AP Art History : AP Art History

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP Art History

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Example Questions

Example Question #361 : Renaissance To Contemporary 2 D Art

Which twentieth-century artist focused her career largely on self portraits?

Possible Answers:

Diane Arbus

Lee Krasner

Georgia O'Keefe

Frida Kahlo

Louise Bourgeois

Correct answer:

Frida Kahlo

Explanation:

Frida Kahlo was a Mexican artist who took up painting after a horrific bus accident at the age of eighteen in 1925 and her marriage to the European-trained muralist Diego Rivera. Kahlo painted almost entirely self portraits, typically close ups of her own face, to which she added in the background indigenous native imagery, surrealist symbols, and references to her own troubled life. Her stormy marriage to Rivera was well known, and combined with her ill health contributed to a sense of loneliness and alienation in her work.

Example Question #362 : Renaissance To Contemporary 2 D Art

What artist created the works Stenographic Figure and She-Wolf in the years leading up to his discovery of a signature, iconic style?

Possible Answers:

Klimt

Jackson Pollock

Calder

Kandinsky

Boccioni

Correct answer:

Jackson Pollock

Explanation:

She Wolf and Stenographic Figure are popular Pollock pieces that hint at the artist's future abandonment of representational art in favor of his classic drip paintings. The rest are other 19th/20th century artists with signature styles.

Example Question #433 : Ap Art History

Magritte's The False Mirror is a depiction of what?

Possible Answers:

A movie screen

A camera lens

An eye

A TV screen

A mirror

Correct answer:

An eye

Explanation:

The False Mirror depicts a large eye with an iris of blue sky. The title was given to Magritte by the Belgian writer Paul Nouge. It suggests an inherent limitation in the human eye's ability to perceive truth.

Example Question #363 : Renaissance To Contemporary 2 D Art

The Fluxus movement in the 1960s and 1970s was notable for which of the following characteristics?

Possible Answers:

Commerce-centric sensibility

Outsourcing of manufacturing to professional fabricators

Synthesis of different artistic media

Complexity of design

Desire to soothe the viewer

Correct answer:

Synthesis of different artistic media

Explanation:

Fluxus artists railed against commercial art. They wanted to shock the viewer with simple, rather than complex, work, and they were eager to work with whatever materials they had on hand rather than outsourcing anything.

Example Question #364 : Renaissance To Contemporary 2 D Art

Georges Braque, belongs to which of the following artistic movements?

Possible Answers:

Impressionism

Fauvism

Cubism

Dadaism

Correct answer:

Cubism

Explanation:

Georges Braque was one of the early developers and founders of Cubism in the early twentieth century. Compared with his contemporaries Pablo Picasso and Juan Gris, Braque’s work was much more geometric and used more dull and dark colors. Still, Braque’s deconstruction of representational forms into component shapes and a modernist approach are hallmarks of cubism.

Example Question #365 : Renaissance To Contemporary 2 D Art

Georges Braque's work is most similar in style to _________________.

Possible Answers:

Paul Gauguin

Pablo Picasso

Henri Matisse

Vincent Van Gogh

Correct answer:

Pablo Picasso

Explanation:

George Braque and Pablo Picasso developed cubism literally side by side, often painting in close proximity in the years 1909-1914. Built off of previous artistic movements which drew away from strict representation like expressionism and fauvism, Braque and Picasso built cubism on a structure of more monochromatic colors and geometric shapes. These approaches made their painting even less representational than previous abstract movements, while also needing more artistic and technical skill to create their works.

Example Question #366 : Renaissance To Contemporary 2 D Art

1913 popova das modell anagoria

This painting was created in which century?

Possible Answers:

17th

20th

16th

13th

Correct answer:

20th

Explanation:

This painting is in the cubist style, which can be detected in the use of disjoint geometric shapes that depict the subject from multiple angles at the same time. Since Cubism is an exclusively 20th century movement, that's what the answer must be.

Image is in the public domain, accessed through Wikipedia Media Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1913_Popova_Das_Modell_anagoria.JPG

Example Question #367 : Renaissance To Contemporary 2 D Art

Vangogh

The artist of this work is ________________.

Possible Answers:

Van Gogh

Monet

Rodin

Gauguin

Correct answer:

Van Gogh

Explanation:

This is a self-portrait of Van Gogh. You can recognize his characteristic large brush strokes and post-impressionist aesthetic.

Image is in the public domain, accessed through Wikipedia Media Commons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh#/media/File:Vincent_van_Gogh_-_Self-Portrait_-_Google_Art_Project_(719161).jpg

Example Question #368 : Renaissance To Contemporary 2 D Art

The pop art movement focused on a mix between what two elements? 

Possible Answers:

High art and popular culture

Low art and high culture

Pop culture and high art

High society and pop culture

Correct answer:

High art and popular culture

Explanation:

Pop Art's central tenet was that art could borrow from all sources of society including elements of high art and low or popular culture. Pop Artists believed that everything was interconnected and aimed to draw sources of their inspiration from this idea.

Example Question #369 : Renaissance To Contemporary 2 D Art

_____________ is the name for the movement of the 1950's and the spiritual precursor to Pop Art.

Possible Answers:

Abstract Expressionists

Post Classical Renaissance Movement

Neo-Dada

The Independent Movement

Correct answer:

Neo-Dada

Explanation:

The Neo-Dada movement was the movement directly preceding the Pop Art Movement. During this movement, artists used popular imagery and materials to create unique and strange compositions and pastiches. Artists in this movement included: Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. 

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