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 ...
They should have hung it there in Gung-Ga-Din’s Office as they planned!! It would have been especially significant being a Fraudulent Painting in a FRAUD’S OFFICE!! Thrn just under the Painting, Michelle should have placed a signed copy of Her Husband, OBOZO’S, Fraudulently Written “MEMOIRS!” with a Note that It was really Authored by their Extrememly Close Friend and Unrepentant Terrorist Mentor and Puppetteer, William Ayers!! That would have clinched the Decor of The FRAUD’S OFFICE!
He'd gone almost completely blind.
I knew it was something - couldn't remember if it was shaky hands or failing vision, and I was too lazy to check. Thanks for being less of a slacker than I.
Well, whodah thunk it? An artsy cultured educated Freeper?
I actually love the Rothko paintings that look like solid blocks of color to some folks (look closely, especially, in person, and they aren’t).
The original Matisse “Snail” is one of my favorites, especially seen in person at the Tate Gallery in London. I’ll be back to see it in April next year, or maybe September.
Of course, I’d give it all up for a Renoir, but budgets are budgets!
Purrfect! I was just doing the same thing! LOL
So, I was wondering, suppose one of the first couple were to have a temper tantrum and throw a beer bottle at a painting, or throw the antique cups and plates and... you know, just tear the place up. What happens then? Do they get in trouble? Can they get in trouble?
Mmmm... I think it’s not a new thing. The new thing is these people choosing pop art and ethnic “art” and political “art”. I imagine they’ve got all the furniture done in white by now as well.
Good for you! Although I have to admit, I’d never hang something that looked like a 2nd grader painted it.
But I’m just a bitterly clinging, small town girl from Fly-over country, typical white person.
Looks like nothing more than just a hodge podge of jumbled colors, similar to what fat ass maBelle michelle 0bozo wears every day. No wonder the angry beeotch was drawn to the painting. It looks like her wardrobe.
"Effective today, thar shall be no artwork, mirrors, companionways, or female crew displayed in any way that presents an unfavorable comparison to the beam of the 1st lady, measured amidships and at deck height, or any other impression of her recorded athwartships that is equal to or more than twice that of the House Master"
HA! Pretentious asses! Take THAT, Zero!
This has got to be driving him right outta his skinny skin.
Maybe if we keep it up he'll move.
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.”
And yet if you read the actual Holland Cotter article you actually notice a blunt moment of honesty, covered up in this article by convenient editing, that actually undercuts the idea that Cotter was "praising" the selection:
You can see her making the leap in the earlier of her two paintings on the White House list, “Watusi (Hard Edge),” from 1963. It’s an out-and-out steal of a Matisse collage. Thomas just shifts the pieces around, cools the colors down, and adds a title that refers to a Chubby Checker song. But through copying Matisse, she began to work out a format she would use again and again.
So Cotter actual notes it is not just a copy but an uninspired "redo" and that Howard essentially takes this "redo" and expands on it's fraud.
The article also conveniently avoids doing side-by-side comparisons.
Whoops, I meant “Thomas” not “Howard”
Was it replaced with a painting on black velvet?
Plagarism? Not at all. The artist was simply inspired. I was inspired, too.
Here is my completely original inspired rendition of of the artist's rendition. Obama can have my version for free, it's already framed and suitable for display in the Oval Office.
My granddaughter does this type of art work all the time in Pre-K. And her fees are a lot less than this artists.’
My cousin has her degree in art and works for one of the auction houses. Like you, she’s an enthusiast for the solid color works - talks about paint strokes, and texture, light and reflectivity, the different quality of black on black, the square on a square. I am stuck there being polite because I see it when she points it out but it doesn’t do anything more for me.
Matisse I like - he does have a child-like sensibility and pleasure in color - but he does it with such rhythm and says, isn’t color beautiful? Doesn’t it make you happy?And wants us to answer like a kindergartener with new crayons, oh yes, it is. It does.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.