EXAM II

Spring 2000

This exam included ten slide identifications, which required students to master the name of the art work, the name of its creator (where known), its date of creation, and to explain the symbolism and most relevant interpretive information. The first three essays focused on the last module in the unit on functionalism, art and the state. Each topic integrated a variety of resources, although the integration was, with the exception of the unit on the French Revolution, cross-disciplinary work. The last two essays required analysis of the aesthetic of realism or idealism and some comparison to that of functionalism. Students avoided the question on realism; this question required synthesis of the visual arts and literature of diverse cultural epochs. Students tended to prefer writing on the French Revolution, China, or Michelangelo. By the spring 2001, I revised this exam considerably to reflect more emphasis on anaylsis of the broad aesthetic schools rather than mastery of particular units. Further, the units on realism and idealism integrated more disciplinary resources.

Part I: Slide Identifications

Please identify the following five slides. A good slide identification should list (if known) the title of the work, the artist who produced it, when it was produced, and what the work symbolizes and/or the major ideas it conveys about the culture which produced it. (10 points each) Please write your identifications in your blue book, and please use pen.

Part II: Essay Topics

Please write a well-organized essay on one of the following topics. Be sure to use specific facts, dates, events, theories, artists and their works to support your position. Please use a blue book and please use a pen. (50 points)

1. Discuss the art of Benin, selecting at least five pieces discussed in class. Explain the symbolism of each piece, its use in the society, government, and mythology of Benin, and then explain how this art supports or does not support the functionalist theory of art.

2. Discuss the art of the reign of Shi Huang Ti, the Temple of Heaven, and the Forbidden City. Describe in detail the art/architecture and then discuss the purposes for which this art was used. How does this art capture the philosophical ideals of Chinese society and does it support the functionalist view of art? If so, why; if not, why not?

3. Discuss the art of the French Revolution. How does this art promote the ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity? How does it promote Napoleon as the embodiment of these ideals, or as the perverter of them? Does the art support the functionalist theory of art?

4. Discuss the art of Michelangelo. Carefully explain the philosophical ideas that influenced Michelangelo, and how these ideas are reflected in his art. In what ways does the art of Michelangelo reflect idealism? How does Michelangelo's theory of art differ from functionalism?

5. Discuss the aethetic school of realism as seen in the art of Leonardo da Vinci and the literature of Rebecca Harding Davis. In what ways does the theory of art reflected in these works differ from that of functionalism?

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