Infinite Art Tournament

Saturday, May 11, 2019

The Ladder of Art -- Week #24

Cast your votes for up to four of these seven artists by Friday May 17. For clarifications, consult the Ladder of Art FAQ.

Last Week's Results

This Week's Contest

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

Tournament Record: Placed 447th. Beat Robert Campin, then lost to Caravaggio and Alexander Calder. 7 votes for, 17 votes against (.292).

Mario Merz
1925 - 2003
Italian

Tournament Record: Placed 448th. Lost to Gabriel Metsu and Gerard Dou. 7 votes for, 17 votes against (.292).

Francesco Zuccarelli
1702 - 1788
Florentine; worked in Venice and Britain

Tournament Record: Tied for 451st. Lost to Francisco de Zurbarán and Marcel Duchamp.
6 votes for, 15 votes against (.286).

Placed Second in Week #23.

Willem Kalf
1622 - 1693
Dutch

Tournament Record: Tied for 454th. Lost to Wassily Kandinsky and Richard Parkes Bonington.

Tied for First in Week #22.

Sir Edwin Landseer
1802 - 1873
British

Tournament Record: Placed 457th. Beat Nicolas Lancret before losing to Georges de La Tour and Thomas Cole. 10 votes for, 26 votes against (.278).

Tied for Third, Week #21.
Placed Fourth, Week #22.
Tied for Fourth, Week #23.

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.

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.

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

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Left Bracket Seventh Round: Wyeth v. Monet

Andrew Wyeth provisionally tied with Rembrandt 7-7, then won by rule after my own vote was discounted -- the thinnest margin of victory since Sofonisba Anguissola beat Antonello da Messina 6-6 under the Grudge Match rule back in the year '13. While Rembrandt fans mutter about how "there were some real funny calls in that match," Wyeth moves on to try his brush against the Giverny Giant, the Emperor of Impressionism, Mr. Claude Monet!

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.
Beat Rembrandt by a hair's breadth in Left Bracket Sixth Round Elimination. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!

Claude Monet

1840 - 1926
French

Claude Monet was a key figure in the Impressionist movement that transformed French painting in the second half of the nineteenth century. Throughout his long career, Monet consistently depicted the landscape and leisure activities of Paris and its environs as well as the Normandy coast. He led the way to twentieth-century modernism by developing a unique style that strove to capture on canvas the very act of perceiving nature.

- - The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

Skunked! Skunked Henry Moore in Round 1
Skunked! Skunked Fernand Léger in Round 2
Beat Gustave Moreau easily in Round 3.
Defeated Norman Rockwell in the Fourth Round by a single vote. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
Beat Georgia O'Keeffe in Round 5.
Got past Patinir in Round 6.
Lost to Leonardo da Vinci in Round 7.

Saturday, May 4, 2019

The Ladder of Art -- Week #23

Cast your votes for up to four of these seven artists by Friday May 10. For clarifications, consult the Ladder of Art FAQ.

Last Week's Results

This Week's Contest

Sir Thomas Lawrence
1769 - 1830
British

Tournament Record: Placed 450th. Tied with Marie Laurencin before losing to Fernand Léger and Henry Moore. 9 votes for, 22 votes against (.290).

David Bomberg
1890 - 1957
English

Tournament Record: Placed 450th. Lost to Christian Boltanski, then beat Paris Bordone before falling to Umberto Boccioni. 11 votes for, 27 votes against (.289).

Jean-Antoine Houdon
1741-1828
French

Tournament Record: Tied for 451st. Lost to Edward Hopper and Lorenzo Ghiberti.
6 votes for, 15 votes against (.286).

Sir Edwin Landseer
1802 - 1873
British

Tournament Record: Placed 457th. Beat Nicolas Lancret before losing to Georges de La Tour and Thomas Cole. 10 votes for, 26 votes against (.278).

Tied for Third, Week #21.
Placed Fourth, Week #22.

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.

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.
Placed Second in Week #18.
Tied for First in Week #19.
Placed First in Week #21.

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

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Left Bracket Seventh Round: Klee v. Vermeer

I hardly know what to say about Klee vs. Vermeer!

Paul Klee
1879 - 1940
German

Klee is known for his simple stick figures, suspended fish, moon faces, eyes, arrows, and quilts of color, which he orchestrated into fantastic and childlike yet deeply meditative works.... By 1915, he had turned his back to nature and never again painted after the model. With abstracted forms and merry symbols, he expressed the most diverse subjects drawn from his imagination, poetry, music, literature, and his reaction to the world around him . His subjects reveal his impish humor and his bent toward the fantastic and the meditative.

- The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

Beat Yves Klein black and blue, mostly blue, in Round 1.
Knocked around the popular Gustav Klimt in Round 2.
Defeated Banksy without too much trouble in Round 3.
Tied with his old roommate Wassily Kandinsky in his first try at Round 4. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
Beat Andy Goldsworthy in the Round 4 tiebreaker by a single vote. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
Lost to Leonardo da Vinci in Round 5.
Laid a beating on Édouard Manet in Left Bracket Round 5.
Beat Andy Goldsworthy, again, in Left Bracket Round 5 Elimination.
Beat Patenier in the Left Bracket Sixth Round.
Beat Pablo Picasso in Sixth Round Elimination.

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.