with Testbank
for
ART: A BRIEF HISTORY
fifth edition
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, I
Introduction
Learn About it – Learning Objectives
By the end of the semester, students should be able to:
Explain the criteria used to identify and characterize those cultural artifacts we label as
“art.”
Identify and distinguish among the different types of visual arts and various modes of
visual representation.
Explain how subject matter and iconography help art historians situate works of art in
cultural contexts.
Explain the role of artists and patrons in society.
Explain the discipline of art history.
Chapter at a Glance
What Is Art?:
Modes of Representation
“Real” and “Ideal” Bodies
Finding Meaning
A Closer Look: Iconography
Art and Ritual
Art as Sociopolitical Commentary
Who Are Artists?:
Art and Its Contexts: Art and Architecture
Who Are Patrons?
What Is Art History?:
Art and Its Contexts: Restoring the Past: The Laocoön
What Is a Viewer’s Role and Responsibility?
Transition Guide
Images Removed from 4th Edition Images Added to the 5th Edition
Leone Leoni, Charles V Triumphing over Fury, without
Kiki Smith, Untitled (Fig. Intro-9)
Armor (Fig. Intro-7)
Clara Peeters, Still Life with Fruit and Flowers (A
Duane Hanson, The Shoppers (Fig. Intro-10)
Closer Look)
Corinthian capital from the tholos at Epidaurus (Fig. Zhu Da (Bada Shanren), Quince (Mugua) (A Closer
Intro-11) Look)
James Hampton, Throne of the Third Heaven of the Artemisia Gentileschi, Self-Portrait as the Allegory of
Nations’ Millenium General Assembly (Fig. Intro-12) Painting (Fig. Intro-13)
Veronese, The Triumph of Venice (Fig. Intro-15)
Alice Neel, Self-Portrait (Fig. Intro-14)
Honoré Daumier, Rue Transonain, Le 15 Avril 1834
Le Corbusier, Nôtre-Dame-du-Haut (Fig. Intro-15)
(Fig. Intro-16)
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,Il Guernico, Saint Luke Displaying a Painting of the
Virgin (Fig. Intro-18)
Dale Chihuly, Violet Persian Set with Red Lip Wraps
(Fig. Intro-19)
Christine de Pizan Presenting Her Book to the Queen
of France (Fig. Intro-23)
Frank Lloyd Wright, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
(Fig. Intro-25)
Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Phidias and the Frieze of the
Parthenon Athens (Fig. Intro-26)
The Farnese Hercules, copy of The Weary Hercules by
Lysippos (Fig. Intro-30)
MyArtsLab Multimedia Library
Closer Look:
Prologue: Iconography
Teaching with MyArtsLab
Homework Assignment:
Ask students to go home and select an object (NOT an artwork) in their home that
they consider to be art. They will then present their object and reasoning to the
class. The point of this assignment is to demonstrate the different values of art and
how these can be determined on an individual basis.
In-Class Assignment:
Watch A Closer Look: Iconography and discuss the difference between visual
description and interpretation. Describe the objects in the still life, as well as
analyze them.
Key Terms
Abstraction Patron
Connoisseurship Realism
Iconography Still life
Nonrepresentational Trompe l’oeil
Class Discussion Topics and Questions
Question:
What is Art? And what can we learn from it?
Question:
What is Art History? And why is it an important field of study?
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, Think About It
I.1 How would you define a work of art?
I.2 Compare one naturalistic and one stylized painting. How would you characterize the
difference in representational mode? Why would an artist choose one or the other?
I.3 Identify the conventional subjects and symbolism of one specific painting in the
Introduction and discuss how this subject matter takes on further meaning when
understood in its cultural context.
I.4 What do the self-portraits of Artemisia Gentileschi and Alice Neel tell us about the
way they conceived of themselves as an artist? Compare what are they trying to
accomplish in these paintings with Kiki Smith’s goals in Untitled.
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