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NYT Touts White House Artworks, Misses Obvious Copy, Apparent Fraud (Freeper Breaks the Story)
Freeper Investigation ^ | 10-7-09 | Freeper

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!"


TOPICS: Arts/Photography
KEYWORDS: art; figures; friendsofobama; frinthenews; matisse; plagiarism; ripoff; watusi
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1 posted on 10/08/2009 12:05:06 PM PDT by Atlas Sneezed
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To: Beelzebubba

The original itself is a hoax. Most modern art is.


2 posted on 10/08/2009 12:07:11 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Hear us, O Bama: Mmm, mmm, mmm.)
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To: Beelzebubba

kudos. that also looks like something my kids made in grad school. ;)


3 posted on 10/08/2009 12:07:50 PM PDT by machogirl (First they came for my tagline.)
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To: Beelzebubba

Looks almost the same Beelzebubba.


4 posted on 10/08/2009 12:08:29 PM PDT by fatima (Free Hugs Today :))
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To: 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.


5 posted on 10/08/2009 12:08:35 PM PDT by La Lydia
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To: machogirl

grade school i meant, not grad school


6 posted on 10/08/2009 12:08:39 PM PDT by machogirl (First they came for my tagline.)
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To: machogirl

With a little guidance, a four-year-old could make “art” like that.


7 posted on 10/08/2009 12:09:01 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Hear us, O Bama: Mmm, mmm, mmm.)
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To: Beelzebubba

Still waiting for an example of “art”....


8 posted on 10/08/2009 12:09:20 PM PDT by G Larry ( Obamacare=Dying in Line!)
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To: machogirl

Grad school? You paid to have them do that??


9 posted on 10/08/2009 12:09:27 PM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: Beelzebubba
The Matisse for those with firewalls that block social websites (Facebook)


10 posted on 10/08/2009 12:09:49 PM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel (FreepMail me if you want on the Bourbon ping list!)
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To: Beelzebubba
Great catch. Here is the Matisse:
11 posted on 10/08/2009 12:10:13 PM PDT by kabar
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To: Beelzebubba
Obama doesn't care about the art, he's just interested in spreading around other people's money to his friends.
12 posted on 10/08/2009 12:11:15 PM PDT by RJL
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To: kabar
Here is the Matisse:

My kids used to make those too.

13 posted on 10/08/2009 12:11:21 PM PDT by paulycy (Screw the RACErs)
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To: Beelzebubba

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.


14 posted on 10/08/2009 12:11:27 PM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (The People have abdicated our duties; ... and anxiously hope for just two things: bread and circuses)
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To: Beelzebubba
Watusi (Hard Edge)," by Alma Thomas

The Snail (L'escargot), by Henri Matisse


15 posted on 10/08/2009 12:11:31 PM PDT by InterceptPoint
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To: Jeff Chandler

I guess we just aren’t “sophisticated” enough to get it.


16 posted on 10/08/2009 12:11:50 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Seniors, the new shovel ready project under socialized medicine.)
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To: Beelzebubba

Clearly a ripoff. Maybe it should be titled “An Homage To A Better Artist Than I.”


17 posted on 10/08/2009 12:12:14 PM PDT by hsalaw
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To: machogirl
Here is my great work of art. I call it "Polar Bear in Blizzard":

 


18 posted on 10/08/2009 12:12:30 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Hear us, O Bama: Mmm, mmm, mmm.)
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To: Beelzebubba

Henri Matisse, L'Escargot.

19 posted on 10/08/2009 12:12:45 PM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: Beelzebubba

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.


20 posted on 10/08/2009 12:12:45 PM PDT by smokingfrog (No man's life, liberty or property is safe while the legislature is in session. I AM JIM THOMPSON)
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