Deck 31: Spirituality and Art

Question 1

The subject matter of Buddhist art consists of ________.

A) careful accounts of Buddha's princely lineage
B) detailed depictions of the castle Buddha grew 
up in
C) stories from Buddha's life, teachings, and beliefs
D) only flowers and foliage
E) Buddhist art is not about Buddha at all

Answer 1

C

Question 2

How could you tell that a Senufo sculpture depicts a spirit figure rather than a human being?

A) such figures are always upside-down
B) parts of their anatomy will be exaggerated
C) they have one eye closed
D) their arms are actually wings
E) African sculptures never depict spirit figures

Answer 2

B

Question 3

When Buddha was born he sprang miraculously from the sea as a full-grown man.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The Stela of Naram-Sin is made of what material?

A) wood
B) limestone
C) pink sandstone
D) bronze
E) clay

Question 5

The bronze doors of the Church of Saint Michael's at Hildesheim, Germany, ________.

A) are made of bronze
B) depict scenes from the book of Genesis
C) depict scenes from the life of Christ
D) pair Old and New Testament stories from the Christian Bible
E) all of the other answers

Question 6

A wooden chair decorated with brass and iron tacks, from the Democratic Republic of Congo (4.25), ________.

A) is believed to have belonged to a Ngombe chief
B) was used throughout a person's life
C) served as a tangible reminder of a person's status and values even after he died
D) was an object that served to tie generations of people together
E) all of the other answers

Question 7

Many ancient Greek artists made artworks to honor ________.

A) their gods and deities
B) their knowledge of the space/time continuum
C) the spirit world as experienced in their dreams
D) the mascots of their favorite sports teams
E) all of the other answers

Question 8

The deity at the center of the pediment on the Temple of Zeus at Olympia (4.21), who brings order to the scene, is ________.

A) Zeus
B) Apollo
C) Athena
D) Venus
E) Mars

Question 9

What was the purpose of the Senufo mother-and-child figure?

A) to ward off crows from the field
B) as a torch to light the village's paths at night
C) as a guiding spirit for the guardians of religious and historical traditions
D) as a vessel for burning incense
E) all of the other answers

Question 10

What does a chevron look like?

A) a spiral
B) a tree
C) parallel lines
D) a V shape
E) a mushroom

Question 11

The bronze doors of the Church of Saint Michael's at Hildesheim, Germany were made under the direction of ________.

A) Bishop Bernward
B) Pope Julius II
C) Duke Jean de Berry
D) Hildegard of Bingen
E) Lorenzo de Medici

Question 12

Spiritual ideas, such as the traditions of voodoo, can never be represented in functional objects such as furniture.

Question 13

The Greek pediment on the temple dedicated to the god Zeus at Olympia (4.21) depicts a scene from ________.

A) the Trojan War
B) the Christian bible
C) the battle between the Lapiths and Centaurs
D) gladiatorial fights
E) none of the other answers

Question 14

When was the Eastern Orthodox Church icon the Virgin of Vladimir made?

A) during Greek and Roman times
B) during the Middle Ages
C) during the Renaissance
D) in the twentieth-century
E) the Eastern Orthodox Church never made icons

Question 15

The doors of the Church of St. Michael's at Hildesheim, Germany (4.22) and the stela of the Life of Buddha (4.23) are both narrative artworks. Consider how the artist portrayed the passage of time in these works. Has either artist created focal points for important parts of the story? What parts of each narrative are included or left out?

Question 16

In traditional African cultures, functional objects were often esteemed as status symbols

Question 17

Spirituality encompasses ________.

A) our sense of being connected to others
B) our awareness of both mind and body
C) our wish to understand life's meaning and the world around us
D) all of the previous answers
E) none of the previous answers

Question 18

The Stela of Naram-Sin shows ________.

A) the first pharaoh uniting Upper and Lower Egypt
B) a Babylonian ruler receiving a law code from Shamash
C) a Maya king wearing ceremonial regalia
D) an Akkadian king on a mountaintop being looked upon favorably by the gods
E) none of the other answers

Question 19

What is the medium of the Senufo mother-and-child figure (4.24)?

A) marble
B) wood
C) clay
D) cracked glass
E) wheat

Question 20

The artist of Ancestral Spirit Chair is:

A) Betye Saar
B) Alison Saar
C) Faith Ringgold
D) Mark Rothko
E) none of the other answers

Question 21

Muslim practice includes ________.

A) gathering to pray in a mosque
B) praying to Allah
C) praying five times per day
D) praying in the direction of Mecca
E) all of the other answers

Question 22

Why were the Roman catacombs of sacred importance?

A) pagan, Christian, and Jewish Romans used them
B) they were the burial places of many Romans' ancestors
C) they served as temples for many religious observances
D) the paintings there could be relevant for multiple religions
E) all of the other answers

Question 23

Which religion specifically emphasizes the ways natural elements such as the sun, mountains, water, and trees are connected to well-being?

A) Shinto
B) Islam
C) Christianity
D) Judaism
E) Buddhism

Question 24

Mark Rothko wanted his paintings at the Rothko Chapel ________.

A) to be seen one at a time, never in groups together
B) to create an environment that transported the viewer beyond everyday reality
C) to be seen either in bright light or in total darkness, never in between
D) to exist entirely separately from the architecture in which it was housed
E) to avoid creating a contemplative environment for the viewer

Question 25

Where is the Chapel of the Rosary located?

A) Lascaux, France
B) Houston, Texas
C) Rome, Italy
D) La Venta, Mexico
E) Vence, France

Question 26

The site of Ise Jingu is located where?

A) Iran
B) Japan
C) France
D) the United States
E) Egypt

Question 27

Where is the Rothko Chapel located?

A) Iran
B) Japan
C) France
D) the United States
E) Egypt

Question 28

How is the Chapel of the Rosary related to Matisse's cutouts?

A) they both use selective color and bold shapes
B) all of the shapes are very rigid and geometric
C) they use exactly the same color scheme
D) the design of Matisse's Icarus print is enlarged onto the chapel's windows
E) neither of them shows an interest in color or form

Question 29

A shaman is a person who ________.

A) acts as an intermediary between the invisible spirit world and the physical realm of humans
B) ties up captives with a rope while a ruler performs important rituals
C) creates cave drawings upside-down
D) is authorized to dig in sacred sites for the purposes of research
E) none of the other answers

Question 30

Why might the paintings at Lascaux be considered sacred?

A) because the site was visited repeatedly and painted again and again
B) because they show the rituals of a secret society
C) because a particular, identifiable religion was practiced in the caves
D) because the bulls painted there were the ancestors of the people who lived in the caves
E) all of the other answers

Question 31

Why is the building at Ise Jingu rebuilt every twenty years?

A) because the wood used to build it lasts precisely that long
B) because that is how long Amerataerasu Omikami lived
C) because nature is cyclical and the shrine, too, must be renewed and refreshed
D) because if rebuilding it was postponed any longer the next generation would not know how it was built
E) all of the other answers

Question 32

Muqarnas are ________.

A) towers to call the faithful to prayer
B) niches in the wall that indicate the direction of Mecca
C) blue tilework with calligraphic script
D) stalactite vaults
E) none of the other answers

Question 33

Where were the Roman catacombs located at the time they were built?

A) behind the city of Lascaux
B) in the main marketplace in Rome
C) outside the city of Rome
D) underneath the town of La Venta
E) inside the city walls of Vence

Question 34

When was the painting at Lascaux of a bird-headed man (4.31) made?

A) Paleolithic times
B) Neolithic times
C) in the Bronze Age
D) it was made very recently
E) no one knows when it was made

Question 35

When were the walls of Lascaux painted?

A) 30,000-25,000 bce
B) 15,000-13,000 bce
C) 5,000-2,000 bce
D) 100 bce-100 ce
E) none of the other answers