Posted on 03/25/2015 11:13:45 AM PDT by drewh
Visitors to the White House on Tuesday saw a side of the mansion that had previously been hidden from public view. The Old Family Dining Room, once a private space for first family meals, has been refurbished by Michelle Obama in her first major attempt to leave her mark on the interior of the historic house.
The dining room, used in recent decades as a staging area for State Dining Room events, has been thoroughly modernized. The works added to the room are bold, including a custom-made rug based on a 1950 weaving by Anni Albers. Most of the artists featured in the room lived in the last century, including Alma Thomas, a force in the Washington Color School and the first African-American woman to be included in the White House permanent collection.
Thomass piece, Resurrection, is reflective of her expressionist style, evoking a burst of color. The White House Historical Association acquired it at auction last year for $290,000. The association, founded Jacqueline Kennedy, also paid for the repainting of the walls, which are now a cool gray a major shift from the golden yellow that Kennedy selected.
The room is reflective of the Obamas tastes, which favor abstract artists. Two paintings by the 20th century modernist Josef Albers husband of Anni, whose work inspired the rug are featured across from a large mirror acquired during a 1902 restoration of the White House by the Roosevelt administration.
Obama unveiled the new room Tuesday by surprising visitors on public tours of the White House and encouraging them to look in on the refurbished space.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Is that a rainbow target with a straight white man’s face in it at the end of the table?...: )
Motel 6 decor.
Nothing patriotic anywhere.
Surprised it’s not plastered with pix of them, like that one office in the WH. Remember?
The painting looks like someone hit the Peyote and found an old Spirograph.
When are they coming to finish the rug?
It looks like a room decorated by a feuding gay couple.
The Beard decorates like he dresses.
I wonder where the blue-gold-blue stripes in the upper corner of the painting on the left came from. That could be part of the flag of The Bahamas.
That’s a weird place for a dart board.
“What was the Wookie smoking?...”
Fixed it for you.
Except for the paintings, which were probably from a black artist she wants to support, I like it. Stately room.
Probably produced in the ghetto and sold to FLOTUS as a “unique artist masterpiece we like to call a thug rug. Its made from the skin of dead polar bears we skinned after we knocked them the f$#k out”
No theme, no style, no class.
Give me a friggen break, I’ve seen better artwork at Staples.
That’s horrid...
1970s Chicago dopehouse meets classic molding, not even as liveable as shabby chic.
Picture on left....
Blue and Yellow Flag of Ukraine
Red and white diagonal is the flag of Afghanistan
Lower “flag” holding a cross with stylized image of skull...United States?
At least she didn’t recycle that hideous African print skirt that she wore in Cambodia as a cloth for that table. It would have fit, however.
She’s done it again. Proves her taste is ALL in her mouth.
I am surprised Mo did not have the Hut painted Purple!
LOL!!!!!
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.