iOS – Master Pieces: The Curator’s Game for iPhone – Review
We reviewed the iPad version of this app last year (you can read that here) but this purpose built iPhone version is brand new and offers even greater portability. Read our review as we take a deeper look into the new version of this classic art game.
This game has a great history to it which Thomas Hoving (who is the author of the book upon which the app is based) explains in the foreword to the app. "I was introduced to it (this game) when I joined the staff of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Once a week, at morning coffee a different curator would bring a bunch of photographs of details taken from works in collections. The players would then try to match the details to the appropriate work…"
Introduction
Once you have downloaded this app, it retails for $2.99/£1.99, you’re in for a treat. There are three initial sections to choose from, these include Foreword, Play Games and View Gallery. The foreword explains in more detail what this app is all about and gives a great background to the history.
Play Games
If you select Play Games for the first time you will need to create a Player name, just type in something memorable. You then get to choose two styles of games, either Study Then Guess or Guess The Artist. The iPad has a third game called Match Three Details but this is not available in the iPhone version, at the moment.
Study Then Guess allows you to study six presented masterpieces and memorize the artists names. Once you’re ready to begin you need to guess the artist that painted each detail in the artwork. It’s a challenge but a really great one. Multiple choice answers are available to select and there’s also a Hint feature. The Hint feature gives you a little extra information regarding the artist, perhaps where he painted the art, something that might trigger that grey matter into action.
Guess The Artist allows you to jump right in and see how many randomly selected details you can identify from the catalog of 54 included masterpieces.
View Gallery
The third option from the beginning of this app is View Gallery, within this section you will find the complete 54 paintings from which all the details are taken. All the artists and their paintings are arranged in chronological order. There are essays that also accompany the paintings and give more information and background to each artist’s life and work. The essays are fascinating as they are written from personal experience and the reader can glean so much from them. We found the essays almost as enthralling as the gallery itself.
Image above by Leonardo da Vinci ‘Woman with an Ermine’ – 1483-90
There are so many aspects to this app that make it brilliant. You do not have to be an art buff by any means to appreciate it. If you have always admired art and wanted to learn more but didn’t know where to start, then this app is ideal. In addition though, if you already consider yourself an art buff then you will enjoy some of the more challenging aspects of this app to hone your knowledge.
It is enjoyable in so many ways, you can learn so much in a short time but you don’t feel like you really are. That’s is until it comes to playing the games and you realize you’ve remembered so much.
Works by the following artists are included: Blume, Bosch, Boticelli, Brueghel, Canaletto, Carravagio, Chagall, Constable, Cosimo, Dali, Degas, Delacroix, El Greco, Ensor, Fra Angelico, Gainsborough, Gauguin, Giotto, Goya, Hicks, Hogarth, Holbein, Homer, Hopper, Ingres, Leonardo da Vinci, Manet, Michelangelo, Munch, Picasso, Raphael, Renoir, Rockwell, Rousseau, Rubens, Sargent, Seurat, Titian, Uccello, Velazquez, Vermeer, Wood, Wyeth, van Eyck, van Gogh, and van der Goes.
We truly defy anyone to not be totally enthralled by this app. If you own an iPhone then you have to download this app, now. You can purchase it here for $2.99/£1.99. But the developer has also given us some extra codes to share with our readers. So if you’d like one just reply to this post and tell us what you love most about our review. We will select winners at random and send a code directly to your in box.
Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter is a British photography journalist, editor, curator, and the founder of *TheAppWhisperer.com*, one of the world’s leading platforms dedicated to mobile photography and art. Since its launch in 2009, TheAppWhisperer has become an international hub for artists of all levels to discover, learn, exhibit, and engage with contemporary photographic practice.Built on principles of inclusivity, accessibility, and artistic excellence, Joanne has spent almost two decades championing mobile photography as a serious artistic medium. Through interviews, critical essays, exhibitions, competitions, and education, she has helped shape and document the evolution of mobile art on a global scale.Her work has taken her internationally, lecturing on photography and mobile art at institutions and events including the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, alongside appearances in the UK and Europe. She has served as a juror for international photography and mobile art awards across Portugal, Canada, the United States, South Korea, Italy, and the UK.Joanne is also the founder of *TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com*, one of the first online galleries dedicated exclusively to collectible mobile art, connecting artists with collectors across Europe, the United States, and Asia.Before founding TheAppWhisperer, Joanne worked extensively in print journalism and photographic publishing, including roles at a paparazzi photo agency and as deputy editor of a leading photography magazine. Her freelance journalism, criticism, and commentary have been published widely in both the UK and the US, with bylines in *The Times*, *The Sunday Times*, *The Guardian*, *Popular Photography*, *NikonPro*, *DPReview*, *Which?*, *Vogue Italia*, *LensCulture*, the *BBC*, and more recently, the *Financial Times*, where her published letters on photography continue to contribute to wider conversations around the medium.Alongside her editorial and curatorial work, Joanne’s own photographic practice has been exhibited internationally across the UK, Europe, South Korea, and the United States. Her work increasingly explores themes of grief, loss, death, memory, and the body.Her current research interests centre on grief, death, and poverty, with forthcoming postgraduate study leading towards doctoral research in these areas.Joanne is currently developing new long-form writing and photographic projects and is available for commissions, editorial projects, speaking engagements, and collaborations.Contact: joannetheappwhisperer@gmail.com)
3 Comments
Rosalind M Green-Holmes
I’d been vacillating back and forth about this one. I’ve always wanted to gain more knowledge about some of the classical images that have become so familiar, but I’ve been hesitant to pick up something that was too dry and “educational”. You make it sound like this is a lot of fun as well.
Laurence Zankowski
Joanne,
I went and read your other review first to see how it compares to this one. My feeling I get is your enthusiasm for this art app shows up in spades. Having been in the wilderness of the american southwest for nearly 11 years I am finally coming back into the art fold. So your part about art buffs brushing up on their history and love is what I like the best in this review.
Be well
Laurence
elise london
I am an art history major and love the sound of this game. You do make it seem fun yet educational. Does the developer add additonal artwork with periodic upgrades, as I am sure these might become repatice over time. Take care!