Tuesday, February 12, 2013

The Infinite Art Tournament, Left Bracket Third Round: Bazille v. Audubon!

Two firsts today, as we enter the Left Bracket Third Round: Frederic Bazille becomes the first artist to head into action for a fifth time, and we have the first match between two artists who aren't bringing the same win-loss record into the match.  There will be a lot more where that came from.



Frederic Bazille
1841 - 1870
French







John James Audubon
1785-1851
American
  • Defeated Frank Auerbach in Round 1
  • Dispatched Francis Bacon without much trouble in Round 2
  • Lost to Italian Futurist Giacoma Balla in Round 3.




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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.

16 comments:

pfly said...

I kinda like Bazille, but not enough to vote down Audubon. Audubon!

Elizabeth said...

Harsh matchup. Going with Bazille this time, because of the first picture (*I* want to be sitting on a stone wall overlooking a Mediterranean village!) and because I really truly like the art studio picture. A wistful goodbye to the roseate spoonbill; probably not a final goodbye, as I expect to be outvoted in this round.

Morgan said...

I have always been a little iffy about my support of Bazille, and I've always like Audubon (despite having voted for Bazille far more than I have Audubon - Audubon's just been in stronger matchups!) One vote for the bird guy.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater said...

I vote for first guy and I'm willing to bet he wins in a landslide, that is, of course, unless you have a lot of bird watchers passing through this page.

mrs.5000 said...

I like that top painting by Bazille also. Wish he'd lived and painted until he was 80! I'm going to follow my humancentric impulses, and go with Bazille, over the meticulous and groundbreaking paintings of dead birds.

lamanyana said...

Bazille. I've always felt that I should like Audubon better that I actually do.

pfly said...

Fwiw, and not to cheer for Audubon, but there was an interesting article about him in a fairly recent New York Review of Books. It's online only as an abstract, sadly. But if anyone finds themselves in a library with time to kill...
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/jan/10/birds-inner-life/?pagination=false

Chuckdaddy said...

Audubon has grown on me. I'll cast my first vote for him.

Wildrover said...

I'm sticking with Bazille - I like all four of his paintings here. Audubon just seems like a one trick pony, albeit a talented one.

Michael5000 said...

I think it was Monet who said of, I think, Bazille: "If he had lived, we would have all starved." Audubon was a great craftsman, but his emotional range was for the birds.

Bazille.

Michael5000 said...

A postal voter says: Audubon. "Sticking to the birds."

Candida said...

Bazille.

Alison said...

Bazille

xenon2 said...

Bazille

UnwiseOwl said...

Two votes for Audubon here. One for myself, because I can't get enough of those botany textbook vibes, and the missus because that swan/goose has a neck like a trombone.

Michael5000 said...

When the dust settles, it's Bazille 9, Audubon 6, and this pairing is closed. Audubon went 2-2 in the Tournament; Bazille is 3-1 and will return to action next Tuesday.