1.9: Pattern and Rhythm
1. The recurrence of a single element in a work of art is called ________.
a. style d. emphasis
b. focal point e. space
c. pattern
2. Which of the following can create a pattern?
a. the warp and weft of woven cloth
b. fish scales
c. dried, cracked mud
d. stacks of cans
e. all of the other answers
3. The area covered by a pattern is called the ________.
a. motif d. foreground
b. field e. background
c. size
4. The Blue Room is an artwork featuring multiple patterns by this twentieth-century French painter.
a. Valadon d. Bruegel
b. Close e. Weston
c. Arp
5. In the painting The Blue Room, the artist uses three patterns that ________.
a. are focal points d. merge
b. are similar e. contrast
c. are abstract
6. A design repeated as a unit in a pattern is called a ________.
a. motif d. value
b. focal point e. huqqa
c. color
7. In Islamic art, it is unusual for an artist to depict images from the natural world because the Islamic
religion prohibits the use of representation. Why do you think that the huqqa base (figure 1.9.3)
and the pashmina carpet (figure 1.9.4) might have been acceptable even though they include
depictions of plant forms? Or do you think that they were not acceptable in their time? Give your
reasons why, or why not.
8. The seventeenth-century huqqa base (1.9.3) was created by an Islamic artist, or artists, in
________.
a. Persia d. India
b. Arabia e. Afghanistan
c. Egypt
9. The seventeenth-century pashmina carpet from northern India (1.9.4) uses repeated, stylized
flowers as ________ to create a strong, unified design.
a. motifs d. unrecognizable
b. shapes e. textures
c. gardens
10. This American painter used small abstract motifs to create a huge self-portrait.
a. Suzanne Valadon d. Pieter Bruegel
b. Chuck Close e. Edward Weston
c. Rosa Bonheur
11. Is it possible to create a work of art that is completely random, or is our dependence on pattern so
strong that such a work would be incomprehensible? Explain your reasons why or why not.
12. There is rhythm in an artwork when it has at least this many points of reference.
a. two d. four
b. one e. none
c. three
13. This sixteenth-century Flemish artist designed the work Hunters in the Snow using rhythms and
subsidiary rhythms that lead the viewer’s eye through the work.
a. Edward Weston d. Rosa Bonheur
b. Chuck Close e. Pieter Bruegel
c. Suzanne Valadon
14. In Hunters in the Snow, a number of rhythms and subsidiary rhythms draw the viewer’s attention
through the work. Can you specify where this is happening and how the artist is achieving these
rhythmic sequences? Find at least three different areas of rhythm in the work.
15. A pattern with regular intervals creates ________ rhythm.
a. a repetitive d. an irregular
b. a progressive e. a geometric
c. an alternating
16. The Great Mosque in this Spanish city displays repetitive rhythms that can be associated with
worship activities, such as reciting prayers.
a. Madrid d. Bilbao
b. Barcelona e. Valencia
c. Córdoba
17. In the Great Mosque (1.9.7) there are red and white stone wedges that make up the series of
repeating arches that dominate the interior. What are these stone wedges called?
a. segments d. rectilinears
b. voussoirs e. archilets
c. points
18. This photographer revealed a natural example of progressive rhythm in his photograph titled
Artichoke Halved.
a. Edward Weston d. Pieter Bruegel
b. Rosa Bonheur e. Chuck Close
c. Suzanne Valadon
19. Artichoke Halved is a photograph that uses this point of view to capture unique characteristics of a
natural object.
a. focus d. rule of thirds
b. field of vision e. close-up
c. focal length
20. The principle of rhythm does not apply to photography.
21. What is the name for any side of a building that is intended to be looked at?
a. a peristyle d. a facade
b. a cornice e. a truss
c. a stylobate
22. On the island of Belau in the western Pacific, a traditional men’s long house is called a ________.
a. bai d. tiki
b. poi e. mo–mo
c. facade
23. 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
24. In the etching The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, Francisco Goya uses regularity of line and
shape to create ________ rhythm, with a benign effect, in the lower half of the work.
a. an erratic d. a wild
b. a wistful e. all of the other answers
c. a stable
25. 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?
26. This female artist brilliantly used a rhythmic structure in her painting Plowing in the Nivernais:
The Dressing of the Vines, an image of cattle at work in the fields.
a. Rosa Bonheur d. Artemisia Gentileschi
b. Suzanne Valadon e. Mary Cassatt
c. Judy Chicago
27. The rhythmic movement of the cattle and the plowmen in Plowing in the Nivernais: The Dressing
of the Vines suggests struggle and the natural ebb and flow of nature by using ________ rhythm.
a. irregular d. alternating
b. repetitive e. secular
c. progressive