AP Art History Test Review

Wangechi Mutu – Preying Mantra (2006): artist origin?

Kenyan-born artist (based in Brooklyn & Nairobi)

Wangechi Mutu – Preying Mantra: medium?

Mixed-media on Mylar

Wangechi Mutu – Preying Mantra: visual clues?

Reclining female figure whose body blends with animal parts, plant motifs, and patterned geometric blankets

Wangechi Mutu – Preying Mantra: female body theme?

Critiques the male/colonial gaze and how Western culture exotifies African female bodies

Wangechi Mutu – Preying Mantra: hybridity theme?

Combines Western commercial media with traditional African mythology and nature imagery

Wangechi Mutu – Preying Mantra: praying mantis metaphor?

Female mantis eats man after sex, shows female power and vulnerability

Faith Ringgold – Dancing at the Louvre (1991): artist origin?

African American artist

Faith Ringgold – Dancing at the Louvre: medium?

Acrylic on canvas with tie-dyed fabric borders (story quilt)

Faith Ringgold – Dancing at the Louvre: visual clues?

African American girls/family dancing in the Louvre before Mona Lisa; handwritten text on quilt margins

Faith Ringgold – Dancing at the Louvre: themes?

Rewriting white Western art history by inserting Black female narratives into European museum spaces; elevating quiltmaking (African American folk craft/women's domestic tradition) to fine art

Who made a mixed-media collage of bodies on Mylar?

Wangechi Mutu (Kenyan)

black paper silhouettes of the antebellum South?

Kara Walker

story quilt depicting Black history?

Faith Ringgold

Maya Lin – Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Polished black granite; V-shaped wall cut into earth; names listed chronologically. Theme: memory, healing, subverting war monuments

Faith Ringgold – Dancing at the Louvre (summary)

Acrylic on canvas with quilt border; Black girls dancing before Mona Lisa

Mariko Mori – Pure Land

Color photograph on glass; Mori floating as lotus goddess in futuristic desert landscape. Theme: Buddhist enlightenment, pop technology, self-portrait

Kiki Smith – Lying with the Wolf

Ink & pencil on paper; nude woman peacefully embracing wolf

Kara Walker – Darkytown Rebellion

Cut paper & projection light; black cut-paper silhouettes on wall over colored light pools. Theme: antebellum slavery violence, race, power dynamics

Wangechi Mutu – Preying Mantra (summary)

Mixed-media collage on Mylar; reclining female/animal hybrid on patterned blanket. Theme: female body, colonial gaze, hybridity, myth

Ai Weiwei – Sunflower Seeds

100M hand-painted porcelain seeds filling a massive hall

Which CA10 work: V-shaped black granite wall with names?

Maya Lin – Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Kiki Smith – Lying with the Wolf: inspirations?

Saint Genevieve (patron saint of Paris who calmed wild animals) and Little Red Riding Hood

Kiki Smith – Lying with the Wolf: working method?

Printmaking techniques; repeated paper molds/templates of figures

Kiki Smith – Lying with the Wolf: themes?

feminine archetypes, agency, relationship between humans and nature

Kara Walker: medium of her installations?

Cut-paper black silhouette wall installations, projection light, and sculpture

Kara Walker: themes?

Violent history of slavery, power dynamics, racial stereotypes, systemic oppression in the Antebellum American South

Who reads a Luba lukasa?

Mbudye memory experts

Mende Bundu Mask: origin?

Sierra Leone (Mende people)

Mende Bundu Mask: who dances it?

Exclusively WOMEN (Sande Society)

Mende Bundu Mask: costume?

Full-body dark raffia cover that hides human identity

Mende Bundu Mask: social function?

Initiation/coming-of-age for young girls

Mende Bundu Mask: aesthetics?

High forehead, neck rings, small mouth

Chokwe Pwo Mask: origin?

Democratic Republic of the Congo (Chokwe people)

Chokwe Pwo Mask: who dances it?

Exclusively MEN (dressed as women)

Chokwe Pwo Mask: costume?

Fitted mesh stocking suit, wooden breasts, skirt

Chokwe Pwo Mask: social function?

Honors fertile women, mothers, and female ancestors

Chokwe Pwo Mask: aesthetics?

Broad forehead, delicate eyes, tattoo marks (cipenya)

Mende Bundu vs. Chokwe Pwo: who wears them?

Bundu = women (Sande Society); Pwo = men dressed as women

79 BCE – what happened and why it matters?

Eruption of Vesuvius destroyed Pompeii; preserved Roman domestic architecture, wall paintings, floor mosaics, artifacts in situ

312 CE – Battle of the Milvian Bridge

Constantine defeats Maxentius after reportedly seeing the Chi-Rho vision; becomes sole ruler

313 CE – Edict of Milan

Legalized Christianity in Roman Empire, thank you Constantine

Augustus (r. 27 BCE–14 CE)

First Roman emperor; shifted art from Republican verism to Classical idealization; commissioned the Augustus of Prima Porta; Pantheon first built under him (by Marcus Agrippa)

Vespasian (r. 69–79 CE)

Founder of the Flavian Dynasty; built the Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheater) over Nero's private lake, returning land to the people

Trajan (r. 98–117 CE)

'Optimus Princeps'; empire at greatest extent; built Trajan's Forum, Column, and Market (architect Apollodorus of Damascus)

Hadrian (r. 117–138 CE)

Philhellene (lover of Greek culture); rebuilt the Pantheon in its final extant form with massive concrete dome

Constantine (r. 306–337 CE)

Legalized Christianity; moved capital to Constantinople (330 CE); commissioned the Arch of Constantine and Basilica Nova

Who built the Colosseum?

Vespasian (Flavian dynasty)

Who rebuilt the extant Pantheon?

Hadrian (c. 118–125 CE)

Who designed Trajan's Markets?

Apollodorus of Damascus

Who moved the capital to Constantinople, and when?

Constantine, 330 CE

Standard of Ur: culture and findspot?

Sumerian; Royal Cemetery at Ur (modern Iraq), found inside a grave

Standard of Ur: function?

Unknown (possibly a sound box or ceremonial standard); not a record of a specific battle but an idealized conceptual representation of royal power

Standard of Ur: lapis lazuli source?

Afghanistan (shows long-distance trade)

Standard of Ur: shell source?

Persian Gulf

Standard of Ur: red limestone source?

India

Standard of Ur: two main sides?

War and Peace

Standard of Ur: hierarchical scale?

King is much larger than other figures and breaks through the upper border of the register

Standard of Ur: how is it read?

Bottom to top in horizontal registers

Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon: culture, date, location?

Hellenistic Greek, c. 175 BCE; built at Pergamon (modern Turkey), now in Berlin

Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon: style?

High Hellenistic: pathos, theatricality, deep diagonal movement, high-relief carving

Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon: subject?

Gigantomachy (Olympian gods vs. Giants), allegory for the Greek victory over the Gauls/barbarians

Olmec-Style Mask: material and size?

Carved green jadeite; small, hand-sized

Olmec-Style Mask: where found?

Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan (Aztec site, Mexico City)

Olmec-Style Mask: significance?

Aztecs buried under temple as a revered heirloom/offering, style TOOK INSPIRATION from Olmecs 1000s of years prior

Petra (Treasury/Khazneh): culture?

Nabataean Kingdom (Arab traders controlling incense routes), later annexed by Rome; Hellenistic influence

Petra Treasury (Khazneh): technique?

Rock-cut facade carved directly into red sandstone cliff

Petra Treasury: style?

Hellenistic Greek, Roman, and Near Eastern motifs

Tomb of the Triclinium: culture and medium?

Etruscan (Tarquinia, Italy), c. 470 BCE; frescoed rock-cut chamber tomb

Tomb of the Triclinium: content?

Banqueting men and women on couches (triclinia) with musicians, dancers, checkerboard ceiling pattern

Tomb of the Triclinium: function?

Celebrates life; joyful environment for the deceased's afterlife transition

Atrium

Large central open reception hall entered from the street

Impluvium

Sunken basin in the atrium floor collecting rainwater from the compluvium into a cistern

Compluvium

Opening in the atrium roof that lets in light and rain

Triclinium (room)

Formal dining room consisting of a three-person dining couch around a central space

Cella / Naos

Inner main chamber of a temple housing the cult statue

Ambulatory

Covered walkway or aisle around the perimeter of a building or sanctuary

Pantheon: original patron?

Augustus; Marcus Agrippa built

Pantheon: builder of extant structure?

Hadrian, c. 118–125 CE (after two fires)

Pantheon dome support #1: aggregates?

Concrete gets lighter toward the top: travertine at base → tufa → pumice at apex

Pantheon dome support #2: walls?

Wall thickness decreases from ~20 ft at base to ~4.5 ft near the oculus

Pantheon dome support #3: coffering?

Deep square recessed panels reduce dead weight and add rigidity

Pantheon dome support #4: exterior step-rings?

Buttress the lower dome to counteract outward horizontal thrust

Pantheon oculus?

27-foot open circle at the dome's crown; sole light source; rain drains through sloped floor into drainage holes

Pantheon vs. Parthenon: cult statue?

Pantheon has no colossal cult statue like Phidias's Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon

Pantheon in antiquity: approach?

Through a narrow colonnaded forecourt that blocked views of the rotunda, surprising visitors with the immense interior

Head of a Roman Patrician: period and style?

Republican Rome, c. 75–50 BCE; verism (hyper-realistic, unidealized)

Head of a Roman Patrician: physical attributes?

Wrinkles, sunken cheeks, receding hairline

Head of a Roman Patrician: political message?

Wisdom, gravitas, age, devoted civic service to the Republic; bust format focusing on ancestral virtue

Augustus of Prima Porta: period and style?

Imperial Rome, early 1st c. CE; Classical idealism modeled on Greek Doryphoros

Augustus of Prima Porta: physical attributes?

Ageless, athletic perfection, contrapposto, divine features

Augustus of Prima Porta: political message?

Imperial authority, divine lineage, perpetual military success

Augustus of Prima Porta: iconography?

Oratory stance; Cupid riding a dolphin at his feet (descent from Venus)

Marcus Aurelius Equestrian Statue: significance?

Bronze equestrian portrait representing imperial power and clemency

Marcus Aurelius Equestrian Statue: why did it survive?

Medieval Christians mistook the emperor for Constantine, the legalizer of Christianity; most Roman bronzes were melted down

Verism vs. Classical idealism?

Verism = unidealized realism (Republic); Classical idealism = ageless perfection (Augustus)

Ludovisi Sarcophagus: date and context?

c. 250–260 CE; shift from cremation to inhumation

Ludovisi Sarcophagus: style?

Rejects Classical balance, depth, perspective; dense, frantic, overlapping Romans fighting Goths

Ludovisi Sarcophagus: central hero?

Calm, unhelmeted figure atop a horse, an emblem of victory over death

Catacombs (Rome): function?

Subterranean galleries and burial chambers (cubicula, loculi) used by early Christians during intermittent persecution

Catacomb frescoes: content?

Good Shepherd, Orant figures, Jonah and the Whale; Roman pictorial styles used to subtly communicate Christian salvation