ARTS 106 Study Guides

Arts 106 tests and exams are open note, not open book. Complete your study guides and you will be generously prepared for tests and exams. Please complete study guides by hand as printed text, such as a photocopy, is not allowed for use during an exam or test.

Arts 106 tests will not include multiple choice or true/false questions. Therefore, it’s important to achieve a comfortable understanding of the required terms and concepts. In other words, don’t expect to simply repeat information. Instead, prepare to use and apply the information you have learned.

Arts 106 study guides usually consist of 4 categories. When asked to identify a person, include their date of birth and death, their nationality, and their noted contribution to history. Do not feel required to write their entire biography. A detailed paragraph is usually sufficient.

Special drawing ability is not required for this course. The draw section of each study guide is meant to aid your memory. Include detailed descriptive labels with each drawing.

The discussion portion of the study guides might become exam essay options, as well as, hopefully, lively discussions in class. Your input is always appreciated. Do not search for one “right” answer. There are many reasonable responses to the discussion questions.

CHAPTER 17

IDENTIFY

• Giotto
• Cimabue
• Duccio
• Petrarch
• Dante
• Chaucer
• Charles IV of Bohemia

COMPARE & CONTRAST

• spatial illusion in Giotto’s “Virgin and Child Enthroned” & Duccio’s “Raising of Lazarus”
• the “Nine” of Siena & the Signoria of Florence (governing bodies, see the beginning of the chapter)

DRAW & LABEL

• influence of the Byzantine style in Cimabue’s “Virgin and Child Enthroned”
• characteristics of Master Theodoric’s “Beautiful Style” as displayed in “Saint Luke”

DESCRIBE

• admission to 14th century artisan guilds
• differences between the buon fresco and fresco secco process
• the Holy Roman Empire in the 14th century
• stylistic characteristics of mystical religious art as displayed in the Vesperbild

CHAPTER 18

DESCRIBE

• French Ducal Courts
• relationship(s) between tapestry arts and the Flemish economy
• “Man in a Red Turban” as a Humanist work

IDENTIFY

Johann Gutenburg

DRAW&LABEL

• intuitive perspective in a piece by Jan van Eyck
• a diptych, triptych & polyptych
• symbols in the “Portinari Alterpiece”

CHAPTER 19

IDENTIFY

• Lorenzo de’ Medici
• Cosimo the Elder

DESCRIBE

• relationship between Sandro Botticelli & Savonarola
• the importance of Donatello’s “David”
• the enforcement of sumptuary laws in Florence

DRAW & LABEL

• Brunelleschi’s 2 great technical achievements
• significant spatial aspects of Massaccio’s “The Tribute Money” & “Trinity with the Virgin, Saint John the Evangelist, and Donors”

DEFINE

• trompe l’oeil

DISCUSSION

• Describe the relationship between Humanism & linear perspective.

CHAPTER 20

IDENTIFY

• Giorgio Vasari

DESCRIBE

• the effects of Leonardo’s experimental technique used to paint “The Last Supper”
• Leonardo & Michelangelo’s debate over painting and sculpture
• Michelangelo’s “David” as a symbol of Florence
• Titian’s painting process
• Tintoretto’s painting process

DRAW & LABEL

• The various plans for Saint Peter’s Basilica. You need not draw in extreme detail. But, be sure to label the 4 floor plans with information on why the building was altered or constructed. Label the dates of each phase. Also, note the architects and rulers responsible for each building phase.

DEFINE

• cartoon
• chiarascuro
• sfumato
• grotto
• villa

COMPARE and CONTRAST

• the High Renaissance style as viewed in Raphael’s “School of Athens” & the characteristics of Mannerism in Pontormo’s “Entombment”

CHAPTER 21

COMPARE and CONTRAST

• how Levina Bening Teerlinc, Hans Holbein the Younger, and Albrecht Dürer earned a living as artists

DESCRIBE

• narrative elements in the work of Pieter Bruegel the Elder

DRAW and LABEL

• the unrealistic elements in the work of Hieronymus Bosch & El Greco

DEFINE

• iconoclasm

CHAPTER 22

DESCRIBE

• Caravaggio’s painting “Entombment”. Focus on the use of space and light. You might find it useful to compare his painting with Raphael’s “School of Athens”.

IDENTIFY

• Artemisia Gentileschi

COMPARE & CONTRAST

• the strengths and weaknesses of Borromini & Bernini

DRAW & LABEL

• use of optical realism and naturalism by Velazquez
• stylistic evidence that Vermeer used a camera obscura
• the relationship between subject and paint quality in Rembrandt’s late self-portraits

DEFINE

• tenebrism
• impasto
• genre painting

DISCUSSION

• Contemporary artist Kehinde Wiley, known for powerful portraiture, has been heavily influenced by Baroque painters. Observe his portrait of Ice T. Identify specific influences from chapter 22.

CHAPTER 29

IDENTIFY

• Jacques-Louis David
• Louis XVI

DRAW and/or DESCRIBE

• Boucher’s Triumph of Venus as an example of the Rococo style

DESCRIBE

• Grand Tour
• women in the London and French Royal academies
• memento mori

DISCUSSION

• Discuss how the Enlightenment changed art. Choose three works to illustrate your point. For example, are certain Neoclassical works inspired by enlightenment principles? Did Rococo decline as a result of the Enlightenment?

CHAPTER 30

DRAW and/or DESCRIBE

• spatial ambiguities in Still Life with Basket of Apples
  
• pointillist use of complimentary colors in A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
• japonisme in Japonaiserie: Flowering Plum Tree
  
• the significance of low pedestal in Burghers of Calais

DESCRIBE

• Art Nouveau
• Orientalism
• The Realist Movement

DEFINE

• complementary colors
• daguerreotypes

DISCUSSION

• Describe how photography and Impressionism interrelate.

CHAPTER 31

DESCRIBE

• What was Cabaret Voltaire?
• Why is Duchamp’s Fountain so influential?
• Fauvism, The Bridge, and Blue Rider have a few shared visual qualities. Describe those qualities.
• Constructivism and De Stijl also have a few shared visual qualities. Describe those qualities.

DRAW and LABEL

Describe the following movements. Make your own creations to illustrate the following movements:

• Cubism
• Suprematism
• Futurism
• Surrealism

DEFINE

• automatism
• ready-mades
• photomontage

DISCUSSION

• Compare and contrast the influence of African art in Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (The Young Ladies of Avignon) and Aspects of Negro Life: From Slavery Through Reconstruction. You might wish to consider the political implications of each work. You might also describe the formal characteristics of both paintings. Be sure to mention the intent of the artists.

CHAPTER 32

DRAW and Describe

Describe the following movements. Also, draw your own creations to illustrate the following movements:

• Abstract Expressionism
• Color Field Painting
• Minimalism

DESCRIBE

• Performance Art and Happenings
• Conceptual Art

IDENTIFY

• Clement Greenberg
• Joseph Beuys

DISCUSSION

• Discuss Modernism and Postmodernism.

CHAPTER 23

DRAW and DESCRIBE

• Islamic symbols and ideals expressed in the Taj Mahal, focus on symbols as well as over-all design (see the very beginning of the chapter, and the section on Mughal art)
• techniques and processes used to make Indian paintings on paper
• characteristics of Avalokiteshvara (figure 23-2)

IDENTIFY

• Shah Jahan
• Emperor Akbar
  

DEFINE

• Gopura
• atelier
• minaret
• chattri

DISCUSSION

• Anish Kapoor is often Identified as an Indian artist, but just as often as a British artist. Discuss this discrepancy. Many contemporary artists are identified by more than one nationality. Thus, you may discuss this as an issue inherent to contemporary art. Also, be sure to focus on how this issue relates to Indian artists in particular. See the sections describing art in the British colonial period as well as Anish Kapoor’s website.

CHAPTER 24

DRAW and DESCRIBE

• characteristics of Literati painting. Use Rongxi Studio (figure 24-3) and Poet on a Mountaintop (page 842 in the 3rd edition and page 802 in the 4th edition) as examples

COMPARE and CONTRAST

• viewing a handscroll and hanging scroll & viewing an Italian fresco

DESCRIBE

• the influence of Confucianism and Daoism on Chinese artists (primarily see Foundations of Chinese Culture, page 834 in the 3rd edition, page 793 in the 4th edition, but also notice that the author discusses this theme throughout the chapter)

• Dong Qichang’s views

DEFINE

• porcelain
• kiln
• underglaze

IDENTIFY

• Marco Polo

CHAPTER 25

DESCRIBE

• the influence of Zen Buddhism and Chinese landscape painting on the landscape ink painting of the Muromachi period in Japan. Use the work Landscape by Bunsei and Winter Landscape by Sesshu to do this.
• the Zen Dry Garden. How does this artform reflect beliefs of Zen Buddhism? How is this shown in the Rock Garden of Ryoanji, Kyoto?

DESCRIBE and DRAW

• How do Japanese Landscape painters use negative space (the space around the subjects or the background) differently than most artists from the West?

COMPARE and CONTRAST

• Ukiyo-e prints and Literati painting

CHAPTER 26

DESCRIBE and DRAW

• the iconography of the Goddess Coatlicue stone sculpture.
• the city of Tenochtitlan

DISCUSSION

• Who should own and display the Feather Headdress of Moctezuma?  Where is this work currently displayed? Discuss this question from at least 2 positions. *Information on the provenance of this work is in your text. This question also relates to our class discussion on colonialism and the role of the museum.

DESCRIBE

• The immense geographical region of the Incas. How did they effectively manage such a large area?

CHAPTER 27

DESCRIBE and DRAW

• the cultural and geographical regions that are included in the art of the Pacific cultures (sometimes also referred to as Oceania)
• the function and iconography of the Asmat ancestral spirit poles
• the function and design of the Wapepe Navigational Chart

DISCUSSION

• The rock art of the Australian Aborigines represents the longest continuously practiced series of artistic traditions anywhere in the world. But, their work has changed and evolved. Describe some of these changes.

CHAPTER 28

DESCRIBE

the British punitive expedition in the Benin Palace

the relationship between materials and meaning in the work of El Anatsui

DESCRIBE and DRAW

literal and symbolic function of Finial of a Spokesperson’s Staff (Okyeame Poma)

Nankani Compound (figure 28-3) (be sure to describe how the dwellings relate to gender norms)

Twin Figures (figure 288-4) (be sure to describe how the size, shape, and other formal elements relate to the Yoruba belief system)

Kongo Nkisi Nkonde (see page 890)

DISCUSSION

Is African art best displayed in an art museum? Or, is it best displayed in a craft or design museum? Or, is it best displayed in a natural history museum? Discuss some of the potential problems and benefits inherent to placing works in each context. Mention specific works of art from chapter 28 to clarify your points.