AP Art History : Twentieth and Twenty-First-Century 2D Art

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP Art History

varsity tutors app store varsity tutors android store

Example Questions

Example Question #121 : Twentieth And Twenty First Century 2 D Art

What is the name of the Pablo Picasso mural commemorating a bombing during the Spanish Civil War?

Possible Answers:

The Reaper

The Falling Soldier

The Great Day of Girona

Guernica

Correct answer:

Guernica

Explanation:

In 1937, planes from Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe, on behalf of the Francoist forces, bombed the Basque city of Guernica, a Republican stronghold. As one of the largest-scale atrocities of the Spanish Civil War, the Guernica bombing made Pablo Picasso feel compelled to commemorate the event. The result was a gigantic wall mural in Picasso's signature cubist style, but with references to war and a black and white color palette, neither of which were common to his work. The work was simply titled Guernica.

Example Question #452 : Ap Art History

Which of the following artistic movements was heavily influenced by the freeform nature of jazz music?

Possible Answers:

Abstract Expressionism

Futurism

Cubism

Bauhaus

Impressionism

Correct answer:

Abstract Expressionism

Explanation:

The eclectic, improvisational nature of jazz had a wide influence in other artistic forms. In particular, visual artists sought to take some of jazz's extemporaneous elements and apply them to painting and sculpture. This idea greatly influence Jackson Pollock's "drip method" and other aspects of Abstract Expressionist art from the 1940s and 1950s.

Example Question #122 : Twentieth And Twenty First Century 2 D Art

210px-juan_gris_-_portrait_of_pablo_picasso_-_google_art_project

This paintings was created in the __________.

Possible Answers:

1930s

1940s

1890s

1920s

1910s

Correct answer:

1910s

Explanation:

Juan Gris' Portrait of Pablo Picasso from 1912 is an example of the artistic movement known as cubism. Cubism was developed by a variety of painters living in Paris around 1910, including the Spaniards Picasso and Gris, but also the Frenchmen Georges Braque and Fernand Léger. Cubism is defined by its deconstruction of its images to geographic shapes and mathematical forms.

Figure: Portrait of Pablo Picasso by Juan Gris (1912)

Example Question #3 : Answering Other Questions About Twentieth Century 2 D Art

210px-juan_gris_-_portrait_of_pablo_picasso_-_google_art_project

The movement that produced the above work was directly influenced by the artist __________.

Possible Answers:

Jackson Pollock

Paul Cézanne

Wassily Kandinsky

Gustave Courbet

Correct answer:

Paul Cézanne

Explanation:

In one sense, cubism seemed to appear as a radical new take on modern art, using geometric shapes to create strange and disturbing images that conformed little to what came before. An important influence, however, was the impressionist Paul Cézanne, whose still lifes and landscapes were less than direct representations of what he painted. Cézanne, like the cubists, used abstract ideas to create more emotionally realistic and biting images.

Figure: Portrait of Pablo Picasso by Juan Gris (1912)

Example Question #9 : Answering Other Questions About Twentieth Century 2 D Art

240px-Gustav_Klimt_016.jpg

All of the following statements are true of Gustav Klimt's The Kiss except __________.

Possible Answers:

the shimmering, extravagant flat patterning of the couple's bodies has clear ties to Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts movement

it reflects the fin-de-siecle flamboyance of the Austrian middle class, but tempers it with unsettling undertones

it is reflective of Klimt's position as a well-established painter, accepted in the established conservative artist society in Vienna

the depiction is reminiscent of the conflict between two and three dimensionality intrinsic to the work of Degas and other modernists

The Kiss is a visual manifestation of fin-de-siecle spirit because it captures a decadence conveyed by opulent, sensuous images and also masks anxieties about an uncertain and foreboding future

Correct answer:

it is reflective of Klimt's position as a well-established painter, accepted in the established conservative artist society in Vienna

Explanation:

Klimt rebelled against the established Viennese conservative artists society and formally banded with other artists to create the Vienna Secession. This group created their own exhibition program and called for greater integration between art objects and the surrounding interior environment.

Example Question #1 : Answering Other Questions About Twentieth Century 2 D Art

Which of the following statements is true of Post-Impressionism?

Possible Answers:

The majority of Post-Impressionists rejected subjective expression in favor of objective representation.

It was a movement instigated by artists who felt the Impressionists lacked too many of the traditional elements of picture making in their attempts to capture momentary sensations of light and color on canvas. 

Post-Impressionist rejected pointillism and divisionism as too analytical and not freely expressive enough to portray human emotions.

Post-Impressionism sought to avoid reliance on formal elements such as color and form to express emotion and instead used well-known scenes and images to elicit viewer responses.

The four artists in particular who led the movement were Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Claude Monet, and Gustave Caillebotte.

Correct answer:

It was a movement instigated by artists who felt the Impressionists lacked too many of the traditional elements of picture making in their attempts to capture momentary sensations of light and color on canvas. 

Explanation:

The Post-Impressionists developed out of the movement of Impressionism, but felt it necessary to more systematically examine the properties and expressive qualities of line, pattern, form, and color. Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat, and Paul Cezanne were leaders of this movement. 

Example Question #123 : Twentieth And Twenty First Century 2 D Art

Kirchner   selbstbildnis als soldat

Works like the one shown here were opposed by which political movement?

Possible Answers:

Spanish Falangism

Italian Fascism

German Nazism

Soviet Communism

Correct answer:

German Nazism

Explanation:

While Expressionism, of which Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's Self-Portrait as a Soldier is emblematic, was highly significant and powerful in the 1920s' Weimar Republic, political changes also changed artistic tastes. When Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party took power in the 1930s, they targeted this kind of art for its association with bohemian lifestyles, intellectualism, and Jewish culture. In 1938, this piece of art was included in a famous exhibition of "Degenerate Art" put on by the Nazis. With such persecution, Kirchner's consistent mental health issues again came to the fore, and he committed suicide in 1938 by gunshot.

Image is in the public domain, accessed through Wikipedia Media Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kirchner_-_Selbstbildnis_als_Soldat.jpg

Example Question #124 : Twentieth And Twenty First Century 2 D Art

Matisse goldfish

In The Goldfish, Henri Matisse uses vivid colors in order to __________________.

Possible Answers:

create a contrast with the realistic depiction of the work

add a sense of confusion for the viewer

heighten the abstraction of the composition

capture the odd colors of the subject in nature

Correct answer:

heighten the abstraction of the composition

Explanation:

The Goldfish is, fitting with Henri Matisse's work generally, an abstract piece, but one whose general forms and shapes are somewhat representational. Heightening the slight abstraction of the painting's shapes is the choice of color palette made by Henri Matisse. The bright, almost unnatural colors create a different perspective for the viewer and match more closely to other forms of abstract art.

Example Question #125 : Twentieth And Twenty First Century 2 D Art

Which of the following artistic movements was heavily influenced by the freeform nature of jazz music?

Possible Answers:

Cubism

Impressionism

Futurism

Abstract Expressionism

Bauhaus

Correct answer:

Abstract Expressionism

Explanation:

The eclectic, improvisational nature of jazz had a wide influence in other artistic forms. In particular, visual artists sought to take some of jazz's extemporaneous elements and apply them to painting and sculpture. This idea greatly influence Jackson Pollock's "drip method" and other aspects of Abstract Expressionist art from the 1940s and 1950s.

Example Question #124 : Twentieth And Twenty First Century 2 D Art

One of Andy Warhol's famous Marilyn Monroe-inspired pieces references what form of Christian painting?

Possible Answers:

Silkscreen

Mosaic

Diptych

Fresco

Relief

Correct answer:

Diptych

Explanation:

Marilyn Diptych (1962) gets its form from early Christian diptych paintings that presented two images side by side. It was created using silkscreening, a method not used by early Christian painters. None of Warhol's Marilyns were made in the mosaic, relief, or fresco styles.

Learning Tools by Varsity Tutors