Deck 3: Themes of Art

Question 1

The subject matter of Edward Hopper's Gas

A) is based on fantasy.
B) depict aspects of everyday life.
C) is addressed with color photography.
D) is framed in scenes of the natural world.
E) provides for early examples of graphic design.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The ________ often created equestrian statues of their emperors.

A) Greeks
B) Romans
C) Egyptians
D) Japanese
E) None of these answers is correct.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

According to the author,

A) the interpretation of a work of art is objective.
B) a work of art may fall into more than one theme.
C) it doesn't make sense to compare art from different cultures.
D) all of these are the case: the interpretation of art is objective; a work of art may fall into more than one theme; and it doesn't make sense to compare art from different cultures.
E) None of these answers is correct.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Artist Frida Kahlo is well-known for her

A) photography.
B) graphic design.
C) self-portraits.
D) performance art.
E) large-scale sculptures.

Question 5

Iconoclasm means the ________ of images based on religious beliefs.

A) creation
B) worship
C) contemplation
D) destruction
E) None of these answers is correct.

Question 6

Cimabue's Madonna Enthroned and Rathnasambhava, the Transcendent Buddha of the South are similar in all these ways EXCEPT

A) they share a common theme of the sacred.
B) their compositional structure is similar.
C) they both include symbolic hand gestures.
D) they share the same iconography.
E) they were made in the same century.

Question 7

The painter, _________, explores the varieties of visual delight, the natural instinctive pleasure we can take in the everyday experience of looking.

A) Robert Rauschenberg
B) Pat Steir
C) Henri Rousseau
D) Edward Hopper
E) None of these are correct.

Question 8

Christian Boltanski draws upon the _______ to create his work _______.

A) French Revolution; Liberty Leading the People
B) Spanish Civil War; Guernica
C) Holocaust; Altar to the Chases High School
D) history of slavery; Talking Skull
E) None of these is correct.

Question 9

________ is the best-known work of the bizarrely inventive Hieronymus Bosch.

A) The Dream
B) The Garden of Earthly Delights
C) The Scream
D) Radioactive Cats
E) Royal Tide II

Question 10

Jeff Wall's A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai) is a ________ that refers to a ________.

A) film; painting
B) sculpture; photograph
C) photograph; print
D) building; sculpture
E) collage; earthwork

Question 11

The Egyptians imagined the ________ as resembling earthly life in every detail.

A) afterlife
B) dream world
C) pharaoh's life
D) cosmos
E) None of these answers is correct.

Question 12

One of the most delightfully eccentric figures in the history of art is the Japanese painter and woodcut designer known as

A) Shunsho.
B) Buddha.
C) Hiroshige.
D) Sato.
E) Hokusai.

Question 13

Which of the following was designed as a place of worship or meditation?

A) Sainte-Chapelle
B) Great Mosque at Córdoba
C) the Buddhas in Bamiyan, Afghanistan.
D) all of these: Sainte-Chapelle, the Great Mosque at Córdoba, and the Buddhas in Bamiyan, Afghanistan
E) None of these answers is correct.

Question 14

Whereas the Christian image by Cimabue depicts the central figure surrounded by angels, the Buddhist image in this chapter shows the central figure surrounded by

A) shamans.
B) bodhisattvas.
C) pharaohs.
D) putti.
E) geometric shapes only.

Question 15

The pyramids at Giza in Egypt were built as

A) palaces.
B) tombs.
C) libraries.
D) fortresses.
E) None of these answers is correct.

Question 16

Pablo Picasso painted Guernica in 1937 for

A) the Spanish Pavilion of the Paris World's Fair.
B) a rally of the Allied Forces.
C) a celebration honoring General Francisco Franco.
D) the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid.
E) None of these answers is correct.

Question 17

Pablo Picasso's Guernica was a protest against

A) the draft.
B) the bombing of a civilian population.
C) the atomic bomb.
D) concentration camps.
E) environmental devastation.

Question 18

The range of ________'s work makes him difficult to categorize. In addition to paintings, prints, and combination pieces, he has done extensive set and costume design for Merce Cunningham and others, as well as graphic design for magazines and books.

A) Jasper John
B) Pablo Picasso
C) Robert Rauschenberg
D) Andy Warhol
E) Frank Stella

Question 19

Which of the following is an example of a theme in art?

A) painting
B) Renaissance
C) mural
D) art and nature
E) naturalistic

Question 20

In the painting White Clouds over Xiao and Xiang by Wang Jian,

A) the view is fixed, as if standing on a mountain.
B) the painter's primary concern is topographical accuracy.
C) the painter's inscription situates him in a centuries-old tradition of painterly and poetic meditations.
D) all of these are the case: the view is fixed; the painter's primary concern is topographical accuracy; and the inscription situates the painter in a tradition of painterly and poetic meditations.
E) None of these answers is correct.

Question 21

Consider Picasso's Guernica and Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People. Discuss the stories behind each of the works, paying particular attention to the political and social messages that each artist wished to convey.

Question 22

Discuss how Robert Smithson uses the natural world to sculpt his earthwork Spiral Jetty. Include factors such as intent, process, and construction.

Question 23

Select one political leader from the past (prior to the 20th century) who used art to influence public perceptions of his/her power and image, and one leader of the 20th or 21st century who employed art in a similar manner. Discuss the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of these efforts. Be specific in mentioning works or media that were used. How might history have turned out differently if these efforts had not been successful?

Question 24

Musicians often "cover" songs recorded by other artists, developing a new interpretation of it. Artist Jeff Wall "covered" a work by Hokusai with his A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai). How does Wall's work create a dialogue with Hokusai's? How do the differences in their works speak to the viewer about the intentions or purposes of both artists? How does this "cover" represent the theme of "Art and Art"?

Question 25

Discuss the value of visual representations in addressing politics and the social order. Analyze a specific artist who created a work that drew attention to, either positively or negatively, something for the public to consider. How did the artist use visual means to take a position on that issue?

Question 26

Nineteenth-century American painters employed the American landscape as a subject. One such artist was Thomas Cole who focused on an area of the Connecticut River to create

A) Kyoto.
B) Spiral Jetty.
C) A Sudden Gust of Wind.
D) The Oxbow.
E) None of these are correct.

Question 27

Discuss the relationship between stories and images in creating a shared sense of culture or community. Discuss specific works that you consider effective in communicating culturally important stories and histories.

Question 28

Consider Fuller's Talking Skull. Discuss the particular aspects of human experience that this work explores, and explain the artist's struggles to achieve personal goals and connections with her cultural heritage.

Question 29

Discuss Robert Rauschenberg and Katsushika Hokusai as artists who explored unusual materials and techniques in their works. How did each use humor or unconventional actions to transform their art?

Question 30

Consider Garden of Earthly Delights, by Bosch, and identify the historical/artistic period in which it was created. Then discuss the ways in which this painting is both a work of fantasy and one that relates to the religious beliefs of its time.

Question 31

Compare and contrast the theme of the human experience in Kahlo's Self-Portrait with Monkeys and Vermeer's Woman Holding a Balance. Discuss how the artists positioned their subjects in the paintings to convey reality. Consider factors such as lighting, color, and relevant objects.

Question 32

Consider Rousseau's The Dream and Mori's Empty Dream. Both works are imaginative rather than realistic. Compare the methods each artist uses in creating these images.

Question 33

Discuss several ways in which works that were created to reflect the spiritual beliefs of different cultures meet the goals and needs of those cultures, with specific reference to at least three of the works considered in the text.

Question 34

Identify the purpose(s) of the Great Pyramids and the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius. In what ways did these works serve the leaders who commissioned their creations?

Question 35

Consider the painting by Cole, The Oxbow, which depicts a view of nature that includes a human figure. Discuss the point of view and the relationship between human and nature in this work.

Question 36

These three figurative works, included in this chapter of the text, represent three different themes of art: Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius; Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People; and Cimabue, Madonna Enthroned. Explain how each image communicates the theme of the work.