Art Trivia – 3/22/14
1. Who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel while lying on
his back?
Michaelangelo
2. Who painted the Mona Lisa?
Leonardo di Vinci
3. What painter famously cut off his own ear?
Vincent Van Gogh
4. In paintings of this Parisian 19th-century style, artists used
small brush strokes to create a visual impression of a larger
image.
Impressionism
5. This Spanish artist was one of the most influential of the
20th century and co-founder of a style called Cubism. A 50foot high rust-colored public sculpture, which resembles a oneeyed creature, was donated by the artist to the people of
Chicago. Who is he?
Pablo Picasso
6. Rock art made by painting on rock by ancient Native
Americans are called pictographs. Rock art by carving into the
rock, often by pecking with smaller stones, are called what?
Petroglyphs
7. A table top with a vase of flowers, a fruit or two, and maybe
another object is often the subject of a painter. The painting in
this style is referred to as what?
A still life
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8. Grant Wood’s American Gothic, Georges Seurat’s A Sunday
Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, and Edward
Hopper’s Nighthawks are all housed in the Arts Institute of
what great Midwestern city?
Chicago .
9. I’m opening a flat black metal box that says “Prang” on the
outside. What am I opening?
Watercolors
10. This Dutch master painted himself hundreds of times
during the course of his long life. He worked in a dark style
with contrasting light and shadow. His most famous painting
might be “The Night Watch,” which hangs in his native city of
Amersterdam.
Rembrandt (Van Rijn, which means from the Rhine)
11. This great American cartoonist won the love of America for
his decades of comic strips featuring the ageless children
Charlie Brown, Schroeder, Linus, and Lucy, and their
irrepressible dog Snoopy. Name the artist.
Charles M. Schultz
12. This famous American abstract artist developed a style
called Action Painting, in which he dribbled or splashed paint
directly onto the canvas. His first name was Jackson, earning
him the nickname of Jack the Dripper.
Jackson Pollock
13. The French-Russian artist Alexander Calder invented a
kind of scupture of shapes connected by wires got its name by
the fact it can move.
Mobile (hint: also the name of a town in Alabama)
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14. The small hand-held mixing board where a painter holds
his paints while working.
Pallette (hint: famous character actor from the 1930s named
Eugene)
15. This folding stand holds the artist’s canvas while he paints.
Easle
16. Very high-quality artists’ brushes are made from the hair
of this desert quadraped.
Camel (hint: humped, dromodary)
17. This early “digital” technique is often a child’s first painting
experience. Name the method.
Fingerpainting (note to Sarah: Do air quotes with your
fingers/digits!)
18. What color do you get when you mix red and yellow?
Orange
19. Name the three primary colors.
Red, green, blue (hint: RGB)
20. The pneumonic Roy G. Biv is used to memorize what
sequence of colors?
The color spectrume: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo,
Violet
21. The invention of perspective during the Italian Renaissance
allowed painters to create the illusion of three dimensions.
The technique required that all parallel lines in the painting
converge, or come together, in a single spot. What is the name
of this convergence spot?
Vanishing point
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22. In what city would you find the museum called The Louvre?
Paris
23. This artform is practiced by Buddhist monks as well as
Navajo holy men. It is a painstaking process to create an
artwork which will then vanish in the wind.
Sand painting (hint: the medium is tiny specks of silica)
24. Totem poles
25. Murals (Diego Rivera)
26. This technique involves painting directly onto wet plaster.
When the plaster dries, the painting becomes a permanent part
of the wall.
Fresco
27. Tromp d’loile?
28. Stueben, Tiffany, and Lalique are arthouses that focus on
what material?
Glass (hint: Handle with Care)
29. This subject is one of the most widely painted scenes in
religious art. It depicted 13 men sharing a meal. Leonardo da
Vinci painted a famous one.
The Last Supper
30. Ikebana
31. This medium of drawing involves colored chalks. The same
word is also used to stand for light colors of any sort.
Pastels
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32.
33. Many a child artist has gotten their start on the 64-pack of
crayons, manufactured by this company.
Crayola
34. In the film “American in Paris,” the painter was played by
this song and dance man, known for his athletic and energetic
dancing. He single-handedly made ballet moves commerically
acceptable in film.
Gene Kelly
35. The Hermitage, one of the world’s great art museums, is
housed in this northern Russian city, named for Peter the
Great.
St. Petersburg (hint: its named was changed to Leningrad,
before being changed back to this one)
36. When writing characters of text reaches the level of art, it
goes by this name.
Calligraphy
37. This late nineteenth century French painter was famous for
his posters and for being very short. José Ferrara plays him in
the movie “Moulin Rouge.”
Toulouse-LaTrec
Name the nationality of these artists:
38. Francesco Goya & Salvadore Dali – Spanish
39. Giotto & Rafael – Italian
40. John Constable & Thomas Gainesborough – English
41. Nicolas Poussin & Henri Matisse – French
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42. Vincent VanGogh & Rembrandt - Dutch
43. Max Ernst & Hans Holbein & Albrecht Durer – German
44. Andrew Wyeth & Georgia O’Keefe - American
45. Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo & Rufino Tamayo - Mexican
46. In this genre, images are built out of tiny pieces of glass,
stone, or ceramic.
Mosaic
47. Engraving on bone or ivory, typically from a whale.
Scrimshaw
48. Renowned American primitive folk artist who painted until
a ripe old age and died at the age of 101.
Grandma Moses
49. The subject of Jesus being crucified on the cross may be one
of the most popular in the history of art. What is the name of
this almost 2000-year old genre.
Crucifixion
50. A craze for the porcelain of this Asian country swept
through Europe in the 17th century, resulting in the
importation of millions of pieces of pottery. So popular was
this kind of porcelain, that it is still today often named after the
country in question.
China
51. The House of Fabergé made these delicately jeweled
objects Russian royalty. What are they?
Fabergé eggs (hint: you have them for breakfast)
52. This French painter of the late 19th and early 20th
centuries was obsessed with changing light and the passage of
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seasons. He painted series of haystacks, waterlillies, and
seascapes at different times of day. His 1874 painting
“Impression, Sunrise” gave a name to the Impressionist school.
Monet
53. Paul Gaugin, the painter friend of Vincent Van Gogh,
reinvented his style after traveling to this island in French
Polynesia, famous for its black sand beaches and sometimes
thought of as a tropical paradise.
Tahiti
54. One of the founders of Impressionism, this painter was
obsessed with the dance. More than half of his works depict
dancers. He also often painted race course horses and female
nudes. His first name is Edgar.
Degas
55. Although the real-life subject was supposedly a little man
with a big foe, Michaelangelo’s famous sculpture depicts him in
17 feet of marble.
David
56. Charles M. Russell and George Remington were famous for
painting what region of the United States?
American West
57. This flamboyant mustachioed Spaniard was famous for his
surrealistic paintings of such oddities as drooping watches and
flaming giraffes.
Salvadore Dali
58. Maurice Sendak wrote and illustrated this classic
children’s book about Max and his monstrous friends.
Where the Wild Things Are
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59. This pop artist from Pittsburgh moved to New York and
started a studio called The Factory, which became a meeting
place for bohemians, celebrities, intellectuals and misfits. His
silkscreens, drawings, paintings and photographs include
famous series of Campbell soup cans and Marilyn Monroe. He
once predicted that in the future, everyone would be famous
for 15 minutes. He has been famous for more than half a
century.
Andy Warhol
60. In his day, this Bostonian was perhaps most famous for his
work as a decorative artist in silver. Today he’s most famous
for some shouting that he did on horseback.
Paul Revere
61. This museum, perhaps the greatest art museum in the
United States, is commonly refered to as The Met. In what city
is it housed?
New York (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
62. These two museums are owned by the same foundation
and go by the same name. One of them, in New York, has an
extraordinary spiral shape, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
The other, in Bilbao, Spain, was designed by Frank Gehry, and
is one of the most famous and extraordinary-looking buildings
of the last 20 years. What name do these two museums share?
The Guggenheim
63. This 20th century painter and illustrator was best-known
for his depictions of American culture. His illustrations graced
the cover of The Saturday Evening Post for more than four
decades.
Normal Rockwell
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64. Painted by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, this swirling
Expressionist painting depicts a ghostly figure in agony holding
his head in his hands. In 1994, the version in the National
Gallery was stolen. In 2004, the version in the Munch museum
was stolen as well. (Both have been recovered.) What is the
name of this iconic painting?
The Scream
65. Perhaps the most famous American architect of all time, e
designed such monumental buildings as Falling Water, the
Guggenheim Museum, Johnson Wax headquarters, the Robie
House, and Unity Temple. He was the leader of the Prairie
School movement of architecture.
Frank Lloyd Wright
66. Black and white nature photographer famous for pictures
of Yosemite.
Ansel Adams
67. Photographer known for her Depression-era work for the
FSA (Farm Security Administration people). Her first name is
Dorothea.
Dorothea Lange
68. This prolific firm, based in New York City from 1834 to
1907, produced prints from paintings by fine artists as black
and white lithographs that were hand colored. These
lithographs were cheap and quick to reproduce. What was the
name of the firm, named after its two founders?
Currier & Ives
The following four people are all famous Arts:
69. Paul Simon’s singing companion – Art Garfunkle
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70. Oscar-winning actor for his starring role in “Harry &
Tonto,” he’s best known for playing Jackie Gleason’s sidekick
Ed Norton on “The Honeymooners.” – Art Carney
71. Canadian radio broadcaster, television personality, and
author, he was the host of the long-running TV shows “House
Party” and “Kids Say the Darndest Things.”
Art Linkletter
72. Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper columnist, he wrote
humorous and satirical columns under his name for more than
five decades.
Art Buchwald
73. Hundreds of America’s greatest Depression-era artists
were kept alive by this three-letter Federal program.
WPA (Works Progress Administration)
74. Jacob Lawrence, one of this country’s greatest AfricanAmerican painters, became internationally famous for a series
depicting the mass movement of African American from the
rural South to the urban North. What is this event in American
History called.
The Great Migration
75. Which of the following words does not belong?
Oil, acrylic, watercolor, tempera, gouache, alabaster
All are paints except alabaster, which is a stone
76. One of the major subjects of Christian art since the 4th
century depicts the birth of the baby Jesus. The word for this
subject comes from the Latin word natus, or “birth.”
Nativity
77. This cartoonist created Mickey Mouse.
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Walt Disney
78. This style of art, architecture, and the decorative arts arose
in popularity at the very end of the 19th century. Its name is
French for “New Art.”
Art Nouveau
79. This product line turned everyone into a painter by
marking out white cardboard into regions with numeric codes.
Paint by Number
80. This woven fabric stretched over a wooden frame provide
the base for many oil paintings.
Canvas
81. Red and blue together make what color?
Purple
82. These drawing sticks are made from twice-burnt wood.
Charcoal
83. This painter, with an afro hairdo, hosted an instructional
TV show called “The Joy of Painting,” painted things like
“happy little clouds.”
Bob Ross
84. In this classic children’s story, everything a little boy draws
with his very special colored drawing implement becomes real.
Harold and the Purple Crayon
85. In this novel by Dan Brown, which sold many millions of
copies worldwide, clues are hidden in the Mona Lisa.
The DaVinci Code
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86. This artwork is made by assembling collections of many
different kinds of items.
Collage
87. This American Indian tribe is known for its woven rugs
and blankets.
Navajo
88. At Lascaux and Altamira, prehistoric man painted scenes of
ancient animals on the walls of what?
Caves
89. How many words is a picture worth?
1000
90. Pictures woven into fabric hung on the walls of castles. “The
Hunt of the Unicorn” is a famous one.
Tapestry
91. This artistic period began in Italy in the 14th century. Its name
means “rebirth,” and it is associated with an awakening in all the
arts following the Middle Ages.
Renaissance
92. Artwork inked on the skin.
Tattoo
93. Monumental sculptures carved from large trees by Pacific
Northwest Indians. They are vertical columns depicting animals,
spirits, people, and symbolic figures.
Totem poles
94. This monumental sculpture by the French sculptor Rodin rests
his chin on his fist because he has a lot on his mind.
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The Thinker
95. Name the four Presidents depicted on Mt. Rushmore.
Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington, T. Roosevelt
96. This auction house in London is the place to go if you’re
trying to sell an expensive work of art.
Sotheby’s
97. This high-ranking Nazi, founder of the Gestapo, and
commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, was an extremely avid
collector and stealor of art.
Hermann Göring
98. In Grant Wood’s “American Gothic,” an iconic painting of
an elderly rural farm couple, what is the man holding?
Pitchfork
99. Charlton Heston plays Michaelangelo who battles Rex
Harrison as Pope Julius II over the painting of the Sistine
Chapel in this 1965 film.
The Agony and the Ecstasy
100. This cleft-chinned, steely-eyed actor, famous for playing
Sparticus, also played artist Vincent Van Gogh in 1956’s film
“Lust for Life.”
Kirk Douglas