The Ladder of Art -- Week #18

Cast your votes for up to four of these seven artists by Friday April 5.  For clarifications, consult the Ladder of Art FAQ.

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Last Week's Results

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This Week's Contest

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Howard Hodgkin
Born 1932
American

Tournament Record: Tied for 461st. Lost to David Hockney and Hans Hoffman. 6 votes for, 17 votes against (.261).

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Philip Guston
1913 - 1980
American

Tournament Record: Tied for 461st. Lost to Frans Hals and Richard Hamilton. 6 votes for, 17 votes against (.261).

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Francesco Clemente
born 1952
Italian; works in the United States

Tournament Record: Tied for 461st. Lost to François Clouet and John Singleton Copley. 6 votes for, 17 votes against (.261).

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Veronese
1528 - 1588
Venetian

Tournament Record: Tied for 474th. Lost to Jan Vermeer and Andrea del Verrocchio. 5 votes for, 16 votes against (.238).

• Tied for Third in Week #14. 
• Tied for Fourth in Week #15. 
• Placed Third in Week #16. 
• Tied for Fourth in Week #17.

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Edward Wadsworth
1889 - 1949
British

Tournament Record: Placed 490th. Lost to Édouard Vuillard and Alfred Wallis. 4 votes for, 16 votes against (.200).

• Tied for Third in Ladder Week #6.
• Tied for First in Ladder Week #7. 
• Tied for First in Week #9. 
• First Place, Week #11. 
• In a three-way tie for First in Week #13. 
• In a three-way tie for First in Week #15. 
• Third Place in Week #17. 

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Baron Antoine-Jean Gros
1771 - 1835
French

Tournament Record: Placed 492th (tie). Lost to Juan Gris and Greuze. 4 votes for, 20 votes against (.167).

• Placed Third in Ladder Week #5.
• Tied for Third in Ladder Week #6.
• Tied for Fourth in Ladder Week #7.
• Third Place, Week #8. 
• Tied for Fourth in Week #9. 
• In a four-way tie for Second in Week #10.
• In a three-way tie for Second in Week #11. 
• Tied for Second in Week #12. 
• In a three-way tie for First in Week #13. 
• Tied for Fourth in Week #15. 
• Tied for Fourth in Week #16.
• Tied for Fourth AGAIN in Week #17. 

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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

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

Left Bracket Sixth Round Elimination: Rembrandt v. Wyeth

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Well, my friends, we have arrived at the Sweet Sixteen.  Our undefeated artists -- Breugel, Degas, van Gogh, Varo, Leonardo da Vinci, Monet, Sargent, and Vermeer -- have now been joined by the eight surviving one-loss artists: Caillebotte, Durer, Gentileschi, Homer, Klee, Picasso, and now Rembrandt and Wyeth.  I feel like this is a pretty respectable set of artists.

Rembrandt beat Michelangelo to survive to this round, whereas Wyeth pummeled poor Charles Sheeler.  On the other hand, Rembrandt did beat Michelangelo, who beat Wyeth several rounds ago, so obviously... well, who knows!

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Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn
1606 - 1669
Dutch

Rembrandt was a 17th century painter and etcher whose work came to dominate what has since been named the Dutch Golden Age. One of the most revered artists of all time, Rembrandt's greatest creative triumphs are seen in his portraits of his contemporaries, illustrations of biblical scenes and self-portraits as well as his innovative etchings and use of shadow and light.

- Biography.com

• Survived a brush with Guido Reni in Round 1 by a two-vote swing. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
• Beat Pierre Auguste Renoir in Round 2.
• Edged by Diego Rivera in Round 3 by a two-vote swing. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!
• Crushed Salvator Rosa in Round 4.
• Lost to John Singer Sargent in Round 5.
• Beat Rubens in Left Bracket Round 5.
• Beat Diego Rivera again in Fifth Round Elimination. 
• Snuck by Michelangelo by a single vote in the Left Bracket Sixth Round.   YOUR VOTE STILL COUNTS!!!

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Wyeth's "oblique self-portrait," Trodden Weed.

Andrew Wyeth
1917 - 2009
American

Wyeth’s technical resources are remarkable. His work displays a strong linear quality, and within his limited palette—consisting mostly of earth tones—he achieves a subtly extensive range of colour. His paintings are precise and detailed, yet he moves them beyond photographic naturalism by imbuing them with a sense of subjective emotion. This work also exemplifies his use of unusual angles and his mastery of light.... Art historians have often characterized Wyeth’s work as sentimental and antithetical to the abstract trajectory of 20th-century art. In the face of such criticism, Wyeth’s work has always been popular.

- The Britannica

• Defeated Jack Butler Yeats in Round 1.
• Crushed fellow American Grant Wood in Round 2.
• Trounced Frederic Leighton in Round 3.
• Lost to Michelangelo by a single vote in Round 4. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
• Lambasted James Abbot McNeill Whistler in the Left Bracket Fourth Round.
• Defeated Velázquez in Left Bracket Fourth Round Elimination.
• Crushed Jan Steen in the Left Bracket Fifth Round.
• Beat J.M.W. Turner in Fifth Round Elimination.
• Trounced Charles Sheeler in the Left Bracket Sixth Round.
  

The Ladder of Art -- Week #17

Cast your votes for up to four of these seven artists by Friday March 29.  For clarifications, consult the Ladder of Art FAQ.

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Well, we knew it was theoretically possible to end up with more than seven artists in an installment of the ladder, and this week we find out it's possible in practice.  It wasn't even hard: a three-way tie for first two weeks ago placed three artists in this batch, and then a three-way tie for fourth last week means that five more are joining them.  

This means there aren't any new artists starting up the ladder this time, but there are six new-to-you images to consider.  And, you still only have four votes -- so it might feel like you have to spread them a little thinner.

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Last Week's Results

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This Week's Contest

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Jacques Lipchitz
1891 - 1973
Lithuanian; worked in the U.S.A.

Tournament Record: Tied for 467th. Lost to Jean-Étienne Liotard and John Constable. 6 votes for, 18 votes against (.250).

• Placed Second in Ladder Week #16.

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Benjamin West
1738 - 1820
American; worked in Britain

Tournament Record: Tied for 469th. Lost to Rogier Van der Weyden and Sir David Wilkie. 5 votes for, 15 votes against (.250).

• Tied for Fourth in Week #16.

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George Segal
1924 - 2000
American

Tournament Record: Tied for 469th. Lost to Richard Serra and Gino Severini. 5 votes for, 15 votes against (.250).

• Tied for Fourth in Week #16.

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Sassetta
1392ish - 1450
Siennese

Tournament Record: Tied for 469th. Lost to Roelandt Savery and Juan Sánchez Cotán. 5 votes for, 15 votes against (.250).

• Tied for First in Week #15.

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Veronese
1528 - 1588
Venetian

Tournament Record: Tied for 474th. Lost to Jan Vermeer and Andrea del Verrocchio. 5 votes for, 16 votes against (.238).

• Tied for Third in Week #14. 
• Tied for Fourth in Week #15. 
• Placed Third in Week #16.

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David Alfaro Siqueiros
1896 - 1974
Mexican

Tournament Record: Tied for 474th. Lost to Alfred Sisley and Claus Sluter. 5 votes for, 16 votes against (.238).

• Placed Second in Week #14.
• Tied for First in Week #15.

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Edward Wadsworth
1889 - 1949
British

Tournament Record: Placed 490th. Lost to Édouard Vuillard and Alfred Wallis. 4 votes for, 16 votes against (.200).

• Tied for Third in Ladder Week #6.
• Tied for First in Ladder Week #7. 
• Tied for First in Week #9. 
• First Place, Week #11. 
• In a three-way tie for First in Week #13. 
• In a three-way tie for First in Week #15. 

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Baron Antoine-Jean Gros
1771 - 1835
French

Tournament Record: Placed 492th (tie). Lost to Juan Gris and Greuze. 4 votes for, 20 votes against (.167).

• Placed Third in Ladder Week #5.
• Tied for Third in Ladder Week #6.
• Tied for Fourth in Ladder Week #7.
• Third Place, Week #8. 
• Tied for Fourth in Week #9. 
• In a four-way tie for Second in Week #10.
• In a three-way tie for Second in Week #11. 
• Tied for Second in Week #12. 
• In a three-way tie for First in Week #13. 
• Tied for Fourth in Week #15. 
• Tied for Fourth in Week #16. 

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

Element of the Month: Rubidium!

March's Element of the Month:

Rubidium!
Rb
37

Atomic Mass: 85.468 amu
Melting Point: 39.30 °C
Boiling Point: 688 °C

Rubidium is about the 23rd most common element in the Earth's crust, not really common enough to be vital and interesting but not quite rare enough to be exotic and interesting either. It sits way over on the leftmost column of the table of the elements and shares characteristics with its upstairs neighbors Sodium and Potassium.  Both those guys are big players in the web of life, while Rubidium is completely irrelevant to any living being. It's so innocuous that even when it occasionally gets taken up into your biochemistry where Potassium should have been, it doesn't even cause problems. It just, I don't know, finds its way back out of your system in the next chemical reaction.

In its pure state, which is to say in the lab, Rubidium is a soft silvery metal with a melting point of 39.3 °C, ​which is to say 102.7 °F, which is to say it melts in your hand if you're running a fever, or climb a long staircase, or live in Phoenix. This makes it one of the metallic elements less suited for high performance engine parts and applications in the aerospace industry.

It doesn't occur in nature in its pure state; like Sodium and Possassium, it oxidizes quickly in air and bursts into violent flame when exposed to water. Well, what actually happens is that your "alkali metal" of choice reacts very vigorously with the oxygen in the water, an exothermic reaction that creates a lot of heat right next to where a whole lot of hydrogen atoms are being orphaned. So, it's the hydrogen that does a lot of the burning. In any event, don't try it, or if you do try it, start small, and in a outdoor location relatively free of children, animals, and law enforcement officers.

The Centerfold!

If you're thinking that it would be more fun to pour the
Rubidium out of the tube directly into your hand, you
lose three points for Slytherin.  Go back and read the
text again until you understand why that's not a good idea.

"Rubidium" means "deep red," which Rubidium is not. The name comes from flame spectroscopy. You may know about spectroscopy. That's the thing where, when you superheat atoms, they emit a pattern of light waves. Conveniently enough, each element has its own distinctive spectral fingerprint, and when Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff discovered Rubidium through flame spectroscopy in 1861, they named it after the deep red lines that are its signature. Or so the story goes. Only problem is, when you look at the spectral signatures of all the elements, Rubidium's is not particularly heavy in the reds. But, whatever.

How did Bunsen and Kirchhoff superheat their Rubidium to perform flame spectroscopy? With a Bunsen burner, of course! Bunsen invented it, with the help of a research assistant, and he used it with Kirchhoff to discover not only Rubidium but also Caesium which, I hate to harp on this, seems to have a hell of a lot more red in its spectroscopic signature than Rubidium does. Did Caesium and Rubidium get switched in the nursery, or something?  Am I really the first person to notice this?

Anyway, Robert Bunsen got the immortality of the Bunsen burner, but how sad, Gustav Kirchhoff was doomed to obscurity? Not so fast, you. You're forgetting Kirchhoff's circuit laws of electrical engineering, Kirchhoff's three laws of spectroscopy, Kirchhoff's law of thermochemistry, Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation, and the Kirchhoff equations in fluid dynamics. He was, like, super smart, OK? In fact, it's probably time you accepted that you're just not going to make as much of a splash in the history of science as Gustav Kirchhoff did. And that's all right. You're still a good person. Not everyone can be Gustav Kirchhoff.

Cover for the album Rubidium, by Finnish jazzcats Black Motor.  They're pretty good.