USAD Art Resource Guide - Journeys of Transformation

Flashcards covering art historical fundamentals, methods, featured works, artists, and thematic concepts related to travel and transportation from the USAD Art Resource Guide.

What is art history, and what is its primary objective?

Art history is an academic discipline dedicated to reconstructing the social, cultural, and economic contexts of an artwork to understand its meaning in its original historical moment.

What is the difference between formal analysis and contextual analysis in art history?

Formal analysis focuses on the visual qualities and intrinsic elements of the artwork itself, while contextual analysis examines the external cultural, social, religious, and economic environment in which the work was created and consumed.

Which ancient Roman author wrote Natural History, and which Renaissance author wrote The Lives of the Artists?

Pliny the Elder wrote Natural History, and Giorgio Vasari authored The Lives of the Artists.

Which German scholar shifted art historical inquiry toward a rigorous study of stylistic development in relation to historical context during the Enlightenment?

Johann Joachim Winckelmann

Based on this architectural diagram, what structural components make up a classic round arch?

A round arch consists of wedge-shaped stones called voussoirs that curve upward from imposts on either side, locked together at the top by a central keystone or crown.

What are the three types of traditional Marshallese stick charts, and what are their specific functions?

Mattang charts teach how ocean swell patterns radiate from islands; meddo charts map specific small island clusters for local navigation; and rebbelib charts map large ocean areas and intersecting swells across an entire archipelago.

What natural materials were used to construct traditional Marshallese stick charts?

Cowrie shells and the dried midribs of coconut fronds, bound together with natural fibers.

What printing process and setting did photographer Dawoud Bey use in his series Night Coming Tenderly, Black?

He used large-scale analog gelatin silver printing in low-light daytime conditions to create hazy, dark landscapes representing the final legs of the Underground Railroad in Ohio.

How did Richard Long execute his 1967 Land art piece A Line Made by Walking?

By walking back and forth repeatedly across an ordinary grass field in a London suburb for about twenty minutes until the flattened grass created a visible line that reflected light differently.

What central concept is explored in Jaune Quick-to-See Smith's 2000 painting State Names?

It features a map of North America where states and provinces with names derived from Indigenous languages are explicitly labeled, while those with European origins are left blank.

What tragic historical event forms the background of Sir John Everett Millais's 1874 painting The North-West Passage?

The loss of Sir John Franklin's 1845 Arctic expedition aboard the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror while searching for a sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

What 1805 French wallpaper served as the primary visual source for Lisa Reihana's video installation in Pursuit of Venus [infected]?

Les sauvages de la mer Pacifique (The Native Peoples of the Pacific Ocean), manufactured by Dufour and designed by Jean-Gabriel Charvet.

What is the meaning behind the word "[infected]" in Lisa Reihana's title in Pursuit of Venus [infected]?

It signifies that once different cultures encounter each other in cross-cultural contact, history is changed forever.

Who was Osman Hamdi Bey, and what unique position did he hold in nineteenth-century art?

He was a French-trained Ottoman official, archaeologist, museum director, and painter who became one of the few known Muslim artists to produce works in the European Orientalist style.

How does Osman Hamdi Bey's 1880 painting Young Woman Reading counter typical European Orientalist representations?

Instead of depicting a passive, exoticized, or scantily clad figure, it shows a modest, fashionable, and educated woman actively engaged in reading and studying the Qur'an.

Where was Frida Kahlo living when she painted Self-Portrait on the Borderline between Mexico and the United States in 1932?

Detroit, Michigan, while accompanying her husband Diego Rivera while he painted his Detroit Industry mural cycle at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

What visual dichotomy is presented on either side of Frida Kahlo's Self-Portrait on the Borderline between Mexico and the United States?

The Mexican side features ancient pre-Columbian ruins, ceramic artifacts, and rooted plants, while the United States side depicts industrial machinery, power cords, factory smokestacks, and skyscrapers.

What 1877 French painting inspired the composition of Lubaina Himid's Between the Two my Heart is Balanced?

James Tissot's Portsmouth Dockyard.

How does Lubaina Himid alter James Tissot's original composition in Between the Two my Heart is Balanced?

She removes the central Highland soldier and replaces him with a stack of colorful maps and fabrics, showing two Black women riding a boat through choppy waters while destroying maps.

What artistic genre and print technique are associated with Utagawa Hiroshige's New Fuji, Meguro?

It belongs to the ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world") genre and was produced using the nishiki-e (multi-color woodblock printing) technique.

What were the "mini-Fujis" depicted in Utagawa Hiroshige's New Fuji, Meguro?

Artificial replica mounds shaped like Mount Fuji built in the Edo suburbs so that city-dwellers, including women, children, and the elderly, could symbolically ascend Fuji without embarking on a arduous pilgrimage.

Who designed the El Tovar Hotel on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, and when did it open?

Architect Charles Whittlesey; it was completed in 1905 for the Fred Harvey company and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad.

What architectural styles were blended in the exterior design of the El Tovar Hotel?

Elements of a Swiss chalet (alpine lodge) and a "Norway villa" log cabin, constructed using pine wood and native boulders.

What are vedute, and who was one of their most celebrated eighteenth-century Venetian creators?

Vedute are highly detailed, realistic view paintings of cities and landmarks produced as travel souvenirs for wealthy tourists on the Grand Tour; Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal) was one of the most famous masters of the genre.

What camera introduced by George Eastman in 1888 transformed amateur travel photography?

The Kodak No. 1 hand camera, which came pre-loaded with a roll of film for 100 exposures and operated with a simple "point and shoot" mechanism.

What major Paris landmark served as the setting for Claude Monet's 1877 series on modern rail transportation?

The Gare Saint-Lazare railway station, where Monet captured the interaction of light, iron architecture, glass roofing, and locomotive steam.

What avant-garde movement, founded by Robert Delaunay and Sonia Delaunay-Terk, combined Cubist structural fragmentation with color theory and emotional expression?

Orphism

What historical milestone in aviation is commemorated in Robert Delaunay's 1914 painting Homage to Blériot?

Louis Blériot becoming the first aviator to successfully fly an airplane across the English Channel in 1909.

What design movement is combined with Cubist geometry in Tamara de Lempicka's Self-Portrait (Tamara in a Green Bugatti)?

Art Deco

For what German style magazine cover was Tamara de Lempicka's Self-Portrait (Tamara in a Green Bugatti) commissioned in 1929?

Die Dame (The Lady), a magazine aimed at modern, career-minded women.

Who designed the TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport, and what organic form does its exterior resemble?

Eero Saarinen; its thin-shell reinforced concrete structure resembles a giant white bird with outstretched wings taking off.

What components form Nam June Paik's 1995 installation Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii?

More than 300 television screens stacked into the shape of a United States map, with each state's outline framed in glowing neon tubing and playing looped video clips relevant to that state.

What 1956 federal legislation inspired the central motif of Nam June Paik's Electronic Superhighway?

The Interstate Highway Act of 1956 enacted under President Dwight Eisenhower.