Thursday, January 19, 2017

The Semi-Finals: Monet v. O'Keeffe!

Third Thursday: Bringing big names to your mid-month!




"Semifinals" designates the Fourth to Seventh Rounds of the Infinite Art Tournament.  This is a Fifth Round Match.  It pits Claude Monet (4-0, 39-8, .830), who just beat Norman Rockwell by a single vote, again Georgia O'Keefe (4-0, 39-10, .796), who beat Pannini by a two-vote swing.


Claude Monet
1840 - 1926
French
After his death, Monet’s influence on contemporary art ebbed among the avant-garde, who favoured the more radical examples of artists such as van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Matisse, and Marcel Duchamp. A revival of interest in his work occurred in the early 1950s. Monet’s epic scale and formal innovations influenced Abstract Expressionist painters such as Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock, and a general scholarly reassessment of his importance began to develop. Wildly popular retrospective exhibitions of his work toured the world during the last decades of the 20th century and established his unparalleled public appeal, sustaining his reputation as one of the most significant and popular figures in the modern Western painting tradition. - Encyclopedia Britannica
  • 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!!!







Georgia O'Keeffe
1887 - 1986
American
O’Keeffe has remained one of the most important and admired Modernist painters in the United States and one of its most celebrated icons. Through her consistently provocative and distinctively personal approach to image making, she created a body of work that conveys the integrity of her Modernist vision, her independent spirit, and, above all, her profound sensitivity to the vitality of natural forces.... In largely overcoming many critics’ gendered interpretations of her work, O’Keeffe also played a key role in disabusing the art community and the general public of the notion that gender was in any way a determinant of artistic competence or creativity. Thus, she helped to establish a new and significant space for female artists in a realm that has continued to be dominated by men. - Encyclopedia Britannica
  • Beat German Emil Nolde in Round 1.
  • Walloped Australian Sir Sidney Nolan in Round 2.
  • Prevailed against Ben Nicholson in Round 3.
  • Beat Giovanni Paolo Pannini in the Fourth Round by a two-vote swing. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!






14 comments:

Christine M. said...

Gah. Hard one. Monet.

Matt R said...

A heavyweight battle royale! Monet, barely.

mrs.5000 said...

At first the top O'Keeffe seemed to catch her in a surprisingly abstract mode, but when I looked at it on its side it became a riverscape. Are you sure it's supposed to be vertical?

(There, that buys me a little time to make a tough call.)

Morgan said...

O'Keeffe, in an easier decision than I thought it would be.

Nichim said...

No contest. O'Keeffe. Take that, Monet.

boonec1974 said...

I saw a lot of O'Keeffeish pictures on yesterday's march! But I'll still cast my vote for Monet.

Elder Moore said...

I've never seen an O'Keeffe that wasn't a flower. I really like that skyscraper. Voting for O'Keeffe.

pfly said...

Instinct tells me to say Monet. But further consideration says O'Keefe. O'Keefe.

Michael5000 said...

Susan votes by mail for Monet.

Michael5000 said...

Monet for me!

Anonymous said...

O'Keefe

Unknown said...

Monet

mrs.5000 said...

Hmmmmm. Monet.

Michael5000 said...

And as Mrs.5000 sneaks in her vote at the last second, what timing!, the Frenchman defeats Ms. O'Keefe on her home court, eight votes to five. She'll stick around to take on the winner of the Picasso/Pissaro match. Monet progresses against Patenier, who just took down Raphael in a big IAT-style upset!