Deck 20: Modern Art in the Twentieth-Century Western World

Question 1

One of the ways Expressionist artists conveyed emotion was through color, and another was through:

A) Distorted form
B) Pointillist technique
C) Sharp facets
D) Controversial subject matters

Answer 1

A

Question 2

We can speculate that a Cubist piece that includes more than one medium is from ________ Cubism.

A) Analytic
B) Synthetic
C) Expressionist
D) Futurist

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Both phases of Cubism featured the following characteristic:

A) Using facets to show multiple views
B) Distorting forms to convey emotion
C) Limiting the color palette
D) Calling into question what is real and what is an illusion

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Dada promoted nonsense and the absurd, and Surrealism explored the unconscious mind. Artists from both styles were interested in focussing on:

A) Science and technology
B) Traditional values, culture, and convention
C) Collage
D) The irrational

Question 5

De Stijl, the Bauhaus, and the International Style all used what element in their style?

A) Simple, geometric forms
B) Steel skeletons
C) Monochromatic schemes
D) Applied arts

Question 6

What was the goal of De Stijl?

A) Creating an integrative experience
B) Creating functional and efficient designs
C) Fostering a peaceful world
D) Probing the depths of individual feelings

Question 7

Social Realism was a representational style that:

A) Documented hard times faced by everyday Americans
B) Harkened back to provincial tastes
C) Captured the dignity of the African American experience
D) Portrayed media images

Question 8

The New York School split into which two styles of personal expression?

A) Action painting and environments
B) Minimalism and Happenings
C) Action Painting and Color Field painting
D) Pop art and assemblages

Question 9

By using found, preexisting objects, artists like Robert Rauschenberg in Monogram (figure 20.34) and Louise Nevelson in Sky Cathedral (figure 20.35) were:

A) Blurring art and life
B) Creating environments
C) Creating Happenings
D) Commenting on life in the city

Question 10

Happenings, like Allan Kaprow's The Courtyard (figure 20.37), have which of the following aspect in common with some types of films:

A) Narrative
B) Unscripted
C) Documentary
D) Animated

Question 11

Pop artists were interested in:

A) Imitating media images
B) Mimicking mass-production techniques
C) Forming commercial objects
D) All of these

Question 12

By making stripped-down nonobjective works produced with little skill, Minimalists rejected:

A) Meaning
B) Form
C) Repetition
D) Art for art's sake

Question 13

Conceptual artists frequently produce works of art that are deliberately uninteresting to look at because:

A) People shouldn't be able to own art
B) Art should have no meaning
C) Art objects aren't as important as artistic ideas
D) Art should be more affordable for museums to collect

Question 14

We most often see earthworks in documenting photographs because the works frequently:

A) Bring religious traditions into the modern world
B) Are connected to early photographic techniques
C) Reject artistic skill
D) Are in remote locations

Question 15

A common theme of feminist and African American art was protesting:

A) Low pay
B) Discrimination
C) Museum culture
D) Environmental degradation

Question 16

Analytic Cubism sometimes uses collage.

Question 17

Dadaists rejected rationalism and traditional values because they believed these items had led to World War I.

Question 18

Regionalism embraced the European avant-garde.

Question 19

Conceptual art focuses on works that require a high level of skill.

Question 20

Protest art is always feminist.

Question 21

Distorted forms, unrealistic colors and space, and clashing complements are features of various _______ movements.

Question 22

Some Surrealists created works that appear like dreams, while others formed images _______ .

Question 23

The artists of _______ tried to form a definitive artistic language that would promote unity and peace.

Question 24

With ____________ , artists painted with large, distinct, gestural strokes that conveyed emotion.

Question 25

The ___________ style was born from society's obsession with mass culture in the 1950s and '60s.

Question 26

and contrast Vassily Kandinsky's Blank Lines (figure 20.10) and Jackson Pollock's Number 1, 1949 (figure 20.31) in terms of subject matter, form, content, and technique. How are the works similar? How are they different? Give specific examples.

Question 27

Explain how Regionalism, Social Realism, and the Harlem Renaissance are rejections of avant-garde European art styles at the time. Give specific examples.

Question 28

Why should a work like Mark Rothko's No 9 (figure 20.33) be considered art if it does not appear to have taken much skill to create? What definitions can you use to classify the work as art?

Question 29

Discuss why creating works like performances and earthworks reject the venue of the museum and the idea of the art object. What kind of value can we place on works like these?

Question 30

How can we see Betye Saar's The Liberation of Aunt Jemima (figure 20.46) as containing aspects of assemblage and Pop art? Give examples to support your argument. How do these additional styles add to the meaning of the work?