Deck 20: The Twentieth Century: The Early Years

Question 1

In Constantin Brancusi's sculptures,such as Bird in Space,he reached for the essence of the subject by __________.

A) ​leaving a few recognizable features for the viewer 
B) ​finding the simplest form that, along with a title, would fire recognition in the viewer 
C) ​purposefully stripping away any nod at representation and allowing the title to determine the subject 
D) ​trying to depict movement in a manner similar to Umberto Boccioni 
E) ​following the tenets of Autonomist Surrealism

Answer 1

  B

Question 2

The American photographer __________ first supported the development of abstract art in America by exhibiting modern European works alongside American art in his __________.

A) ​Ansel Adams; studio 
B) ​Alfred Stieglitz; 291 Gallery 
C) ​Edward Steichen; Little Gallery on 5th Ave 
D) ​Nadar; loft 
E) ​Matthew Brady; studio in Washington, D.C

Answer 2

  B

Question 3

For works such as White Iris,Georgia O'Keeffe captured the essence of her subject utilizing all of the following techniques except __________.

A) magnifying and abstracting the details of her botanical subjects​ 
B) ​simplifying their forms 
C) ​using a dark and psychologically distressing color palette 
D) ​creating animistic plants that have an organic, reaching quality 
E) ​painting petals reminiscent of parts of the female body

Answer 3

  C

Question 4

"All painting is composed of line and color.Line and color are the essence of painting.Hence they must be freed from their bondage to the imitation of nature and allowed to exist for themselves." An example of a painting this artist is referring to is __________.

A) ​Max Ernst's Two Children Threatened by a Nightingale 
B) ​Jean Miró's Painting 
C) ​Georges Braque's The Portuguese 
D) ​Wasily Kandinsky's Sketch I for Composition VII 
E) ​Piet Mondrian's Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow

Question 5

Cubism was heavily influenced by Paul Cézanne in all but one of the following ways: 

A) ​geometrization of nature 
B) ​abandonment of scientific perspective 
C) ​rendering of multiple views 
D) ​intense interest in native African and Iberian sculpture 
E) ​emphasis on the two-dimensional canvas surface

Question 6

In 1913,the groundbreaking __________ was held in New York City and dominated by avant-garde European artists who would heavily influence subsequent American art.The most scandalous work at the exhibition was Marcel Duchamp's __________,which was dismissed as a "pile of kindling wood." 

A) ​American Salon; Les Demoiselles d'Avignon 
B) ​Salon d'Automne; My Egypt 
C) ​Salon des Refuses II; The Persistence of Memory 
D) ​Armory Show; Nude Descending a Staircase #2 
E) ​291 Show; Twittering Machine

Question 7

The representation of incredible images from the artist's mind is known as __________,and one of the most whimsical of these artists is __________.

A) ​Surrealism; Salvador Dalí 
B) ​Dada; Marcel Duchamp 
C) ​Fantastic art; Paul Klee 
D) ​Automatic writing; Giorgio de Chirico 
E) ​Free association; Joan Miró

Question 8

Which of the following statements does not set the Fauves apart from their 19th-century predecessors? 

A) ​They used harsh, nondescriptive color as an end in itself. 
B) ​Their subject matter centered on traditional nudes, still lifes, and landscapes. 
C) ​They used bold linear patterning. 
D) ​Their skewed perspective and distortions were inspired by ethnographic works. 
E) ​They sought a more direct form of expression, unencumbered by any theories.

Question 9

__________ shut down the Bauhaus in 1933,forcing many of its faculty,including Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe,to flee to the United States.

A) ​the Nazis 
B) ​Czar Nicholas II 
C) ​the German educational system 
D) ​Franklin Roosevelt 
E) ​the Fascists

Question 10

In Umberto Boccioni's Dynamism of a Soccer Player,we see the __________ obsession with illustrating images in perpetual motion.

A) ​Cubist 
B) ​Fauvist 
C) ​Expressionist 
D) ​Futurist 
E) ​Dadaist

Question 11

Of works such as the Red Room,Henri Matisse said it should be "a mental soother,something like a good armchair in which to rest." This is because Matisse's primary concern was to __________.

A) ​calm his agitated friends and family 
B) ​always depict meaningful subject matter 
C) ​keep his visual motifs to a minimum 
D) ​create a pleasing pattern 
E) ​flatten the perspective of his canvases

Question 12

Along with their interest in psychoanalysis,the Surrealists also incorporated some of the attitudes and techniques of the __________ movements.

A) ​Fauvist and Die Brücke 
B) ​Dadaists 
C) ​Synthetic Cubist and Fauvist 
D) ​Impressionist and Synthetist 
E) ​Post-Impressionist and Der Blaue Reiter

Question 13

__________ compositions,such as Picasso's The Bottle of Suze,use a technique known as __________ to emphasize the form of the object and its construction rather than its disintegration.

A) ​Analytic Cubist; pasting 
B) ​Synthetic Cubist; collage 
C) ​Cubist sculpture; texturizing 
D) ​Fauvist; stacking 
E) ​Futurist; trompe l'oeil

Question 14

Henri Matisse consolidated all of the following influences into his Fauvist canvases except __________.​ 

A) ​a traditional compositional structure learned from Bouguereau 
B) ​the copying of Old Masters in the Louvre 
C) ​the stark realism of Courbet 
D) ​a loose brushwork reminiscent of Impressionism 
E) ​a palette inspired by color theories of the Postimpressionists

Question 15

The term Cubism,coined by a hostile critic,is limiting because it is an inadequate description that ignores the movement's most significant contribution: a new treatment of pictorial space that __________.

A) ​juxtaposed unrelated objects into odd situations 
B) ​was composed of linear patterning 
C) ​used color to create a sense of depth 
D) ​delineated shapes and depth with blocks of thickly applied paint 
E) ​rendered objects from multiple and radically different views

Question 16

Wassily Kandinsky,a major proponent of __________,is recognized as the first painter of __________.

A) ​Die Brücke 
B) ​Der Blaue Reiter 
C) ​The New Objectivity 
D) ​De Stijl 
E) ​Synthetic Cubism

Question 17

For his Twittering Machine,Paul Klee was influenced in part by __________.

A) ​Japanese art 
B) ​Alexander Archipenko 
C) ​Wassily Kandinsky 
D) ​ethnographic and children's art 
E) ​caricatures

Question 18

Alexander Archipenko's Walking Woman displays an important innovation in Cubist sculpture: the use of __________.

A) ​flat solids in relief 
B) ​curving shapes to indicate movement 
C) ​void space as solid form 
D) ​bronze as a Cubist material 
E) ​solid form as void space

Question 19

The Futurists' belief that their subjects were less important than the portrayal of a "dynamic sensation" is very evident in Giacomo Balla's constantly "moving" painting known as __________.

A) ​The Portuguese 
B) ​Twittering Machine 
C) ​Bird in Space 
D) ​Two Children Are Threatened by a Nightingale 
E) ​Street Light

Question 20

In Wasily Kandinsky's Sketch I for Composition VII,all of the following elements are found except __________.

A) ​a Fauvist inspired vibrant palette 
B) ​a dynamic sense of movement 
C) ​a mood of impending doom and despair 
D) ​Fauvist inspired broad brushstrokes 
E) ​a new art not encumbered by referential subject matter

Question 21

Explain the difference between Illusionistic Surrealism and Automatist Surrealism,and provide an example of each.

Question 22

What event drove major refugee artists to the United States,thereby moving the center of the art world to New York?

Question 23

Explain the subject matter of Guernica and how Picasso used his huge mural to express the "brutality and darkness" of war.

Question 24

Describe Naum Gabo's Column and the Constructivist aesthetic and theory behind it.

Question 25

Surrealism began as a literary movement after World War I,and the group based their writings on the nonrational,using a technique known as __________ writing.

A) ​free associative 
B) ​unconscious 
C) ​automatic 
D) ​nonlinear 
E) ​existentialist

Question 26

What did the Dadaists declare about art?

Question 27

Explain why Charles Demuth belonged to a group of artists known as the "Cubo-Realists."

Question 28

Discuss Joan Miró's approach to painting,his influences,and his technique.

Question 29

What type of art was prevalent in America prior to the First World War?

Question 30

Describe Pablo Picasso's Blue Period,using his The Old Guitarist as an example.

Question 31

Discuss how modern artists,beginning with Gustave Courbet,managed to persist despite hostile criticism from the art establishment.

Question 32

Discuss the two seemingly different influences of Paul Cézanne and African ethnographic art found in Pablo Picasso's Rose Period painting known as Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.

Question 33

The artists who began the Die Brücke movement chose that name because __________.

A) ​they saw their movement as bridging a number of disparate styles 
B) ​it was the title of a painting by Emil Nolde, a member of the group 
C) ​it was the name of their first art exhibition together 
D) ​an art critic had written an article about them using that title 
E) ​it was the German hometown of three of the artists

Question 34

Identify the three artistic movements of the early twentieth century that are termed Expressionistic.

Question 35

Explain how the Fauves got their name.