It's the second match of the Fourth Round of the Infinite Art Tournament, with a showdown between a great but eccentric Dutch master and a legend of Italian sculpture!
Gianlorenzo Bernini
1598 - 1680
Italian
- Trounced German conceptual installation artist Josef Beuys in Round 1.
- Won a hard-fought match against American landscape artist Albert Bierstadt in Round 2.
- Edged by Giovanni Bellini in Round 3 by a two-vote swing. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!
Hieronymus Bosch
c.1450 - 1516
Dutch
- Trounced Paris Bordone in Round 1.
- Escaped upset by French installation guy Christian Boltanski in Round 2 by a single vote. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
- Held out against the English engraver-poet William Blake in Round 3.
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. Fourth-round matches are open for at least three months after posting.
24 comments:
As much as I am bitter about Bernini defeating Bellini, in this matchup his art is superior.
Bernini. Although I may disagree somewhat with his choice of subject matter and his decision to let his male subjects' pubes peek out from beneath strategically swirling drapes, his sculpting is good, and I like him better than Bosch, who just reminds me of college dormitories and other glorifications of sickness.
Bernini
Bernini is consistently fantastic, but Bosch... He creates a new world with each painting. Bosch to the Sweet Sixteen (plus left-hand bracket winner- so Sweet Seventeen?)!
Yup, Bernini, because as fun as Bosch's depictions of campus life throughout the semester are, Bernini is one of the few artists I've ever seen who help me understand the insistence in the Renaissance on praising art that could challenge nature if only it would breathe.
I'm a Bosch fan.
Chuckdaddy, after this round there are 32 left! I have been unable to come up with a suitably catchy name for that one. The Terrific Thirty-two?
Bernini.
A vote by email for Mr. Bosch.
For me: Before this tournament, I had no real conception of Bernini. I am dazzled by his portrayal of the human form in stone, and through his work have really been awoken to the possibilities of sculpture as an art form.
Nevertheless, I vote Bosch.
Morgan: After this round, there are 32 left... who are 2-0, and still progressing to starboard. But also 32 to sinister who are 2-1. O, brackets!
Yeah, Bellini's sculpture does keep looking better and better to me--I like the Poseidon and that very credibly intent and athletic David--but Bosch is my man in this contest. I never had posters in my dorm room, but I got to visit the Prado when I was in high school, and I can remember finding myself in front of the Garden of Earthly Delights, and it was so huge and weird and intricate and unfathomable--and so completely unlike anything else in any other gallery...well, anyway, I'm still mesmerized by it, so I vote for Bosch.
What Michael said, except it's enough to make me vote for Bellini.
WTF. Could they be more different? I abstain for this round.
Jenners: Could they be more different? Yes, very! I am sitting at a window seat in a suburban mall, looking out at panorama of human creations: cars, buildings, postboxes, lampposts, traffic lights, neon signs, streets, chain restaurants -- and in all this human endeavor, I can't see anything that I would categorize as LESS different from a Bernini sculpture than a Bosch painting. Within the broad spectrum of that-which-is, in fact, I'd have to suggest that Bernini sculptures and Bosch paintings occupy a very, very tiny and specific niche of commonality.
Which is not to say that there's anything wrong with abstaining.
Cmt: I wish I have seen the actual Garden of Earthly Delights! In lieu of that, well, the image linked here is way too small to do the painting justice. The Wiki Commons has a 30,000 × 17,078 pixel version! If that is too big for your browser (it is for me), there are also high resolution tiles. It's hard to imagine anyone *hasn't* checked it out in detail, but if you haven't, you should! (it is also fun to do a large jigsaw puzzle of it :-p )
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Garden_of_Earthly_Delights_by_Bosch_High_Resolution.jpg
pfly: I've read that only two people ever got to see the actual Garden of Earthly Delights. I agree with your comment and appreciate the link, but that big big file aborts instantly in either of the browsers I have on hand at the moment. I've compromised by replacing the original image with one that, although only 1/100 the area of the mega-image, is about double the area of the one that was there before.
Bernini has my heart. His ecstatic form and energy are palpable, although it is so hard to convey his depth of genius through photographs after having seen his work in situ.
He has continued to inspire us and bring hope to an age of cynicism, taking the breath out of voices that pledge materials only in service of concept.
Thank you for this opportunity!
-Sam, recent MFA recipient from Tyler School of Art
I admire Bosch's imagination but I agree with Sam. Bernini's sculptures never seem the same in photos as in real life - maybe one day we will have 3D laptop screens. Anyway it's Bernini for me.
As I go back through and vote in the hope of Fabulous Prizes!™, I think these two may be my favorites of all the artists I've seen; one of them is going to be a beast in the left bracket. I'll go with Bernini by a hair - I'm a sucker for really good sculpture.
Bernini
I'll have to go with Bernini as well - And I'll have to add that they are magnificent in person!
Aw, there go my hopes for a Bosch-Altdorfer showdown.
Oh my. Bernini forges on where no sculptor has gone before, toppling Bosch and advancing into the semis. 11-5! Whoa.
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