ARH 301: Introduction to the Visual Arts

Dr. Ann Johns, Fall 2018

EXPLANATION OF THE STUDY GUIDES & STUDY GUIDE #1

There are FOUR study guides, one for each test.

This document is both an explanation AND the first study guide.

***KEY IMAGES:
These are images that we will discuss in class, and they are the images for which you will be responsible on all tests
and quizzes. We will discuss THREE key images in each class. There are about 23 class days. Thus, at the end of
this course, you will be highly conversant with about 70 important monuments of world art. Please note that our
classroom discussion of these works will be quite different from what is discussed in your textbook.

➔Therefore, it will be difficult to achieve a good grade in this course unless you watch class regularly AND
stay awake ☺.

Key images are marked by a * in the powerpoints, when I first introduce them.

What do you need to know about the Key Images?

All four tests will stress larger concepts rather than memorized minutiae.

All 4 tests are open-note but NOT open book!!!

We’ll ask you to identify the work or works shown (an image will come up on the screen) by title, artist, and date
(for later works) or by title, culture, and date (for earlier or anonymous works). So, for example, if we show you
Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (Figure 13-1), we might ask you questions about issues such as idealism vs.
naturalism (style), registers of representation (perspective, composition), conventions of scale and hierarchy (the
close-up figure vs. the distant landscape), types of materials used (oil paint), why this work was so influential as a
portrait, how it differs from earlier Renaissance portraiture, who the sitter might be, etc. Remember that you have a
small amount of time to give us quite a bit of information, so you will not be able to rely on your notes; you’ll need
to know your material cold. (Trust all of us; there’s no way around this.) But please, ALWAYS use your own
words and analysis, NOT that of the book or someone else in the class!

IMPORTANT:
There is usually NOT one correct answer! Art is complex! You will need to demonstrate in your written responses
that you’ve really thought about the material. This is frustrating to some of you who have been trained to look for
the “correct” answer. Instead, we are challenging you to develop and strengthen your critical thinking skills. If we
give you the information and have you regurgitate it, how much will you retain? Next to nothing! There is
ALWAYS more than one significant aspect about any of these noteworthy works! Out of all the facts you’ve
learned about the Mona Lisa or Starry Night, WHAT IS SIGNIFICANT? WHAT IS IMPORTANT? WHAT IS
IT ABOUT THIS WORK THAT DISTINGUISHES IT FROM THE OTHERS? WHY IS IT EVEN INCLUDED
IN THE TEXTBOOK? In other words, always ask yourself: “So what?”
.
Both the Key and Reading Images are included in the DASe collection online, as well as in your textbook.
Instructions on how to access DASe are on the “External Links” section of Canvas.

***READING IMAGES:
These are images that we will NOT have time to examine in class; you will, however, be reading about them in
your textbook. You will ONLY be responsible for the Reading images on the four tests (not on the quizzes).

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We have assigned ONE Reading image per class day.

Remember that there is not much reading required for this class, and the text in Stokstad is not difficult. Thus, the
selection of Reading images allows you to focus while reading the textbook. Please note that we have NOT
assigned you entire chapters. However, (AND THIS IS IMPORTANT) you will understand the work much
better if you read some of the surrounding text AND you will likely do MUCH better on the tests if you have
a broader knowledge! So, consider reading a few pages before and beyond your assigned text! Often the authors
explain, through a discussion of an un-assigned image, an important concept or artistic trend.

Also, students sometimes lament that there is “not much text or exposition” about a given Reading image. If you
find this to be the case, review the text before or after the Reading image, because sometimes a Reading image is
but one point in a series that as a whole demonstrates an artistic trend. For instance, you will be able to write a
much more coherent significant comment for the Arch of Constantine if you read the ENTIRE section about The
Late Empire in the chapter on ancient Etruscan and Roman art, rather than just the few paragraphs allotted to the
work in Stokstad.

If you don’t find the book very clear about the reading images, come to office hours!

Wikipedia is highly unreliable and you are likely to LOSE POINTS if you use Wikipedia info!!!

***KEY TERMS:
These are terms discussed in the text (and often in class and/or sections) for which you will be responsible. We
assign you these terms because they are helpful when it comes time to discuss the Key and Reading images.

➔We have a lot of terminology in the first half of the course; this is particularly the case with architecture.
Virtually all of these terms are defined in the glossary in your book.

You are much more likely to receive higher grades if you liberally use these terms!

***KEY CONCEPTS:
Make sure you have a thorough understanding of these concepts for the tests. Key concepts, or the linking of key
concepts, often form the basis for the essay question on the tests. These are the large, broad trends that shape any
given era in the history of art. Or these might be broader concepts about materials—what, in general, are some of
the differences between stone and clay sculpture, in terms of cost, patronage, and function? These are issues that
often cut across geographic and chronologic confines.

PLEASE NOTE: many of these concepts are NOT addressed in the textbook, so you must watch the lectures.

***KEY LOCATIONS:
We want you to have a general idea where these sites/cities/countries/regions are located. All locations listed on the
study guides can be found on the maps at the beginnings of the chapters.

You will not be tested on the locations; nevertheless, a good knowledge of world geography is an asset in our
global economy. Have you seen Jimmy Kimmel ask people about geography??? It’s not pretty.

(Note that in some cases, I have placed more images on this list than are shown on your DASe data base. You will
only be tested from the images on DASe. For those of you who might be interested in all the views of any given
image, I have listed all pertinent textbook images on this study guide, but I repeat—only the DASe images will
show up on the tests.)

(All images refer to the 6th edition of Stokstad, Art, A Brief History)

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 STUDY GUIDE: TEST 1

CLASS 2: W, Sept. 5: The Language of Art and Architecture (Ancient Egypt)

Reading: Starter Kit (under “Welcome”), Introduction, Chap. 3 (Ancient Egypt)

KEY IMAGES:
Great Pyramids, Menkaure, Khafre, and Khufu, Giza, granite/limestone, c. 2575-2450 BCE (3-4, 3-5)
Khafre, Giza pyramid complex, gneiss, c. 2520-2494 BCE (3-6)
Judgment of Hunefer before Osiris, from a Book of the Dead, paint/papyrus, c. 1285 BCE (3-22)

READING IMAGE:
Funerary Mask of Tutankhamun, gold/glass/semiprecious stones (3-1)

KEY TERMS:
Composition, ground line, hierarchic scale, hieroglyphs, iconography, idealization, monumental,
naturalism, relief sculpture

KEY CONCEPTS:
The Conventions, Language, and Techniques of Art; what is Style in Art?

KEY LOCATION:
Egypt

CLASS 3: M, Sept. 10: How to look at Sculpture: Subtractive Methods of Sculpting

Reading: Sumer and Precious materials (Chap. 2), Rise of Buddhism (Chap. 4), “High” Classical Period (Chap. 5)

KEY IMAGES:
Votive Statues, Square Temple, Eshnunna (Iraq), limestone/alabaster/gypsum, c. 2900-2600 BCE (2-4)
Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear Bearer), Roman marble copy of Greek bronze, c. 450-440 BCE (5-30)
Yakshi Bracket figure and relief, east torana, Great Stupa, Sanchi, stone, c. 150-50 BCE (4-4, 4-5)

READING IMAGE:
Cylinder Seal, tomb of Queen Puabi, Ur, lapis lazuli (2-6)

KEY TERMS:
Alabaster, relief sculpture (high relief and bas or low relief), canon of proportions, classical, contrapposto,
cuneiform writing, cylinder seal, pictograph, sculpture in the round, stupa, votive figure

KEY CONCEPTS:
Materials and Style in art; how to view sculpture; Architectural Sculpture

KEY LOCATIONS:
Sumer (Iraq), Athens (Greece), Sanchi (India)

CLASS 4: W, Sept. 12: How to look at Sculpture: Additive Methods of Sculpting

Reading: Early Classical Period (Chap. 5), Intro to Chap. 4, Etruscan Tombs (Chap. 6), Precious materials (Ch. 2)

KEY IMAGES:
Warrior, shipwreck near Riace (Italy), bronze/bone/glass/silver/copper, c. 460-450 BCE (5-24)
Soldiers from the mausoleum of Shihuangdi, Lintong (China), earthenware, c. 210 BCE (4-1)
Burial Chamber, Tomb of the Reliefs, Cerveteri, 3rd C. BCE (6-4)

READING IMAGE:
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 Standard of Ur, shell/lapis lazuli/limestone/bitumen/wood (Chap. 2)

KEY TERMS:
Bronze, ceramics, glazing, inlay, lost wax, terra cotta

KEY CONCEPTS:
Materials and Style in Art; how to view sculpture; preservation of cultural heritage

KEY LOCATIONS:
Athens, Lintong (China), Cerveteri (Italy), Sumer

CLASS 5: M, Sept. 17: How to look at Architecture: Religious Architecture in the Ancient World
Reading: Rise of Buddhism (Chap. 4), “High” Classical Period (Chap. 5), Pantheon (Chap. 6), Sumer (Chap. 2)

KEY IMAGES:
Great Stupa, Sanchi, India, founded 3 rd C., enlarged c. 150-50 BCE (4-4, 4-5)
Kallikrates and Iktinos, Parthenon, Akropolis, Athens, marble, c. 447-432 BCE (5-25, 5-26)
Pantheon, Rome, stone/concrete, 110-128 CE (6-27 and 6-28)

READING IMAGE:
Anu Ziggurat and White Temple, Uruk (Warka, Iraq) (2-2)

KEY TERMS:
Akropolis, axis mundi, capital, coffer, colonnade, column, concrete, dome, drum, elevation, oculus, orders
(Doric, Ionic, Corinthian), plan, rotunda, vault (barrel, groin, etc.,), sanctuary, stupa, torana, ziggurat

KEY CONCEPTS:
The language of architecture; tools for studying 3-D structures in 2-D; architecture and experience

KEY LOCATIONS:
Sanchi, Athens, Rome, Sumer

CLASS 6: W, Sept. 19: How to look at Architecture: State Architecture in the Ancient World
Reading: Neo-Babylonians (Chap. 2), Hellenistic Art (Chap. 5), The Late Empire (Chap. 6), Roman Republic
(Chap. 6)

KEY IMAGES:
Ishtar Gate, Nebuchadnezzar II’s Palace, Babylon (Iraq), glazed brick, c. 575 BE (2-13, 2-14)
Theater of Epidauros, Greece, stone, 4th C. BCE (5-38)
Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, exterior, plan, reconstruction, Rome, 306-313 CE (6-35)

READING IMAGE:
Pont du Gard, Nîmes (France), stone (6-11)

KEY TERMS:
Apse, aqueduct, arch, basilica, bay, centering, nave, triumphal arch, vault

KEY CONCEPTS:
The language of architecture; tools for studying 3-D structures in 2-D; architecture and experience

KEY LOCATIONS:
Babylon (Iraq), Epidauros (Greece), Rome, Nîmes (France)