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1. This question asks you to explore the stylistic
relationships between the form and content of
figurative art.
How a culture is perceived is often expressed in
depictions of the human figure. Choose two specific
representations of the human body from different
cultures. Only one of your choices may be from a
European artistic tradition. Discuss significant aspects
of each culture that are revealed by the way in which
the human body is depicted. (30 minutes)
Warrior, from the
sea off Riace, Italy,
ca. 460–450 BCE.
Bronze, approx. 6’
6” high.
A masterpiece of
hollow-casting, this
bronze has a weight
shift even more
pronounced than
the Kritios Boy.
Archaic frontality &
rigidity have given
way to natural
motion in space.
Yakshi, detail of
eastern gateway,
Great Stupa,
Sanchi, India,
mid first century
BCE to early first
century CE.
Figure 8-15 Detail of the priest Shunjobo
Chogen, Todaiji, Nara, Japan, Kamakura
period, early thirteenth century. Painted
cypress wood, 2’ 8 3/8” high.
• Representations of the natural world or motifs
from nature are found in the art of all times and
places.
•
• Choose and fully identify two appropriate works
of art from two different cultures. One of your
choices must be from beyond the European
tradition. Explain why and how each work uses
representations of the natural world or motifs
from nature. (30 minutes)
• Q.#1 - 2006
detail of an
arabesque from
the Alhambra
Palace
Most of the design elements in the Islamic world are based on plant motifs, which are
sometimes intermingled with abstract geometric shapes and, in secular settings, with
animal figures. But the natural forms are so stylized that they are lost in the purely
decorative tracery of the tendrils, leaves, and stalks. These arabesques, as they are
often called because they are so characteristic of Islamic (“Arab”) art, form a pattern
that covers an entire surface, whether that of a small utensil or the wall of a building.
The patterns have no function but to decorate.
Marine Style octopus
jar, from Palaikastro
(Crete), Greece, ca.
1500 BCE. Approx. 11”
high. Archaeological
Museum, Herakleion.
Score: 9
The essay selects two good examples and identifies them
fully. The natural elements found in each
painting, such as the “shimmering” light in the Constable
and the “exotic fruit” and “epic lightning” of the
Krishna and Radha love scene are described in detail.
The essay presents a sophisticated analysis of the
cultural meaning of the natural elements in the paintings
and places them within broader contexts:
Romanticism and idealization of the countryside in
Constable, and a lush setting that contributes to the
spark between human and divine lovers in the painting of
Radha and Krishna.
The relationship between an artist or architect
and a patron very often shapes the form and
content of works of art or architecture.
Identify two works, each from a different art
historical period, and name the specific persons
who commissioned them. Discuss how the
specific interests and intentions of the particular
patrons are revealed in each work. (30
minutes)
Q.#9 -- 2004
Pericles.
Pericles was a prominent and influential
statesman, orator, and general of Athens in
the city's Golden Age. After the defeat of
the Persians in 478 BCE, he embarked on a
great building program on the Athenian
Acropolis. The Parthenon, or the Temple of
Athena Parthenos, was the centerpiece of
this building program. In addition, two
later temples built after Pericles death, the
Erectheion and the Temple of Athena Nike,
and completed just after his death, were
probably part of the original design.
IKTINOS and KALLIKRATES, Parthenon, the Temple of Athena
Parthenos (view from the northwest), Acropolis, Athens, Greece, 447–
438 BCE.