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Michelle Obama Depicted as Nude Slave on Magazine Cover

The Spanish magazine Fuera de Serie, used the altered photo to honor the first lady, but the message seems to have gotten lost in translation.

By Naeesa Aziz

Posted: 08/28/2012 12:21 PM EDT

Filed Under Politics News, Michelle Obama, first lady, Portrait d'une négresse, Spain, slavery

(Photo: MAGAZINE DE FUERA DE SERIE)

Since she became first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama has graced countless number of magazine covers, featuring various fashionable looks — but her latest cover fashion is making the biggest splash yet.

An unauthorized and altered photo of the first lady, depicted as a slave with her right breast bared, is the latest cover of a Spanish magazine. The image is a photoshopped version of a classic French painting and although the gesture was meant to be a positive nod to Obama's public persona, lots of people just aren't feeling the "new look." Buzzfeed writes:

The image appears on the August 2012 cover of Spanish magazine Fuera de Serie. A number of sites have called the cover inappropriate because it depicts the first lady in imagery closely associated with slavery.

French artist Marie-Guillemine Benoist completed the "Portrait d'une négresse" by the year 1800 — six years after the abolition of slavery in France (and two years before it was partially reinstated by Napoleon Bonaparte). Critics generally regard the painting as a show of support for feminism and Black rights.

Art historian James Smalls writes that "the artist responded to early nineteenth-century French racialism and the less-than-desirable treatment of women," concluding that "her painting may be seen as a voice of protest, however small, in the discourse over human bondage."

The magazine used the photo to run alongside a story about Obama's popularity and strength in the White House, stating, "Behind every great man there is a great woman." While the Spaniards may understand their own message behind the image, it doesn't look like Americans are having it.

What do you think, is the photo of the first lady appropriate? Cast your vote in poll.

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