Wednesday, April 14, 2010

The Wednesday Quiz II:7 -- Famous Paintings!


The Wednesday Quiz -- Season II -- Quiz 7

Famous Paintings

The Wednesday Quiz is a "closed-book" test of knowledge and intuition; please do not look up answers, ask others for help, or answer as a team.

Questions about the rules and the ~Fabulous Prizes~ are answered here.

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This week's Quiz is a visual is-it-or-isn't-it game, and an excuse to have pretty paintings on the blog. For each image,

Is It or Isn't It the Painting Described?

There are 14 images this week, because as often happens I got a little carried away. We'll do it again that they are worth ten points apiece after your first four.

1. Chardin, "The Young Schoolmistress." France, 1736ish.



2. Thomas Cole, "Last of the Mohicans." U.S., 1827.




3. Salvador Dali, "Giraffe With Two or Three Men." Spanish, 1924.


4. MC Escher, "Hell (copy after a scene by Hieronymous Bosch)." Netherlands, 1935.



5. Giotto, "The Marriage at Cana." Italian, 1320s.



6. Francisco de Goya, "The Colossus." Spanish, 1809ish.



7. Winslow Homer, "Breezing Up." U.S., 1876.



8. Wassily Kandinsky, "Composition VII." Russian, 1917.



9. Piet Mondrian, "Composition in Black, Red, Yellow, Blue, and White." French, 1900.



10. Claude Monet, "The Square at Giverny." French, 1798.



11. Pablo Picasso, "The Animals." Spanish, 1953.



12. Johannes Vermeer, "The Milkmaid." Dutch, 1658ish.



13. John William Waterhouse, "The Lady of Shalott." English, 1888.



14. Andrew Wyeth, "Christina's World." U.S., 1948.



Submit your answers in the comments!

20 comments:

UnwiseOwl said...

Ah...well, I was due for a dud round sometime.
The following are all complete guesses.
1. Yes, what is that tool in her hand, though?
2. No, I have a feeling I should know this painting, but I don't. Pity, because it's very pretty.
3. No. Doesn't feel like Dali to me...
4. Sure. It's got that Escher feel.
5. Nope. Could be, but what does it have to do with Cana?
6. Sure. Why not?
7. Nice. I like this, I hope this is true.
8. Yes. I like the skull...
9. nope. Not boxy enough. Mind you, I assume he could d oother stuff...
10. Nope. It's signed with a P...
11. nah.
12. Yes. I've seen this before, I think.
13. Yes. I have no idea.
14. Yes.

Elaine said...

Woof.
1. is
2. isn't (there are too many of them)
3. isn't\
4. is
5. isn't (good lord)
6. isn't
7. is
8. isn't
9. is
10. isn't
11. isn't
12. is
13. isn't
14. isn't (Oh, come now)

Tsk....another Fail.

Christine M. said...

1. Loooks Chardin-y. Yes
2. yes
3. no
4. yes
5. no
6. no
7. yes
8. no
9. no
10. no
11. no
12. yes
13. no
14. no

The Calico Cat said...

I wasn't going to play, but...
I "know" that 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11 are not correct & that 12 is correct so I am half way there. (Like I actually "know" anything about art.)
So I will hazard a guess on the other half.
1 yes
2 no
3 no
6 no
7 yes
13 no
14 no
"What? Is grading supposed to be easy? Did you need them to be in order?"

Cartophiliac said...

Ugh. Not sure what is worse. Art of Elements....

1. is
2. is
3. isn't
4. is
5. isn't
6. is
7. isn't
8. is
9. isn't
10. is
11. isn't
12. is
13. is
14. isn't

d said...

1y // 2y // 3n // 4n // 5n // 6n // 7y // 8n // 9n // 10n // 11n // 12y // 13n // 14n

Nichim said...

1. Is (is that a meat thermometer she's using as a pointer?)
2. Is
3. Isn't
4. Is
5. Isn't
6. Is
7. Is
8. Isn't
9. Isn't
10. Isn't (says 1910 in the corner)
11. Isn't - I believe this is called "The Peaceable Kingdom," or at least that's what the Jehovah's Witnesses say
12. Is
13. Is
14. Isn't! This is the only one I know for sure - if there's anything I've learned from LTM5K, it's what the painting "Christina's World" by Andrew Wyeth looks like, and this ain't it.

mrs. 5000 said...

1 sure, why not? even if that is a Dutch-looking kid. yes
2 um...I know it seems like someone else's title, but I think yes
3 no, that's someone else quite a bit earlier. You can tell because there are no melting watches.
4 yes
5 no, that's Chagall
6 no, the palette is similar, but with Goya you KNOW it's a colossus
7 yes
8 Ha! no, too many earth tones and not enough squiggles
9 Ha! no, too many insignias and too many squiggles
10 uh, no, but someone from the same supper club
11 no, that's the American Peaceable Kingdom specialist, I forget his name
12 yes
13 no, she seems much too festive
14 poor Christina! no, you won't find that at the Lucky Lab.

Elizabeth said...

1. yes
2. no
3. no
4. yes
5. no
6. yes
7. yes
8. no
9. yes
10. yes
11. no
12. yes
13. no
14. no

artful guessing

KarmaSartre said...

Some of my answers are real, and some I made up. You will need to guess which is which to asses my entry correctly:

1 / is
2 / is not
3 / is
4 / is
5 / is
6 / is not
7 / is not
8 / is
9 / is not
10 / is
11 / is
12 / is
13 / is not
14 / is not

Ben said...

1. Sure
2. Naw
3. The title sounds strange--even for Dali--Naw
4. Sure
5. Sure
6. Naw
7. Sure
8. Sure
9. Naw
10. Naw
11. Naw
12. Sure
13. Naw
14. Naw

Kritkrat said...

Man, I started off so strong... sigh.

1 is
2 you can't be making that up. is
3 isn't
4 the only one i am fairly confident about. is
5 isn't
6 isn't
7 the only one i am positive about because it was the premium for our public radio station when i was a kid and i loved it. IS
8 sure, it looks russian. is
9 isn't
10 isn't
11 isn't
12 is
13 isn't
14 another one I am fairly certain ISN'T.

I think i have way too many isn'ts....

Aviatrix said...

Ah, a subject on which I have no knowledge, and thus no pressure to perform, only limitless opportunity to make things up.

1. IS - She's young, she could be teaching something. I'd have guessed Dutch, but I'll give you this.

2. ISN'T - I don't see anything in that picture that looks like a Mohican. I imagined a Mohican as a painted warrior sitting atop a painted and decorated warhorse, not as a dead tree and a balanced rock.

3. ISN'T - Although the absurdity of being unable to count to three is appealing, and it's entirely possible that Dali spent some time making realistic portraits of men with jungle animals, I want more surrealism in my Dali.

4. IS - Not a typical Escher, but I believe I can see his initials on it.

5. IS - Never heard of the artist or seen the style. It seems pretty advanced for the date, but I'm going to give it to him.

6. IS - If I were Michael and I were going to make up a fake title for that painting, why call it the Colussus?

7. IS - I totally believe it.

8. ISN'T - How come you switched from "the Netherlands" and "France" to "Russian" and "French"? The Russian language has no W, and so if Kandinsky, whom I've heard of and who has a Polish name, were naturlized Russian he would be Vassily.

9. ISN'T - Mondrian wasn't French, and I feel let down that you didn't have one of his nice stripey ones. I think you painted that one yourself.

10. ISN'T - I watched Titanic and Monet is there posited as a modern artist, not one from a hundred years earlier, so the slight similarity of style isn't going to convince me.

11. ISN'T - Oh this one is just an opportunity for us to look stupid, isn't it? It's so not the Picasso stereotype that one starts to suspect that it must be a Picasso, because otherwise how stupid would you think we were to think it WAS a Picasso. Everyone has the right number of eyes and on the right sides of their heads, but it's not like Picasso couldn't count (unlike Dali). I also love the leering look that bear is giving the cow in the extreme lower right. I'm voting isn't because there's a bunch of fancy-hatted dudes in the middleground doing something non-animal-related, so it's not called The Animals. Or if it is it's a dumb name.

12. IS - OMG I KNOW this one. It was in one of my picture books when I was a kid.

13. ISN'T - Her makeup seems wrong for 1888, and that's the weirdassest weaving I've ever seen. It looks like she's wearing a boxing glove. It's really called "The Lady with the Hideous Hat."

14. ISN'T - Nah, that one is called The Great Fire of London, unless Christina is an arsonist.

Michael5000 said...

1. IS INDEED Chardin, "The Young Schoolmistress." France, 1736ish.

2. IS INDEED Thomas Cole, "Last of the Mohicans." U.S., 1827.

3. ISN'T Dali, it's Jacques Laurent Agasse's "The Giraffe, 1827.

4. IS INDEED MC Escher, "Hell (copy after a scene by Hieronymous Bosch)." Netherlands, 1935.

5. ISN'T Giotto. That's a Chagall piece.

6. ISN'T Goya, although it has his later pallette. I can't remember where I found this one, actually.

7. IS INDEED. Winslow Homer, "Breezing Up." U.S., 1876.

8. ISN'T Wassily Kandinsky, "Composition VII." Russian, 1917. No, that's an old Dutch vanitas still life. Composition VII looks like this.

9. ISN'T Mondrian, it's Marsden Hartley's 1914 "Portrait of a German Officer."

10. ISN'T Monet, who hadn't been born yet in 1798 anyway. It's um... um... that other guy. WHERE ARE MY NOTES?!?!?

11. Isn't Picasso; it's "The Peaceable Kingdom" by Edward Hicks.

12. IS INDEED Johannes Vermeer, "The Milkmaid." Dutch, 1658ish.

13. IS NOT Waterhouse.

14. IS NOT Wyeth; it's Turner watching Parliament burn down.

Michael5000 said...

...making Art Historian la gringissima and Art Historian Mrs.5000 the co-winners of WQ II-7, with matching perfect scores. Kadonkadonk overcame self-doubt to tie d with 13/14; Doc Schnell, Elaine, Calico, and nichim were snappin' at their heels.

Michael5000 said...

@Karma: once again, you have blown my mind.

blythe said...

#9 is clearly a picture of one of bombshell mcgee's tats. duh.

Aviatrix said...

So where's the Mohican? Is the last one really small so I can't see it?

Melissa said...

Aw, man. The one subject I can ace and I miss the Wednesday. Rats!

The Calico Cat said...

Ouch, I just threw out my arm patting myself on the back so heartily!