Overview: Comprehensive Final Exam To Test Student Knowledge
Overviewa Comprehensive Final Exam To Test Student Knowledge Of Vocabu
Write two separate long essays (400 words each), choosing from three questions provided. Refer to course notes, textbook, or research sources, but ensure essays are in your own words. Quotes should be minimal and properly cited in MLA style. Each essay must include at least two captioned images of artworks, engaging with their content. Address the chosen prompts thoroughly, incorporating historical, cultural, and technical analysis where relevant.
Paper For Above instruction
The final comprehensive exam serves as a vital assessment tool to gauge students’ mastery of key concepts in art history, including printmaking, representations of the human figure, and the evolution of artistic roles during the modern era. This exam emphasizes critical thinking, analytical skills, and visual literacy through essay writing and visual analysis.
In the first essay, students are asked to explore the four major categories of printmaking—such as relief, intaglio, lithography, and screenprinting—detailing their differences, traditional uses, and historical significance. Analyzing the techniques involved, students must identify a traditional printmaker—perhaps Albrecht Dürer, renowned for his woodcuts and engravings—and discuss how their process and subject matter exemplify traditional printmaking. Furthermore, students should identify a modern artist who innovatively used printmaking techniques, such as Andy Warhol with silkscreen prints, and analyze the motivations behind and methods used in their work, including the notions of editions and originality. Each example must be accompanied by a captioned image that illustrates the discussed technique and style.
The second essay requires students to assess how cultural and historical contexts influence depictions of the human figure. Choosing two artworks from different regions or eras—such as the Egyptian sculpture of Pharaoh Khafre and a modernist piece like Picasso’s "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon"—students will research and upload images with captions. They will analyze how religion, environment, politics, or economics shaped each work’s portrayal of the human form. The essay should compare and contrast the artworks’ stylistic features, purposes—whether religious, political, commemorative, or aesthetic—and discuss how context informed their creation.
Additionally, students will examine the transformative approaches artists employed during the Modern era. They should discuss how artists experimented with new styles like Abstract Expressionism, Surrealism, or Cubism, contrasting these approaches with traditional techniques rooted in realism and classical standards. The influence of cultural shifts, technological advances, and philosophical ideas on these innovations must be articulated. Particular attention should be given to how personal self-expression gained prominence, with artists viewing themselves as visionary creators rather than mere craftsmen. Examples such as Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings or Frida Kahlo’s autobiographical symbolism, supported by uploaded images and captions, will illustrate these points. Overall, the essays should reflect an understanding of how historical, technological, and personal factors intertwined to drive artistic change across periods.
References
- Harrison, Charles, and Paul Wood. Art in Theory 1900–2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas. Wiley-Blackwell, 2003.
- Friedlaender, Walter. The Engraver's Manual. Dover Publications, 1960.
- Rees, Barbara. Printmaking: History and Techniques. Thames & Hudson, 2017.
- Gombrich, E.H. The Story of Art. Phaidon Press, 1995.
- Nochlin, Linda. Realism and the Artistic Process. Thames & Hudson, 1971.
- Sullivan, Edward. The Shape of Style: Artistic Strategies in Modernism. University of Chicago Press, 1999.
- Meyer, James. The Artist in Modern Society. Princeton University Press, 2005.
- Bailey, Donna. The Human Figure in Art. Routledge, 2019.
- Barnes, Susan. Printmaking Today. Thames & Hudson, 2018.
- Arnason, H. H. & Mansfield, Marla C. History of Modern Art. Pearson, 2013.