Deck 1: Why Do We Study the History of Art

Question 1

With which of the following statements would a semiotician most likely agree?

A) Art can only be fully appreciated by understanding the life story of the person who created it.
B) Art can only be appreciated for its own sake, not for its broader cultural relevance.
C) The purpose of art is to capture the true essence of an object as closely as possible.
D) In art and language, there is little or no relationship between the signifier and the signified.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

The three broad categories into which the major visual arts are divided in the Western tradition include all of the following EXCEPT

A) sculpture.
B) pictures.
C) portraiture.
D) architecture.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

According to Roman legend, which artist made a statue of a beautiful woman that was brought to life by the intercession of the goddess Venus?

A) Pygmalion
B) Cimabue
C) Zeuxis
D) Prometheus

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which art critic allegedly fell in love with the image of Saint Ursula in a painting by Carpaccio, as well as the image of Ilaria del Caretto on a marble tomb?

A) Turner
B) Whistler
C) Ruskin
D) Oppenheim

Question 5

When architects conceive a building, they usually make

A) a plan.
B) a relief.
C) an etching.
D) a portrait.

Question 6

Which of the following methodologies is primarily concerned with issues of power and economics?

A) iconology
B) semiology
C) deconstruction
D) Marxism

Question 7

What is the difference between iconography and iconology?

A) The terms can be used interchangeably.
B) Iconography refers to how ordinary people view a work of art, whereas iconology refers to how critics view it.
C) Iconology refers to the original intention of the artist who created a work, whereas iconography refers to how audiences interpret the work.
D) Iconography refers to the meaning behind each individual artistic image, whereas iconology refers to the meaning conveyed by the arrangement and totality of those images.

Question 8

Giotto's fly on the nose of a painted figure by Cimabue is an example of

A) non-figuration.
B) nonrepresentation.
C) delusional thinking.
D) trompe-l'oeil.

Question 9

Art has often been used to preserve individuals' likenesses after they died, as evidenced by which people's practice of carving marble statues from wax death masks?

A) Egyptians
B) Romans
C) Mycenaeans
D) Babylonians

Question 10

Which thinker is most closely associated with deconstruction?

A) Freud
B) Derrida
C) Elgin
D) de Saussure

Question 11

What is the primary feature that distinguishes sculptures from pictures?

A) dimensionality
B) subject
C) material
D) size

Question 12

The word archaeology might be translated literally as

A) the study of rocks.
B) the study of art.
C) the study of beginnings.
D) the study of buildings.

Question 13

The basic principle behind formalism could best be summarized as

A) a piece of art is ultimately a tool designed for some utilitarian purpose, which the critic must discern.
B) art must be understood in its cultural context.
C) art must be understood in its historical context.
D) art exists independently of historical or cultural context.

Question 14

Who painted the fifteenth-century painting The Virgin in a Church?

A) Magritte
B) Whistler
C) Brancusi
D) van Eyck

Question 15

Who sculpted Bird in Space?

A) Brancusi
B) Oppenheim
C) van Eyck
D) Whistler

Question 16

Who painted Fur-Covered Cup, Saucer, and Spoon?

A) Brancusi
B) Oppenheim
C) van Eyck
D) Whistler

Question 17

The biblical story of the Tower of Babel primarily conveys which lesson?

A) Humans possess a significant element of divinity, which they can express through art.
B) Humans should not attempt to rival God.
C) Human cooperation can overcome any obstacle.
D) God will reward those who strive to excel.

Question 18

Which of the following is NOT a methodology of art history?

A) Marxism
B) feminism
C) abstractionism
D) deconstruction

Question 19

Alberti traced the origins of art back to the myth of which Greek youth who fell in love with his own reflection?

A) Galatea
B) Narcissus
C) Pygmalion
D) Zeuxis

Question 20

A person who commissions a work of art is known as a

A) collector.
B) connoisseur.
C) critic.
D) patron.

Question 21

As evidenced in the works of van Eyck, humans' appreciation of architecture presumably builds off of

A) the human urge to dominate one's surroundings.
B) the fetal experience of being encased within a womb.
C) the naturalistic instinct to reach toward the sky.
D) the innate need to find a towering father figure to protect oneself.

Question 22

Both Judaism and Islam have strong and lively figurative artistic traditions.

Question 23

By its very nature, which of the following artistic forms is most challenging to describe through words and pictures?

A) architecture
B) sculpture
C) painting
D) photography.

Question 24

The famous Elgin Marbles originated in

A) Turkey.
B) Greece.
C) Rome.
D) Africa.

Question 25

A figurative work of art is one that ignores the "literal" appearance of an object and attempts to uncover its "essence" without reference to natural form.

Question 26

In their initial construction and function, ziggurats best illustrate which type of artistic value?

A) intrinsic
B) psychological
C) religious
D) nationalistic

Question 27

In which era of European history did the practice of collecting art for its intrinsic value begin?

A) the Hellenistic era
B) the Roman era
C) the twentieth century
D) the nineteenth century

Question 28

The intrinsic value of an object is always clear.

Question 29

The French phrase trompe l'oeil could best be defined as

A) "still life."
B) "optical illusion."
C) "nonfigurative abstraction."
D) "skillful use of light."

Question 30

The sculptures of Duane Hanson are purportedly so realistic that people routinely try to strike up a conversation with them.

Question 31

Many cultures fear that damage done to an image of an object can do damage to the object itself.

Question 32

Lord Elgin acquired the sculptures that bear his name in open defiance of existing local, British, and international laws.

Question 33

As a rule, architecture diverges from painting and sculpture in being more

A) imaginative.
B) aesthetic.
C) utilitarian.
D) ornamental.

Question 34

The intrinsic value of an object can vary over time to time and place to place.

Question 35

In 2001, Taliban authorities in Afghanistan ordered the destruction of two huge statues of

A) Allah.
B) Jesus.
C) Moses.
D) Buddha.

Question 36

Throughout history, major works of art have been broken down and destroyed in order to extract the precious materials from which they were made.

Question 37

Studies of infants and young children strongly suggest that the artistic impulse has to be learned and is not innate.

Question 38

In his The Betrayal of Images, Magritte painted an image of a pipe directly above a caption which read, in French,

A) "This is not a pipe."
B) "This is not a work of art."
C) "This is not a donkey."
D) "This is not a lie."

Question 39

Which of the following terms is used to describe a work of art that portrays an object's surface reality convincingly enough for it to be mistaken for the real thing?

A) naturalistic
B) representational
C) illusionistic
D) figurative

Question 40

Leonardo da Vinci grew so emotionally attached to his Mona Lisa that during his own lifetime he refused to surrender it to the patron who had commissioned it.

Question 41

Traditionally, how have artists been seen in comparison with gods, and vice versa? How viable are such comparisons?

Question 42

Discuss the ways in which artists have been seen as being uniquely in touch with supernatural forces, even through to modern times.

Question 43

Assess the different approaches available to art historians. Is any one approach more valuable than others? Why or why not?

Question 44

What are the various values according to which a work of art might be assessed?

Question 45

How have new technologies affected understandings of art?

Question 46

Should the British Museum relinquish ownership of the Elgin Marbles? Why or why not?

Question 47

What does Steichen's struggle to import a Brancusi bird into the United States reveal about the malleability of definitions of art?