4.3: Art and the Cycle of Life
1. The sculpture of the goddess Tlazolteotl giving birth to the maize god (4.3.1) was made by which
culture?
a. Yoruba d. Olmec
b. Asmat e. none of the other answers
c. Aztec
2. The goddess Tlazolteotl was responsible for ________.
a. war and rain d. childbirth and marshmallow treats
b. life and death e. light and dark
c. warriors and architecture
3. Rineke Dijkstra’s series Mothers focuses on ________.
a. depicting mothers with their newborn children
b. presenting children’s views of their mothers as seen in their personal drawings
c. side-by-side comparisons of mothers from different socio-economic classes
d. the ideal of motherhood as depicted in literature throughout time
e. mothers who have promoted their children in their art careers
4. What is the medium of “Julie, Den Haag, The Netherlands, February 29, 1994”?
a. charcoal on paper d. gelatin silver print
b. oil on canvas e. film
c. color photograph
5. Who is the artist of Dead Christ?
a. Andrea del Sarto d. Carl Andre
b. Andres Serrano e. Andrea Frasier
c. Andrea Mantegna
6. The painting called Dead Christ focuses the viewer’s attention on ________.
a. the immediacy of Christ’s body and the fact that he is no longer alive
b. the grief of the women who are prominently placed in the center of the picture
c. the agony that Christ endured while he was being crucified
d. the injustice of the treatment Christ received prior to the crucifixion
e. none of the other answers
7. Who is the artist of The Morgue (Gun Murder)?
a. Andrea del Sarto d. Carl Andre
b. Andres Serrano e. Andrea Frasier
c. Andrea Mantegna
8. The Morgue (Gun Murder) is shocking because:
a. we know exactly who this person is
b. the crime scene is especially gory
c. as a society we no longer have a direct relationship with the dead
d. the deceased is wearing such elaborate clothing
e. we see dead bodies all the time in present-day life, so it is not shocking
9. Photographs, such as Andres Serrano’s The Morgue (Gun Murder), cannot display the perspective
technique of foreshortening.
10. Compare Andrea Mantegna’s Dead Christ (4.3.3) with Andres Serrano’s The Morgue (Gun
Murder) (4.3.4). What medium was used to make each of them? Does the medium used affect the
way you view each artwork? Give your reasons why, or why not.
11. Bis pole sculptures were made by which culture?
a. Yoruba d. Olmec
b. Asmat e. none of the other answers
c. Aztec
12. Bis poles were made for what purpose?
a. to honor someone who had just died
b. to depict the ancestors and acknowledge their role in daily life
c. to carry the deceased into the afterlife
d. they serve a ritual function in male initiation and memorial feasts
e. all of the other answers
13. How do the bis poles made in New Guinea depict, reference, and honor ancestors? Can you think
of any other artworks (either in this textbook or elsewhere) that pay tribute to ancestors? How is
your chosen artwork similar to and/or different from the bis poles? What do these artworks tell you
about the cycle of life that you had not thought of before learning about them?
14. Rituals that connect with ancestors and nature spirits are as important as the tasks of daily life for
African peoples like the Yombe.
15. How is it clear that the Yombe sculpture of a kneeling female figure with bowl and child (4.3.6)
represents a nature spirit associated with ancestors?
a. she has saplings growing from her head
b. she is invisible but has a strong scent
c. she is painted white and has shiny eyes
d. she is hanging upside-down
e. she is probably not representing an ancestor at all
16. Who is the artist of I Am Your Grandma?
a. Rineke Dijkstra d. Shiva Nataraja
b. Pablo Picasso e. Pieter Claesz
c. Jillian Mayer
17. For whom is the message contained in I Am Your Grandma intended?
a. someone in the viewer’s past
b. the artist
c. a boy in a grocery store
d. the artist’s future unborn grandchild
e. none of the other answers
18. In a video called I Am Your Grandma the artist uses technology, references to existing artworks,
and popular culture to explore identity.
19. 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
20. Pieter Claesz made which of the following types of artworks?
a. realistic still life paintings d. abstract portraits
b. colorful sculptural landscapes e. video art
c. functional pottery
21. Trompe l’oeil techniques are used to make artworks look extremely realistic.
22. 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
23. 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
24. Pablo Picasso’s painting Girl before a Mirror reflects his knowledge of ________.
a. the history of art
b. Dutch still life painting
c. Renaissance and Baroque figure studies
d. images of the goddess Venus
e. all of the other answers
25. Compare Pieter Claesz’s painting Vanitas (Still Life with Glass Globe) 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.
26. Lord Pacal was the ruler of which place?
a. the Egyptian city of Giza d. the Maya city-state of Palenque
b. the Italian city of Rome e. the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan
c. the French city of Paris
27. The sarcophagus lid from the tomb of Lord Pacal shows him ________.
a. marking the intersection of the earthly realm and the underworld
b. being overtaken by the world tree
c. ignoring the lineage of his ancestors
d. trying to trick the gods while playing a mythical ballgame
e. Lord Pacal was only depicted on the inside of the sarcophagus, not the outside
28. Draw a diagram of the sarcophagus lid from the tomb of Lord Pacal with the following elements
identified: the area understood to be the underworld; the slab on which Pacal sits; Pacal himself;
the jaws of the underworld monster; the world tree springing from Pacal’s abdomen; the birds in
the celestial realm. What important attributes of Maya rulers are illustrated by the imagery on this
relief sculpture? How do this image and the role of Maya rulers relate to the cycle of life?
29. The eleventh-century bronze sculpture of Shiva Nataraja (4.3.11) was made in ________.
a. Africa d. Mexico
b. Japan e. India
c. Italy
30. What is Shiva Nataraja responsible for doing?
a. dancing the world into existence
b. balancing contradictory qualities, for example creation and destruction
c. bringing to life the endless of cycle of birth and rebirth
d. stamping out evil and ignorance
e. all of the other answers
31. Where is the Japanese zen garden (4.3.12) located?
a. Hilton Hotel, Tokyo
b. off the coast of Kanagawa
c. Ryoan-ji, Kyoto
d. Osaka Castle
e. It is a replica located inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art
32. Zen dry gardens are designed to be a microcosm of the larger earthly landscape.
33. How do practitioners cultivate mental calm in the Japanese zen garden?
a. by raking the gravel regularly
b. by counting the stones
c. by planting as many flowers as possible
d. by fixing the leaks in the roof
e. by playing calming music through hidden speakers
34. The Hopi of the southwestern United States are responsible for making which of the following
sculptures?
a. the sarcophagus lid from the tomb of Lord Pacal
b. the kachina doll
c. the silver llama figurine
d. the vessel with a mask of Tlaloc
e. the book of the dead
35. The dolls associated with the nature spirits called kachinas have been used to ________.
a. teach the Hopi about nature deities
b. sell to tourists
c. represent specific kachinas and illustrate their attributes
d. help ensure prosperity and fertility for the community
e. all of the other answers
36. The Aztec of central Mexico are responsible for making which of the following sculptures?
a. the sarcophagus lid from the tomb of Lord Pacal
b. the kachina doll
c. the silver llama figurine
d. the vessel with a mask of Tlaloc
e. the book of the dead
37. Tlaloc, the Aztec rain god, is identifiable in the clay vessel (4.3.14) because of the ________ used.
a. color and symbols d. scale and pattern
b. texture e. none of the other answers
c. mass and perspective
38. Who is the artist of Fox in the Snow?
a. Gustave Courbet d. Andrea Mantegna
b. Thomas Eakins e. Johannes Vermeer
c. Caspar David Friedrich
39. How does Fox in the Snow relate to the cycle of life?
a. the dead fox lies next to flower shoots that are growing through the snow
b. the fox has just had babies, continuing the next generation of her species
c. the fox is caught in a trap, signifying the trials and tribulations of life
d. the fox is eating a rat, a reminder that one life sacrificed allows another to continue
e. none of the other answers
40. Who is the artist of Abbey Among Oak Trees?
a. Gustave Courbet d. Andrea Mantegna
b. Thomas Eakins e. Johannes Vermeer
c. Caspar David Friedrich
41. Abbey Among Oak Trees emphasizes realism and reason over emotion and imagination.
42. What message comes across in Abbey Among Oak Trees?
a. that nature reflects the presence of God in man’s world
b. that nature will outlast human constructions
c. that even religion can be corrupted
d. that a wintery landscape can convey a mood of death
e. all of the other answers
43. In his work, artist Patrick Dougherty intentionally references ideas of home, architecture, and
dwellings.
44. What is the medium and form of Patrick Dougherty’s Na Hale ‘Eo Waiawi?
a. saplings woven into various shapes
b. paintings of extraordinary trees
c. illustrations from Dr. Seuss books
d. videos of strawberry guava groves
e. man-made fibers woven into tree shapes
45. How do Patrick Dougherty’s sculptures relate to the cycle of life?
a. he uses dead materials as memento mori
b. he transforms branches and twigs into artworks that extend the lifespan of a once-living
material into the realm of art
c. he uses man-made materials that look like they were made in nature
d. people buy his artworks when a child is born and the person carries it with him or her until
death
e. he records the life cycle of a tree and plays the video in art galleries