History of Art Study
Introduction
Multiple-Choice Questions
1. The three major categories of the visual arts are
a. painting, drawing, and photography.
b. painting, drawing, and sculpture.
c. painting, sculpture, and architecture.
d. pictures, sculptures, and architecture.
e. drawing, architecture, and sculpture.
Answer: d
2. The material value of art refers to
a. its materialism.
b. the value of its media.
c. the expense of production.
d. the amount paid to the artist.
Answer: b
3. Intrinsic value means
a. the genetic value of a work.
b. the assessment of esthetic character.
c. the patriotic assessment of a work.
d. the religious value of a work.
Answer: b
4. The famous forger of Vermeer’s works was
a. Hermann Goering.
b. Steichen.
c. Brancusi.
d. van Meegeren.
Answer: d
5. Brancusi’s Bird was admitted into the U.S. as a
a. bronze work of art.
b. stolen work of art.
c. kitchen supply.
d. forgery.
Answer: c
6. The “art train” refers to
a. Goering’s cache of stolen art.
b. a national museum housed in a railroad station.
c. a trail of stolen art.
d. a training school.
Answer: a
7. The Betrayal of Images is
a. a sculpture of a pipe.
b. a painting of a pipe.
c. a nonfigurative painting.
d. an example of trompe l’oeil.
Answer: b
8. The Apocrypha refer to
a. the end of the world.
b. the last book of the Bible.
c. the unaccepted books of the Bible.
d. a commentary on the Bible.
Answer: c
9. A painting of fruit and flowers on a table is a
a. still life.
b. nonrepresentational work.
c. portrait.
d. drawing.
Answer: a
10. Who said “One does like to make one’s mummy just as nice as possible”?
a. van Gogh
b. van Eyck
c. Oppenheim
d. Whistler
e. Bruegel
Answer: d
11. A diptych is a
a. two-part sculpture.
b. two-paneled painting.
c. double building.
d. repeated image.
Answer: b
12. Iconography refers to
a. formal elements.
b. feminism.
c. Marxism.
d. subject matter.
Answer: d
13. Which is NOT a formal element of art?
a. lines
b. shapes
c. deconstruction
d. planes
Answer: c
14. The philosopher Jacques Derrida is most associated with
a. deconstruction.
b. psychoanalysis.
c. formalism.
d. iconology.
Answer: a
15. Ferdinand de Saussure is most associated with
a. deconstruction.
b. psychoanalysis and psychobiography.
c. semiology.
d. iconology.
e. formalism.
Answer: c
16. Sigmund Freud is most associated with
a. deconstruction.
b. psychoanalysis and psychobiography.
c. semiology.
d. iconology.
e. feminism.
Answer: b
17. In semiotics, the four letters p-i-p-e constitute
a. a sign.
b. etymology.
c. a signifier.
d. a signified.
Answer: c
18. Alexander the Great’s portraitist was
a. Protogenes.
b. Rhodes.
c. Aristotle.
d. Apelles.
Answer: d
19. Morphe is the Greek word for
a. shape.
b. sleep.
c. line.
d. movement.
Answer: a
20. Complementary colors are
a. next to each other on the color wheel.
b. one removed from each other on the color wheel.
c. opposite each other on the color wheel.
d. not on the color wheel.
Answer: c
21. The Greek word chroma means
a. chrome.
b. color.
c. colorless.
d. value.
Answer: b
22. The primary colors are
a. red, yellow, blue, and green.
b. red, blue, and green.
c. blue, red, and yellow.
d. green, red, and yellow.
e. black, gray, and white.
Answer: c
23. Additive sculpture uses
a. clay.
b. marble.
c. wood.
d. granite.
Answer: a
24. All these terms refer to color purity EXCEPT
a. intensity.
b. saturation.
c. chroma.
d. hue.
Answer: d
25. Which color is used to convey that objects are at a distance?
a. yellow
b. blue
c. red
d. orange
Answer: b
26. When a vertical plane slices through buildings, the cross-section that results is a
a. floor plan.
b. pendentive.
c. structure.
d. section.
Answer: d
27. Two-dimensional space defines
a. area.
b. volume.
c. mass.
d. depth.
Answer: a
28. An artist creates a feeling of volume by using
a. mass.
b. visual perspective.
c. aerial perspective.
d. modeling.
Answer: d
29. The brightness of a color is called its
a. value.
b. hue.
c. saturation.
d. angle.
Answer: a
Key Works
Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait before his Easel, 1888
Bodyguard of the emperor of Qin, terra-cotta warriors, Qin dynasty, Lintong, Shaanxi Province,
China, 221–206 B.C.
Taj Mahal, Agra, India, 1632–1648
Constantin Brancusi, Bird in Space, 1928
René Magritte, The Betrayal of Images (“This is not a pipe”), 1928
God as Architect (God Drawing the Universe with a Compass), from the Bible moralisée, Reims,
France, mid-13th century
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Tower of Babel, 1563
Joseph Wright of Derby, The Corinthian Maid, 1782–1784
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Arrangement in Black and Gray (Portrait of the Artist’s
Mother), 1871
Jan van Eyck, The Virgin in a Church, c. 1410–1425
Meret Oppenheim, Fur-Covered Cup, Saucer, and Spoon (Le Déjeuner en Fourrure), 1936
Alexander Calder, Cat, 1976
Theo van Doesburg, Study 1 for Composition (The Cow), 1916
Theo van Doesburg, Study 2 for Composition (The Cow), 1917
Theo van Doesburg, Study 3 for Composition (The Cow), 1917
Theo van Doesburg, Study for Composition (The Cow), (c. 1917; dated 1916)
Theo van Doesburg, Study for Composition (The Cow), c. 1917
Maps, Diagrams, and Projections
Lines
Lines used to create facial expressions
Shapes
Drawing of solid shapes showing hatching and crosshatching
The visible spectrum of light
The color wheel
The ten-step value scale breaks the various shades from white to black into ten gradations
A color value scale
Key Terms
abstract
achromatic
aesthetic
archaeometry
asymmetrical
balance
chromatic
circumambulate
color wheel
complementary color
composition
content
contrast
dendrochronology
diptych
figurative
fire
formalism
garbha griha
ground plan
hatching, crosshatching
hue
icon
iconography
iconology
idealized
illusionism, illusionistic
intensity
landscape
modeling
naturalism, naturalistic
non-figurative
non-representational
patron
plane
portrait
primary color
program
radiocarbon dating
realistic
representational
romanticize
saturation
secondary color
seriation
shading
still life
stratigraphy
stupa
style
stylization
symmetry
terra-cotta
tertiary color
trompe-l’oeil
underpainting
value
ziggurat