“Arnolfini Portrait” by van Eyck should be taken. Also at least one piece by William Johnson (my favorite artist).
Took far too long before that one was mentioned.
Moving right along, Breugel, cannot continue without Breugel. Hunters in the Snow, Peasant Wedding, Childrens’ Games, Tower of Babylon; all good.
Similarly, Peter Greenaway’s 10 Western paintings of note:
Rembrandt - The Nightwatch
Da Vinci - The Last Supper
Veronese - The Marriage at Cana
Raphael - Wedding of the Virgin
Picasso - Guernica
Velazquez - Las Meninas
Monet - The Water-lilies
Seurat - La Grande Jatte
Pollock - One: number 31
Michelangelo - The Last Judgement
My personal pick would be something by Albrecht Durer, probably Feast of the Rose Garlands. He is my favourite artist and this is probably his masterwork (as far as painting goes – he had other masterworks in other media). Besides, if it was good enough for Rudolph II, it’s good enough for me.
None. Take the opportunity to start over.
I’d go for Francis Bacon’s version. Potent stuff.
I love the pre-Raphaelites, particularly Rossetti’s Beata Beatrix. There’s a whole, very sad, story in that painting.
The Night Watch.
Nighthawks.
Lots of the Pre-Raphaelites.
Frederic Remington’s The Stampede.
Frank Frazetta’s Golden Girl. For the panther, of course. 
That door is quadruple locked, and all the keys were ground to powder, fed to rats which were then fed to cats which were then fed to hyenas which were then killed and cremated and their ashes scattered on Mars. Glinda scares me.
No one will be forcing you to look at them. But the rest of us want a world with history, thank you very much.
OMG, this is the painting I came in to mention, because I didn’t think anyone else would!
Yeah, we have to take that one.
But don’t manufacture it. If this is a new world, it should have its own History.
Art is so subjective, it’d be impossible to bring along works everyone would agree on. Nobody would suggest Alex Ross’s Kingdom Come covers, for example, but I prefer them to the stupid Mona effing Lisa.
I gotta have me some Richard M. Powers.
Probably should insist on nobody speaking English too. Or drinking beer. Or kissing.
On one hand, I find this idea very appealing. On the other, I don’t want to abandon history, because there is so much to learn from it. Interesting point, though.
Three things, GuanoLad:
- Did you mean to capitalize history above? If so, why?
- Worlds don’t have history absent sapient inhabitants, and this world obviously was uninhabited prior to humanity’s arrival.
- You wrote above that in such a circumstance, humanity should “start over.” What does that mean, exactly? Do we abandon all our tech too? If so, why? If not, why not?
And…
Because…? I invite you to give your reasons for wanting Alex Ross.
Anyway, nobody’s talking about abandoning Ross. It’s been implicit throughout the discussion that tons of stuff was being digitized – as much as we can. We’re talking about what original works of art need to be saved. I will submit that Ross’s work, being intended for mass market reproduction, need not be saved in its original form in the same way that Sunday Afternoon… does, because the effect of the latter is not generally (maybe not ever) preserved in photos.
I did mean to capitalise “History” but I’m not sure why I did. It just seemed right.
Art isn’t great because an expert said it is, but too many people follow this lead. I just want that to be abandoned and to start again somewhat more democratically, and considerably less pretentiously.
I’d like people to bring whatever art they actually like, not what is considered “great” by Historians. Arguably that’s what people are listing, but there’s an underlying snobbishness to it all that bothers me.
Not at all. You’ll note that I have disagreed strenuously with people who like Pollock and Picasso (two giants of 20th century art), and I’m the guy who started the thread. I don’t think everyone agrees with my choices, either.
Experts appraise the quality of art differently than most not because they’re anti-democratic or elitist but because, having studied more, they know more. they have an an appreciation of technique and cliche and a ton of other stuff that someone like me (who took some art appreciation & humanities classes in college and has always liked paintings, but has never done anything like a systematic study of the visual arts) cannot approach. Similarly, my sustained if unfocused and amateurish (literally) study of paintings gives me somewhat better standing than someone whose doesn’t even know who Pollock is.
Anyway, the point of this thread was to give people an excuse to talk about their favorite paintintgs. I can start another Tolkien thread if you prefer.
“Sons and Orphans Near Kurlkurta” by Anatjari Tjakamarra
http://www.artslant.com/ny/events/show/87719-contemporary-aboriginal-painting-from-australia?print=1
Most paintings I couldn’t care less about, but I’ll suggest eitherThe Voyage of Life or The Course of Empire by Thomas Cole. Voyage if you wanna be optimistic in the new world, Empire if more cynical.
I don’t know if they’re great painting or not, but they’ll help us remember who we are. And I was a nicer person when I saw them, so I’ll want them around anyway.
Frederic Remington’s A Dash For The Timber
Yeah… I loathe Paris, though.
Good God, there’s no way I’d ever want to try to use poetry to impress a date. I don’t do that kind of cheesy. (And I’m female, btw). I wouldn’t use poetry to impress anyone at all now, but when I was a teenager who’d been brought up in a bit of a cultural wasteland it was unusual that I know a little about poetry.