Transcript
Which painting (shown on the next slide) is an example of
Synthetic Cubism?
1. (a) Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907)
2. (b) Braque, The Portugese (1911)
3. (c) Picasso, Guitar, Sheet Music, and Wine Glass (1912)
Davies, et. al., Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition, Eighth Edition , ©2011, Education
a.
b.
c.
Davies, et. al., Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition, Eighth Edition , ©2011, Education
Answer: 3.(c). See pages 950-954. The fractured forms, shallow space and simultaneous use of multiple perspectives of Les Demoiselles marked Picasso’s departure from Renaissance systems of perspective toward the development of Cubism. This early painting gave way to Analytic Cubism, characterized by greater fragmentation and an extremely limited palette, as in Braque’s The Portugese. This approach was then followed by Synthetic Cubism, where forms were broken apart and then reassembled into a final composition. In Guitar, Sheet Music, and Wine Glass, Picasso used the technique of collage to blur the boundaries between real and pictorial space even further.
Davies, et. al., Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition, Eighth Edition , ©2011, Education
2. Which of the following is NOT characteristic to German Expressionism?
1. (a) primitive and childlike imagery
2. (b) hard-edge geometrical forms
3. (c) jagged angular lines
4. (d) bold intense color
Davies, et. al., Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition, Eighth Edition , ©2011, Education
2. Answer: 2.(b). See pages 955-961. German Expressionist artists employed a wide range of styles and subject matter in their attempt for emotional, psychological and spiritual impact. Artists like Franz Marc reveal the influence of cubism in their fragmented forms and shallow space; others, including Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Gabriele Münter, explored color and formal distortions, and, in the case of Vasily Kandinsky, non-objective imagery.
Davies, et. al., Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition, Eighth Edition , ©2011, Education
3. Which artist invented the term “Suprematism” to describe his interest in creating art that could communicate the essence of existence?
1. (a) Constantin Brancusi
2. (b) Vasily Kandinsky
3. (c) Umberto Boccioni
4. (d) Kasimir Malevich
Davies, et. al., Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition, Eighth Edition , ©2011, Education
3. Answer: 4.(d.) See pages 966-969. Malevich’s Suprematism is characterized by paintings of simplified, geometric shapes painted on a white background. He believed that such non-objective imagery held the key to communicating life’s essence. Although thoroughly modern in their use of geometric abstraction, Malevich’s compositions recall the meditative quality found in Russian icons of the past.
Davies, et. al., Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition, Eighth Edition , ©2011, Education
4. Which American artist painted Plant Forms (1912)?
1. (a) Arthur Dove
2. (b) Marsden Hartley
3. (c) Georgia O’Keeffe
4. (d) Alfred Stieglitz
Davies, et. al., Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition, Eighth Edition , ©2011, Education
4. Answer: 1.(a). See pages 974-975. Dove was one of the artists associated with photographer Alfred Stieglitz’s 291 group in New York. Drawing his primary inspiration from nature, Dove began creating abstract compositions like Plant Forms two years before Kandinsky or Delaunay.
Davies, et. al., Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition, Eighth Edition , ©2011, Education
5. Different from most artists of the period who rejected the Classical past, which artist created “Metaphysical Paintings” that seemed to idolize it?
1. (a) Robert Delauney
2. (b) Oskar Kokoschka
3. (c) Giorgio de Chirico
4. (d) Marcel Duchamp
Davies, et. al., Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition, Eighth Edition , ©2011, Education
5. Answer: 3.(c.) See pages 969-970. Although de Chirico was influenced by German Symbolism, his mature work is distinctive among other artists of the period for its conventional style. However, he infuses his paintings with a romantic melancholy through the use of light, skewed perspectives, and the unusual juxtaposition of objects. This dreamlike quality of de Chirico’s work would be extremely influential on Surrealism in the late 1920s.
