Infinite Art Tournament

Saturday, June 22, 2019

The Ladder of Art -- Week #30

Cast your votes for up to four of these seven artists by Friday June 28. For clarifications, consult the Ladder of Art FAQ.

We bid adieu to Luini this week, and Chase is off to by-week -- which leaves us with a set of three established ladder winners, a surprise repeat by Alston (and not Warhol), and three new fellas who we haven't seen for years, what with them being from the front half of the alphabet.

Last Week's Results

This Week's Contest

Nicolas Froment
Active 1450 - 1490
French

Tournament Record: Tied for 429th. Lost to Naum Gabo and Dame Elizabeth Frink. 8 votes for, 18 votes against (.308).

Dan Flavin1933 - 1996
American

Tournament Record: Tied for 429th. Lost to Lucio Fontana and Jean Fouquet. 8 votes for, 18 votes against (.308).

Jim Dineborn 1935
American

Tournament Record: Tied for 429th. Lost to Otto Dix and Brancusi. 8 votes for, 18 votes against (.308).

Washington Allston
1779-1843
American

Tournament Record: Tied for 429th. Lost to Algardi and Albers; was the first artist exited from the Tournament. 8 votes for, 18 votes against (.308).

Placed Fourth in Week #29.

Canaletto
1697 - 1768
Italian (Venetian); also worked in England

Tournament Record: Placed 448th, actually. Beat Robert Campin, then lost to Caravaggio and Alexander Calder. 7 votes for, 17 votes against (.292).

Placed First in Week #24.
Placed First again in Week #26.
Placed First again in Week #28.

Willem Kalf
1622 - 1693
Dutch

Tournament Record: Tied for 454th. Lost to Wassily Kandinsky and Richard Parkes Bonington. 7 votes for, 18 votes against (.280).

Tied for First in Week #22.
Placed Second in Week #24.
Tied for Third in Week #25.
Placed Fourth in Week #26
Placed Third in Week #27.
Placed Second in Week #28.
Tied for Second in Week #29.

Charles-François Daubigny
1817 - 1878
French

Tournament Record: Placed 505th. Lost to Salvador Dali and Aelbert Cuyp. 4 votes for, 26 votes against (.133).

Finished First in Ladder Week #2.
Finished First again in Week #4.
...and again in Week #6.
...and in Week #8.
...and in Week #10.
...and in Week #12.
...and in Week #14.
...and in Week #16.
...and in Week #18.
...and in Week #20.
Tied for First, Week #22.
Placed Third in Week #24.
Tied for First, Week #25.
Tied for First, Week #27.
Tied for Second, Week #29.

Cast up to four votes in the comments by Friday morning!

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Left Bracket Round 8: Vermeer v. van Gogh

Vermeer beat Michelangelo, and Michelangelo beat Wyeth... and Vermeer beat Wyeth! And Bruegel beat van Gogh! Which is how we ended up with this Netherlands v. Netherlands face-off between two of the last six artists standing in the Infinite Art Tournament!

We don't have many matches going, so votes on this one (and the Caillebotte/Leonardo match) are due in two weeks. Vote! Vote! Vote!

Jan Vermeer

1632 - 1675
Dutch

With Rembrandt and Frans Hals, Vermeer ranks among the most admired of all Dutch artists, but he was much less well known in his own day and remained relatively obscure until the end of the nineteenth century. The main reason for this is that he produced a small number of pictures, perhaps about forty-five (of which thirty-six are known today), primarily for a small circle of patrons in Delft.... His compositions are mostly invented and exhibit the most discriminating formal relationships, including those of color. In addition, Vermeer’s application of paint reveals extraordinary technical ability and time-consuming care.

- The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

Beat Veronese easily in Round 1.
Vanquished Maria Elena Vieira da Silva in Round 2.
Trounced Félix Vallotton in Round 3.
Beat Turner in Round 4 by a single vote. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
Got past Jan Steen in Round 5.
Beat Michaelangelo in Round 6.
Lost to John Singer Sargent in Round 7.
Outlasted Paul Klee in the Left Bracket Round 7.
Came from behind to beat Andrew Wyeth in Round 7 Elimination by a two-vote swing. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!

Vincent van Gogh
1853 - 1890
Dutch; worked in France

Over the course of his decade-long career (1880–90), he produced nearly 900 paintings and more than 1,100 works on paper. Ironically, in 1890, he modestly assessed his artistic legacy as of “very secondary” importance.... By the outbreak of World War I, with the discovery of his genius by the Fauves and German Expressionists, Vincent van Gogh had already come to be regarded as a vanguard figure in the history of modern art.

- The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

Beat up on Hugo van der Goes in Round 1.
Got past Natalia Gontcharova in Round 2.
Gave El Greco a real drubbing in Round 3.
Lambasted Giotto in a Round 4 13-1 blowout.
Beat Atkinson Grimshaw in Round 5.
Beat Thomas Eakins in a spirited Round 6 match.
Beat Remedios Varo by a wide margain, but with a lot of torn voters, in Round 7 match.
Lost to Brughel in Round 8.

Saturday, June 15, 2019

The Ladder of Art -- Week #29

Cast your votes for up to four of these seven artists by Friday June 21. For clarifications, consult the Ladder of Art FAQ.

Daubigny and Chase come off of bye week for this rung, and two painters from the Unitedstatesian scene enter the fray. Will they rise, or will they fall?

Last Week's Results

This Week's Contest

Washington Allston
1779-1843
American

Tournament Record: Tied for 429th. Lost to Algardi and Albers; was the first artist exited from the Tournament. 8 votes for, 18 votes against (.308).

Andy Warhol
1928 - 1987
American

Tournament Record: Tied for 435th. Defeated Alfred Wallis; lost to Édouard Vuillard and Vigee-LeBrun. 11 votes for, 25 votes against (.306).

Mark Gertler
1891 - 1939
British

Tournament Record: Tied for 435th. Lost to Théodore Géricault and Gentile da Fabriano. 7 votes for, 16 votes against (.304).

Tied for Third, Week #28.

William Merritt Chase
1849 - 1916
American

Tournament Record: Tied for 439th. Beaten by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin and Christo. 6 votes for, 14 votes against (.300).

Placed Second, Week #26
Tied for First, Week #27

Willem Kalf
1622 - 1693
Dutch

Tournament Record: Tied for 454th. Lost to Wassily Kandinsky and Richard Parkes Bonington. 7 votes for, 18 votes against (.280).

Tied for First in Week #22.
Placed Second in Week #24.
Tied for Third in Week #25.
Placed Fourth in Week #26
Placed Third in Week #27.
Placed Second in Week #28.

Bernardino Luini
c. 1481 - 1532
Milanese

Tournament Record: Tied for 461st. Lost to Mabuse, AKA Jan Gossaert, and to Aristide Maillol. 6 votes for, 17 votes against (.261).

Tied for First in Week #19.
Tied for Third in Week #21.
Placed Third in Week #22.
Tied for Fourth in Week #23.
Placed Fourth in Week #24.
Tied for First in Week #25
Tied for Fourth in Week #27.
Tied for Third in Week #28.

Charles-François Daubigny
1817 - 1878
French

Tournament Record: Placed 505th. Lost to Salvador Dali and Aelbert Cuyp. 4 votes for, 26 votes against (.133).

Finished First in Ladder Week #2.
Finished First again in Week #4.
...and again in Week #6.
...and in Week #8.
...and in Week #10.
...and in Week #12.
...and in Week #14.
...and in Week #16.
...and in Week #18.
...and in Week #20.
Tied for First, Week #22.
Placed Third in Week #24.
Tied for First, Week #25.
Tied for First, Week #27.

Cast up to four votes in the comments by Friday morning!

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Left Bracket Round 8: Caillebotte v. Leonardo da Vinci

Caillebotte has been full of surprises since the beginning of the Tournament, starting with the fact that someone named "Caillebotte" qualified for entrance and continuing right through his stunning 8-2 Grudge Match reversal that sent Degas to the lockers and made him one of the last six artists in the show.

Whereas, everyone has heard of Leonardo da Vinci. He's a big big challenge for Caillebotte this round, having just fallen to John Singer Sargent in the quarters.

Gustave Caillebotte
1848 - 1894
French

Impressionists such as... Gustave Caillebotte enthusiastically painted the renovated city, employing their new style to depict its wide boulevards, public gardens, and grand buildings.... Caillebotte’s 1877 Paris Street, Rainy Day exemplifies how these artists abandoned sentimental depictions and explicit narratives, adopting instead a detached, objective view that merely suggests what is going on. - The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

Defeated mobile pioneer Alexander Calder in Round 1.
Held out against Edward Burra in Round 2.
Fought to a draw with Caravaggio in Round 3.
Crushed Corot in the Round 3 tiebreaker.
Blasted Mary Cassatt in a Round 4 15-0 blowout.
Beat Frederick Church easily in Round 5.
Lost to Edgar Degas in Round 6.
Upset Hieronymus Bosch in the Left Bracket Sixth Round.
Upset Albrecht Dürer in Sixth Round Elimination by a single vote. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
Nudged Remedios Varo out in the Left Bracket Seventh Round by a single vote. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
Beat Degas in a stunning Grudge Match reveral in Seventh Round Elimination.

Leonardo da Vinci

1452 - 1519
Italian

Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most intriguing personalities in the history of Western art. Trained in Florence as a painter and sculptor in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, Leonardo is also celebrated for his scientific contributions. Leonardo’s curiosity and insatiable hunger for knowledge never left him. He was constantly observing, experimenting, and inventing, and drawing was, for him, a tool for recording his investigation of nature. Although completed works by Leonardo are few, he left a large body of drawings (almost 2,500) that record his ideas, most still gathered into notebooks. He was principally active in Florence and Milan, but spent the last years of his life in Rome and France, where he died. His genius as an artist and inventor continues to inspire artists and scientists alike centuries after his death.

- The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

Pounded Sir Peter Lely in Round 1.
Skunked Stanley William Hayter in Round 2.
Beat the Limbourg Brothers in Round 3 by a two-vote swing. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
Made it easily past El Lissitzky, though many voters expressed mixed feelings, in Round 4.
Blasted past Klee in Round 5.
Trounced Timothy Ely in Round 6.
Beat Monet in Round 7.
Lost to Sargent in Round 8.