Art History Study Guide

Art of the Western World II

Baroque

A highly decorative and theatrical style of art, architecture, and music that emerged in Europe during the late 16th century and continued into the 18th century, characterized by dramatic use of light, bold colors, and intricate details.

Chiaroscuro

A technique used in the visual arts to represent light and shadow as they define three dimensional objects. The overall composition is affected with strong contrasts of light and dark.

Impasto (pl. impasti)

A painting technique where thick layers of paint are applied to a canvas or surface creating a textured and three-dimensional effect. The word originates from the Italian word for “paste” or “dough” which reflects the thick and heavy application of paint.

Genre (both meanings)

type or category of a painting / indicates the content or topic of a particular picture

allegory

symbol

Caravaggio

Conversion of St. Paul

Rome, Italy

ca. 1601

Oil on canvas

Caravaggio

Entombment of Christ

ca. 1603

Ol on canvas

Gianlorenzo Bernini

Apollo and Daphne

1624

Marble

Gianlorenzo Bernini

Ecstasy of St Teresa

Rome, Italy

1650

Gilded bronze, marble, paint, plaster

Diego Velaquez

Las Meninas

1656

Oil on Canvas

Rembrandt van Rijn

Self-Portrait

ca. 1660

Oil on Canvas

Jan Vermeer

The Letter

1666

Oil on canvas

Jan Vermeer

Allegory of the Art of Painting

ca. 1670

Oil on canvas

Neoclassicism

a movement that revived art from Greek and Roman art, empathizing simplicity, clarity, and idealized forms, often characterized by the use of classical themes and subject matter with a focus on line and composition.

Romanticism

an artistic and intellectual movement that emphasized emotion, individualism, and the glorification of nature, often reacting against the rationalism of the Enlightenment.

Hudson River School

a mid 19th century American art movement of landscape painters who created a self-consciously “American” style and was also influenced by Romanticism

Salon of the Rejected (Salon des Refuses)

a French exhibition held in 1863 where artworks rejected by the official Paris Salon jury were displayed, essentially displaying art that was deemed too radical or unconventional by the established art world at the time

Impressionism

in the 19th century, based on the practice of painting out of the doors and spontaneously “on the spot” rather than in a studio from sketches.

Post-Impressionism

An art movement in the 19th century which was known for its vivid colors, thick paint application, and distinctive brush strokes. Artists emphasized geometric forms, distorted forms for expressive effect, and used unnatural or arbitrary colors.

Formalism

response to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism which is the study of art by analyzing and comparing its form and style. It emphasizes the purely visual aspects of a work, such as its form, color, line, shape, texture, and composition opposed to meaning or historical context.

Jacques-Louis David

The Oath of the Horatti

1784

Oil on canvas

Francisco Goya

Third of May

1808 - 1814

Oil on canvas

Theodore Gericault

Raft of Medusa

1818-1819

Oil on canvas

Eugene Delacroix

Tiger Hunt

1854

Oil on canvas

Thomas Cole

Kaaterskill Falls

1825-1826

Oil on canvas

Thomas Cole

The Oxbow

1836

Oil on canvas

Frederick Edwin Church

The Heart of the Andes

1859

Oil on canvas

Édourard Manet

Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe (the Picnic)

1863

Oil on canvas

Édouard Manet

Olympia

1863

Oil on canvas

Edgar Degas

The Rehersal

1874

Oil on canvas

Claude Monet

Impression: Sunrise

1872

Oil on canvas

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

At the Moulin Rouge

ca. 1895

Oil on canvas

Vincent Van Gogh

The Night Café

1888

Oil on canvas

Vincent van Gogh

Starry Night

1889

Oil on canvas

Modernism

Took place during the late 19th century to mid 20th century, it was characterized by a rejection of traditional values & styles, and search for new ways to represent the modern world.

Fauvism

Was an art movement that emerged in France in the early 20th century, characterized by bold, vibrant colors and loose brushwork

Cubism

A revolutionary new approach to representing reality that began in the early 20th century and emphasized the two-dimensionality of the canvas resulting in paintings that appear fragmented and abstracted

Surrealism

An art movement that began in the 1920s and was defined by a desire to explore the unconscious mind, the poetic, the revolutionary and challenge conventional reality

Abstract Expressionism

An American art movement characterized by large-scale, non-representational paintings that emphasize the artist’s emotional expression through spontaneous brushstrokes, gestural marks, and vibrant colors, often conveying a sense of movement and energy, rather then depicting recognizable objects

Pop Art

An art movement that emerged in the 1950s and flourished in the 1960s in America and Britain, drawing inspiration from sources in popular and commercial culture

Henri Matisse

Woman with a Hat

1905

Oil on canvas

Henri Matisse

Harmony in Red (The Red Room)

1908-1909

Oil on canvas

Pablo Picasso

Gertrude Stein

1907

Oil on canvas

Pablo Picasso

Les Demoiselles d’Avignon

1907

Oil on canvas

Marcel Duchamp

Fountain

found object (readymade) 1950, after original version 1917

Salvador Dali

The Persistence of Memory

1931

Oil on Canvas

Charles Demuth

I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold

1928

oil/cardboard

Georgia O’Keefe

Jack in the Pulpit No.4

1930

Oil on canvas

Edward Hopper

Nighthawks

1942

Oil on canvas

Jacob Lawrence

Migration of the Negro Series panel no.1 during world war there was a great migration North by Southern Negroes

1940-1941

Tempera on masonite

Frida Kahlo

The Two Fridas

1939

Oil on canvas

Jackson Pollock

Number 1.

1950 (Lavender Mist)

oil, enamel, and aluminum paint on canvas

Willem De Kooning

Woman I

1950-1952

Oil on canvas

Andy Warhol

Green Coco-Cola Bottles

1962

Oil on canvas

Andy Warhol

Marilyn Diptych

1962

Oil, acrylic, and silkscreen enamel on canvas