White House’s selected borrowed art

Spicezee Bureau

Washington: The Obamas have decided to personalize the White House with a dash of art. With twelve paintings borrowed from art galleries, the collection is a pleasant mix of good taste and verve of life. Interestingly, the collection has only one portrait, that of ex-Prez Trueman by Frank O Salisbury. It is oil on canvas, dated 1946. Two are aboriginal art (‘Buffalo Chase, with Accidents’ by George Catlin and ‘A Foot War Party in Council – Mandan’ by George Catlin) with a colourful dash of abstract works. ‘Nice’ is an abstract work by Nicolas De Stael dated 1954. It is good on the eyes, even if all might not read the meaning behind the colours. ‘Black Like Me No. 2,’ 1992, by Glenn Ligon is a creative work of black characters gradually getting denser as it gets down. ‘Berkeley, No. 52,’ is another quirky work by Richard Diebenkorn that gives the White House a very contemporary, if somewhat indecipherable, feel. And if judged just by the look of it, the nonfigurative of them all is ‘Sky Light’, 1973, by Alma Thomas. There is also the photograph of the Electric Telegraph patent model, May 1, 1849, by Samuel FB Morse. There is only one sculpture – a bronze statue ‘The Bow’ by Edgar Degas. ‘Watusi (Hard Edge)’ by Alma Thomas, who is a longtime Washington resident and is also an African-American painter, is also a choice that gives the visitor an eyeful of contemporary art. The work that takes the cake is ‘I think I’ll’ by California artist Ed Ruscha. It deals with the subject of indecision. Quite a bold selection by Obama, considering his post that requires razor-sharp decisiveness! The White House has released a list of 45 artworks that are on loan to the Obamas from several Washington museums.