If you would like to download a .pdf of the study guide, click here.
For those of you who do not want a .pdf, the study guide is also below.
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Please note:
No examination aids are permitted (this regulation does not preclude special arrangements being made for students with disabilities).
Use or possession of unauthorized materials will automatically result in the award of a zero grade for this examination.
All answers MUST be written, in complete sentences, in the examination booklets provided. Answers written on the exam instructions will not be counted.
All examples MUST be spelled correctly and within 10 years of the correct date. An example shall include: artist (full name), title of the work of art and date.
Please read all questions carefully before you begin.
The exam should take a little over two hours, but we have a three-hour time slot. This gives plenty of time to write good, solid answers.
University policy: “A student shall not be permitted to enter a room in which University examinations are being written if the student arrives more than 30 minutes after the commencement of writing, nor shall a student be permitted to leave such a room within the first 30 minutes or within the last ten minutes of the examination.”
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Section I: Short Essay: Identify, Compare and Contrast
Time: 40 minutes (2 x 20 minutes)
Value: 40 (2 questions x 20 marks)
Number: 2 questions (no choice)
Look at the two slides projected on the screen and printed below. First, identify the artist, title, date and medium of the works. Write a short essay that compares and contrasts similarities and differences between the two examples. Be sure to address BOTH form and content. You might address such issues as style, subject matter, type of painting, function, etc. You must use what you have learned in class and in seminar and apply it to the two paintings (i.e. do not simply re-state what was said in lecture)
Be sure to write an essay for each pair.
Images will be taken from the following list (please note – you must gather complete information for each example: artist (full name), title, date, medium.
Jan van Eyck – Arnolfini Portrait
Hans Holbein – The Ambassadors
Caravaggio — Calling of St Matthew and Death of the Virgin
Rachel Ruysch – Still Life, 1704
Pieter de Hooch – Mother Lacing her Bodice Beside a Cradle
Jan Steen — Dissolute Household
Jan Vermeer — The Milkmaid
Rigaud – Louis XIV
Vigée le Brun – Portrait of Marie Antoinette, 1778
Fragonard – The Swing
David — Oath of the Horatii and The Death of Marat
Millet – The Gleaners
Courbet — The Stone Breakers
Manet — Bar at the Folies-Bergeres
Renoir – Danse at the Moulin de Galette
Picasso – Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
Matisse — The Joy of Life
Section II: Terms
Time: 35 minutes (5 x 7 minutes)
Value: 25 (5 questions x 5 marks)
Number: 5 (from a choice of 7)
Please choose and define 5 terms from the list below.
Each answer must include:
a) a good definition of the term (3 points)
b) a specific example (artist, date, title) – MUST be spelled correctly and within 20 years of the correct date (1 point)
c) an explanation of the importance of the term for the study of art and art history (1 point)
* This must be in paragraph form, with full sentences. Class material (lectures) must be used.
primitivism Rococo
Neoclassicism Enlightenment
utopia Impressionism
Realism vanitas / memento mori absolutism Marie Antoinette
genre painting visual rhetoric
Cubism Jacques-Louis David
Example: contrapposto: Around 480 BC in Greece, the Classical period, there was a remarkable shift in art from a stylized form to a naturalistic style that did way with some of the rigidity of the geometric style and attempted to show bodies that were more life like. Contrapposto, a term used to describe the figure’s position in sculpture or painting where the weight is placed on one leg, the knee is bent and the hips tilt, was one of the main elements in this shift. In the anonymous Kroisos Kouros, made of marble in c.480 BC, contrapposto allows the figure to seem to stand in a more natural way. Contrapposto was a significant discovery because it is much more lifelike, giving way to a more naturalistic style that stands in contrast to the stylized forms of earlier Greek sculpture and Egyptian sculpture.
Section III: Longer Essay
Time: 60 minutes
Value: 35
Please answer the question below in essay format. This means that you will write a full essay with introduction, thesis statement, paragraphs and brief conclusion. Your answer must be supported with examples, analysis and argument. Two examples for each topic discussed should be sufficient. This answer is to be based on class material (lectures and readings) only.
Examples MUST be spelled correctly and within 20 years of the correct date. You MUST not focus on the same material that you have used in Section I of this exam.
This is an open question. Extra points will be given for innovative answers. Take a few minutes to think about this before you answer it.
Question: We have covered several themes, issues and approaches to studying art and its history. Choose ONE topic from EACH list below (one from A, one from B and one from C) and compare and contrast these topics. The topics are purposefully broad. You will want to narrow them to support your thesis. What are the relationships (similarities and differences) between the three topics you have chosen? Why are these relationships significant? What have you learned about the study of art history from these three topics? [example: compare the 3 topics in light of the issue of power or some other theme or issue] You may not discuss the examples from section 1, above.
A
cave painting
Egyptian art
Greek sculpture
B
Gothic cathedrals
Renaissance portraits
still life painting
Caravaggio OR Vermeer
C
art and revolution
modern art
Tips: Write a full essay with introduction, thesis statement and paragraphs. Your answer must be supported with examples, analysis and argument. Here, you will be able to incorporate material from both readings and the lectures. This question asks you to do more than simply repeat course material. You are being asked to think about the material in a new way. When you answer this question, take your time to develop a good essay plan, a point of view and an argument.
Thanks! Your blog is a big help.