1. “Mata ni Pachedi” are a form of paintings traditionally done by the nomadic Vaghari community hailing from Gujarat and Rajasthan. But for the community they are more than just art and serve a very specific purpose. What is it?
Marcel Duchamp. | Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
2. Longtime friends Ive De Smet, a plant geneticist, and David Vergauwen, an art historian, are collaborating on a unique documentation project. What is it about?
3. Found object is a loan translation from the French objet trouvé and describes art created from undisguised but often modified objects or products that are not normally considered materials from which art is made, often because they already have a non-art function. Marcel Duchamp is thought to have perfected the concept when he made a series of ready-mades consisting of completely unaltered everyday objects he selected and designated as art. The most famous example is a piece titled “Fountain”. What everyday object did Duchamp use here?
4. An excerpt from TheArtStory.org: “Similar to René Magritte’s oversized painted objects, _______ _______ By Mona Hatoum is a large steel sculpture in the shape of an unfolded domestic box grater morphed also into a room-dividing screen. The work is both comical and sinister. On the one hand it seems like a lighthearted novelty to see a small domestic object so dramatically enlarged, whilst on the other hand, the sharp metal holes and protrusions become threatening and potentially harmful. [It] is deprived of its original function and viewers are encouraged to see beyond reality and to look within their own imagination. The title too is a play on this, referencing not only the object itself, but also implying that there may be unseen conflicts at home, and that the safety, comfort, and union implied by domesticity is not in fact always the case.” Guess the name of the work.
The martyrdom of Saint Sebastian by Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506). | Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
5. One can draw a parallel between X’s portrayal of herelf to that of the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, who is often portrayed tied to a tree, his body pierced with arrows. X aligns herself with the martyr visually, and being raised in a Catholic home, she would have been familiar with the patron saint of soldiers. Desmond O’Neill, a physician writing for The BMJ, describes X’s work as a vital tool in the understanding of pain. He commended X’s ability to portray the intangible feeling. Although it is all around us, we lack the ability to “grasp or express it”; X is the exception to the problem of portraying it. Name X.
6. Originally titled “A Child’s World”, it is a painting by Sir John Everett Millais that became famous when it was used over many generations in advertisements for X. During Millais' lifetime, it led to widespread debate about the relationship between art and advertising. The painting portrays a young golden-haired boy looking up at a bubble, symbolising the beauty and fragility of life. On one side of him is a young plant growing in a pot, emblematic of life, and on the other is a fallen broken pot, emblematic of death. He is spot-lit against a gloomy background. Name X.
7. Impressionism is a 19th century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists such as Claude Monet. In fact, the name of the canon was inspired by a Monet painting called “Impression, Sunrise”. This makes Monet the literal poster boy for Impressionism. It is well deserved, for Monet was hugely successful in painting a subject that came to define the Impressionist style. What was his characteristic subject of choice?
8. John Goffe Rand was an American painter and inventor. In 1841, he patented X with the US Patent and Trademark Office. He went on to patent several later improvements. Pierre-August Renoir had this to say about Rand’s invention. “Without X, there would have been no Impressionism.” Name X.
Paul Cezanne’s Self-Portrait, c. 1895. | Photo Credit: Kenneth and Anne Griffin/AP
9. Paul Cezanne once said he gave up painting X, as “fruits were more reliable”. Name X.
10. The apple was an ongoing motif in many of Rene Magritte’s works. In “Son of Man” and in “Le Jeu De Morre” (The Game of Mora), which is a painting of a green apple with the words au revoir (goodbye) painted on it. This painting is owned by X.
Answers:
- A makeshift temple. Since the Vagharis were not allowed in temples because of their caste, the fabric serves as a backdrop for the goddess.
- Studying the evolution of fruits through historical still life paintings.
- Urinal
- Grater Divide
- Frida Kahlo
- Pears soap
- Light
- Squeezable tubes for paint. Before that artists had to buy entire cans of paint, which restricted their use of colours
- Flowers
- Paul McCartney
Yooti Bhansali is a writer and editor whose interests lie at the intersection of creativity and culture. You can find her on Instagram at @y00ti.
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