AP Art History : 2D Art

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP Art History

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Example Questions

Example Question #381 : Ap Art History

The twentieth-century painter known for odd images often featuring apples and bowler hats is __________.

Possible Answers:

Yves Tanguy

Jean Dubuffet

Willem de Kooning

René Magritte

Correct answer:

René Magritte

Explanation:

Rene Magritte began his career as a surrealist, but as he grew older began moving from strange shapes to placing familiar images in odd poses. By the 1950s and 1960s, Magritte was focusing on specific images again and again, such as men in suits and bowler hats and green apples. These came together in his most famous work, The Son of Man, which is a straightforward portrait of a man in a black suit and bowler hat, but with an apple obscuring his face.

Example Question #382 : Ap Art History

 Frida Kahlo’s most frequent genre of painting was the __________.

Possible Answers:

landscape

self-portrait

abstract art

mural

Correct answer:

self-portrait

Explanation:

Frida Kahlo entered the international art world thanks to her marriage to the older painter, Diego Rivera, in 1929. Because of her immense artistic talent and Rivera's appreciation and promotion of her work, Kahlo soon became well known in her own right as a painter. Most of Kahlo's work was self-portraits, featuring only her head, but which she would often surround with indigenous Mexican imagery, allusions to literature, or references to her turbulent marriage and troubled life.

Example Question #383 : Ap Art History

A twentieth-century French artist who directly engaged with “low art” in a form he called “art brut” was __________.

Possible Answers:

Jean Dubuffet

Fernand Leger

Rene Magritte

Marc Chagall

Correct answer:

Jean Dubuffet

Explanation:

Jean Dubuffet coined the term "art brut" to describe his own personal style, which focused on "low culture" and eschewed traditional culture. While initially inspired by abstract art, such as cubism and expressionism, Dubuffet pushed the boundaries of abstract art to make it be more visceral. Dubuffet believed authentic art was that which engaged directly with humanity, outside of intellectual theorizing.

Example Question #384 : Ap Art History

The Abstract Expressionist painter who was known for developing "colorforms" as his particular style was __________.

Possible Answers:

Jackson Pollock

Willem de Kooning

Wassily Kandinsky

Mark Rothko

Correct answer:

Mark Rothko

Explanation:

Mark Rothko essentially took abstract art to a logical place, creating massive canvases that featured only a few large swaths of color. While seemingly simple, these "colorforms," Rothko's own term, feature multi-layered paint and subtle gradations. Rothko developed the style shortly after World War II, and the creation of these paintings made Rothko world famous.

Example Question #385 : Ap Art History

The twentieth-century artist famous for his unique genre of painting he called “Combines” was __________.

Possible Answers:

Andy Warhol

Robert Rauschenberg

Josef Albers

Jean Dubuffet

Correct answer:

Robert Rauschenberg

Explanation:

Robert Raushenberg began creating mixed media paintings he called "Combines" in the mid-1950s, after he began collecting found objects and pieces of trash on the streets of New York City. Rauschenberg's use of consumer products lumped him in with "Pop Art" as a pioneer of the genre, while his use of sculptural forms pioneered modern art forms that departed from traditional sculpture or canvas.

Example Question #386 : Ap Art History

The “Blue Period” was an early stage of work for the twentieth-century painter __________.

Possible Answers:

Pablo Picasso

Piet Mondrian

Diego Rivera

Henri Matisse

Correct answer:

Pablo Picasso

Explanation:

One of the most remarkable things about Pablo Picasso's career is that he had so many different stages and styles, and he first gained recognition for his "Blue Period" in the first decade of the twentieth century. Named for the predominant hue Picasso employed, these post-impressionist paintings owed much to Post-Impressionists, like Paul Cezanne and Vincent Van Gogh, as well as the Renaissance Spanish master El Greco. This work was completely different from Picasso's later abstract and cubist works.

Example Question #387 : Ap Art History

The African-American artist Faith Ringgold is well known for creating work on __________.

Possible Answers:

quilts

house walls

musical instruments

ceramics

Correct answer:

quilts

Explanation:

Faith Ringgold, born in 1930, taught art at the high school and college levels, and sought in her own work to blur the lines between craft and high art. Her main medium has been traditionally-made quilts, which feature high art images that reflect the African-American experience. Ringgold's work has been important for creating more widespread appreciation of both African-American folk art and professional artists.

Example Question #388 : Ap Art History

The Jewish artist who produced stained glass windows for Cathedrals in France after World War II was __________.

Possible Answers:

Wassily Kandinsky

Marc Chagall

Amedeo Modigliani

Lucien Pisarro

Correct answer:

Marc Chagall

Explanation:

Marc Chagall was born in Belarus in 1887, and worked in France and the Soviet Union, before having to leave for the United States after the Nazi occupation of Paris. Chagall had worked in various modernist styles, like cubism and expressionism, and his background made him even more prominent after World War II. Remarkably, Chagall was commissioned to create replacement stained glass windows in French churches that had been damaged by German bombing.

Example Question #389 : Ap Art History

385px-claude_monet_-_rouen_cathedral_-_the_portal__sunlight_

Figure 3

 

800px-paul_c_zanne_199

Figure 4

The artist who created Figure 4 was a large influence on __________

Possible Answers:

Abstract Expressionism.

Cubism.

Pop Art.

Pointillism.

Correct answer:

Cubism.

Explanation:

Cezanne's desire to play with shapes, colors, and form in both his still-life and landscape paintings was influential to the artists who developed cubism in the early twentieth century. The cubists' use of geometry and mathematics have a clear forerunner in Cezanne's examination of the various geometric shapes present in his still-life paintings. Additionally, Cezanne's ability to convey an image that was not perfectly realistic showed the possibilities in abstract art.

Example Question #390 : Ap Art History

References to mass culture, use of unusual mediums, and mass production techniques are all hallmarks of the movement known as __________.

Possible Answers:

Photorealism

Color Field painting

Abstract Expressionism

Pop Art

Correct answer:

Pop Art

Explanation:

Pop Art exploded in the 1950s and 1960s, with artists like Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and Roy Lichtenstein producing works that touched on mass cultural themes and used new techniques of mass production. Pop Artists were influenced by the questions raised by Abstract Expressionism about the nature of art, but also were tuned into popular culture in a way the previous generation of artists hadn't been.

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