And now it is time for the Friday Afternoon Challenge, folks! Today: Gazes Returned*!

[CTyankee]

Last edited Sat Aug 4, 2012, 02:56 PM - Edit history (1)

So here are some artful gazes, returned to viewer by the artist. Who did these gazes?

And, as always, we do not cheat here...

1. Bernini, Self Portrait
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2. Cartier-Bresson, Ezra Pound
[IMG][/IMG]
3. Giorgione, Old Woman
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4. Ribera, Club-footed Boy
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5. Chase, The Apprentice
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6. Van Dyck, Seventh Earl of Derby with wife and child (detail)
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*with credit/thanks to the YCBA

[rusty fender]

1. Are all of them from the Yale Center for British Art?

...cause that would narrow it down.

[CTyankee]

2. well, none of them actually...

another reason...

[rusty fender]

5. My bad

#1--Velasquez

[CTyankee]

6. no, not your bad, just my "homage."

boy, #1 could certainly be Velazquez but alas...(you are in the right era, tho...)

[rusty fender]

14. The other artist it looks like to me is

Rembrandt.

[CTyankee]

15. You are in the right era but wrong country...go to Rome...

[pinboy3niner]

3. #5: William Merritt Chase, The Apprentice (aka Boy Smoking) 1875

[CTyankee]

4. Hey, good for you, Pinboy! How'd you know this? You a big fan of Chase?

[pinboy3niner]

9. No, but it reminded me of Frank Duveneck's Cobbler's Apprentice portraits

The styles are similar, so I began to search. It took a while, though, before I got aound to Chase.

[CTyankee]

12. did Duveneck copy Chase or vice versa?

I don't know...

[pinboy3niner]

16. I don't know that copying was involved, but they shared the same style

Duveneck's wiki page links the two artists:

In 1869, (Duveneck) went abroad to study with Wilhelm von Diez and Wilhelm Leibl at the Royal Academy of Münich, where he learned a dark, realistic and direct style of painting. He subsequently became one of the young American painters—others were William Merritt Chase, John Henry Twachtman, Willis Seaver Adams and Walter Shirlaw—who in the 1870s overturned the traditions of the Hudson River School and started a new art movement characterized by a greater freedom of paint application.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Duveneck

[CTyankee]

17. interesting research, pinboy! I love it. They moved a whole school forward...it is very interesting.

what a great movement forward! I think it is great...

[rusty fender]

7. No. 6

is Gainsborough?

#3--Vermeer?

[CTyankee]

10. No, neither, but I see where you are coming from...

# 3 is earlier than Vermeer...and not Netherlandish...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. #4 looks like Goya to me.........?

[CTyankee]

11. Wrong artist but...

[CTyankee]

13. #1 hint: have you ever been to Rome?

[CTyankee]

18. Of those remaining to be guessed, we have 2 Italian, one Spanish, one British, and

one French. Okay, folks...go at it...

[IcyPeas]

19. I don't know. but I enjoy looking at number 6 /eom

[CTyankee]

20. She is in a detail of a bigger painting...I like her too...it is why I decided to include her...

so much of the detail is interesting, looking at how people dressed. I love the fine touch with her...

[Iterate]

21. #2 is Ezra Pound

and given his 1930's/1940's statements and associations with fascism and anti-Semitism, it's not surprising he wasn't quickly named here. He was no Gary Snyder or Allen Ginsberg.

He recanted and regretted over time, and I don't recall that his political views were ever at the core of his poetry or promotion of other artists, but the damage was done and most never forgave him. He lived his final years somewhat isolated and forgotten. The iconic photograph was taken by Henri Cartier-Bresson during that time -I'm guessing that it was the mid-to-late 1960's.

In that sense it's a perfect choice for your challenge - a gaze returned by an tired old man with some wisdom shaped by deep regret and the big mistake.

Credit for recognizing this goes to John Berendt for his book "The City of Falling Angels", because without it I would have stayed among those for whom Pound was just another somewhat ignored puzzle piece in the history of the Lost Generation.

[CTyankee]

22. Yes. And Cartier-Bresson was a genius at getting to the core of his subjects.

The subject of #1 is similarly tormented in this portrait. The object of his obsession is herself an immortal work of art. I'm really surprised that no one guessed him.

I'll leave the Challenge open a little longer today in case others want to participate...and hopefully guessing the obsessed #1!

[horseshoecrab]

23. #1

#1 is Gian Lorenzo Bernini who was noted mainly as a sculptor. His few paintings were done as a young man, as was this one, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

Bernini's obsession was his assistant's wife, Costanza Bonarelli. His scandalous bust of Costanza, in a nightdress, could not be shown in his city.

In the end of a sordid story, Costanza was maimed by a servant, ordered by Bernini to take a razor to her face after she cheated on him with his brother. Costanza, who was an art dealer and collector, was sentenced to jail for adultery.

The pope intervened on Bernini's behalf. Pope Urban VIII found a "suitable wife" for him and Bernini settled down.

link to bust of Costanza Bonarelli: http://www.friendsofart.net/en/art/gian-lorenzo-bernini/bust-of-costanza-bonarelli

[Ilsa]

26. Costanza was beautiful. Thank you for the link. nt

[horseshoecrab]

39. She truly was beautiful

and it somehow feels like justice that she is still seen as a great beauty -- in spite of being the only person punished in that multi-person love affair.

[CTyankee]

30. There is a new book you might find interesting on her.

It is "Bernini's Beloved: A Portrait of Costanza Piccolomini" by Sarah McPhee. The sculpture is in the Bargello in Florence, where I saw it in 2010 and came to the Getty in Los Angeles where I saw it in 2008.

[horseshoecrab]

31. Just ordered that book

from my local library's online catalog. Thanks for the recommendation CTYankee!

[CTyankee]

33. I am reading it now.

I might add that I almost missed her entirely at the Bargello. She was listed among the "not shown" list the day I went. Luckily, I thought to ask if the bust was on loan elsewhere and they said no, just locked in a closed upstairs because they were short staffed with guards that day. I wheedled the guard on duty to unlock the closet and let me peek in and either she felt sorry for me or was tired of hearing my bad Italian, but she opened the closet and thar Costanza was on her little table! Several people wandered over to see what the fuss was about. It was a great art moment for me!

[horseshoecrab]

36. Oh! Great story and great memory for you I am sure!

An up close and personal viewing of the beautiful Costanza for you.

[CTyankee]

41. You know, she almost looked pink to me both times I saw her. She is carved from

Carrera marble, I learned from the book...

[pinboy3niner]

24. #3: Giorgione, La Vecchia ("The Old Woman")

Found it by searching, but had to search more to find out about the paper and its message. It reads, "Col tempo,"or "With age."

Looked in vain for #6. I've encountered the work before (probably in researching one of the Challenges), and was struck by that detail. And now, struck out. I can't find it again for the life of me!

[pinboy3niner]

25. #4: Jusepe de Ribera, The Beggar, Known as Clubfoot (1642 )

Interesting detail about the artist:

He has been portrayed as selfishly protecting his prosperity, and is reputed to have been the chief in the so-called Cabal of Naples, his abettors being a Greek painter, Belisario Corenzio and the Neapolitan, Giambattista Caracciolo. It is said this group aimed to monopolize Napolitan art commissions, using intrigue, sabotage of work in progress, and even personal threats of violence to frighten away outside competitors such as Annibale Caracci, the Cavalier d'Arpino, Reni, and Domenichino. All of them were invited to work in Naples, but found the place inhospitable. The cabal ended at the time of Caracciolo's death in 1641.

http://www.artexpertswebsite.com/pages/artists/deribera.php

Ed. to add:

The title also has been translated as, 'The Boy with a Club Foot.'

The message on the paper reads: DA MIHI ELIMO SINAM PROPTER AMOREM DEI. Give me alms, for the love of God.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/de-ribera-jusepe-the-boy-with-the-club-foot-1642-795447.html

[burrowowl]

27. #6 Velasquez

[CTyankee]

29. Alas, no, but you nailed the right era! It is Van Dyck. See the answers I just posted

above each work.

Thanks for joining us, burrowowl!

[CTyankee]

28. Answers appear above each work.

*Credit to the Yale Center for British Art for my "borrowing" of the title of their wonderful "Art in Focus: Gazes Returned, The Technical Examination of Early English Panel Painting." Found here: http://britishart.yale.edu/exhibitions/art-focus-gazes-returned-technical-examination-early-english-panel-painting

Thanks to all who joined in for the weekly Challenge workout!

More next week

[own your story]

32. I don't usually do this

but I think I will alert on this thread. It belongs in the Lounge.

[CTyankee]

34. No, I have been given permission to have the Challenge appear in GD.

I asked when we made the changeover from DU2. I would not do this had I not been given the go-ahead.

[own your story]

35. LOL- I didn't alert and thank you for letting me know.

[CTyankee]

37. No problem. You're a newbie and how could you know?

The Photography Contest was also grandfathered in.

I hope you will join us and participate. Fridays, 5 p.m.

[pinboy3niner]

38. 'own your story' got pwned and has left the gallery

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=profile&uid=288106&sub=trans

[CTyankee]

40. OMG! That was strange...

[blaze]

43. Who the heck trolls a post about fine art?????

LOL.... omg....

As always, love the weekly challenge, CT!!!

[CTyankee]

44. Oh, thank you, blaze. I was feeling kinda bad for a while. I just didn't understand...

we are such a peaceful tribe...I'm glad you like it...

[blaze]

45. I have to add that

this weeks challenge kinda creeped me out....

I mean, they're all LOOKING at me!!!!

Look at those eyes.... they follow me where ever I go.....

((((((((CT)))))))))

[CTyankee]

46. uh oh. sorry about that. I don't think I've ever heard that complaint about a Challenge before!

Man, that's BAD.

Next week, it will be calmer. No worries. Be happy. All is well...

[blaze]

52. All is well!

This week I learned a bit about the Hudson River School and Ezra Pound and Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Costanza Bonarelli and more!!

I loved your story about your private viewing of the Costanza sculpture!

[CTyankee]

53. If you like Costanza, go to YouTube to check the segment on her in "The Power of Art" which

is narrated by Simon Schama. It was a series on PBS and also a book. Actually, the segment is on Bernini, but Schama talks about how sensuous that sculpture is.

The whole series is quite good and artfully dramatized and the great thing about YouTube is you can watch segments individually, rather than have to sit through the whole show. However, if you have a strange addiction to art programs (ahem, raises hand), you'll probably want to buy the whole thing and watch it....

[NYC_SKP]

42. Had a couple of 'bad' replies removed, but I think this one might have been 'the one':

17. Do you like it in the arse, honey?

[CTyankee]

47. That is just bizarre. Why would he go from a sex discussion to fine art?

It doesn't make any sense to me...

[pinboy3niner]

48. His Challenge post preceded his sex OP by 2 minutes

His post here was his 10th (35 minutes after he registered); his sex OP (his eleventh post) was posted 2 minutes after that.

Likely someone who'd had a banned account here before and returned to disrupt. Good riddance!

[CTyankee]

49. I'm just glad he didn't disrupt our discussion! But I still don't understand why he would

even choose to participate in it?

[pinboy3niner]

50. It must have been the eyes. He didn't like them looking at him...

[rusty fender]

51. How rude! Go away and never come back!