There is "Artle" to work with Wordle, Heardle and Lewdle

Summer Brennan can recognize Vincent van Gogh's paintings with its faint, vibrant brushstrokes. A series of looped spiral or thorny legs. It's probably Louise Bourgeois.

However, after playing "Artle" for a few days, Paris-based writer Brennan began to realize that there were some holes in her artistic knowledge. For her thirty years, she has enjoyed her love of visual arts by visiting galleries, reading books and attending shows. So when she couldn't identify the work of French photographer Eugène Atget, it felt like an embarrassing mistake.

"When you soon realize that every artist you know is like a white 19th century artist, it gives you some self-awareness. I'll give you, thank you, "Brennan said.

One of the latestWordlecopycats is not a letter, but a drawing from Washington'sNational Gallery of ArtNew York's popular daily word game. Challenge players with images Times has caused dozens of spin-offs, including Squabble (Wordle's battle royale), Heardle (for those interested in music), and even Lewdle (for blasphemous professionals). rice field.

Artle shows players works of art such as paintings and photographs Start with that. Or sculpture — from the National Gallery's 150,000 collection, including the whimsical paintings of Georgia O'Keeffe and photographs of the gloomy Roy Decalava. Players have four chances to guess the artist. Unlike Wordle, it doesn't have any hints, but it makes it easier to identify the art as the player attacks. Players can share their results with their friends via text messages and social media.

New York-based art critic Mary Gregory started playing Artle shortly after it was released last month and is now a ritual. Every day she and her husband return to the gallery'sArtle websiteto test their artistic aptitude and grow their untouched streak.

"It's fun. It's a little challenge. And what do you know. If you make a mistake at the end, they will tell you who it is," she said. "These are in the National Gallery collection, and the National Gallery belongs to everyone."

Gallery product manager Stephen Garbarino notices that people are searching for "artwardle". , Started developing the game. Online, but no such game existed. It was the worst time. In late March, museum staff were busy with the Afloat Atlantic History, the gallery's largest exhibition since the pandemic began. Garbarino was worried that launching a game app might be considered distracting.

Surprisingly, Kaiwin Feldman, director of the National Museum, boarded immediately. It took less than a month to create the game, but it soon began to captivate viewers, bringing players to almost every country. It has been played over 1 million times and has 30,000 players per day. The game increased traffic to the museum's website by 125%.

Artle has been played over 1 million times and has 30,000 players per day

"Catch a little lightning in a bottle and cascade results You can see, "Galbarino said. “You don't have to spend 12 months developing a huge strategy and positioning plan. You can create small things that attract your audience (such as Artle).”

Artle and other projects are from the National Museum of Art. It reflects the new vision. It's a desire to reach a new, more diverse audience quickly. Since being appointed director in 2019, Feldman has updated the museum's mission and priorities. The product management team that developed the game has doubled in size, including the addition of software engineers and digital consultants under Feldman's leadership. "Most of our money comes from American taxpayers, so it's thanks to them that they give them the best artistic experience they can have. And the country is a very diverse place. We want to focus on the very richness of American diversity and better reflect the country, "Feldman said in ainterview within Washington last year. rice field.

The team works closely with the gallery's education department to create famous, easily identifiable art and more. I chose a combination of works that are difficult to understand. .. For example, in the game, O'Keefe's paintings are thought to be easy to identify, but James McNeill Whistler's paintings are a little more difficult. On the other hand, the work of black sculptor and graphic artist Elizabeth Catlett is considered difficult to choose.

The gallery wants the artists displayed in the game to reflect racial and gender diversity, Galbarino said. "Often some of the lowest success rates are in artists of diverse backgrounds, color artists, or female artists," he said.

It's a challenge. Of the 157,553 objects in the gallery collection, only 2.3% are from non-white artists and 8.1% are from female artists. In Artle's first 45 days, 17.8% of the objects used in the game were from non-white artists and 22.2% were from female artists.

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"We should give priority to the general public while maintaining the ease of introducing the game. It's a delicate balance between nurturing thinking artists, "Galbarino said. "It happened to be a white man who died for two days in a row, and if someone said,'Hey, every time I come here, it's just a dead white man,' no, if you look at a wide range, the spectrum of all artists, It's much more diverse. However, it is difficult to convey it in one day.

The well of the famous artist will soon be exhausted, Galbarino said, and Artle must repeat the artist or begin to introduce a more unfamiliar name to the player. Will not be.

It has the potential to drive away players like Brennan's husband. Brennan's husband often calls Artle "torture" and provides Picasso as the answer to all the images in order to finish the game quickly.

Artle is not suitable for everyone.

—The "Hodges House" shown above is by Edward Hopper.