Art History Final Exam Flashcards
Abstract/abstraction
Africa – origins of human creativity
Pablo Picasso sees sculptures from Africa and begins incorporating visuals in work
Simplistic, static, abstract simplified form of African style, appealed to avante garde – ignored ritual significance
Cubism
Age of exploration
Great age of overseas expansion
Berlin conference, 1884-85
How to border off Africa
Benin Bronzes
Royal Arts – something like 3,000 artifacts that belong to category of Benin Bronzes
British museum, 50 plaques on display, but 1,000 in storage
Cannot be readily found in modern-day Benin
Relief plaque made in lost plaque technique
Bringing copper to Benin for trade/Copper bracelets as currency
Notion of overseas trade source of kingdom wealth
River-leaf pattern = Olokun
(Punitive expedition)
Benin Kingdom
Colonial Africa – The scramble for Africa
Benin – territorial claim of Britain
Ancient Benin in Nigeria
Benin bronzes not all made of bronze – Ivory, wood, tusks, leopard statues
Black ships
Coal powered ships
Perception of black ships in Japan – depictions look demonic + personified
The American depiction looks measured and methodical
Bokashi technique
The gradation of colour to form a sense of space
British punitive expedition
Of 1897: A retaliative war, seize Benin “loot”
Commodore Matthew Perry (British soldier)
Sailed to Japan, demanded opening of trade
Colonial/colonizing/colonization
Subsequent colonization, and then to the post-independence interactions with the West
Times article talk about sudden arrival of Portuguese sailor in 1450
“With their pale skin, the visitors fit an existing visual model for supernatural beings. That they came by sea, the realm of spirits and of the dead, reinforced this identity…”
Contemporary photography
Take photos for function + art
Cubism/cubist
shifting perspectives by putting it in one image
Collapsing length/depth/height/4th dimension of time
Deadpan (in photography)
- Shot straight on
- Flat or undramatic light
- A documentation context
- Unemotional
- ‘Boring’ or understated
Edo/Tokyo
Read modernization: Edo is no longer Edo, Edo is becoming Tokyo during Meji restoratio; Tokyo residence of emperor
Edo Period
1185, Japan was ruled by warrior elite = Shogun (military dictators)
Europhilia
A Europhile is a person who is fond of, admires, or loves European culture, society, history, food, music etc.
Exotic/Exoticizing
Seeing the “Other” as excessively different
Hiroshige
Utagawa Hiroshige influenced by Mount Fuji (multiple individuals named Hiroshige, likely related)
Iberian art
Iberian sculpture – terracotta colour and heavy sculptur: ‘primitive’
Industrialization
Jules Ferry – Pushing to expand France’s economy; mentions France’s need for new export markets… ideas of cultural and racial superiority : “superior races have right over inferior races… duty to civilize”
David Livingstone – “A prospect is before us of opening Africa for commerce and the Gospel…give him the light of Christianity”
Factories, ect.
Imperial etc.
Practice of colonialism – idea of imperialism + nationalism
Impressionism
Impressionists accused of being slap-dash, but credited with being systematic and methodological in their approach
- Studying light
- Paying attention to colour
Japonisme
A French term coined in the late 19th century to describe the craze for Japanese art and design in the West
Josiah Conder (architect)
A British architect who was hired by the Meiji Japanese government as a professor of architecture for the Imperial College of Engineering and became architect of Japan’s Public Works
Kesai Eisen
The Courtesan (after Eisen) – copy of cover by Kesai Eisen
Meiji Restoration
Restoration of Imperial rule
Modernism/modernity
Modernism – brought about by the industrial revolution
Mount Fuji
Mount Fuji (lone mountain) – element of the traditional
Mudfish
King’s dual nature as both human and divine
Nation-state/nationalism
National art; Western idea set in nation-state boundaries
Oba
Benin ruler
The “Other”
Sense of exoticism/preconceptions/viewing differences as separate from yourself
Olokun
Spiritual counterpart to Oba
Pointilism
“bedlam” “scandal” and “hilarity”
Dissolves brushstrokes to engage with what the eye fundamentally observes through the optic nerve
Portuguese
- Hat/feather
- Holding hoop shaped object likely a manila
‘Primitive’ art
African masks and statuary, sculptures from the Iberian Peninsula
Printmaking
Printmaking as a product of line
Makes multiples
Realism
Realism - morals in painting
“scramble for Africa”
Colonial Africa – The scramble for Africa
Shogun
Military dictators in Japan during Edo period
Southern barbarians
Japanese
Blue-eyed barbarians
Westerners
Surrealism
A twentieth-century literary, philosophical, and artistic movement that explored the workings of the mind, championing the irrational, the poetic, and the revolutionary
Mind, dreamscapes, subconscious, Freud, Id, etc.
Tableau photography
A ‘tableau vivant’ French meaning “living picture.” Before photography was invented, it was a popular pastime to recreate scenes from famous paintings at parties. Participants would dress up, use props, backgrounds and poses to re-stage the original image
Tengu
Tengu are a type of legendary creature found in Japanese folk religion. They are considered a type of yōkai or Shinto kami. The tengu were originally thought to take the forms of birds of prey, and they are traditionally depicted with both human and avian characteristics.
ukiyo-e (images of the floating world)
Line and pattern drive composition: image is flat and decorative, influenced by Japanese aesthetics
West/Westernization
Westernization also looks outward at international ring
Constitutional monarchy – sign of westernization, but intended to earn Western/European approval
Colonize or be colonized
Woodblock print
Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper.
