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AP Art History Flashcards 250
AP Art History Flashcards 250
AP Art History Flashcards 250
7. Jade cong
Liangzhu, China. 3300-2200 B.C.E. Carved jade.
Like one of many, this was a jade piece with decorative carvings, unique
shape, and symbolic purpose. The stone might have held spiritual or
symbolic meanings to the early
8. Stonehenge
Wiltshire, U.K. Neolithic Europe. c. 2500-1600 B.C.E. Sandstone
Stonehenge is a famous site know for its large circles of massive stones
in a seemingly random location as well as the mystery surrounding how
and why it was built. The stones are believed to be from local quarries
and farther off mountains. There is also evidence of mud, wood, and
ropes assisting in the construction of the site.
34. Doryphoros
Polykleitos. Original 450-440 B.C.E. Roman copy (marble) of
Greek original (bronze) Pompeii, Greece.
Doryphoros was one of the most famous statues in the ancient
world and many known Roman copies exist. The original was
created in around 450 BC in bronze and was presumably even
more tremendous than the known copies that have been
unearthed. Doryphoros is also an early example of contrapposto
position, a postion which Polykleitos constructed masterfully
(Moon).
35. Acropolis
Athens, Greece. Iktinos and Kallikrates. c. 447-410 B.C.E. Marble
The most recognizable building on the Acropolis is the Parthenon, one
of the most iconic buildings in the world, it has influenced architecture
in practically every western country.
39. House of Vetti. Pompeii, Italy. Imperial Roman. c. second century B.C.E.;
rebuilt c. 62-79 C.E. Cut stone and fresco
The House of the Vettii offers key insights into domestic architecture
and interior decoration in the last days of the city of Pompeii. The
house itself is architecturally significant not only because of its size but
also because of the indications it gives of important changes that were
underway in the design of Roman houses during the third quarter of
the first century C.E.
40. Alexander Mosaic from the House of Faun, Pompeii
Republican Roman. c. 100 B.C.E. Mosaic
The artistic importance of this work of art comes at the subtle and
unique artistic style that the artist employed in the making of the
mosaic. The first major attribute of this great piece of artwork is the use
of motion and intensity in the battle and the use of drama unfolding
before the viewer's eyes to further the effect of glory in the mosaic.
46. Pantheon
Imperial Roman. 118-125 C.E. Concrete with stone facing
One of the great buildings in western architecture, the Pantheon is
remarkable both as a feat of engineering and for its manipulation of
interior space, and for a time, it was also home to the largest pearl in
the ancient world.
50. Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well and Jacob Wrestling the Angel, from
the Vienna Genesis
Early Byzantine Europe. Early sixth century C.E. Illuminated manuscript
55. Lindisfarne Gospels: St. Matthew, cross-carpet page; St. Luke portrait
page; St Luke incipit page
Early medieval (Hiberno Saxon) Europe. c. 700 C.E. Illuminated
manuscript (ink, pigment, and gold)
The variety and splendor of the Lindisfarne Gospels are such that even
in reproduction, its images astound. Artistic expression and inspired
execution make this codex a high point of early medieval art.
61. Dedication Page with Blanche of Castle and King Louis IX of France,
Scenes from the Apocolypse from Bibles moralisées.
Gothic Europe. c. 1225-1245 C.E. Illuminated manuscript
This 13th century illumination, both dazzling and edifying, represents the cutting edge
of lavishness in a society that embraced conspicuous consumption. As a pedagogical
tool, perhaps it played no small part in helping Louis IX achieve the status of
sainthood, awarded by Pope Bonifiace VIII 27 years after the king's de ath.
62. Röttgen Pietà
Late medieval Europe (Germany). c. 1300-1325 C.E. Painted wood
The statue's bold emotionalism in Mary and Jesus's face. If we focus on
Mary's face, there is a mix of emotions in her gaze. The artist
humanizes Mary by giving her strong emotions. Mary's face looks
appalled and anguished because of her son's death, and there is also a
sense of shock, and awe that anyone would kill her son- the Son of God.
The artist had exaggerated Mary's sorrow in attempts to make it seem
she was asking the viewer.
65. Alhambra
Granada, Spain. Nasrid Dynasty. 1354-1391 C.E. Whitewashed adobe
stucco, wood, tile, paint, and gilding
The Alhambra's architecture shares many characteristics, but is singular
in the way it complicates the relationship between interior and
exterior. Its buildings feature shaded patios and covered walkways that
pass from well-lit interior spaces onto shaded courtyards and sun-filled
gardens all enlivened by the reflection of water and intricately carved
stucco decoration.
69. David
Donatello. c. 1440-1460 C.E. Florence, Italy. Bronze
Nearly everything about the statue - from the material from which it
was sculpted to the subject's "clothing" - was mold-breaking in some
way. Scholars and artists have studied David for centuries in an attempt
to both learn more about the man behind it and to more fully discern
its meaning.
102. Monticello
Virginia, U.S. Thomas Jefferson (architect). 1768-1809 C.E. Brick, glass,
stone, and wood
By helping to introduce classical architecture to the United States,
Jefferson intended to reinforce the ideals behind the classical past:
democracy, education, rationality, civic responsibility. Jefferson
reinforced the symbolic nature of architecture.
115. Olympia
Édouard Manet. 1863 C.E. France. Oil on canvas
Olympia and the controversy surrounding what is perhaps the most
famous nude of the nineteenth-century. Olympia had more to do with
the realism of the subject matter than the fact that the model was
nude.
116. The Saint-Lazare Station
Claude Monet. 1877 C.E. France. Oil on canvas
The effects of color and light rather than a concern for describing
machines in detail. Certain zones, true pieces of pure painting, achieve
an almost abstract vision. An ideal setting for someone who sought the
changing effects of light, movement, clouds of steam and a radically
modern motif.
123. Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
Paul Gauguin. 1897-1898 C.E. France. Oil on canvas
A huge, brilliantly colored but enigmatic work painted on rough, heavy
sackcloth. It contains numerous human, animal, and symbolic figures
arranged across an island landscape. The sea and Tahiti's volcanic
mountains are visible in the background. It is Paul Gauguin's largest
painting, and he understood it to be his finest work.
124. Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building
Chicago, Illinios, U.S. Louis Sullivan (architect). 1899-1903 C.E. Iron,
steel, glass, and terra cotta
With its elaborate decorative program and attention paid to the
functional requirements of retail architecture, Sullivan's design was a
remarkably successful display for the department store's products,
even if it diverged from the wholly vertical effect of his earlier
skyscrapers.
131. Goldfish
Henri Mattisse. 1912 C.E. France. Oil on canvas
This painting is an illustration of some of the major themes in Matisse's
painting: his use of complimentary colors, his quest for an idyllic
paradise, his appeal for contemplative relaxation for the viewer and his
complex construction of pictorial space.
132. Improvisation 28
Vassily Kandinsky. 1912 C.E. Russian. Oil on canvas
His style had become more abstract and nearly schematic in its
spontaneity. This painting's sweeping curves and forms, which dissolve
significantly but remain vaguely recognizable, seem to reveal
cataclysmic events on the left and symbols of hope and the paradise of
spiritual salvation on the right.
139. Fallingwater
Pennsylvannia, U.S. Frank Lloyd Wright (architect) 1936-1939 C.E.
Reinforced concrete, sandstone, steel, and glass
It's a house that doesn't even appear to stand on solid ground, but
instead stretches out over a 30' waterfall. It captured everyone's
imagination when it was on the cover of Time magazine in 1938.
140. The Two Fridas
Frida Kahlo. 1939 C.E. Mexico. Oil on canvas
She typically painted self-portraits using vibrant colours in a style that
was influenced by cultures of Mexico as well as influences from
European Surrealism. Her self-portraits were often an expression of her
life and her pain.
144. Fountain
Marcel Duchamp. 1950 C.E. (original 1917). New York. Readymade
glazed sanitary china with black paint
It was unexpectedly a rather beautiful object in its own right and a
blindingly brilliant logical move, check-mating all conventional ideas
about art. But it was also a highly successful practical joke.
145. Woman, I
William de Kooning. 1950-1952 C.E. New York. Oil on canvas
Woman, I reflects the age-old cultural ambivalence between reverence
for and fear of the power of the feminine.
155. Yaxchilán
Chiapas, Mexico. Maya. 725 C.E. Limestone (architectural complex)
Yaxchilán is located on the south bank of the Usumacinta River, in Chiapas, Mexico. It
was a significant Maya center during the Classic period (250-900 C.E.) and a number of
its buildings stand to this day. Many of the exteriors had elaborate decorations, but it
is the carved stone lintels above their doorways which have made this site famous.
These lintels, commissioned by the rulers of the city, provide a lengthy dynastic record
in both text and image.
156. Great Serpent Mound
Adams County, southern Ohio. Mississippian (Eastern Woodlands). c.
1070 C.E. Earthwork/effigy mound
159. City of Cusco, including O0rikancha (Inka main temple), Santo Domingo
(Spanish colonial convent), and Walls at Saqsa Waman (Sacsayhuaman)
Central highlands, Peru. Inka. c. 1440 C.E.; convent added 1550-1650
C.E. Andesite
Cuzco, which had a population of up to 150,000 at its peak, was laid out
in the form of a puma and was dominated by fine buildings and palaces,
the richest of all being the sacred gold-covered and emerald-studded
Coricancha complex which included a temple to the Inca sun god Inti.
180. Veranda post of enthroned king and senior wife (Opo Ogoga)
Olowe of Ise (Yoruba peoples). c. 1910-1914 C.E. Wood and pigment
It is considered among the artist's masterpieces for the way it embodies
his unique style, including the interrelationship of figures, their
exaggerated proportions, and the open space between them
182. Buddha
Bamiyan, Afghanistan. Gandharan. c. 400-800 C.E. (destroyed in 2001).
Cut rock with plaster and polychrome paint
The cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the Bamiyan
Valley represent the artistic and religious developments which from the
1st to the 13th centuries characterized ancient Bakhtria, integrating
various cultural influences into the Gandhara school of Buddhist art.
183. The Kaaba
Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Islamic. Pre-Islamic monument; rededicated by
Muhammad in 631-632 C.E.; multiple renovations. Granite masonry,
covered with silk curtain and calligraphy in gold and silver-wrapped
thread
Cubed building known as the Kaba may not rival skyscrapers in height or mansions in
width, but its impact on history and human beings is unmatched. The Kaba is the
building towards which Muslims face five times a day, everyday, in prayer. This has
been the case since the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon
him) over 1400 years ago.
193. Terra cotta warriors from mausoleum of the first Qin emperor of China
Qin Dynasty. c. 221-209 B.C.E. Painted terra cotta
One of the most extraordinary features of the terracotta warriors is
that each appears to have distinct features—an incredible feat of
craftsmanship and production. Despite the custom construction of
these figures, studies of their proportions reveal that their frames were
created using an assembly production system that paved the way for
advances in mass production and commerce.
194. Funeral banner of Lady Dai (Xin Zhui)
Han Dynasty, China. c. 180 B.C.E. Painted silk
In the mourning scene, we can also appreciate the importance of Lady
Dai's banner for understanding how artists began to represent depth
and space in early Chinese painting. They made efforts to indicate
depth through the use of the overlapping bodies of the mourners. They
also made objects in the foreground larger, and objects in the
background smaller, to create the illusion of space in the mourning hall.
199. Angkor, the temple of Angkor Wat, and the city of Angkor Thom,
Cambodia
Hindu, Angkor Dynasty. c. 800-1400 C.E. Stone masonry, sandstone
Angkor is one of the most important archaeological sites in South-East Asia. There
were many changes in architecture and artistic style at Angkor, and there was a
religious movement from the Hindu cult of the god Shiva to that of Vishnu and then to
a Mahayana Buddhist cult devoted to the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.
207. Ryoan-ji
Kyoto, Japan. Muromachi Period, Japan. 1480 C.E.; current design most likely dates to
the 18th century. Rock garden
Kyoto's most famous Zen garden is Ryoan-ji. Its raked gravel and 15 carefully placed
stones make it the world's most recognisable garden image. I love Ryoan-ji, which,
despite the hoards of visitors adding their own snaps to the image load of the garden,
still manages to instil a mood of mystery and quiet reflection. It was made by an
unnamed monk in the 15th century and was the template for a dry stone Zen garden
for four centuries - until Mirei Shigemori brought the Zen garden into the 20th
century and introduced it to modernism.
232. Dancing at the Louvre, from the series The French Collectiom, Part I; #1
Faith Ringgold. France, Europe. 1991 C.E. Acrylic on canvas, tie-dyed,
pieced fabric border
To break boundaries and combine a multitude of artistic techniques.
Combines Modern art, African-American culture, and personal
experiences
233. Trade (Gifts for Trading Land with White People) Jaune Quick-to-See
Smith. Virginia. 1992 C.E. Oil and mixed media on canvas.
Illustrates historical and contemporary inequities between Native
Americans and the United States government.
246. Stadia II
Julie Mehretu. New York. 2004 C.E. Ink and acrylic on canvas
Stadia II is meant to portray a large stadium, A sports arena. Country
flags, confetti, and the eruption of the crowd are prevalent.
248. Shibboleth
Doris Salcedo. Turbine Hall, London. 2007-2008 C.E. Installation
She uses this giant crack on the floor of ceremonial hall as a symbol of
racism, discrimination, and colonialism that separated one being from
each other. Through this art piece she addresses that the modernity is a
result of colonial exploitation of the "stronger" from the "weaker".
249. MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts
Rome, Italy. Zaha Hadid (architect). 2009 C.E. Glass, steel, and cement.
The building is repetitive in that the architecture is supposed to mimic
movement to depict the progressiveness of the future of architecture
and building.