A Modern Art Trivia Treasure Hunt
We love a good piece of art on the wall as much as anyone. But while we can appreciate art in an aesthetic vacuum, the stories behind the works are what really bring them to life. So to give ample dimension to the art in our Modern Art & Design auction, we made you a trivia treasure hunt around some of the standout works that were offered.
Here's how to play: below are detail shots of pieces in the auction, along with a juicy little nugget about each artwork or the artist who made it. With those clues in your pocket, get to hunting the works down in the Modern Art & Design catalogue. You just might see them a little differently.....
Number 1

The subject of this linocut was the French artist's American daughter in-law, and he made a number of portraits of her during this time period. She ran her husband's (the artist's son's) art gallery when he was drafted during WWII. After she and the artist's son separated, one of the things she had in common with her second husband, Marcel Duchamp, was their shared love of chess.
Number 2

The artist named this particular style of his work after the core-formed glass vessels made to hold eye kohl and other cosmetics of antiquity. The largest permanent installation of this artist's work is in the Indianapolis Childrens' Museum. Before he became a worldwide art phenom, the artist worked as a commercial fisherman to put himself through graduate school. He now collects off-beat things like accordions.
Number 3

The mother of one of the subjects of this photograph (who also signed it) started a nightclub in the basement of her home in order for her son's fledgling band to have a place to play. The band helped her paint the walls in exchange. In their early career, the subject's mother worked as the band's manager, which unfortunately didn't stop the band from firing her son when they were ready to move on.
Number 4

In 1940, this North Carolina artist was the first from the state to show work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He lived almost his entire life in the same Wilmington apartment. For decades, he supplemented his art career by working for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Legend has it he walked the exact same carefully plotted route every day from his apartment to the railroad office, mapped precisely so that he never had to step out of the shade.
Number 5

This artist was born on a farm in Pender County, North Carolina during segregation. At the age of 39, he was forced to retire from his job at The Federal Paper Board in Wilmington because of debilitating rheumatoid arthritis. The affliction completely crippled the artist's hands, didn't keep him from painting. At one point he lost the use of his right arm all together and had to relearn to paint with his left. This work is from a series he made after having a vision in which he said he was transported to Africa.
Number 6

This artist's father was imprisoned during the Spanish Revolution, when the artist was a small child. His earliest memories are of passing food through the prison bars with his mother. These experiences have informed his work for the rest of his life. His works are in the collections of the Rockefeller and Reagan families, as well as a number of museums. He has also made a number of works for public spaces throughout Quebec, where he lives.
Number 7

This work is one of over 200 paintings in a series started in 1980 by one of North Carolina's best known artists. The title of the series refers to the legend of a woman in Jerusalem who was deeply moved when she saw Christ carrying the cross to Cavalry. She gave him her veil to wipe his forehead, and when he returned it, the image of his face remained on the veil. The woman was canonized and is the patron saint of laundresses and photographers.
Modern Art & Design
Thursday, August 19th
10:00am (EDT)

Featured Modern Art not the answers, that'd be no fun