OK, folks. Ready for this Friday's Afternoon Challenge? The City Envisioned.

[CTyankee]

Cities have long been envisioned and are often "robed in a new light" by Western artists. Here are six for you to identify along with their artist/envisioners:
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

[XemaSab]

1. Can I just guess the cities?

1. San Francisco

2. Paris

3. Amsterdam

4. London

5. Prague

6. LA

[CTyankee]

2. You have one that is correct..Guess again? It's early yet...

[XemaSab]

15. I'm pretty sure Prague is right

which is funny, because it's the only one I gleaned through my (heretofore latent) psychic powers.

[CTyankee]

17. There is no Prague here (altho I understand it is a lovely city)...sorry...

[XemaSab]

24. I think I might be at the end of my skills

Thanks for the game. :)

[CTyankee]

26. Nooo. don't go! I can see how you could think of Prague...others did too!

[XemaSab]

28. To me it looks like this building

I don't know enough about art to do a thoughtful google search.

What style is the last one in?

[CTyankee]

31. I see that in the work you posted!

I guess the last one would be called postmodern, but I'm not real sure!

[XemaSab]

33. Dresden?

:shrug:

[XemaSab]

37. Venice... someone got it downthread

:P

[XemaSab]

38. And I'm guessing the first one is also New York City

:shrug:

[CTyankee]

45. No, it is not #1....

[XemaSab]

47. pwned

:D

[Davis_X_Machina]

3. #3's a Child Hassam.

Boston?

[CTyankee]

5. yes, 3 is hassam. But it's not Boston.

Are you a fan of Hassam? I think his work is charming...

[XemaSab]

13. Winter in Union Square

New York

[CTyankee]

14. There you go...I love that scene...so pretty in the snow...

[Davis_X_Machina]

16. When I was a young teacher...

...alone, 800 miles from home (Boston) and friends, in the Deep South, where it never snowed, I used to look at my MFA/Hassam print of Tremont Street in the snow, and feel very, very sorry for myself.

[CTyankee]

18. What a great, great story, Davis...

Hassam was pretty good, doncha think?

[Davis_X_Machina]

32. My personal favorite....

...along with Hopper's paintings of rural New England, where I live now.

[CTyankee]

62. Really! That's interesting...I always think of Hopper in conjunction with Wyeth...

both deal with isolation and remoteness...Hopper in the urban setting and Wyeth in the rural...both have that isolation and aloneness of the American experience that marks both of their works...

[Davis_X_Machina]

66. Hopper painted a lot both on the outer Cape...

...and up in Maine.

The iconic gas station is in Wellfleet, out on the Cape.

[CTyankee]

68. Isn't that just typical of Hopper...his show is at the Whitney in NYC you know...

Hopper is entrancing...as is Wyeth, both encapsulate the American experience of isolation and coldness. I wonder how happy these two guys were...ack...

[Davis_X_Machina]

73. Does the show run through February? I'd love to see it.

[CTyankee]

76. gee, not sure...a friend of mine saw it and said it was awesome...go to their website...

I'm going in to NYC in April and hope it's still around...

[eleny]

23. I think I'm in love!

Got lost in a site with lots of his work and now I want a giant book of his paintings <sigh>.

[CTyankee]

27. sort of wistful...a really good American Impressionist...

[WinkyDink]

63. #2?

[CTyankee]

70. That's been guessed...it's Union Square, NYC by Childe Hassam who is

an American Impressionist. It's beautiful, isn't it?

[xchrom]

4. recommend

1 ?

2 renoir

3 looks like a dutch secne -- but i'm guessing a french painter

4 ? on the computer looks photo-realistic -- so english or american.

5 ? russia?

6 ?

[CTyankee]

6. good on 3! Which city and who did it?

[xchrom]

7. i got one!!!!!!!

:woohoo:

or part of it anyway.

is the 2nd one an english painter?

[CTyankee]

9. yes, you did and my bad, you got Amsterdam in your first answer!

#2 is not English...

[TBF]

8. monet's amsterdam. maybe?

the others no clue

[CTyankee]

10. Yep...you and xchrom got it!

[blogslut]

11. I haven't a clue about any of them

I was going to throw out names like Cezanne and Seurat but those would just be wild guesses.

Nevertheless, lovely works, all of them. :hi:

[CTyankee]

12. Oh, no, blogslut! Don't give up...take a couple of guesses...

Aren't they nice? They really inspired me in this Challenge!

[TBF]

19. Is #5 St. Petersburg?

[CTyankee]

22. no...

[TBF]

25. Looks Russian to me - maybe Moscow. Red square? I really have no idea.

Should've paid more attention in art history class! Liked impressionism best ...

here's one of my very favorites:

[CTyankee]

29. No, it isn't in Russia

awww...:-(

[TBF]

39. Ah, I see below it is venice. So what is the other one then - paris? nt

[CTyankee]

46. Paris is there...

[Parker CA]

20. Guesses: Lisbon, Paris, Amsterdam, Prague, Venice, and Los Angeles. Don't know artists.

[CTyankee]

21. you got 2 cities, in addition to Amsterdam ...

one is on the list but not the one you listed, the other is correct.

[Parker CA]

30. I don't understand what you mean.

[CTyankee]

42. sorry, I'm assuming you meant them in order. One is in correct order, one is not.

[Parker CA]

34. 2nd/3rd guesses: Lisbon, New York, Amsterdam, Avignon, Venice, Cape Town.

[XemaSab]

36. Saint Mark's Basilica in Venice

:D

[Solly Mack]

35. #5 is Saint Mark's Square, Venice, Italy/ Renoir

[CTyankee]

43. Hey, do you know this work?

[Solly Mack]

49. I've seen it before...a print and I've been to Venice.

[CTyankee]

67. Me too,this is St. Marco's square...it doesn't look too much like it...

I was there in 08 and the water was rising around noon...jeez, I got outta there fast...I don't think I've EVER seen so many people...and it was early May.

[Solly Mack]

74. It looks enough like the Piazza. The pigeons especially.

Venice floods often - well, too often for me. I love Venice though. We usually go between the end of August/beginning of September.

[CTyankee]

78. I have gotten crowd averse in my senior years....and I am used to crowds in

New York City at Christmas...pretty bad. But Venice was the worst. I found out that I had picked the week (early May) when the Italian school kids took their field trips to museums and famous sites! Great!

Even Florence in September wasn't THAT bad!

The flood and the crowd was enought to make me flee the Piazza...for dryer ground and some pasta bolognese, which I ate in every restaurant in Northern Italy...including torino, bologna and Verona...loved verona (I'm such a sap)...

[horseshoecrab]

40. #4 is Le Pont Neuf in Paris

wrapped by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. 1975-85 -- Photo is by Wolfgang Volz. Beautiful!

Really lovely...




horseshoecrab

[CTyankee]

44. Great! Do you know Christo's works?

[horseshoecrab]

56. I'm familiar with Christo but...

don't know enough about him. I see that my local library has a number of books available, a few of them with photos by Volz.

Will have to order one! Christo's wrappings were first roundly laughed at, in the 70's, but obviously they create a really beautiful effect!


Thanks CTyankee. Still digging around for #6.

Good challenge!


horseshoecrab

[CTyankee]

71. Christo wrapped an awful lot...this one I thought was capitvating...the City of Lights...

just beautiful...and I thought this one would be either the first or the last one guessed...

[malaise]

41. I am clueless today

but I'm enjoying the thread as usual.

[CTyankee]

48. I guess we're left with #1 and # 6...wanna try and guess?

[Parker CA]

52. Is 6 Honolulu?

[CTyankee]

57. no, not Honolulu

[Parker CA]

53. Is 1 Istanbul?

[CTyankee]

58. no...

[suffragette]

54. Don't know either one, but enjoying the vibrant colors

And #6 is giving me a craving for watermelon :9

[CTyankee]

64. In # 1 think of that color...hint

[Parker CA]

69. Budapest?

[CTyankee]

72. No...who did strong color in art? hint, hint...

[suffragette]

80. Matisse?

[CTyankee]

81. I think you were onto the right track , altho it wasn't Matisse...you had the period about right!

[suffragette]

83. Vue de Marseille - Raoul Dufy

The colors and the view through a window/from a balcony had led me to Matisse, even though only the color and scroll of the balcony felt right for him.

That helped though. Colors in the Fauve range.

[CTyankee]

85. It's an excellent example of Les Fauves. I love the strong color...

you probably would have guessed it anyway at some point...you seem to have a pretty good background in art!

BTW, over the xmas week I got into Manhattan to visit MoMA (or as the NY Times art pages called it, "The Modern"). The 5th floor is astonishing...Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" is there, "The Dance" is there...several Bracque works...I'm going back in February for its "Cubist Collages" exhibit and I can't wait!

[suffragette]

86. Only enjoyment of it

enough to go to museums to see it, then look up more info about it afterward.


And I used to have a poor reproduction poster of this on my wall for quite a few years:


Always loved the vibrancy of mood and color. Your point about the colors, particularly reds, and the plant in Matisse's "La Musique" which is similar to me to the balcony in Dufy's painting helped lead me there.

How wonderful you got to go to MOMA - never been to it and only once to New York. So interesting that that you just saw" Les Demoiselles d'Avignon." The Picasso exhibit I just went to at Seattle Art Museum had many studies he had made for that painting.

Though for me, I much preferred Two Women Running on the Beach.

Not sure if you saw my reply in the other thread about Musee d'Orsay. Sometimes I'm later than I mean to be in responding.

[CTyankee]

88. I think so, but I can't recall it exactly...since I'm going to Paris with a small

art study group I am reading up on all the museums there...we'll have 8 days pretty intensively studying at these museums...I did it in Florence last September and it was relentless. But the experience was overwhelmingly wonderful...

[suffragette]

89. Here you go

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=202879&mesg_id=204301

You are going to have so much fun!

[CTyankee]

90. Thank you! Yes, I recall it now...I will be going to Ste. Chapelle of course.

I didn't know about the Musee of the Moyen Age. Will add to my evergrowing list...I do vividly remember encountering Winged Victory in the Louvre when I was there as a teenager...quite a stunner! It was a looong time ago but I still remember my utter awe...

[suffragette]

91. Ste Chapelle is extraordinary

Since you're with a group, you might not make it to Musee of the Moyen Age. There are so many more museums than I listed and that I have yet to see.
If you go there, you can view the stained glass up close (including some originals from Ste Chapelle) and the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries are stunning.

[CTyankee]

92. My study group is quite small and this is independent study. we'll only

be together for the lectures and then we're off to the Metro and wherever was wish to be. STe. Chapelle is on the study list, so I expect a lecture at it. The only people interested in coming to this study would be folks who are serious, lifelong learners in art, like me.

I went on the same type of trip last September, to Florence. That city is so full of art treasure that even 8 days was not enough. I crammed in several more expeditions...but that is because I devoted over a year in research and reading about the Italian Renaissance. And I even got in some Gothic treasures, too, that were oddly uncrowded...it's too bad, so many people (esp. Americans) go to see the David and maybe a couple of Botticelli and the Duomo and thinks they're "done."

[suffragette]

94. Then you might want to go

You're going to feel the same about the amount of time vs so much to see that you felt in Florence.
I still haven't been to Marmottan, Centre Pompidou, Musee Roden, etc, etc, etc.

Musee Moyen Age (aka Cluny)is definitely a museum with Gothic treasures and akin to Florence is much less crowded than the larger and better known museums. The building itself is wonderful. It has acquired many pieces which were taken from other buildings during the revolution and provides the opportunity to see these items, such as the stained glass and sculptures in particular, up close and in detail rather than from their usual distance part way up a building.

Here's some reference to that:
http://www.musee-moyenage.fr/ang/pages/page_id18157_u1l2.htm

And here's an interesting tourist page I found which gives a good feel of visiting it. It has an odd format - click the links which include the term "Moyen" to expand and view the reviews and images:
http://www.igougo.com/journal-j50848-Paris-bParis_Medieval_Intrigue_Muse_national_du_Moyen_Age-Cluny_Museumb.html


Oh and, although I missed it, there are concerts in Sainte Chapelle. Quite in demand, so something to be aware of before you go.

[CTyankee]

95. Excellent information. Thank you so much! I have printed this out for our trip.

Wonderful! And actually, it is not too far from my hotel in Montparnasse!

So I am pleased. this is wonderful...

[suffragette]

97. Can't wait to hear all about it

Btw, I reacted the same when I first saw Winged Victory so long ago when I was 18.
Completely transfixed by its magnificent beauty.
Back then you could stand and stare for a long time without feeling the need to move to make room for someone else and I stood there for a very long time, indeed.

And another side note, Musee du Moyen Age has a perfect arrangement of benches so you can take a break ad sit and study the Lady and the Unicorn series.

[Parker CA]

82. Do we get any additional hints or info? Numbers one and six have me totally stumped. nt

[CTyankee]

84. Parker, I'm sorry...I DID post the answers around 11:30 or so today as I had to tutor this a.m.

#1 is of course Marseille by Dufy. The strong color is indiccative of the Les Fauves school popular at the time.

#6 is Santa Monica by David Hockney. I think it's called "little santa monica."

I usually post all the answers Sat. morning if any of the quiz questions haven't been identified Friday evening...

Join us next Friday...you're gonna love it (if you liked this one!).

[Parker CA]

50. #1-?, #2-NY, #3-Amsterdam, #4-Paris, #5-Venice, #6-?. 1&6 have me stumped. 6 looks like LA and I

thought 1 must be SF or Lisbon.

[CTyankee]

59. #1 not SF or Lisbon...neither city is in the mix...# 6 is not LA

[Generic Other]

51. #7 reminds me of Hockney

Great choices this week.

[CTyankee]

87. Hey, Generic, it turns out you were right!I shudda given you that credit.

Hockney sure does love his color!

I'll be back next week if you want to join in...sounds like you are pretty knowledgeable about art...

[catabryna]

55. Just a guess...

Is No. 1 Copenhagen?

[CTyankee]

60. Nooo. not Copenhagen...

Look at the dominant feature of the painting...

[WinkyDink]

61. #3 is NYC? Looks like Delft to me! Oh, I see others got it: A'dam!

[CTyankee]

65. Yep it is A'dam...already guessed but I wonder how you got it?

If I didn't already know, I never would have guessed it...and I've BEEN to Amsterdam...but MANY years ago...

[sufrommich]

75. Is #1 Budapest? nt

[sufrommich]

77. Nevermind,I see it up thread. Darn. nt

[CTyankee]

79. Well, take a guess...what does it look like to you? You ARE talking about #1, right?

[eleny]

93. Are you going to tell us about the ones that we couldn't guess?

I can't see the right guess for the last painting and I'm so curious.

[CTyankee]

96. It is David Hockney's "little santa monica". sorry....