Wednesday, October 17, 2007

The Thursday Quiz VIII

Resistance is futile! It's

The Thursday Quiz!

The Thursday Quiz is, as always, a "Is It or Isn't It" game. From the list of twelve items, your job is to determine whether each IS or ISN'T in the week's category.

Remember always your manners:
No research, Googling, Wikiing, or use of reference books. The Thursday
Quiz is a POP quiz. Violators will be cast forth from the tribe.

This Week's Category has mastery of both color and composition!

Great Paintings

Clarification: In the labels, the artists are all accurately matched with their paintings. But, does the label match the image of the painting below it? Aye, there's the rub.


1. Arrangement in Gray and Black: Portrait of the Artist's Mother, by James Whistler


2. The Birth of Venus, by Sandro Botticelli



3. Garden of Earthly Delights, by Hieronymus Bosch



4. Girl with a Pearl Earring, by Jan Vermeer



5. Hunters in the Snow, by Pieter Bruegel



6. The Kiss by Gustav Klimt



7. Nighthawks, by Edward Hopper



8. Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist), by Jackson Pollock



9. The Persistence of Memory, by Salvador Dali



10. The Scream, by Edvard Munch




11. Starry Night, by Vincent Van Gogh


12. A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, by Georges Seurat



Submit your answers, either in words or in the form of a masterfully painted canvas, as a comment.

26 comments:

Karin said...

Ooh, fun! Some I think I know, some I know I know, some I know I don't know. And I might be wrong about all of them, but I do so like art and color. Here goes.

1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10 and 12 ARE.
3, 7, 8 and 11 are NOT.

#8: Even in 1950 I don't think Jackson Pollock used chalk.

#9: Salvador Dali's objects usually drip or slide, don't they? I waffle here, but I stick to my original answer.

Jennifer said...

1. Yes
2. Not a chance
3. Nonono.
4. Yes. And I know this because I've seen it painted on a cookie. You could've bought it on ebay.
5. It would appear to be yes.
6. I've read about Klimt but have no idea. If so, I like Klimt better than I thought based on reading about him. Yes?
7. I've had a lot of yeses in a row. No?
8. I'm desperately out of my field, you sadist. Yes?
9. Hell. Um, no?
10. Ha! Yes.
11. No.
12. No.

Disclaimer: if I gave an answer definitively and I'm wrong, just remember that I'm about the least visual person you will ever meet.

kurt said...

I'm apparently no art expert.
Does that mean I lack art?

My answers:
1 true
2 not true
3 true (?)
4 true
5 true (?)
6 true (?)
7 not true.
8 true (?)
9 not true (?)
10 true
11 not true
12 true (?)

Rhetorical Twist said...

I think I can do this one! Happy Thursday

-Allie

1. Yes
2. Not a chance
3. No
4. Yup! My friend painted this on a cookie (I kid you not, it was fantastic!)
5. I'm gonna go with yes
6. yes
7. I don't think so, no.
8. Yes?
9. No--this one I'm sure about
10. Yes! Yes it is!
11. No
12. Pretty sure, yes.

Rex Parker said...

1 4 5 6 10

I worry that the J.P. painting is a trick question. He painted representational art before he went abstract. I'm certain about everything else but the Brueghel (sp?).

rp

Jessica said...

Oh, man, Art History class was so long ago!

1. Definitely is.
2. No!
3. Hell no! (This is very humorous)
4. Yes
5. Yes, I believe.
6. Yes
7. Not at all!
8. Haha, no.
9. No. Too tame.
10. Oh yes.
11. Nope.
12. Alas, no.

blythe said...

yes, no, no, yes, i have no idea who that is, yes, no, no, no, yes, no, no. i think i'm wrong about 3 and number 8. this was hard. i could've identified dogs playing poker.

Heatherbee said...

This is the best quiz yet, because of the creative (mis)matching of titles with art. And also because of the purty pictures.

Okay, my answers:
1: Yes!
2: No!
3: No!
4: Yes (90% sure)
5: Yes? Sounds good, though I'm not convinced the hunters are the real subject of the piece
6: Yes!
7: If that's a Hopper, I'll eat my hat
8: If that's a Pollock, I'll eat my socks and underwear (but nice pairing of piece with title!!!)
9: If that's a Dali, I'll melt my wristwatch (though I half suspect that this is a tricksy one, and it's his early work and he changed styles or something...The realism of this, refracted light etc, just doesn't match his well known work. So it's a no.)
10: Yes! Aaaahhhhh!
11: Mais non! Ce n'est pas Van Gogh.
12: Hm. Way too many French paintings of Sundays, parks and picniques. I'm going to say No, because of how easy it would be to find a substitute for such a title. But for all I know it's reverse psychology, and that's what you WANT me to think. Hmph. Guess who's thinking a LITTLE too hard about the ol' Thursday quiz...

I hope I rock this one, after pleading publicly last week for a topic that I could show my utter coolness on.

Heatherbee said...

Wait wait crap My original answer was "yes" on the Dali and then I changed my mind and now that I looked at the other posts Karin said yes...uh oh...We agreed on everything else, and Karin's the CHAMPION, and she's probably RIGHT.... AAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHH. My chance at Thursday Quiz Fame, RUINED!!

Moral of the story: don't second guess yourself.

Anonymous said...

Oh, what a pretty quiz.
Yes to 1,4,5,6,and 10.

2. Venus, Jesus, I can never keep those two straight. I love the one where baby Jesus comes out of the clamshell attended by his hot shepherdesses.
3. I know this isn't Bosch's garden, because I don't see any lascivious teapots or giant birds running amok. Looks more like Monet's kind of place.
7. Oh, that's the one I think of as "Nighthawks at the Diner." Here all the pretty birds are calling out, "Where's my cup of joe?" But none of them look lonely.
8. Maybe it is a Jackson Pollock, but painted while he was on vacation in the south of France, getting away from it all.
9. No melting watches or spooky desert. I'm thinking a Flemish precursor.
11. Just one star? Are you kidding?
12. Not nearly enough people on this picnic. I think this was an outing Courbet set up.

Rebel said...

1. Is
2. isn't
3. soooooooo isn't
4. is
5. is (probably?)
6. is
7. isn't - I'm guessing
8. isn't
9. isn't
10. is (did it ever get returned?)
11. most certainly is *NOT*
12. isn't... I believe that's Manet's Luncheon on the Grass.

Rebel said...

And thank you for posting a quiz I could make a respectable showing in. =)

fingerstothebone said...

I was confused by your clarification:

"In the labels, the artists are all accurately matched with their paintings."

Do you mean the artists are accurately matched with the titles of their paintings, or the images of their paintings?

I wold've played this one but for this confusion, and now it's too late because I've already read everyone else's answers.

fingerstothebone said...

Ooops, never mind, me stupid. You did say 'in the labels,' didn't you?

Anonymous said...

Dammit! I always forget to check this blog until Thursday EVENING!

1. Hmmm. Yes? Although that seems to obvious—it's gray. It's a woman.
2. It looks more like the birth of Jesus to me, but... yes?
3. No! That's a Monet.
4. Looks Dutch enough for me. Yes?
5. I'm going to go with no. They are hunters, and there is snow—but I'm not convinced that that is Bruegel's style. Not that I really know what his style is. ACTUALLY... maybe it's a yes. Crap. Ok, Yes.
6. Yes. I have no idea why that painting is so famous. I think it's hideous.
7. Ha. No.
8. This could be a trick. I mean, everyone knows that Pollack is famous for splatters that pass as art. But perhaps he went through a Van Gogh period before he tapped into his true calling? Still. I'm going to say no.
9. Sure. Yes.
10. Yes.
11. No!
12. No. Would require lots of dots and pastel to be a Seurat.

OK.

Anonymous said...

Hmm. Karin is probably right about the Dali. I forgot about the dripping. In retrospect, it looks like Magritte meets goth. And not goth as in "the Gothic period." Oh well. I will hold on to some hope that it is an early work.

Anonymous said...

PS, what's with the two comments related to a cookie with a painting on it?

Michael5000 said...

Well done, all. For an answer key, I refer you to my learned helpmeet's answers, except it's Manet instead of Courbet on #12. Word to the wise: don't do a Google image search on Courbet at work.

@MyDog: Yeah, I'm not sure what the whole cookie meme is about. Must be some sort of Pennsylvania thing. And I've never much liked "The Kiss" either. Popular, though.

@fingers: Hi, fingers! Sorry I confuseded you!

@Rebel: "sooooooo isn't" made me laugh.

@Heatherbee: I thought you had already eaten your hat?

@Allie: OK, I'll bite. ~rimshot~ WHY did your friend reproduce "Pearl Earring" on a cookie?

@Kurt: I'm sure you don't lack art. You've certainly got game.

@Jennifer: Welcome aboard!

@Karin: Your enthusiastic early entry made my day. Can't quite give you a star, but consider a smiley face scrawled on the top of your paper.

M5K

Rhetorical Twist said...

I have this really, really talented friend. We'll call her "Missy" (because that's what her name is, hehe). Anyway, she was painting on cookies (for fun, I would guess, or maybe because she's slightly weird. That's why we are such good friends) and did this wonderful reproduction of "Girl with a Pearl Earring." I mean, it was so good that it literally made me ill. She should send you a picture of it because it's something you simply must see.

Anonymous said...

http://kutztown.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31767381&l=4bbce&id=26600032

http://kutztown.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31767382&l=e35e3&id=26600032

It was spring break and I had too much time on my hands...

Anonymous said...

Oh, and this is a real cookie decorated with entirely edible media.

d said...

oh fuck. a quiz, i can finally do (kind of) and i missed it.

well, here are my answers anyway.
1 y
2 n
3 n
4 y
5 y
6 y
7 n
8 n
9 y (this is the only one of which i'm unsure, but if i remember my art history correctly, dali painted realistically before he went all surrealistic on everyone's asses.)
10 y
11 n
12 n

Anonymous said...

Slow as ever, am I.

1. Arrangement in Gray and Black: Portrait of the Artist's Mother, by James Whistler. IS. I am pleased to show off by saying that I have seen this painting in person at the Musee D'Orsay in Paris.

2. The Birth of Venus, by Sandro Botticelli. ISN'T. I think the Botticelli by that name shows a woman standing in a large clamshell, if I may simplify.

3. Garden of Earthly Delights, by Hieronymus Bosch. ISN'T. I really don't know in this case, but it looks more like a Monet to my highly amateur eye.

4. Girl with a Pearl Earring, by Jan Vermeer. IS. Absolutely.

5. Hunters in the Snow, by Pieter Bruegel. IS. Actually, I'm not sure at all who the painter is but I'm pretty sure about the title.

6. The Kiss by Gustav Klimt. IS. I don't think of this as having a "Klimt" look, but I am probably wrong about that, so I am guessing IS.

7. Nighthawks, by Edward Hopper. ISN'T. I don't recognize the painting, but it sure ain't Nighthawks.

8. Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist), by Jackson Pollock. ISN'T. It certainly doesn't have the look that says "Pollock"... unless he had a French pastoral period I never heard of before.

9. The Persistence of Memory, by Salvador Dali. ISN'T. The Persistence of Memory is the one with the oozing clock and ants.

10. The Scream, by Edvard Munch. IS. Another one I've had the pleasure of seeing in person.

11. Starry Night, by Vincent Van Gogh. ISN'T. This one is a little too easy, Mr. Handly.

12. A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, by Georges Seurat. ISN'T. I think I recalls (also from the Musee D'Orsay) that the Sunday Afternoon painting is the one showing a crowd on what looks like a lovely summer day, featuring a woman with a parasol in the foreground.

G said...

Can I just say DAMN! I must've been hungover to miss this one last week. The dorky art historian in me will give it a shot anyway (without looking at others' answers, obv):

1. Yes (love Whistler! Love. Him.)
2. No (not unless Venus is a little baby boy with a halo and a penis. Is it a Bottecelli? Am curious--it's been about 9 years since my Renaissance art class)
3. No (Monet in Giverny?)
4. Yes
5. Yes
6. Yes
7. No (haha! I love the literal interpretation of the title!)
8. No (snort--also funny for the same reason)
9. No (looks morbid enough to be one of those Dutch still lifes, though. This is a good one--I almost said yes because of the sharpness of the lines.)
10. Yes
11. No
12. No (Actually Dejeuner sur l'herbe by Manet)

Must. Remember. To. Check. Thursday Quiz. On. THURSDAY. Bah.

Also: I may steal this idea because it is so good.

Anonymous said...

#2 is not birth of venus. birth of venus has a naked woman standing in a shell with zafrais and flora and other people arouf her

kyriosbinos said...

I'm curious about the origin of the supposedly Botticelli-Painting (No 2)! I'm a student of arthistory writing my final thesis about Botticelli and i'm sure that No 2 is in fact not by botticelli, but rather by an italian "follower", who combines elements of Botticellis adoration "dell Lama" in the uffizi gallery in Florence, Alesso Baldovinetti "birth of christ" fresco in Santissima Annunziata in Florence and the motiv of the angels from the works of Pietro Prugino. So please let me know where you found the picture and where the original painting might be located. Thanxxx