The 'obviously offensive' image of Michelle Obama's face on a slave's body

The image: The cover of the latest issue of Spain's Magazine de Fuera de Serie provocatively features an image of First Lady Michelle Obama's face on the body of a bare-breasted slave. (See the cover at right and below.) The image of the slave was taken from Portrait d'une negresse, a painting by French artist Marie-Guillemine Benoist that was completed in 1800, six years after France's abolition of slavery. Many experts say the original painting "is meant to symbolize emancipation and empowerment," says Neetzan Zimmerman at Gawker, and the article accompanying the image — titled "Michelle Granddaughter of a Slave, Lady of America" — is reportedly a glowing tribute to Obama. Still, the cover, designed by artist Karine Percheron-Daniels, managed to offend swaths of the internet.

The reaction: Because the image is "so obviously offensive, the mind attempts to rationalize" whether something was lost in translation, says Althea Legal-Miler at Clutch. But make no mistake: The "image has nothing to do with acknowledging Obama's enslaved foremothers, and everything to do with reinforcing and extending the historical denial of black women's individuality and agency." And even if the image is meant to be a commentary on the progress of racial attitudes, it "hardly seems a good excuse for depicting the First Lady as both sexualized and enslaved" on a magazine cover, says Jessica Wakeman at The Frisky. Percheron-Daniels claims that Obama would "love" the cover, but the controversial artist, who has several other works that hijack images of famous people, could very well just be seeking attention, says Victoria Cavaliere at New York's Daily News. Judge for yourself:

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up