Section VI: Scientific Innovations in Paint, the Advent of Photography, and the Machine as Art and Artist Flashcards
Before the 18th century, how were most colors for oil paints made?
they were naturally derived, so made from natural materials
Where was Prussian Blue discovered?
a laboratory in Berlin
True or False: Prussian Blue was an accidental discovery.
True
When was Prussian blue discovered?
1704
Why was Prussian blue named Prussian blue?
because it originated in the Prussian Empire
What was one of the most expensive artistic pigments at that time?
ultramarine
How was ultramarine made?
it was produced by grinding lapis lazuli stone into a fine powder
Where was lapis lazuli stone found?
Afghanistan
What type of paintings was ultramarine reserved for?
religious paintings, specifically for the clothes of the Virgin Mary
Who discovered Prussian Blue?
Jacob Diesbach
Prussian blue made a market for what type of pigments?
blue pigments
What are the ingredients for cochineal red lake?
iron sulfate and potash
What caused the potash Diesbach bought to turn deep blue?
a reaction between iron, sulfate, and the contaminated alkali
What painting from the resource guide used Prussian blue?
Self Portrait in a Straw Hat
Where was Marie-Louise-Elizabeth Vigee-Lebrun born?
Paris, France
How old was Lebrun when her father died?
12 years old
Why was Lebrun initially denied into the French Royal Academy in Paris?
because of her gender
What did Lebrun do when she got rejected from the French Royal Academy?
she took matters into her own hands and self-taught herself so well that she was accepted into the Academy
When did Lebrun begin painting portraits?
when she was a teenager
Why were Lebrun’s early portraits illegal?
because you had to be a member of a painter’s guild or an academy
Her paintings became a favorite of which French queen?
Queen Marie-Antoinette
What type of art style were her portraits generally considered?
Rococo
What are some attributes of the Rococo art style?
they are lively, colorful, and very vibrant
The word Rocaille is derived from the French word for _________.
pebble
Rococo is similar to which other art style?
Baroque style
What is rocaille?
the small stones and shells used to decorate grotto interiors in gardens
What is one main color on her palette in the work Self Portrait in a Straw Hat?
Prussian blue
What mood does the color Prussian blue create in the portrait?
a relaxed, serene feel
Art historians have found the pose Lebrun has in her portrait is adopted from which other artist?
Ruben
In Ruben’s self-portrait in a straw hat, is her hat made from straw?
No, her hat is made from felt
How does Lebrun improve on Ruben’s original portrait?
she paints herself in a straw hat
When was the French Revolution?
1789
Why did Lebrun despise her spouse?
because he would take her earnings
When did Lebrun leave her husband?
1794
What invention made paint more portable and long-lasting?
the invention of the metal paint tube
What does en plein air mean?
in the open air
What did plein air painting allow artists to do?
it lets them observe the changes in natural lighting as the sun and clouds move across the sky
Claude Monet was a painter of which art movement?
the Impressionist movement
Where were pigments crushed in the 1740s?
paint-mills
What powered paint-mills?
they used to be horse-powered
Were the paints made by the paint-mills better or worse quality than the ones ground up by hand?
they were worse quality
In what decade did the paint mills become steam-powered?
the 1820s
When did mechanically ground products become better quality?
1836
When was the collapsible metal tube invented?
it was invented in 1841, but the patent was made in March of 1841
Who invented the collapsible metal tube?
John Goffe Rand
What did artists use to store paint before the collapsible metal tube?
a pig’s bladder sealed with string
How did the collapsible metal tube help artists?
it allowed them to use paint multiple times without it drying up and it didn’t leak
Impressionist painter Auguste Renoir said that without the collapsible metal tube, what wouldn’t have happened?
he said there would be no Monet, Sisley, or any other Impressionist painters, even saying Impressionism wouldn’t have been a thing
Impasto comes from which Italian verb?
impastare
What does impastare mean?
it means to knead or paste and it refers to thickly laying paint out so it will stick out from the rest of the painting
Jackson Pollock first used a new synthetic paint that was made of which type of plastic?
It was made of a plastic called acrylic
When did Claude Monet paint the Bridge at Argenteuil?
1874
How many times did Monet paint the Bridge at Argenteuil?
7 times
What colors are used in the water for the Bridge at Argenteuil?
Prussian blue, cerulean, ochre, mauve, and white
The use of complementary colors was a main philosophy for which color theory?
the Impressionist color theory
How do you identify the complementary colors on the color wheel?
they are the colors that are opposite of each other
What was the first camera called?
a camera obscura
What was the camera obscura used for?
it was an optical tool used to copy the outside world and receive unbiased visual information, often used as a drawing aid
Camera obscura is Latin for what?
dark chamber
What was a camera obscura?
it was a dark room with a small opening in one wall that was like a lens, focusing the image onto the opposite wall
Did the camera obscura support imagination or personal style?
No, because they were meant to be real images that were unbiased
What were the basic ingredients for photography?
a light-tight box, lenses, and light-sensitive materials
Was photography really considered an invention?
No, it was more like a progressive history of improving techniques over time
Who was Antoine Hercules Romuald Florence?
a French artist and cartographer used light-sensitive materials to copy written documents
What did Florence call his method?
photographie
Photographie comes from the Greek words for _______ and ___________.
light and writing
Was Louis Daguerre’s method for taking detailed photographs similar or different than Florence’s?
It was very different
In England, scientists Humphry Davy and Thomas Wedgewood did similar experiments in light-writing compared to Florence. Were Davy and Wedgewood successful in their experiments?
No, because their light-sensitive material wasn’t that completely sensitive to light and it needed another material to make it work
When did Wedgewood die?
1805
What is the world’s oldest surviving permanent photograph?
the View from the Window at Le Gras
How long was the View from the Window at Le Gras exposed to the sun?
8 hours
In the photograph View from the Window at Le Gras, why does the sunlight appear to be shining on both ends of the building?
it looks this way because the photo was left out for 8 hours while the sun was moving across the sky
When did Daguerre start collaborating with Niecpce?
1829
What was the world’s first widely successful and commercially available photographic method?
the daguerreotype
When did Niepce die?
1833
After Niepce’s death, what was Daguerre’s new objective?
to create and develop a latent image
What is a latent image?
an image that was on the surface of the photographic plate during exposure, but was invisible until chemical processing
What were latent images treated with to make the image appear?
mercury fumes
How long was the exposure time for a latent image?
4-5 minutes
True or False: Latent images were less refined and not as sharp as the daguerreotype.
False, latent images were more refined and sharper than the daguerreotype
Daguerre’s invention started a booming portrait industry around the globe, especially in which country?
the United States
When did the French government announce the daguerreotype?
1839
Which American artist and inventor brought the daguerreotype to the U.S.?
Samuel Morse
Do daguerrotypes fade?
No, they retain their detail and shine very well
Where was Frederick Douglass born?
Maryland on a plantation
How old was he when escaped Maryland to go to the North?
early 20s
What did he mostly write about?
influential antislavery books
How did Douglass see this type of photography?
as a way to fight racial prejudice and stereotypes
Who was the most photographed person of the 19th century?
Frederick Douglass
How many times did Frederick Douglass have his picture taken in the 18th century?
over 160 times
How many times did Abraham Lincoln have his picture taken in the 18th century?
126 times
Why didn’t Frederick Douglass smile in his photographs?
he didn’t want to play into the “happy slave” stereotype
What did Frederick Douglass call the most “democratic” medium?
photography
What is polygenesis?
a theory that states that black people weren’t direct descendants of the first humans (thought to be Adam and Eve)
By the end of the Civil War in 1861, what new photographic technology overtook the daguerreotype?
the wet-plate process
What was Precisionism?
an art movement that emerged in the U.S. focused on the built environment around us
Precisionism borrowed from what other art movement?
cubism
What was cubism?
an art movement that was focused on abstraction
Precisionism celebrated new American landscapes, such as ________, __________, and ________.
skyscrapers, bridges, and factories
What was Berenice Abbott able to do in 1935 after she had documented the rapid urbanization of NYC?
She was able to receive money from the Federal Art Project
The photographs from her years of documentation were published collectively in 1939, it was called “_______ ______ _____”.
Changing New York
What other work of art was included in the Federal Arts Project?
Penn State Interior
When is Penn State Interior dated?
1935 to 1938
What is Pennsylvania Station and where is it located?
it is an important transit hub and is located in central Manhattan
Why did the filtered light on the photograph Penn Station, Interior turn hazy?
it turned hazy due to its long exposure time
How many acres of city space did Pennsylvania Station take up?
up to 8 acres
When was Pennsylvania Station completed?
1910
Who designed Pennsylvania Station?
McKim, Mead, and White
When was Pennsylvania Station demolished?
1963
What replaced Pennsylvania Station after it was demolished?
Madison Square Garden
Before photography’s invention in 1839, what was the most prominent way of taking portraits?
the silhouette
How are silhouettes made?
they are made by tracing out a person’s shadow and cutting out the painting in the outlined, so the black shape is revealed
Why were silhouettes preferred over oil paintings?
they were cheaper and took only minutes
What is a physiognotrace?
a contraption that copies a person’s traced profile onto a 2-folded white paper to make multiple identical silhouettes, but smaller
Where was the physiognotrace invented?
France
Who invented the physiognotrace?
Gilles-Louis Chretien
When was the physiognotrace invented?
around 1786
When did Charles Wilson Peale open his museum?
1784
When did Peale adopt the physiognotrace into his museum?
1802
How much money was the commission Peale paid Moses Williams?
8 cents
Who did Williams marry?
the Peale family’s white cook
Who invented instantaneous photography?
Eadward Muybridge
What was a large debate about horses in the 1870s?
Was there a moment when all the hooves of a horse were above ground, floating?
Who took up a frequently debated question about horses in the 1870s?
Leland Stanford
Who founded Stanford University?
Lean Stanford
Why did Muybridge and Stanford make “the Horse in Motion”
to see down to the 1/1000th second if there was a time where all 4 of a horse’s hooves were above ground
Why did some people not believe Muybridge’s evidence?
some people didn’t believe it because the pictures looked so fake
What is a zoopraxiscope?
a lantern that projected images onto a rotating glass disc at such a high speed that it looked like a continuous moving picture
Who invented film?
the Lumiere brothers
In the early 20th century, which group of people quickly adopted film?
avant-garde artists
What does avant-garde mean?
it is the French military term for “advance guard”
When were television sets first shown to the public?
1928
In 1946 how many U.S. homes had a TV?
6 thousand
In 1951, how many U.S. homes had TVs?
12 million
In the late 90s, what percent of U.S. homes had at least one TV?
98%
What was one of the most important factors in the rapid growth of the TV?
WWII
What event was viewed as the turning point in the history of art?
the Second World War or WWII
When did abstract expressionism flourish in New York?
the 1950s and 1960s
What s Abstract Expressionism?
a type of abstract art characterized by the brushstrokes and the impression of spontaneity
Who was hailed as the father of video art?
Nam June Paik
Where was Nam June Paik born
South Korea
Paik treated the TV screen like a ____________.
canvas
Did Paik want to make TV strange and unfamiliar, or comfortable and normal?
he wanted to make is strange and unfamiliar, outside of our comfort zone
What is one of Paik’s earlies TV based artworks, made in 1965?
the Magnet TV
When was the Magnet TV first exhibited?
1965
When the Magnet TV was first exhibited, what was special about it?
it was interactive, they could move the magnet on the top of the TV to change the images
Why did they stop allowing the Magnet TV to be interactive in 1982?
because it was becoming a safety concern
Which president signed the Interstate Highway Act?
President Dwight D. Eisenhower
What was the largest publics work program in U.S. history?
the Interstate Highway Act
In 1980, what percent of households in the U.S. owned at least one motor vehicle?
87.2%
In 1980, what percent of households in the U.S. owned at least one motor vehicle?
51.5%
Who made Velvet White
John Chamberlain
What year was Velvet White made?
1962
Who was one of the most influential Abstract Expressionists for 3D in the 20th century?
John Chamberlain
What was Junk Art?
scrap metal being reclaimed and reinterpreted as a fine art
What did Chamberlain use to make Velvet White?
metal from a 1929 Ford Pie Wagon
