Gateway Features for Gateways to Art
1. The visual impact of the Olmec sculpture of a Colossal Head is directly related to its mass.
2. What is one of the main reasons that the creation of the Olmec colossal heads is so impressive?
a. they are lifelike individual portraits
b. they were created without metal tools
c. they can be seen from space
d. they were done by children
e. all of the other answers
3. In 1940 Matthew and Marion Stirling found ________ at the site of ________.
a. Inca mummies . . . Cerro Gordo
b. Aztec fishing boats . . . Tenochtitlan
c. Olmec colossal heads . . . La Venta
d. Maya paintings . . . Bonampak
e. Kwakiutl masks . . . British Columbia
4. Olmec heads were easily found at La Venta because they were still on prominent display, exactly
as the Olmec had left them.
5. How many Olmec colossal heads have been discovered?
a. 3 d. 562
b. 17 e. 1,000
c. 103
6. What material was used to make the Olmec colossal heads?
a. basalt d. limestone
b. bronze e. marble
c. jade
7. This Italian artist used two-point combined with one-point perspective in his painting The School
of Athens.
a. Raphael d. Alberti
b. Brunelleschi e. Caravaggio
c. Michelangelo
8. In his work The School of Athens, this Renaissance artist created figures using the ideal human
proportions developed by the ancient Greeks.
a. Raphael d. Michelangelo
b. Claes Oldenburg e. Leonardo da Vinci
c. Dorothea Tanning
9. When Raphael was preparing to paint his fresco The School of Athens he did a large drawing called
________ to help place the design on the wall.
a. a cartoon d. an intonaco
b. a layout e. an arrezzo
c. a sketch
10. Raphael’s The School of Athens contains:
a. accurate portraits of ancient scholars and writers
b. accurate portraits of sixteenth-century scholars and writers
c. ancient scholars looking like sixteenth-century artists
d. contemporary scholars looking like ancient artists
e. only people the artist knew personally
11. Why were the Greek god Apollo and the goddess Athena included in The School of Athens?
a. because Renaissance artists admired Greek mythology, philosophy, and art
b. because there were no longer deities during the Renaissance
c. because the artist was Greek
d. because the huge flowers the artist wanted to carve fell apart
e. none of the answers
12. What theme is not represented in the paintings that decorate the walls of the library of Pope Julius
II in the Vatican?
a. theology d. philosophy
b. law and justice e. poetry
c. humility
13. Analyse the ways in which illusion is created in Raphael’s School of Athens. What are the artist’s
methods for creating depth in the painting? How does the painting contribute to the wider scheme
of Pope Julius II’s library?
14. The Taj Mahal was commissioned by the grieving ________ as a memorial to his third and
beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal.
a. Kubla Khan d. Gengis Khan
b. Gunga Din e. Shah Jahan
c. Alexander the Great
15. The design of the Taj Mahal and gardens uses both ________ and ________ symmetry.
a. radial and bilateral d. round and square
b. organic and geometric e. left and right
c. positive and negative
16. The designers of the Taj Mahal went to great lengths to use radial and bilateral symmetry. Based
on what you have read about the building and its history, what were the main ideas that the
architects wanted to communicate to viewers? Why?
17. The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal to ______.
a. show the power of his reign
b. commemorate and entomb his third wife
c. use as a summer home
d. use as a mosque for daily prayers
e. none of the answers
18. The Taj Mahal features four towers, each 162 feet high, called ______, a characteristic feature of
Islamic architecture.
a. minarets d. mihrabs
b. qiblas e. sahms
c. minbars
19. The unique foundation structure of the Taj Mahal may be compromised because of lower water
levels in the Yamuna River in recent years.
20. In the Islamic faith, gardens are symbolic of Paradise on Earth.
21. The Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir to celebrate the birth of his son Shah
Jahan.
22. The gardens at the Taj Mahal were heavily influenced by the royal palaces and gardens of the
Christian French monarchy.
23. The Taj Mahal ________.
a. is asymmetrical when viewed from above
b. is covered with smooth white marble and lacks any writing
c. is surrounded by gardens that represent Paradise
d. stands alone, and is not part of a larger complex
e. none of the answers
24. Artemisia Gentileschi used directional line brilliantly in her painting Judith Decapitating
Holofernes to draw our attention to this point.
a. Judith’s face
b. blood spurting from Holofernes’s neck
c. the bed
d. the maidservant
e. a hand
25. Artemisia Gentileschi worked during this stylistic and historical period.
a. Impressionism d. Surrealism
b. Renaissance e. Baroque
c. Pop art
26. Italian Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi used this medium for her Allegory of Painting, a
self-portrait of the artist with a paintbrush in hand.
a. acrylic paint d. tempera
b. fresco e. encaustic
c. oil paint
27. Artemisia Gentileschi was influenced by the style of which other artist?
a. Masaccio d. Nicolas Poussin
b. Caravaggio e. all of the other answers
c. Sofonisba Anguissola
28. Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith Decapitating Holofernes is part of which movement?
a. early Renaissance d. Medieval
b. Mannerism e. Classical Greek
c. Baroque
29. ________ made a Symbolist version of Judith with Holofernes’s head.
a. Mary Cassatt d. Gustav Klimt
b. Berthe Morisot e. all of the other answers
c. Camille Claudel
30. Gustav Klimt’s work Judith I features:
a. gold leaf d. flattened figures
b. an element of danger e. all of the other answers
c. decorative patterning
31. Gustav Klimt’s Judith I was made in direct response to an artwork of the same subject by Baroque
artist Artemisia Gentileschi.
32. The decapitation of Holofernes, which is the subject of an oil painting by Artemisia Gentileschi,
happened because:
a. Holofernes was cruel and violent to Judith’s people
b. Judith was jealous because he was her adulterous husband
c. Judith was vengeful because he had killed her son
d. Holofernes was a magician and Judith was his assistant for this trick
e. none of the answers
33. In Goya’s The Third of May, 1808, the artist used a variety of actual and implied lines to attract
attention to specific points within the composition. Lines that draw the viewer’s attention in this
way are known as ________ lines.
a. directional d. irregular
b. regular e. organic
c. contour
34. In the painting The Third of May, 1808, this Spanish artist used alternating rhythm to contrast
“good” and “bad.”
a. Suzanne Valadon d. Rosa Bonheur
b. Chuck Close e. Edward Weston
c. Francisco Goya
35. In the etching The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, Francisco Goya uses regularity of line and
shape to create a/an ________ rhythm, with a benign effect, in the lower half of the work.
a. erratic d. wild
b. wistful e. all of the other answers
c. stable
36. Francisco Goya used visual rhythms to convey ideas and emotions in his works The Third of May,
1808 and The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. Do the rhythms in Goya’s works communicate
the dichotomy of good and evil to you? If so, how? If not, what other meanings are created?
37. This Spanish artist created artworks in both print and paint that depict horrific events that
happened during the French occupation of Spain between 1808 and 1814.
a. Albrecht Dürer d. Max Beckmann
b. Pablo Picasso e. Rembrandt
c. Francisco Goya
38. In Francisco Goya’s Family of Charles IV:
a. the royal family is portrayed in an idealized way
b. the artist includes a portrait of himself standing at his easel
c. Charles IV is shown knighting his son, Ferdinand VII
d. the family are very simply dressed
e. none of the answers
39. Goya painted a slightly unflattering portrait of the Spanish royal family because he strongly
disliked them and wanted to insult the king.
40. Francisco Goya’s The Second of May, 1808 depicts:
a. the coronation of Napoleon
b. the execution of Spanish rebels
c. Spanish civilians attacking French soldiers
d. a horse race
e. none of the other answers
41. The fact that Goya’s paintings The Second of May, 1808 and The Third of May, 1808 portray
different sides committing acts of violence shows that Goya was condemning war in general.
42. What principle of art did Katsushika Hokusai employ in “The Great Wave off Shore at Kanagawa”
in order to bring harmony to what could otherwise be a very chaotic scene?
a. pattern d. scale
b. always use the color blue e. none of the other answers
c. unity
43. Katsushika Hokusai, in his woodcut “The Great Wave off Shore at Kanagawa,” simplified and
ordered the visual elements in the work to create ________.
a. compositional unity d. realism
b. conceptual unity e. symmetry
c. chaos
44. To create a color woodblock, such as Hokusai’s famous “The Great Wave off Shore at
Kanagawa,” a printer must produce a new ________ for each separate color.
a. style d. design
b. piece of paper e. medium
c. relief block
45. Mount Fuji, the Japanese mountain that features in Hokusai’s famous print “The Great Wave off
Shore at Kanagawa,” is sacred to believers of ________.
a. Islam d. Hinduism
b. Christianity e. Scientology
c. Shinto
46. In “The Great Wave off Shore at Kanagawa,” the curl of the wave intertwines with the sky to
create an abstract ________.
a. yin and yang d. human face
b. t’ao t’ieh e. temple
c. ice-cream cone
47. Describe in detail the role that Mount Fuji plays in Hokusai’s “The Great Wave off Shore at
Kanagawa.” Consider formal elements, such as the size, shape, and placement of the mountain, as
well as meaning and symbolism.
48. Chris Jordan’s Gyre refers to:
a. Hokusai’s “The Great Wave off Shore at Kanagawa”
b. a Pacific whirlpool
c. trash created by humans
d. all of the other answers
e. none of the other answers
49. The elements of time and motion are not applicable to the art of photography.
50. The sequence of photographs Dorothea Lange took of a migrant family in 1936 shows how
photographers move around their subject and anticipate the right time to capture the image they
seek. In this way, photography is still deeply concerned with the elements of ________ and time.
a. motion d. volume
b. color e. texture
c. light
51. When she made the photograph called Migrant Mother, Dorothea Lange:
a. waited all day for the woman and her family to return to their camp
b. first passed the pea-pickers’ camp, but decided to turn back to take pictures
c. refused to let the prints be published
d. used actors in a studio pretending to be migrants
e. none of the other answers
52. Discuss the idea that certain photographs can become so familiar that they are deemed icons. What
makes a particular picture iconic? Think about famous photographs that might come under this
title. What are their similarities? Does the reason they are so famous have to do with the artist, or
another factor?
53. What happened to the woman featured in Migrant Mother after Dorothea Lange photographed her?
a. the government fed her and her family for several months
b. she was paid royalties for the famous photograph
c. she was ashamed of the photograph
d. she and the photographer became good friends
e. none of the other answers
54. The identity of Dorothea Lange’s migrant mother has never been discovered.
55. Pablo Picasso made Girl before a Mirror ______.
a. when he was in grade school, before he became an artist
b. at the beginning of his career, when he was studying art
c. at the height of his career, when he was inspired by his mistress
d. later in his career, when he was learning to use photography
e. near the end of his career, when he was revisiting old themes
56. The term “vanitas” in art includes references to ______.
a. the fleeting nature of life
b. the passing of time
c. memento mori
d. transient sights, smells, and sounds
e. all of the other answers
57. Trompe l’oeil techniques are used to make artworks look extremely realistic.
58. Pablo Picasso’s Girl before a Mirror can best be described as ______.
a. a realistic still life painting d. an abstract portrait
b. a colorful sculptural landscape e. video art
c. a piece of functional pottery
59. Pablo Picasso’s Girl before a Mirror relates to the theme of vanitas through which of the following
elements?
a. the rotten food in the corner reflects the fact that all living things decay
b. the woman looks in a mirror to contemplate her beauty, which will fade over time
c. the realistic depiction of a cemetery reminds us that death is inevitable
d. the instruments remind us that life, like music, is transient
e. the skull on the table represents death
60. Pablo Picasso’s painting Girl before a Mirror reflects his knowledge of ______.
a. the history of art d. images of the goddess Venus
b. Dutch still life painting e. all of the other answers
c. Renaissance and Baroque figure studies
61. Compare Pieter Claesz’s painting Vanitas with Violin and Glass Ball with Pablo Picasso’s Girl
before a Mirror. Begin by describing each artwork, both in terms of what it looks like stylistically
and its subject matter. Next, consider the underlying meaning of each artwork. Name several
similarities and differences in both form and content. Finally, consider how the appearance of each
artwork contributes to our understanding of its message.
62. “Pentimenti” was the term used by Picasso for his young students.
63. An x-ray of Picasso’s Girl before a Mirror showed that the artist altered the body of
Marie-Thérèse Walter while working on the painting.