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Little did I know when I chose Alma Thomas' "Watusi (Hard Edge)" as the lead image in my post concerning the 

, that this very image would become the subject of heated debate amongst Obama's critics.

Many people have noted the striking similarity between Thomas' "Watusi" (below, left) and a piece by Henri Matisse from 1953 called "L'Escargot" or "the snail."

Since the news that the Obama family was hanging the Thomas piece in the East wing of the White House, critics (such as Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin) have used the piece's similarity to Matisse to 

 the Obama administration. And "Bob" posted on State of the Arts:

Let's call this a "teachable moment."  Alma Thomas was indeed inspired by Henri Matisse, and 

"L'Escargot" as the basis for "Watusi" - inverting the colors and "twisting" the work to give a new view.

In fact what Thomas was doing was drawing attention to the fact that 

Matisse himself was greatly inspired by African art

Those "invented planes and proportions" had a great effect on Matisse's figurative work:

Stark referencing of other artists' work is nothing new in the art world. In fact, the Walker Art Center held an exhibition in 2007 of 

, and there were a number of instances where at first glance, it felt like "copying" (those people doing the copying included Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollack). But as curator Michael FitzGerald explained to me, much of what happens in art is the sharing of ideas, the claiming of one person's art for your own and then morphing it into something new.

So was Thomas' piece a plagiary? No. Was it heavily inspired by Matisse? Yes. Does it take Matisse's image and use it to say something new and important? Yes.

If anything, the Obamas' choice of "Watusi (hard edge)" could be seen as extremely clever. It is a work of art that points to a longstanding exchange of ideas between cultures, building off one another as they explore new artistic terrain and ideas.

Arts and Culture

State of the Arts Blog

Marianne Combs

Author

Alma Thomas' piece "Watusi" looks an awful lot like a piece by Henri Matisse done years earlier. We find out why.

Obama’s choice of art starts plagiarism debate

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