AP Art History
Ms. Sheets
UHS 2014-2015
Whitney Sheets
whitney.sheets@tusd1.org
• Graduate of UHS (2006)
• Bachelor of Arts with Honors
from University of Arizona in
Art History (2010)
• Thesis: George Romney’s
portraits of actress Emma
Hamilton
• Master of Arts from University
of Arizona in Art History
• Focus: 18th-century art,
specifically femininity,
Rococo, and portraiture
• Thesis: Artwork of
Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun
AP Art History
1) The study of art invites students to discover the diversity in
and connections among forms of artistic expression
throughout history and from around the globe.
2) Students will learn about how people have responded to
and communicated their experiences through art-making by
exploring art in its historic and cultural contexts.
3) This course is designed to be the equivalent of a twosemester introductory college art history survey course,
which will cover prehistoric art through contemporary art.
AP Art History’s Big Ideas
1. What is art and how is it made?
•
•
•
Analyze form, function, content and context to explain or infer possible
artistic intentions
Artistic decisions shape a work of art
Context influences artistic decisions
2. Why and how does art change?
•
•
Describe features of tradition or change in a work(s) of art and how
they are demonstrated
Analyze influence of single work of art on related works
3. How do we describe our thinking about art?
•
•
•
•
•
Identify works of art
Analyze how formal qualities and/or content of a work elicit responses
Analyze how contextual variables lead to different interpretations of
works of art
Justify an attribution of an unknown work of art
Analyze works of art based on similarities and differences
What does the AP Test cover?
•
•
•
•
40-50% painting and drawing
25% architecture
25% sculpture
5-10% other media
• Prehistoric art does not appear in the exam
I.
II.
Ancient Through Medieval (30%)
I.
II.
III.
IV.
Greece and Rome (10-15%)
Early Christian, Byzantine, Early Medieval (5-10%)
Romanesque (3-7%)
Gothic (7-10%)
Renaissance to Present (50%)
I.
II.
III.
IV.
14th-16th c. (12-17%)
17th-18th c. (10-15%)
19th c. (10-15%)
20th – 21st c. (10-15%)
III. Beyond European Artistic Traditions (Non-Western) (20%)
I.
Africa; Americas; Asia; Near East; Oceania; Global Islamic traditions
What does the AP Test look like?
•
Section I: 115 multiple choice questions
– 40% of the AP Exam score
– 60 minutes long
– Western: Basic information about artists, schools, movements,
chronological periods, dates, cross currents among artistic traditions,
subjects, styles, techniques
– Non-Western: geographic origin (for example, students should be able
to identify a work of art as Chinese but would not be expected to
distinguish among dynastic styles)
– PART A: 5 sets of questions based on color images
– 20 minutes long: function, patronage, period styles, chronology, technique
•
– PART B: Remaining questions of 115
Section II: Essays
– 2 hours
– 60% of the AP Exam grade
– PART A: 2 questions (30-minute essays; 25% of score)
– Question 1: MUST include non-Western example
•
•
– PART B: 6 questions (10-minute essays based on images/text; 35% of
score)
Images are presented in COLOR
The AP World History Exam will take place on Thursday, May 7th 2015 at
12pm
Strategies for AP Art History
• Print out PPTs (3 slides to a page with room for notes).
• Use a notebook for additional notes.
• Styles/Periods are of the utmost importance! Always learn works of
art in accordance with their style/period.
• You must learn dates: try to find visual ways to help you remember
dates.
• Prior to 20th-century works, simply memorizing “early or late” X century will
suffice. For example, Michelangelo’s David is early 16th century.
• 20th-century works require memorization of the specific decade at the very least.
• Need to review images?
• Flashcards (print images out and write important information on back)
• Make folder of images on iPad/laptop (file information is ID information)
• Purchase a prep book (Annotated Mona Lisa or Barron’s)
• Read your textbook! The history of art is, quite obviously, enormous
and cannot all be covered in class.
Prep Books and Study Guides