Deck 17: Modernism

Question 1

The reduction of natural images into shapes is a type of __________.

A) idealism
B) naturalism
C) classicism
D) abstraction
E) impressionism

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Albert Camus used the Greek myth of __________ to suggest humanity's endless struggle for meaning and purpose.

A) Medusa
B) Hercules
C) Sisyphus
D) Athena
E) Achilles

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The music of Paul Hindemath is almost __________.

A) tonal
B) achromatic
C) romantic
D) anti-systematic
E) atonal

Answer 3

E

Question 4

Modernist painting rejected __________,among other things.

A) narrative content
B) nude figures
C) preparatory sketches
D) religious connotations
E) political goals

Question 5

The worldview which holds that no ethical standards exist,knowledge is impossible,and all action is baseless is called __________.

A) Modernism
B) Nihilism
C) Pragmatism
D) Existentialism
E) Hedonism

Question 6

The composer who integrated American idioms,including jazz,Mexican folk songs,and Shaker hymns into his compositions is __________.

A) Aaron Copland
B) Ted Shawn
C) Martha Graham
D) Charles Ives
E) Anton Weburn

Question 7

The __________ represents a conscious attempt to integrate all the arts into a unified statement.

A) Society of Independent Artists
B) Harlem Renaissance
C) Bauhaus
D) National Academy of Design
E) modern art school

Question 8

Architectural exteriors completely devoid of ornamentation were typical of the work of __________.

A) Walter Gropius and Cass Gilbert
B) Walter Gropius and Adolph Meyer
C) Le Corbusier and Cass Gilbert
D) Frank Lloyd Wright and Raymond Hood
E) Raymond Hood and John Adams Howell

Question 9

The idea that beauty can exist in form alone was a component of the __________.

A) surrealist manifestos
B) theory of non-representational painting
C) Dada anti-art
D) academic training
E) modernist musical theory

Question 10

The artist who made paintings criticizing the oppression of Indians by Europeans was __________.

A) Grant Wood
B) Aaron Douglas
C) Diego Rivera
D) Pablo Picasso
E) Stuart Davis

Question 11

Martha Graham is probably the most influential figure in modern __________.

A) theatre
B) poetry
C) dance
D) music
E) painting

Question 12

European modernist art was first exhibited in the United States at __________.

A) the Museum of Modern Art
B) Gallery 291
C) the Armory Show
D) the World's Columbian Exposition
E) the Society of Independent Artists' gallery

Question 13

Existentialism emphasizes __________.

A) practicality
B) social progress
C) pleasure
D) individual meaning
E) anti-colonialism

Question 14

__________ was concerned with documenting the emergence of African-American identity.

A) Aaron Douglas
B) Diego Rivera
C) Dorothea Lange
D) Constantin Brancusi
E) Grant Wood

Question 15

T.S.Eliot's The Waste Land marks an important point in modern __________.

A) dance
B) music
C) painting
D) literature
E) theatre

Question 16

The Surrealists were influenced by the ideas of __________.?A)Jean-Paul Sartre
B) Sigmund Freud
C) Charles Sanders Pierce
D) Piet Mondrian
E) Albert Einstein

Question 17

A strong faith in "natural" (and "sexual")things as a means of redemption for modern society characterizes the work of __________.

A) D.H. Lawrence
B) Franz Kafka
C) T.S. Eliot
D) William Faulkner
E) John Steinbeck

Question 18

The architect best known for his Falling Water (Kaufmann House)is __________.

A) Walter Gropius
B) Cass Gilbert
C) Adolph Meyer
D) Frank Lloyd Wright
E) Louis Sullivan

Question 19

Bertolt Brecht is best known for his __________.

A) atonal compositions
B) Gothic skyscrapers
C) epic theatre
D) biomorphic sculpture
E) improvisatory dance

Question 20

The plays of Luigi Pirandello are associated with __________.

A) expressionism
B) modern traditionalism
C) Marxism
D) International Style
E) absurdism

Question 21

The novels of __________,set in the rural South,typically revolve around human alienation and an individual's relationship with God.

A) Flannery O'Connor
B) William Faulkner
C) James Baldwin
D) John Steinbeck
E) Ernest Hemingway

Question 22

The musical compositions of __________ were so experimental that many were deemed unplayable.

Question 23

__________ is an important example of social commentary in film.

A) Citizen Kane
B) Battleship Potemkin
C) Stagecoach
D) Little Caesar
E) City Lights

Question 24

Following in the tradition of Copland and Gershwin,__________ blended popular and "serious" styles in his celebrated West Side Story.

Question 25

Migrant Mother,Nipomo,California is the work of the American photographer __________.

Question 26

The musical composition __________ critically reflected on machines,mechanized production,and dehumanization.

A) New England Triptych
B) Billings Overture
C) Steel Step
D) Iron Lyric Suite
E) The Unanswered Question

Question 27

__________ is the author of the "Surrealist Manifesto."

A) Georges Bataille
B) Salvador Dali
C) Jean Arp
D) André Breton
E) Tristan Tzara

Question 28

__________ sought to shock the public and destroy the structures of language.

A) T.S. Eliot
B) Tristan Tzara
C) Alfred Stieglitz
D) William Butler Yeats
E) Langston Hughes

Question 29

Cass Gilbert's __________ is an important example of the Gothic skyscraper.

Question 30

The principal American promoter of photography as art was __________.

Question 31

The Dadaist __________ produced collages by dropping haphazardly cut pieces of paper onto a surface and pasting them down as they fell.

Question 32

The literary movement __________,exemplified by the work of Ezra Pound,grew out of symbolism but used concrete language,modern subject matter,and avoided mystical or romantic themes.

A) concrete poetry
B) imagism
C) non-closure
D) realism
E) surrealism

Question 33

The character "Jesse B.Simple" is an invention of the poet __________.

A) James Baldwin
B) Carl Sandburg
C) Langston Hughes
D) T.S. Eliot
E) Ezra Pound

Question 34

The technique that was famously employed in the films of Sergei Eisenstein is called __________.

A) collage
B) "cutting within the frame"
C) shot-countershot-shot
D) montage
E) splicing

Question 35

The composer __________ employed elements of Eastern European folk music in many of his compositions.

Question 36

Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author is an example of __________.

A) atonalism
B) abstraction
C) lyricism
D) collage
E) absurdism

Question 37

__________ combined elements from West African,American,and European music.

Question 38

__________ erased the line between literature and journalism,producing works that tersely represent simple acts,employ sparse dialogue,and understate emotion.

Question 39

The abstract works of Joan Miró are an example of __________.

A) cubism
B) expressionism
C) impressionism
D) surrealism
E) montage

Question 40

The Villa Savoye is an example of the "domino" system devised by __________.

Question 41

Surrealist artists and writers completely rejected rationality and the conscious mind.

Question 42

Charlie Chaplin is best remembered for his "talkies."

Question 43

In his "Rayographs," Man Ray explored his emotions and states of mind.

Question 44

Fritz Lang's most important film,called __________,depicts life in the twenty-first century.

Question 45

Frank Lloyd Wright's "prairie style" emphasized the values of rural community life.

Question 46

Which two disciplines and approaches to design did the Bauhaus combine?

Question 47

For existentialists,freedom lies in human consciousness and the human struggle to give meaning to otherwise meaningless events.

Question 48

The so-called "Bauhaus Manifesto" was written by Cass Gilbert.

Question 49

What was the purpose of Surrealist "automatic writing"?

Question 50

Crime and gangster films became popular in Hollywood during the __________.

Question 51

Le Corbusier believed that architectural design should focus on function over decorations or stylistic exploration.

Question 52

The author of the poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" is __________.

Question 53

What was Ezra Pound's advice to young modern artists?

Question 54

The early work of William Butler __________ was influenced by Irish myth.

Question 55

Frank Lloyd Wright's "Falling Water" (Kauffmann House)has some elements in common with the International Style.

Question 56

Le Corbusier stated that a house is "a machine to be lived in."

Question 57

The eclectic __________ school of modern dance was inspired by American Indian dance,among other influences.

Question 58

Jean-Paul Sartre was not only a philosopher but a novelist and playwright.

Question 59

All abstract art is non-representational.

Question 60

What phrase did the art critic Harold Rosenberg use to refer to the history of modernism?

Question 61

Choose a modernist work of any medium.Analyze the influence of urban life upon its style and its themes.Which aspects of the modern,multicultural city are most strongly highlighted by the artist? Are their suggestions that city life and modernization may have been disturbing to him or her? Which aspects of the city does the artist celebrate?

Question 62

Consider the paintings of Georgia O'Keeffe,such as Dark Abstraction (page 537).Which aspects of the work are modernist? Do you think her work fits into the definitions of modernism given in Chapter 16? Are there other important characteristics of O'Keefe's painting that remain unaccounted for? Do you think her status as a woman in a very male-dominated art world might have given her a different sense of "modernity" and "modernism"?

Question 63

What was the favorite subject of the American group of painters called "the Eight"?

Question 64

What are some ways the influence of Africa is found in modernist art and literature? Compare and contrast the work of the artist Jacques Lipschitz and the poet Langston Hughes,focusing on the African influence upon their work and the "meaning" of Africa for each artist.Are there,in fact,similar conceptions of what Africa is and what it might provide for artists working outside of Africa? Do you think the artists have a different sense of "tradition"?