A friend of mine, an artist, has, for years, closed off his every email to this writer with a painting which contains a book.
All of the paintings are by well-known artists.
I’ve collected ten of them here.
Tomorrow, I’ll add a comment to this post listing the names of the artists.
And I’ll send an autographed hard cover of any one of my books (your choice of title – mailed to you anywhere in the world) to the first person who manages to do it before I do – and gets it right.
Watch out for number six. It looks like...but it isn't. Click on the image for an enlargement - and a hint.
#1
#2
#3
#4
#6
#7
Leighton - Monday
Posts
Shame on me! I can only guess five, and my number choice for painting 6 is in question. It looks like but it isn't. I can guess the "looks like" but not the "is..." Nice exercise.
ReplyDeleteI can only guess five, too. I can sorta-kinda-maybe take a stab at two others, but, wow, this is tough.
ReplyDeleteThis is a struggle, I am not even getting the hints in some cases. But the bottom line is that it is fun!
ReplyDeleteI can only guess a few of them, but what a brilliant idea! Besides, several of your choices are really funny (and for some reason they are the ones I am best at). I sometimes use paintings when I teach English because it is a good way to engage the students in a conversation, and they also seem to prefer pictures like no 2 and 7 to the more serious ones.
ReplyDeleteI think I've got six of them but any of the others would be half-educated guesses. Great idea, Leighton.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI got 1,2,4,5,7 and 8 without cheating. I didn't understand your hint for #6. I feel stupid.
ReplyDeleteI would really, really love to have a copy of Dying Gasp, so I thought I'd give this a go. I notice that no one else gave their answers, so I'm going to be brave.
ReplyDelete(1) Van Gogh
(2) Dali
(3) Boucher
(4) Fragonard
(5) Manet
(6) Dou
(7) Picasso
(8) Rockwell
(9) El Greco
(10) Degas
If I did well, it's due to that Art History class I had in college back in 1974. The only one I googled was #6 but only because I had an answer for your clue.
I can't wait for the answers!
Leighton, I just want you to know that I am totally bagging this for my own site to give away a couple copies of my new one. I'll credit you and everything.
ReplyDeleteLeighton, afraid I cannot came with a better answer for number three.
ReplyDeleteI copy and paste my yesterday email:
Thanks for the fun. I know I have one painter unidentified but just to participate:
1. Vicent Van Gogh
2. Salvador Dalí
3. Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin (?)
4. Jean Honoré Fragonard
5. Edouard Manet
6. Gerard Dou
7. Pablo Picasso
8. Norman Rockwell
9. Domenico Theocopouli El Greco
10. Henri Fantin-Latour
Fun, wasn't it?
ReplyDeleteFirst, I have to say I should have done this differently.
I should have asked for first responses via email through my website.
That way, no one would have gotten any help from anyone else.
But you, kind readers, helped me out by doing it anyway.
So there's a tip for you, Tim.
Do it that way.
José Ignacio was the first to check in with his list by email - and only put it up here at my request.
Elizabeth (Condorena) couldn't figure out how to add a comment, so she replied exclusively by email.
Her list closely reflected (but wasn't exactly the same as) that of Cathy.
And now the results:
First, the bad news.
No one got it 100% right.
José Ignacio came closest (Yay, José) with nine correct answers.
Cathy and Elizabeth are tied with eight.
The one no one got was #3.
Tischbein.
There are three members of that famous family of artists from Hesse.
This one is Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein (1751-1829) who is sometimes referred to as "Goethe Tischbein" because he is best-known for a portrait of Goethe, executed when the two of them were in Italy together. It's commonly referred to as "Goethe in the Campagna", and you can quite easily find it on the internet.
The other mystery painting, the one that caused problems for both Cathy and Elizabeth was the last one, #10.
It's from Henri Fantin-Latour. The subjects are all friends of his and two of them are famous writers, Rimbaud and Verlaine.
If you substitute Tischbein for #3 in José Ignacio's comment you have all the correct answers.
On a final note, I think that Cathy, Elizabeth and José Ignacio tried really hard, so I'm going to cough up three autographed hard covers.
Would the three of you send me an email through my web site, specifying the book you'd like to have (except for Cathy, because you already said you'd like it to be "Dying Gasp") and the mailing address you'd like me to use to send your book?
Thank you all for participating.
That's very kind of you Leigthon. I just notice my spelling on El Greco is wrong, it should read Doménico Theotocópuli or Theotocópulos 'El Greco'. But at school I learned it as Theotocópuli.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that, José Escribano.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have only ever heard it with the "pulos" spelling.
But, for me, El Greco was sufficient.
(I guess all of us here know that it was his sobriquet - and simply means "The Greek" in Spanish.)
I had to change the names of all of the painters in case someone clicked on them and got the name of the file.
With El Greco, I named the file “Tol”.
For Toledo.
Which, most of us also know, is where he lived and worked.
Speaking of misspellings, you did the same with my name, inverting the "t" and the "h".
Not to worry.
Many people do just that.
Not as tough to spell as El Greco's name - but almost.
Sorry about that, Leighton.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!
ReplyDeleteHere's a meta-quiz: Which artist from your list painted one of the pictures and appears in another?
ReplyDelete==========================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Hi Peter,
ReplyDeleteBeats me.
But I suspect one of the guys from Catalonia.
And yet I can't see it.
Picasso doesn't spring at me out of the Dali.
Nor Dali out of the Picasso.
Leighton, what we have here is an interesting case study in psychology. When I saw the Fanton-Latour, I saw his "Homage to Delacroix," in which Manet appears. Yes, I "saw" that painting even though it's not the one you had posted. I was an unreliable eyewitness!
ReplyDeleteAh, Peter, but I recall a dinner we had once.
ReplyDeleteThere was a reproduction of a painting on the wall of a restaurant.
In Bristol?
In Indianapolis?
I don't remember where.
But I do remember that I erroneously identified it.
It's a well-known image.
The one of women with hands joined, dancing in a circle.
You said, "No, that's not the title, and that's not the painter."
I insisted.
I was wrong.
You were right.
When it comes to words and images, Rozovsky is a force to be reckoned with.
It was Indianapolis. I remember who was sitting to my right and who was sitting diagonally opposite me, and I remember which beer one of our fellow Irish guests drank with dinner and that our other fellow Irish guest insisted on sending back one of the bottle of wine.
ReplyDeleteI do temember our polite disagreement over the painting as well its outcome. I remember, I think, that the painting was Picasso's "Demoiselles d'Avignon."
Other than that, details escape me.
Oh, hell. It was a Matisse that you thought was the Picasso?
ReplyDeleteIn any case, I'd best borrow some advice from another art form and call the whole thing off.
Peter,
ReplyDeleteYes, yes, yes.
I remember the returned bottle of wine.
And, now that you have reminded me, it was the TITLE of the painting that was in question. I identified it as "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon".
And you said, "No it isn't. That's a Picasso title, but THAT painting is a Matisse."
And now I'll join you in the duet.
Stuart Neville had a Newscastle Brown Ale. You know, the curious incident of the Irishman who didn't drink Guinness in the night. And now ...
ReplyDeleteYou say PicASSo, and I say PicAWso ...
Peter,
ReplyDeleteI refuse, absolutely refuse, to continue this inane conversation.
Uhhh...what curious incident?
PicASSO, PicAWso...VelasKWEZ, VelasKEZ