Deck 32: Modern Art in Europe and the Americas, 1900-1950

Question 1

Which Dadaist idea would have a radical influence on art of the later twentieth century?

A) the rejection of three-dimensional illusionism in painting
B) the belief that art could convey spiritual concerns through non-objective imagery
C) the notion that art was not precious but could exist as conceptual ideas and actions
D) the role of the subconscious in revealing universal symbols and meaning

Answer 1

C

Question 2

What created the radical asymmetry sought after in the De Stijl movement of Gerrit Rietveld's Schröder House, Utrecht (Fig. 32-51)?

A) exposed skeletal structure
B) large expanses of windows
C) richly encrusted surfaces
D) horizontal and vertical lines

Answer 2

D

Question 3

In the years after World War II, Francis Bacon's paintings evoked the horrors of war and human suffering through

A) expressive images of distorted figures.
B) raw, heavily worked abstract forms.
C) biomorphic images that held personal symbolism.
D) large-scale murals inspired by Renaissance frescoes.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

How did Picasso's treatment of space in Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (Fig. 32-6) dramatically change the practice of painting in the West?

A) It was an alternative to traditional systems of perspective.
B) It legitimized non-objectivity as a viable interest in painting.
C) It emphasized deconstruction of the human form and the picture plane.
D) It implied that art was an intellectual activity not rooted in emotional expression.

Question 5

How did Walter Gropius's design for the Bauhaus building convey the dynamism of modern life?

A) The three large cubic areas had a balanced asymmetry.
B) It used modern materials and technology in a traditional architectural form.
C) It emphasized handcrafted workmanship and aesthetic quality.
D) It integrated the building's form organically into the surrounding landscape.

Question 6

How does Synthetic Cubism reference the real world?

A) Illusionistic painting techniques are used to render objects.
B) The suggestions are of discernible subjects.
C) Paintings typically display overt political critique.
D) Figural proportions are accurately portrayed.

Question 7

The Abstract Expressionist painters were greatly influenced by which of the following, who described a collective unconscious of universal archetypes shared by all humans?

A) Sigmund Freud's
B) Carl Jung's
C) Clement Greenberg's
D) Vassily Kandinsky's

Question 8

Which artist explicitly addressed feminist concerns in her work?

A) Georgia O'Keeffe
B) Hannah Höch
C) Anni Albers
D) Helen Frankenthaler

Question 9

A spare, geometric style of Modern architecture in Europe developed in response to

A) Pre-Raphaelite
B) Neo-Baroque
C) Bauhaus
D) Art Nouveau

Question 10

What motivated Picasso to create his large-scale painting Guernica (Fig. 32-64) for the Spanish Pavilion at the 1938 Paris Exposition?

A) It was a celebration of Spain's technological innovations in the early twentieth century.
B) It was a response to the German bombing of a small Basque town, sponsored by Spanish Nationalists.
C) It memorialized the huge loss of life through trench warfare in World War I.
D) It was a modern version of traditional history painting recognizing Spanish accomplishments.

Question 11

The best-known artist to emerge from the Harlem Community Art Center was

A) Dali.
B) Lawrence.
C) Hepworth.
D) Moore.

Question 12

Which of the following was a significant factor in providing New York with the foundation to supersede Paris as the center of the world of Modern art?

A) the Armory Show
B) the 291 Gallery
C) the Harlem Renaissance
D) the Federal Arts Project

Question 13

What theme does Constantin Brancusi incorporate into both The Newborn (Fig. 32-25) and Torso of a Young Man (Fig. 32-26)?

A) capitalism
B) reproduction
C) transience
D) humor

Question 14

Why did the U.S. government hire Dorothea Lange and other photographers during the Great Depression?

A) It was a part of a program that provided jobs to unemployed artists.
B) They hoped to build public support for federal assistance for rural America.
C) They wanted artwork that reflected the national American identity.
D) It was part of an effort to create an art market for underdeveloped states.

Question 15

What term, which is based on the French word for "wild beast," was the name of an art movement that included Henri Matisse?

A) Die Brücke
B) Fauvism
C) Dada
D) Orphism

Question 16

Which movement inspired Paula Modersohn-Becker's painting?

A) Cubism
B) Romanticism
C) Primitivism
D) Realism

Question 17

When compared to paintings by Diego Rivera, those of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo are considered

A) more historical.
B) more modern.
C) more personal.
D) more abstract.

Question 18

Surrealist painters' variety of techniques were known collectively as

A) collage.
B) automatism.
C) primitivism.
D) readymades.

Question 19

Who exhibited with the Surrealists but never formally joined the movement, embracing, instead, biomorphic abstraction?

A) Lawrence
B) Moore
C) Hepworth
D) Miró

Question 20

What ideals are reflected in Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye, Poissy-Sur-Seine (Fig. 32-40) in its geometric design and avoidance of ornamentation?

A) Dada
B) Bauhaus
C) Purist
D) Futurist

Question 21

What is the International Style?

Question 22

What did the Fauvists do to repudiate traditional notions of pictorial representation?

Question 23

Explore the significance of Jackson Pollock's drip paintings. How did he make them, and did they move beyond any abstract work made previously?

Question 24

What techniques did the Harlem Renaissance combine to raise awareness of African-American culture?

Question 25

Which of the following is a term that comes from the French word meaning "to glue" and describes an important aspect of Synthetic Cubism?

A) readymade
B) merz
C) collage
D) bauhaus

Question 26

How does Umberto Boccioni's Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (Fig. 32-23) embrace the Futurists idea of "the beauty of speed"?

Question 27

What was Meret Oppenheim's intention with Object (Luncheon in Fur) (Fig. 32-59)?

Question 28

How did early twentieth-century artists systematically undermine the traditional rules of Western art?

Question 29

Kandinsky believed that looking at a painting should be comparable to experiencing

A) music.
B) mathematics.
C) psychology.
D) love.

Question 30

What served as an incubator for fascism and communism in Europe during the early twentieth century?

A) the Weimar Republic
B) the Nazis' concentration camps
C) the Great Depression
D) the Spanish Civil War

Question 31

Color Field painters such as Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman embraced abstraction in a way that was completely different from Jackson Pollock's. Explain what they tried to achieve with their nonrepresentational work.

Question 32

Which artist conceptualized the readymade?

A) Brancusi
B) Boccioni
C) Léger
D) Duchamp

Question 33

How did Russian Constructivists combine Modern styles with practical needs?

Question 34

In what ways did artists give their art a deeper social relevance in the period between the wars in the Americas?

Question 35

How did Marcel Duchamp's Fountain (Fig. 32-29) change the course of art?

Question 36

How did Mary Colter express a connection to the landscape in her architecture?

Question 37

What did artist Franz Marc paint because they were "primitive"?

A) landscapes
B) symphonies
C) animals
D) still lifes

Question 38

How did the Suprematists combine Cubist picture space with complete abstraction?

Question 39

How did Bauhaus artists incorporate the idea of modern mass production?

Question 40

Why and how did Duchamp create L.H.O.O.Q.?