AP Art History : Renaissance to Contemporary 2D Art

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP Art History

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Example Questions

Example Question #451 : 2 D Art

Portrait of adele bloch bauer i 1 .jpg large

The artist of the given piece was the first president of what artistic movement?

Possible Answers:

Vienna Secession

Nazarene Movement

Chelsea Arts Club

Glasgow School

Berlin Secession

Correct answer:

Vienna Secession

Explanation:

While all of the answers are artists groups, it was the Vienna Secession that Klimt helped found in 1897. The group's members broke from the Association of Austrian Artists as a protest of that group's conservatism.

Work is in the public domain, image accessed through WikiArt: http://www.wikiart.org/en/gustav-klimt/portrait-of-adele-bloch-bauer-i-1907-1

Example Question #381 : Renaissance To Contemporary 2 D Art

The pop artist who often use images of the American flag in his work was __________.

Possible Answers:

Jasper Johns

Robert Rauschenberg

Andy Warhol

Roy Lichtenstein

Correct answer:

Jasper Johns

Explanation:

Like many other pop artists, Jasper Johns (b. 1930) used familiar symbols in odd or surprising ways to invert the expectations and conventions of high vs. low art. Instead of utilizing commercial products or elements of low culture, however, Johns preferred images of Americana, like the American flag. Johns' series of paintings on the American flag include an all-white flag, a pastiche of multiple sized flags, and flags where the colors are smudged and running into each other.

Example Question #382 : Renaissance To Contemporary 2 D Art

Picasso's massive painting Guernica commemorates an event in __________.

Possible Answers:

the Spanish Civil War

the Spanish-American War

World War I

World War II

Correct answer:

the Spanish Civil War

Explanation:

During the Spanish Civil War, Francisco Franco's nationalist troops destroyed the Basque city of Guernica in a massive bombing campaign assisted by Nazi German and Italian Fascist troops. The painter Pablo Picasso made a massive black and white painting depicting the event in cubist and abstract imagery conveying sorrow and devastation. After Franco took over the reins of state in Spain in 1938, Picasso was not allowed in his native Spain.

Example Question #383 : Renaissance To Contemporary 2 D Art

The Virgin of Guadalupe is a popular folk-art image in __________.

Possible Answers:

Mexico

El Salvador

Belize

Nicaragua

Correct answer:

Mexico

Explanation:

The Virgin of Guadalupe was an apparition of The Virgin Mary, which appeared to an indigenous Mexican named Juan Diego, in 1531. This was widely promulgated as the impetus for mass conversions among native Mexicans, and it became a national symbol of Mexico. The Virgin of Guadalupe, identifiable through her blue cloak, pose in prayer, and the light emanating around her, is one of the most widely used images in Mexican folk art.

Example Question #384 : Renaissance To Contemporary 2 D Art

The artist who had a studio called “The Factory,” which produced multiple kinds of artwork was __________.

Possible Answers:

Andy Warhol

Pablo Picasso

Salvador Dali

Henri Matisse

Correct answer:

Andy Warhol

Explanation:

"The Factory" became known in the 1960s for the parties thrown there by its owner, Andy Warhol, but in all of its locations in Manhattan, Warhol used it as a working art studio. Due to Warhol's fascination with screen printing and other mechanical forms of reproduction, the name was fitting, as it featured many apprentices making various works. Warhol also gathered a variety of people there to make art in a variety of types.

Example Question #5 : Answering Other Questions About Twentieth Century 2 D Art

What is the name of the Pablo Picasso mural commemorating a bombing during the Spanish Civil War?

Possible Answers:

The Reaper

The Great Day of Girona

The Falling Soldier

Guernica

Correct answer:

Guernica

Explanation:

In 1937, planes from Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe, on behalf of the Francoist forces, bombed the Basque city of Guernica, a Republican stronghold. As one of the largest-scale atrocities of the Spanish Civil War, the Guernica bombing made Pablo Picasso feel compelled to commemorate the event. The result was a gigantic wall mural in Picasso's signature cubist style, but with references to war and a black and white color palette, neither of which were common to his work. The work was simply titled Guernica.

Example Question #457 : 2 D Art

Which of the following artistic movements was heavily influenced by the freeform nature of jazz music?

Possible Answers:

Impressionism

Abstract Expressionism

Bauhaus

Futurism

Cubism

Correct answer:

Abstract Expressionism

Explanation:

The eclectic, improvisational nature of jazz had a wide influence in other artistic forms. In particular, visual artists sought to take some of jazz's extemporaneous elements and apply them to painting and sculpture. This idea greatly influence Jackson Pollock's "drip method" and other aspects of Abstract Expressionist art from the 1940s and 1950s.

Example Question #121 : Twentieth And Twenty First Century 2 D Art

210px-juan_gris_-_portrait_of_pablo_picasso_-_google_art_project

This paintings was created in the __________.

Possible Answers:

1930s

1940s

1910s

1890s

1920s

Correct answer:

1910s

Explanation:

Juan Gris' Portrait of Pablo Picasso from 1912 is an example of the artistic movement known as cubism. Cubism was developed by a variety of painters living in Paris around 1910, including the Spaniards Picasso and Gris, but also the Frenchmen Georges Braque and Fernand Léger. Cubism is defined by its deconstruction of its images to geographic shapes and mathematical forms.

Figure: Portrait of Pablo Picasso by Juan Gris (1912)

Example Question #122 : Twentieth And Twenty First Century 2 D Art

210px-juan_gris_-_portrait_of_pablo_picasso_-_google_art_project

The movement that produced the above work was directly influenced by the artist __________.

Possible Answers:

Jackson Pollock

Wassily Kandinsky

Gustave Courbet

Paul Cézanne

Correct answer:

Paul Cézanne

Explanation:

In one sense, cubism seemed to appear as a radical new take on modern art, using geometric shapes to create strange and disturbing images that conformed little to what came before. An important influence, however, was the impressionist Paul Cézanne, whose still lifes and landscapes were less than direct representations of what he painted. Cézanne, like the cubists, used abstract ideas to create more emotionally realistic and biting images.

Figure: Portrait of Pablo Picasso by Juan Gris (1912)

Example Question #9 : Answering Other Questions About Twentieth Century 2 D Art

240px-Gustav_Klimt_016.jpg

All of the following statements are true of Gustav Klimt's The Kiss except __________.

Possible Answers:

the shimmering, extravagant flat patterning of the couple's bodies has clear ties to Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts movement

it reflects the fin-de-siecle flamboyance of the Austrian middle class, but tempers it with unsettling undertones

it is reflective of Klimt's position as a well-established painter, accepted in the established conservative artist society in Vienna

the depiction is reminiscent of the conflict between two and three dimensionality intrinsic to the work of Degas and other modernists

The Kiss is a visual manifestation of fin-de-siecle spirit because it captures a decadence conveyed by opulent, sensuous images and also masks anxieties about an uncertain and foreboding future

Correct answer:

it is reflective of Klimt's position as a well-established painter, accepted in the established conservative artist society in Vienna

Explanation:

Klimt rebelled against the established Viennese conservative artists society and formally banded with other artists to create the Vienna Secession. This group created their own exhibition program and called for greater integration between art objects and the surrounding interior environment.

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