Hello, DU darlings! Your Friday Afternoon Challenge awaits: Testing the waters!

[CTyankee]

Here are some watercolors and pastels of the great artists for you to identify!

and we won't cheat, right?

1.
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2.
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3.
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4.
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5.
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6.
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[Kingofalldems]

1. Cheat? I'm such an art novice

I wouldn't know how. Just enjoy the works.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I have even less idea than usual, but they are all gorgeous!

I look forward to seeing who painted them.

[closeupready]

3. Stumped!!!

2 is ... Vietnam?

4 is Andrew Wyeth?

5 - gawd, that looks so familiar, I'm going to kick myself, but I'm going to say it's a he and an Orientalist - Jean Leon-Gerome? Or else

[CTyankee]

5. no, but weren't they all orientalists in that era?

not Vietnam...

[closeupready]

7. It was a popular style of art, but

not the only one - some painters focused on subjects closer to home, like Monet or Spitzweg or Winslow Homer.

Will enjoy seeing who did these works.

[CTyankee]

9. Sure. But Orientalism was a BFD back in the day and it's interesting how many artists

were drawn into it. Imperialistic it was and badly so for the people who suffered under it so it is a mixed blessing that we have these works of art...

[closeupready]

30. Found it! Yes, it makes sense, I knew I'd seen this artist's work before.

Very similar to other works done by the same artist.

[No Vested Interest]

4. Yes, they're lovely

I'm thinking, but not sure by any means, that Whistler did the lady in red, with the fan.
Am I close?

[CTyankee]

6. not whistler...

[librechik]

8. 2 is Van Gogh

penstrokes!

[CTyankee]

11. Indeed! Interesting that he went to watercolors for this scene...

[Laura PourMeADrink]

29. Wow, I immediately thought Van Gogh when I saw #2 - even though

I have never seen this piece. The slightest thing said "van gogh" to me - and it was the rounded rather pudgy bodies walking.

[CTyankee]

33. yes, I thought the same thing. It was weird, just that thing could just tell you VAN GOGH!

It is "the gate in ramparts Paris" (whatever that is) but that is the name attached to this work...

[Laura PourMeADrink]

34. I am a huge fan...he's got such an amazingly sad story. I just had a print

framed for my kitchen LANDSCAPE AT AUVERS AFTER THE RAIN. Auvers is where he and others painted and worked and where Vincent died and he is buried with Theo

[panader0]

45. Damn! The only one I knew and someone beat me to it.

[matt819]

21. What about the power lines? (nt)

[librechik]

22. probably telegraph wires, not power lines n/t

[CTyankee]

28. that's what I thought. I wondered about it at first...telegraph lines was all I could think of

as an explanation...

[spanone]

10. k&r..

[DevonRex]

12. #4 Homer. The New Novel.

I love the color.

ETA: I should also say that I remember this for 2 reasons. One, because I'm often in that position with a new novel. Two, because I had a classmate named Homer, LOL!

[DevonRex]

14. And about The New Novel:

http://blog.seattlepi.com/bookpatrol/2009/12/14/winslow-homer-and-the-women-of-the-new-novel/

"In 1877, Winslow Homer exhibited his watercolor, The New Novel, at an exhibition of the American Watercolor Society.

It is an image that below its surface of innocent, leisurely repose churns a contemporary cultural scene fraught with change and fear; the culture-war in the U.S. had begun.

“…Avoid also all those miserable sensational…novels and illustrated papers which are so profusely scattered around on every side. The demand which exists for such garbage speaks badly for the moral sense and intellectual training of those who read them…The extent to which the press is used in the publication of romance and fiction, and of books which, if they do not corrupt the heart, do little but to dwarf the mind and give perverted and false views of life – of its duties and responsibilities, transcends any means at our command to ascertain…In nothing perhaps is the taste of our people so lamentably demoralized as in respect to our reading matter” (READ, Rev. Hollis. The God of This World; The Footprints of Satan. 1872).

The New Novel captures the moment and encapsulates its cultural context. This is a young woman languidly lying down on her side, embracing a book as she might a lover, holding it close and dear, almost caressing its binding, her eyes half-lidded in dream-state transport. She is not engaged in “productive” activity at all; she is consumed within an inner life that leaves her unavailable to responsibilities, family, and potential suitors: She’s here but not here, gone into a world unavailable to those closest to her, that of her imagination, a dangerous place for a woman to be in the 1870s. Opening a woman’s mind to imagination was tantamount to opening Pandora’s Box."

[CTyankee]

18. Oh, geez...

even more proof that art drives some people crazy...It has always been thus...

[DevonRex]

24. LOL! I absolutely loved this review of Winslow's novel-reading-

women paintings. It makes me wonder why on earth he is famous for landscapes at all. How could he have been content with the inanimate when he could see and convey so very much n the position of a foot?

[CTyankee]

15. of course. It's a nice work.

[pinboy3niner]

13. #3: John Singer Sargent - Gourds

In 1909, the Brooklyn Museum made a prescient purchase of a cache of Sargent watercolors on exhibition at the prestigious New York gallery M. Knoedler & Company. Prior to this exhibition, Sargent was known primarily for his oil portraits, but as Americans gained familiarity with his watercolors the public quickly developed an appreciation for this work. Today, the artist is considered one of America's greatest masters of the medium, along with Winslow Homer. Sargent used watercolor throughout his career to explore subjects and techniques that were not a part of his formal portrait commissions. Gourds, one of over forty Sargent watercolors in the Museum's collection, demonstrates his virtuosity. In this image of the lush vegetation he encountered on the Mediterranean island of Majorca, Sargent combined vivid colors, bravura brushwork, and a range of watercolor techniques (including transparent and opaque washes, impasto touches, and leaving areas of the paper blank) to create a composition of stunning immediacy and visual richness.

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/20375/Gourds

[CTyankee]

16. Yep. It seems to me that Sargent is a perfect candidate to do watercolors.

I don't know why...it just seems so right...

[DevonRex]

17. I like him.

I'm not normally fond of paintings of fruit and the like. It usually reminds me of playing scales on a musical instrument rather than a song. But this is interesting.

[CTyankee]

26. I find still lifes to often be an embodiment of the evanascence of life...

Manet's peonies, for instance, painted when he was a paraplegic mostly working in his home studio and coming to the end of his life. These works seem so poignant to me, so aware that he was reaching the end...

[Brother Buzz]

19. I got nothing (as usual)

Nevertheless, I do enjoy your weekly art selection and learn a bit in the process.

[CTyankee]

20. Thanks. I learn a lot putting these together!

[librechik]

23. 6 is either Constable or Turner

i get em mixed up--and neither one is famous for watercolor...

[NCarolinawoman]

25. I would also guess a drawing by Constable.

Or somebody from the Romantic era.

That's my lame, generalized guess. LOL

[CTyankee]

27. It does kinda look like Constable,but isn't...

[CTyankee]

35. actually, it IS Turner.

I got the inspiration for this thread by reading an article on artists who enjoyed also working with watercolors. Going from large canvas to small paper seemed a little odd since it didn't seem to be the other way around. Esp. since the watercolors would fade and disappear back in the day.

[Knightraven]

31. I don't know.

But this brings back memories of my mom. She loved going to galleries and museums. She was an artist in her own right with watercolors.

[CTyankee]

32. Oh, that is so nice to know, Knightraven! I'm glad this thread brought back memories!

I hope you will come back to my Friday Afternoon Challenge. We have great little conversations about art and I think you could find something that would interest you.

I'll post the answers by tomorrow morning...

[No Vested Interest]

36. When do we get all the answers? nt

[CTyankee]

38. sorry, I am at a family reunion today. I'll get them up tomorrow...in the meantime, notice the way

the subject is dressed in #1...who is being depicted?

[pinboy3niner]

37. 1 & 5 remain unidentified...tick-tock, solvers, tick-tock

I searched and searched, and I got nuthin'. These are tough! I could just...

[closeupready]

39. I know #5 - can I reveal now? What are the rules?

I mean, I found it by 'cheating' so I don't want credit, but will reveal if people want to know.

[pinboy3niner]

40. Please do--I'm dying to see #5 identified

There's no hard-and-fast rule, but solvers usually post an answer as a reply to the OP with the work and artist identified in the subject line. Example:

#3: John Singer Sargent - Gourds

Using a search engine like Google to help you solve is not cheating. Cheating is using an image recognition app to identify a work. As long as you haven't done that, you're OK.

[closeupready]

41. Oh, okay, then I didn't cheat, lol

It's William Merritt Chase, not sure of the title - googled 'red kimono watercolor painting peonies' - something like that - it wasn't easy, but if you are familiar with Chase's style, as I am, you'll be kicking yourself for not identifying it.

And as I correctly guessed initially, he was indeed an orientalist.

[pinboy3niner]

42. Congratulations!

Good work. I just now googled his name and the image of this work came up--and the title is 'Peonies.' http://artoutthewazoo.com/2012/02/14/william-merritt-chase-peonies-c-1897/

[CTyankee]

46. This one is the only one here done with Pastels (the technique, not the color).

It is why you get a different "feel" for this one out of all of them.

[Warren DeMontague]

43. The guy on the top is bummed

because he got kicked out of Saudi Arabia for being too good lookin'.

[pinboy3niner]

44. LOL!

I remember that! But from the OP image, it looks like they made him a Bishop for his troubles...

[CTyankee]

47. Were we talking about Orientalists? (hint, hint)

[JNelson6563]

48. No idea but I love them!

I am always happy when I see this thread, love to see the beautiful art.

Julie

[CTyankee]

49. # 1 is

by Delacroix! As many of you know, Delacroix traveled in the Maghreb with his patron and painted many scenes and people there.

This is entitled "The Seated Arab" and it is from Delacroix's "Moroccan Sketchbook", 1832.

It is in the Louvre.

[pinboy3niner]

50. Thankyou!

I searched long and hard for that, with no luck. The only thing that finally turned it up in a search was using the title you supplied.

[CTyankee]

51. Brave you, a long hard fight! But, I can see the artist, traveling in less than ideal

circumstances, with only pencils, paper and a few watercolors to fill in, carrying his supplies as he goes into these regions in north Africa! Fabulous stuff!