Understanding the Arts Exam Practice
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Course Introduction
Understanding the Arts provides an introduction to the major forms, principles, and historical contexts of the visual and performing arts. Students will explore painting, sculpture, architecture, music, theater, dance, and literature, examining how these art forms reflect and shape cultural and societal values across different periods and places. Through critical analysis, discussion, and creative projects, the course encourages students to develop an informed appreciation of the arts and to recognize the integral role they play in human experience and communication.
Recommended Textbook
Creative Impulse An Introduction to the Arts 8th Edition by Dennis J. Sporre
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18 Chapters
1136 Verified Questions
1136 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Introduction Understanding the Arts
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Sample Questions
Q1) The receding lines of linear perspective that converge on a vanishing point are called __________ lines.
A) vanishing
B) depth
C) orthogonal
D) flat
E) mathematical
Answer: C
Q2) __________ sculpture projects from a background and cannot be seen from all sides.
A) Subtractive
B) Additive
C) Relief
D) Freestanding
E) Linear
Answer: C
Q3) __________ is an example of a performing art.
Answer: Theatre
Q4) __________ refers to the type of music,such as a symphony or a concerto.
Answer: Genre
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Chapter 2: The Ancient World
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63 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Large and expressive eyes are characteristic of __________ art.
Answer: Sumerian
Q2) Among other things,writing served as a tool of __________.
A) genealogy
B) mythology
C) social control
D) artists
E) common people
Answer: C
Q3) __________ was the major art form of the Egyptians.
A) Painting
B) Sculpture
C) Weaving
D) Pottery
E) Drama
Answer: B
Q4) The Code of Hammurabi is clearly the source for the Old Testament.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Page 4
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Chapter 3: The Aegean and Archaic Greece
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Sample Questions
Q1) Minoan __________ had running water and elaborate drainage systems.
A) cities
B) villages
C) houses
D) palaces
E) ships
Answer: D
Q2) Which Greek philosopher argued that mathematics discovers universal constants?
Answer: Pythagoras
Q3) The heroes of Homer's poems are __________,not individual,real people.
Answer: types
Q4) The religious rituals of ancient Greece centered on __________,from which Greek theatre likely developed.
Answer: dance
Q5) The Greek polis was owned by the __________.
Answer: citizens
Q6) Minoan architecture employed both circular and rectangular columns.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Page 5
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Chapter 4: Greek Classicism and Hellenism
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Sample Questions
Q1) Socrates believed that knowledge created virtuous behavior.
A)True
B)False
Q2) After the sack of Athens by the Persians,the Acropolis was rebuilt by __________.
Q3) The __________ order is characterized by columns employing an elaborate leaf motif in the capital.
A) Ionic
B) Corinthian
C) Hellenistic
D) Doric
E) Platonic.
Q4) For __________,proper art depends upon the "moral ends of the polis."
A) Aristotle
B) Diogenes
C) Plato
D) Myron
E) Amyntas
Q5) By placing some figures higher than others,fifth century B.C.E Greek vase painters suggested __________.
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Chapter 5: The Roman Period
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63 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) __________ are columns,often decorative,that are part of,and project from,a wall surface.
A) Colonnades
B) Stoic columns
C) Greek columns
D) Engaged columns
E) Collonelles
Q2) Octavian became,effectively,the first "emperor" of Rome.
A)True
B)False
Q3) In 509 B.C.E.,the Romans expelled the last __________ king from Rome.
Q4) Roman religion stressed community __________,not individual religious experience.
A) ritual
B) wealth
C) equality
D) peace
E) none of these
Q5) __________ was particularly influential in the development of the essay,biography,and historical writing.
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Chapter 6: Judaism and Early Christianity
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Sample Questions
Q1) Some have seen the __________ of Mary from the Gospel of Luke as a revolutionary document.
Q2) The Roman __________ arch became a symbol of Christ's triumph over death.
Q3) Messiah means "__________."
A) chosen people
B) anointed one
C) teacher
D) God
E) Diaspora
Q4) __________ means the "The Teaching" and refers to the Old Testament books of Genesis,Exodus,Leviticus,Numbers,and Deuteronomy.
A) Talmud
B) Rebus
C) Torah
D) Yahweh
E) Orthodox
Q5) The inclusion of the Book of __________ into the canon of the Christian Bible was particularly controversial.
Q6) The Christian __________ was not widely available until 313 C.E.
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Byzantium and Islam
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Sample Questions
Q1) The fifth century barbarians quickly invaded the Eastern Empire.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The two sacred cities of Islam are Mecca and __________.
Q3) Early in its history,Islam split between Sunnites and __________.
A) Sufis
B) Shiites
C) hajjs
D) Muhammads
E) Allahites
Q4) Which ivory carving includes depictions of emissaries from the West and from India?
Q5) How was Byzantine art signed?
Q6) The goal of hieratic style is to represent real life.
A)True
B)False
Q7) Discuss the role of literature in Islamic culture.What are its connections to the pre-Islamic past and what does it tell us about the society of its time? (You may pick one or two examples to make your argument more clear.)
Q8) In the early years of Islam,music was considered a "__________ pleasure."
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Chapter 8: The Early Middle Ages
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Sample Questions
Q1) The most common architectural structure during the Middle Ages was the __________.
Q2) Painting became a largely __________ art after the fall of Rome.
Q3) Romanesque churches differed from Byzantine churches by being built according to the shape of a __________.
A) Greek cross
B) Latin cross
C) military watchtower
D) Roman basilica
E) common house
Q4) The term __________,coming from the Greek word for "hermit" and "exercise," originally applied to athletes and soldiers.
Q5) St Bernard's preaching contributed to the spread of __________,which led to the softer,more ethereal Christianity of the High Gothic period.
Q6) How did the Gero Crucifix depict Christ?
Q7) The world of the Middle Ages was made up of clearly defined nations.
A)True
B)False
Q8) The Carolingian "renaissance" included a revival of __________ culture.
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Chapter 9: The High Middle Ages
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Sample Questions
Q1) __________ style is a synthesis of medieval intellect,spirituality,and engineering.
A) Verisimilitude
B) Realism
C) Allegory
D) Classicism
E) Gothic
Q2) Plagues hit the monasteries and large __________ the hardest.
A) universities
B) fiefdoms
C) kingdoms
D) cities
E) farms
Q3) The medieval city offered hope of escape and protection to runaway __________,among others.
A) serfs
B) lords
C) knights
D) women
E) criminals
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Page 11
Chapter 10: The Early Renaissance
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Sample Questions
Q1) __________ has been called the "Father of Humanism."
Q2) What were the social,political,and economic factors that created a sense of "individualism" in the Early Renaissance? Give at least two examples of how this individualism was expressed in the arts.
Q3) Renaissance sculptors depicted figures in a(n)__________ manner.
A) idealized
B) simplified
C) abstract
D) individualistic
E) generic
Q4) Renaissance science was in harmony with traditional values.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The Italians refer to the fifteenth century as the __________.
Q6) Capitalism supported the guild system.
A)True
B)False
Q7) The first of the Medici family to assume power was __________ de' Medici.
Page 12
Q8) What led the city of Florence to sponsor artistic competitions?
Q9) A roofed,open arcade is called a __________.
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Chapter 11: The High Renaissance and Mannerism
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which Renaissance artist was a master of visual arts,architecture,and poetry?
Q2) Bramante's __________ ("little temple")exemplifies High Renaissance style in architecture.
Q3) Which institution's patronage attracted artists to Rome?
Q4) __________ was the source of plans for new theatre buildings in Italy.
Q5) Parmigianino's Madonna with the Long Neck exemplifies the Mannerist quality of
Q6) In 1497 Vasco da Gama proved a sea route to __________ existed.
A) Portugal
B) Gold Coast
C) Peru
D) India
E) Japan
Q7) __________ asserted that true worth comes "by character and intellect rather than by birth."
A) Petarch
B) Michelangelo
C) Castiglione
D) Ariosto
E) Cetina
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Chapter 12: Renaissance and Reformation in Northern Europe
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Sample Questions
Q1) Aerial perspective is another term for __________ perspective.
A) vanishing
B) rational
C) atmospheric
D) classical
E) Renaissance
Q2) Ulrich Zwingli condemned pilgrimages,fasts,papal supremacy and __________.
A) masses
B) baptism
C) catechism
D) transubstantiation
E) church taxes
Q3) Christopher Marlow's best-known play is __________.
A) Othello
B) Tamburlaine the Great
C) The Tempest
D) Julius Caesar
E) Doctor Faustus
Q4) Montaigne's essays typically attack __________ and favor secular ethics based in Stoicism.
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Chapter 13: The Baroque Age
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Sample Questions
Q1) The corpulent cupids found in Rubens' paintings are called __________.
A) angels
B) putti
C) Minerva
D) framing devices
E) corpuli
Q2) Between 1600 and __________ most European artists used the baroque style.
Q3) One of the principle developments of baroque theatre was French __________.
A) anticlassicism
B) court masque
C) comedy
D) neoclassicism
E) romanticism
Q4) The __________ method is an example of induction,not deduction.
Q5) Rather than using atmospheric perspective,in Landscape with the Burial of Phocion,Poussin depicts objects farthest away as clearly as those in the __________.
Q6) The small group among whom opera developed was called the __________.
Q7) Was St.Theresa associated with the Reformation or the Counter-Reformation?
Q8) The absolute monarch ruled by __________ right.
Q9) The Well-Tempered Clavier was written by Johann Sebastian ????__________. Page 16
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Page 17
Chapter 14: The Enlightenment
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Sample Questions
Q1) In eighteen century literature,drama declined and the __________ began to rise.
Q2) Some scholars suggest neoclassicism is a sub-category of Romanticism.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Decorative and delicately superficial __________ painting was the art of the waning aristocracy.
A) baroque
B) neoclassical
C) rococo
D) classical
E) ancient
Q4) The most important movement form in the classical period of music is the __________.
A) rondo
B) single
C) minuet
D) sonata
E) nocturne.
Q5) A Vindication of the Rights of Women was written by __________.
Q6) Alexander Pope used __________ to criticize society.
Page 18
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Chapter 15: The Romantic Age
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Sample Questions
Q1) Historical __________ became a standard for set design,costumes,and other aspects of theatre production in the Romantic age.
Q2) The cycle of love poems called "Black Venus" was written by Edgar Allan Poe.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Marx argued that __________ would come after capitalism and before communism.
Q4) Romantic ballet emphasized __________.
A) dramatic lighting
B) male dancers
C) ballerinas
D) improvisation
E) elaborate sets
Q5) Which well-known poem brought Edgar Allan Poe into the spotlight?
Q6) Romantic architecture revived __________ motifs,as seen on the British Houses of Parliament.
Q7) The paintings of J.M.W.Turner foreshadow aspects of twentieth-century painting.
A)True
B)False
Q9) What did middle class morality emphasize? Page 19
Q8) Richard Wagner drew heavily on __________ mythology.
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Page 20
Chapter 16: Realism, Impressionism, and Beyond
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Sample Questions
Q1) The innovative film __________ financially destroyed D.W.Griffiths.
A) Quo Vadis
B) The Great Train Robbery
C) The Birth of a Nation
D) Intolerance
E) The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Q2) The "stream of consciousness" technique is employed by __________ writers.
A) realist
B) impressionist
C) naturalist
D) aestheticist
E) cubist
Q3) Dostoyevski's Crime and Punishment suggests morality and respectability are the same.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Art Nouveau grew out of the English __________ Movement.
Q5) Jean-Francois Millet was a member of the __________ School.
Q6) Fillipo __________ coined the term "futurism" in his manifesto expressing the goals of the movement.
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Chapter 17: Modernism
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Sample Questions
Q1) Le Corbusier stated that a house is "a machine to be lived in."
A)True
B)False
Q2) European modernist art was first exhibited in the United States at __________.
A) the Museum of Modern Art
B) Gallery 291
C) the Armory Show
D) the World's Columbian Exposition
E) the Society of Independent Artists' gallery
Q3) __________ combined elements from West African,American,and European music.
Q4) In his "Rayographs," Man Ray explored his emotions and states of mind.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Existentialism emphasizes __________.
A) practicality
B) social progress
C) pleasure
D) individual meaning
E) anti-colonialism
Q6) The principal American promoter of photography as art was __________.
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Chapter 18: From Modernism to Postmodernism and Beyond
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Q1) Vladimir Nabokov's novel __________ utilizes an antihero.
Q2) A close associate of John Cage,the dancer __________ incorporated chance,or aleatory,elements into his work.
Q3) Donald Judd's Untitled is most concerned with __________.?
A)personal expression
B) consumer culture
C) open-ended meaning
D) throwaway materials
E) social alienation
Q4) The __________ were an important collective of experimentalists involved with the development of postmodern dance in the 1960s.
Q5) Modernism,Postmodernism,Pluralism,and Traditional are each separate,bounded categories of postwar music.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Alexander Calder's __________ put abstract sculpture into motion.
Q7) The independent filmmaker Nancy Savoca is best known for her film __________,which centers on a multicultural marriage.
Q8) The composer __________ employed serial technique in his Philomel. Page 23
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