Tuesday, March 18, 2014

The Infinite Art Tournament, Round Two: Homer v. de Hooch!

Winslow Homer
1836 - 1910
American

Beat the great German expatriate Hans Holbein in an unusually high-octane Round 1 match.







Pieter De Hooch
1629 - 1684
Dutch

Overcame Gerrit van Honthorst, his countryman from the previous generation, in Round 1.







Vote for the artist of your choice in the comments, or any other way that works for you. Commentary and links to additional work are welcome. Polls open for at least one month past posting.

14 comments:

Morgan said...

Wow, they're both super good, and for different reasons! This is turning out to be an oddly stacked section of the bracket, filled with really good artists that I'd never heard of.

I'm going to vote de Hooch after some deliberation, mostly because of the last one. The first Homer almost swayed me.

Ben said...

I agree with Morgan that they're both great, but I'm going to cast my vote for Homer.

Elizabeth said...

Echoing Morgan here - I'd never seen the fox painting and it's pretty cool - but de Hooch keeps me coming back with the "always something else to see" factor, and questions like "what is in that jug the maid is about to pour over her employers head?" and "is that woman REALLY picking nits out of her daughter's hair?" and "why can't anyone sit on that nice chair in front of the window?"

So de Hooch, in other words. These decisions are getting harder.

Michiel said...

Pieter de Hoogh
And now I finally know after whom that street in Amsterdam was called where my high school stood.

pfly said...

I just like that Homer dude.

Christine M. said...

Homer

Chuckdaddy said...

Homer

Michael5000 said...

This is a huge power-match. Sometimes I look back at the A's and think, "Wow, we've got a lot of artists in play that would have DESTROYED those brackets." But that might just be presentism.

I do like Homer, and more and more so; but, de Hooch is going to take my vote for reasons similar to those that Elizabeth expressed. Plus, the tenderness of the delousing scene, with the little girl up on her tippytoes, just makes me a little glowy.

lamanyana said...

De Hooch

mrs.5000 said...

Now, this one is a killer for me--I love them both--but I'm going to go with Winslow Homer, who captures motion about as well as any painter I can think of, and whose scenes so often seem to suggest storyboards for some grand epic of America.

Candida said...

This is nearly a coin flip for me (unless that suggests that I don't care--that's not my problem here). Homer's paintings are full of life and motion, and de Hooch's are full of tranquility. What it comes down to, I guess, is that I want to live in de Hooch's paintings, especially with those windows and that tile. It's hard to explain why something like the open top half of the door with that particular pattern of shadows on it in painting three makes me feel as though I can hear what's outside and feel the breeze on my forearms, but that's where I am.

Nichim said...

de Hootch

Michael5000 said...

A vote-by-mail for Homer

Michael5000 said...

Wow, it's De Hooch by a nose! By a nose! 7-6! And with so many expressions of regret! You have to think Homer will have an edge when he takes on the winner of Beauneveu/Hogarth in the Left Bracket!