarahpac.com)
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To: patriciaruth

Thanks for posting the original. Funny, but I like it and don’t like the repainted one. The colors are better, the painting skill sharper/surer.


I agree, but bear in mind that the original is a 10-foot tall collage pf pasted paper squares, not a small painting.


79 posted on 11/04/2009 4:57:13 PM PST by Atlas Sneezed (Why not "interpret" your tax returns like the Supreme Court "interprets" the Constitution?)
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To: Teflonic

That particular Matisse is representative of the art he produced at the end of his life. I’ve forgotten what physical condition forced him to go from painting to arranging pieces of colored paper.

My grandmother, who used to knit beautiful and intricate sweaters, was still knitting on oversized needles at the end of her life, several years after she had gone blind. I have her last knitting, still on those inch-thick needles, saved in a bag. It’s not up to the standard of her earlier work by a long shot, but it made her happy to keep doing it. I’m guessing Matisse felt the same way.


80 posted on 11/04/2009 4:58:07 PM PST by nina0113
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