Chapter 1: What is Art?

Multiple Choice Questions

1.The word art encompasses many meanings, including ability, process, and
A. product* B. ugliness C. beauty

2.______said, "The beautiful is in nature, and it is encountered in the most diverse forms of reality. Once it is found, it belong to art, or, rather, to the artist who discovers it."
A. Picasso B. Courbet* C. Orlan

3.Dale Chihuly'sFioridi Como was designed for a public space in
A. Italy B. Spain C. the United States*

4.Joyce Kozloff'sGallaPlacidia in Philadelphia is based in part on a work of art that was done in
A. 1776 B. the tenth century BCE C. the fifth century CE*

5.In her self-portraits, the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo used her ______life as an emblem for human suffering.
A. tragic* B. blissful C. uneventful

6.Judy Chicago's Dinner Party was created to honor and immortalize
A. famous Italian chefs B. the kings of France C. history's notable women*

7.James Weldon Johnson's God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse was the source of seven paintings done by ______.
A. Aaron Douglas* B. Andy Warhol C. Odilon Redon

8.In this particular portrait, the anger and defiance of ______'s whitened knuckles contrasts with the soft, almost pained expression of the artist's face.
A. Kahlo B. Mapplethorpe* C. Warhol

9.Many twentieth-century artists looked to the psychoanalytic writings of Freud and Jung, who suggested that primeval forces are at work in the ______reaches of the mind
A. conscious B. forward lobe C. unconscious*

10.In The Dream, Beckmann used ______and shape and color to enhance the maudlin, nightmarish quality of his subject.
A. costumes B. line* C. cheerful-looking figures

11."ALL THE THINGS I KNOW
BUT OF WHICH I AM NOT
AT THE MOMENT THINKING
1:36 PM; JUNE 15, 1969"
is an example of a(n) ______.
A. conceptual art product* B. preface to a book of poems by Robert Barry C. experiment in conceptual art by Lawrence Weiner

12.The art in wordworks lies in the artist's
A. dictionary B. conception* C. mailbox

13.______said, "I try not to have things look as if chance had brought them together, but as if they had a necessary bond between them."
A. Picasso B. Seurat C. Millet*

14.Jessie Oonark created A Shaman's Helping Spirits as a symbol of the ______rituals associated with the medicine men of her culture.
A. war B. hunting C. healing*

15.Orlan is a French multimedia performance artist who has been undergoing a series of cosmetic operations to create, in herself, a composite sketch of what ______art has long set forth as the pinnacle of human beauty.
A. Western* B. Far Eastern C. Middle Eastern

16."Art is harmony" was said by
A. Georges Seurat* B. Jean-François Millet C. Alfred Stieglitz

17.Medieval Japanese sand gardens
A. invite the visitor to wander slowly admiring the roses B. do not invite the observer to mill about* C. are filled with water falls at the base of a tall mountain

18.Jaune Quick-To-See Smith's Eclipse is best described as ______.
A. calm B. geometrically-organized C. agitated*

19.In works such as Storm, Louisa Chase painted nature's ______.
A. weakness B. power* C. beauty

20.Faith Ringgold's TarBeach is a painted ______.
A. quilt* B. rock C. piece of tar paper

Completion/Fill-in-the-Blank Questions

21.In both the sciences and the arts we strive to weave our experiences into coherent bodies of knowledge and to ______them.
{{communicate}}

22.As ______, art is the human capacity to make things of beauty and things that stir us.
{{ability}}

23. As ______, art encompasses acts such as drawing, painting, sculpting, designing buildings, and using the camera to create memorable works.
{{process}}

24.As ______, art is the completed work--an etching, a sculpture, a structure, a tapestry, etc.
{{product}}

25.The language or vocabulary of art includes the visual ______, principles of design, style, form, and content.
{{elements}}

26.Although art changes from millennium to millennium, from day to day, uniting all art is the persistent quest for beauty or for truth or for ______.
{{self-expression}}

27.Human beings are the only species conscious of death, and for millennia, they have used ______to overleap the limits of this life.
{{art}}

28.Shamanism is a religion based on a belief in good and evil ______that can be controlled and influenced only the power of the shaman, a kind of priest.
{{spirits}}

29.The dome of ______is made of stone, but it seems to float on the light that streams through the windows encircling its base like diamonds in a necklace.
{{Hagia Sophia}}

30.In Chagall's I and the Village, fleeting memories of life are pieced together like so many pieces of a dreamlike puzzle, reflecting the very fragmentary nature of ______itself.
{{memory}}

31.______art does not necessarily represent external objects; it also challenges the traditional view of the artist as creative visionary, skilled craftsperson, and master of one's media.
{{Conceptual}}

32.Lawrence ______, an artist, sold his concept to a patron, who installed the work himself: "A two-inch wide, one-inch deep trench, cut across a standard one-car driveway."
{{Weiner}}

33.In Laurie Simmons' Red Library the robot-like figure has become ______with her task.
{{one}}

34.One of the most perfect expressions of order and ______is found in the fragile Japanese sand garden.
{{harmony}}

35.Alfred ______said of the visual experience of seeing people on the upper deck and steerage of a steamer, "I saw a picture of shapes and underlying that the feeling I had about life…."
{{Stieglitz}}

36.In Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, rifles, swords, a flag--even pistols--join in an upward ______, underscoring the classical pyramid shape of the composition.
{{rhythm}}

37.Miriam Schapiro's Wonderland is a collage that reflects her ______aesthetic.
{{femmage}}

38.Marcel Duchamp's Fountain is an example of ______-made art.
{{ready}}

39.Diego Rivera said, "Art has always been employed by the different social classes who hold the balance of power as one instrument of ______."
{{domination}}

40.Pablo Picasso's Bull's Head is fashioned from parts of an old ______.
{{bicycle}}

Discussion Questions

41.Discuss how ability, process, and product are part of the art experience.

42.Some people say that art serves no function, that art exists for its own sake. How do you react to this notion?

43.If you could ask the artist Orlan a single question, what would it be? Speculate on what you think her answer might be.

44.Define conceptual art, give an example of a conceptual piece from Understanding Art, and describe an idea that you have for a conceptual piece of your own.

45.Does any of the art work in this chapter suggest that order may pose a threat to harmony and psychological well-being? If so, which? Explain how.

46.Jessie Oonark'sA Shaman's Helping Spirits, and Aaron Douglas' Noah's Ark have subjects and styles that reflect specific beliefs. Why is it that these works are able to speak to people who do not share the underlying beliefs of the works?

47.How does Betye Saar's Liberation of Aunt Jemima "liberate" Aunt Jemima?

48.Understanding Art devotes a chapter to approaching the question, "What is art?" From that discussion, what do you estimate to be the three most important questions that you would ask yourself if you were faced with an object and trying to decide whether or not the object were a work of art?

49.In what ways has modern art helped to "elevate the commonplace?"

50.One hears of Leonardo's Mona Lisa various expressions of beauty, mystery, captivation, and enigma. What in the painting stimulates such reactions?

Essays:

  1. Some people say that art serves no function, that art exists for its own sake. How do you react to this notion?
  2. Discuss how ability, process, and product are part of the art experience.
  3. Define conceptual art, give an example of a conceptual piece from Understanding Art, and describe an idea that you have for a conceptual piece of your own.
  4. Does any of the art work in this chapter suggest that order may pose a threat to harmony and psychological well-being? If so, which? Explain how.