AP World History : Cultural History

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP World History

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Example Questions

Example Question #1 : Literature, Art, And Architecture 1750 To 1900

Which of the following artists was not a practitioner of Romanticism?

Possible Answers:

Charlotte Bronte

J.M.W. Turner

Ludwig von Beethoven

Charles Dickens

Francisco Goya

Correct answer:

Charles Dickens

Explanation:

Charles Dickens is known as a leader of Realism. He featured realistic characters, harsh story lines, and gritty details of industrial life. Romantics, on the other hand, expressed ideas using strong emotions, passion, and were inspired by nature.

Example Question #2 : Literature, Art, And Architecture 1750 To 1900

The 1800's saw the rise of many new types of art, among which was impressionism. What was impressionism?

Possible Answers:

Style of statue making

Style of etching 

Style of clay sculpture work

Style of painting

Correct answer:

Style of painting

Explanation:

Impressionism was a type of painting that became very famous thanks to its primarily French artists who painted in this form, making some of the most famous works ever made. Impressionism has also been an artistic movement in literature, film, and theater, but the movement had by far the greatest impact on painting, and very little on etching, sculpting or any of the other options.

Example Question #3 : Literature, Art, And Architecture 1750 To 1900

Which of the following was an impressionist painter?

Possible Answers:

Henri Rousseau

Paul Cézanne

Vincent van Gogh

Claude Monet

Correct answer:

Claude Monet

Explanation:

Claude Monet is the sole impressionist in this group. The rest came later in the 1800's and were classified as post-impressionists due to their deviation from traditional impressionism in style and the gap in time between their oeuvres.

Example Question #1 : Literature, Art, And Architecture 1750 To 1900

What new form of painting rose to prominence in the 1890's?

Possible Answers:

Post-Impressionism

Realism 

Romanticism

Symbolism 

Correct answer:

Post-Impressionism

Explanation:

Logically, following impressionism was post-impressionism. This movement was in many ways similar to impressionism, but it deviated in several ways. Thus making is a new form of painting. It rose to prominence due to the works of famous painters such as Vincent van Gogh, and Henri Rousseau.

Example Question #3 : Literature, Art, And Architecture 1750 To 1900

Which of the following is a famous post-impressionist painter?

Possible Answers:

Édouard Manet

Claude Monet

Eugène Delacroix

Vincent van Gogh

Correct answer:

Vincent van Gogh

Explanation:

Vincent van Gogh is arguably the most famous artist of all time. He was a prolific post-impressionist painter. In his time as a painter he produced over  pieces of artwork. He also was a leading light of the post-impressionist movement, taking the torch from earlier impressionist masters such as Monet and Manet.

Example Question #2 : Literature, Art, And Architecture 1750 To 1900

What was Romanticism as a literary movement?

Possible Answers:

None of these answers

A movement that advocated for the use of common, everyday language in poetry that also used court matters and aristocrats as subject matter

A movement that advocated for the use common, everyday language in poetry that also used common people and nature as subject matter

A movement that advocated for strict formalism and the use of common people and nature as subject matter

Correct answer:

A movement that advocated for the use common, everyday language in poetry that also used common people and nature as subject matter

Explanation:

Romanticism as a literary movement was started by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge with the publication of the Lyrical Ballads in 1798. As a movement Romanticism advocated for the use of common language, and the treatment of all manner of subject (including low-income people and nature) in poetry.

Example Question #4 : Literature, Art, And Architecture 1750 To 1900

Romanticism as a visual art movement of the late 1800's, focused on the glory of nature and the natural world. What was this movement in reaction to?

Possible Answers:

Focus on the technological future

Industrialization 

The over consumption of natural resources

A loss of agrarian society 

Correct answer:

Industrialization 

Explanation:

As industrialization progressed throughout the 1800's more and more people began working in factories and with industrial goods. This shift away from the natural world caused a backlash in the form of Romanticism. Romanticism was meant to encourage people to go back to nature and appreciate its beauty. While more people were living in cities, well in excess of half the population was still living in rural, primarily farming, communities.

Example Question #8 : Literature, Art, And Architecture 1750 To 1900

Of the 550 artists admitted to the French Royal Painting and Sculpture Academy _____________________.

Possible Answers:

the majority were admitted after the French Revolution

Jacques-Louis David was one of the most famous, but only after the Revolution

most lacked talent; they simply had connections with the royal family

14 were women

they were all French

Correct answer:

14 were women

Explanation:

Most artists in the French Royal Painting and Sculpture Academy were male, but a small minority were female.

After the French Revolution, the Academy was suspended as it was a project of the Royal family.

Jacques-Louis David was one of the most famous Academy artists, but his fame originated before the Revolution.

Some Academy students, such as the Swedish painter Adolf Wertmuller, were not French.

The Academy was a prestigious institution that was patronized by French Royalty, but nevertheless prided itself on skill and professionalism; it was not a collection of artists lacking talent, but rather talented artists with connections to power.

Example Question #451 : Cultural History

Most Oceanic artwork dates from the 1700s onward because _________________.

Possible Answers:

of native cultural prohibitions in the generations prior to contact with Europeans

the locals did not have artistic traditions until the Europeans arrived

the art was made from perishable materials

the islands in Oceania hadn't been settled until the 1700s

a local religious leader, named Savonarola, burned all the artwork made by previous generations

Correct answer:

the art was made from perishable materials

Explanation:

Most Oceanic artwork dates from the 1700s onward because they were made from perishable materials.

Art, including masks, sculpture, and decorative textiles existed all over the island cultures of Oceania, and were recorded as already existing by the initial European explorers.

The islands of Oceania were settled centuries and millennium prior to the 1700s.

Savonarola was a religious leader on the Italian peninsula who burned much Renaissance art; he was not from Oceania.

Example Question #452 : Cultural History

In the late 18th century, France's revolution, its new empire, and continued exploration of the ancient Roman sites at Herculaneum and Pompeii led to _________________.

Possible Answers:

the domination of Napoleon's court by Italian advisers

the use of the term "Renaissance," to describe France's growing power

Neoclassical tastes among the French elite

Medieval and Gothic tastes among the French elite

such powerful and modern state institutions that France's hegemony was never troubled

Correct answer:

Neoclassical tastes among the French elite

Explanation:

Neoclassical tastes among the French elite of the late 18th century were largely inspired by France's revolution, its new empire, and continued exploration of the ancient Roman sites at Herculaneum and Pompeii.

Medieval and gothic tastes were going out of fashion in the late 18th century.

Napoleon had many advisers over his life but Italians never dominated his court.

The "Renaissance" is a term largely attributed to Jacob Burckhardt, who studied the art and culture of Italy in between the middle ages and the modern era.

France's power was destroyed in the First World War, and again in the Second.

 

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