Everything in Art and Design (Part One) Quiz

Question: Who was the first American artist to make welded metal sculpture?

Answer: David Smith’s pioneering welded metal sculptures and massive painted geometric forms made him the most original American sculptor in the decades after World War II.

Question: Who designed the Sydney Opera House?

Answer: Danish architect Jørn Utzon is best known for his design for the Sydney Opera House in Australia. In 1957 Utzon’s dramatic design placed first in competition and brought him international fame. Construction, however, posed a variety of problems, many resulting from the innovative nature of the design.

Question: Which of these did ancient Chinese and Egyptians use for drawing and lettering?

Answer: India ink was used in ancient China and Egypt for drawing and lettering. India ink, also called Chinese ink, is a black pigment in the form of sticks that are moistened before use in drawing and lettering, or it is the fluid ink consisting of this pigment finely suspended in a liquid medium, such as water, and a glutinous binder. The sticks or cakes consist of specially prepared lampblack, or carbon black, mixed with a gum or glue and sometimes perfume.

Question: Which Abstract Expressionist is known for a series of some 150 works collectively entitled Elegies to the Spanish Republic?

Answer: In 1949 American artist Robert Motherwell painted the first in a series of works collectively entitled “Elegy to the Spanish Republic.” He painted almost 150 of these Abstract Expressionist paintings in the next three decades.

Question: Where did Hedwig glass originate?

Answer: Hedwig glass was made in Egypt in the 11th or 12th century. It exists as a very small number of glasses with designs of stylized lions and griffins among palm leaves cut in high relief.

Question: What is the name for the decorated tiles that sometimes cover entire walls of buildings in Portugal, Spain, and the countries they colonized?

Answer: The word azulejo comes from the Arabic al-zulayj, meaning “little stone.” These Spanish and later principally Portuguese tiles were produced from the 14th century onward, and their use was widespread in religious architecture, such as that of Coimbra Cathedral, and on the facades of privatebuildings.

Question: What is the oldest art academy in the United States?

Answer: The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts was founded in Philadelphia in 1805. It is the oldest art academy and museum in the United States, specializing in American painting and sculpture of the 18th to the 20th century.

Question: The Glasgow School of Art is an example of which style of architecture?

Answer: The Glasgow School of Art (1896–1909), designed by the Scottish architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh, is considered the first original example of Art Nouveau architecture in Great Britain. Art Nouveau is an ornamental style of art that flourished between about 1890 and 1910 throughout Europe and the United States.

Question: Who painted the mural Last Supper in a monastery in Milan?

Answer: Leonardo da Vinci painted his Last Supper on a wall in the Dominican monastery Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan probably between 1495 and 1498.

Question: Where did the Marine style of pottery originate?

Answer: The Marine style of pottery originated in Crete about 1500 BCE. It was exported from Crete all over the Cyclades and the Greek mainland.

Question: Who was NOT a member of the group of female sculptors working in Rome in the mid-1800s?

Answer: Charlotte Saunders Cushman made her living as an actress; she was not part of the group of women sculptors whom the author Henry James called, opaquely, the “white marmorean flock.”

Question: What name is given to the process of fusing a thin glass layer to a metal object?

Answer: Porcelain enameling involves fusing a thin layer of glass to a metal object to prevent corrosion and enhance beauty. Enamelware is usually quite resistant to acid and impact but may crack if the base metal is deformed.

Question: Which of these Impressionist painters is known for repeated studies of the same motif in series, changing canvases with the light or as the painter’s interest shifted?

Answer: In his mature works, French Impressionist Claude Monet developed his method of producing repeated studies of the same motif in series, changing canvases with the light or as his interest shifted. These series were frequently exhibited in groups—for example, his images of haystacks (1890–91) or Rouen Cathedral (1894).

Question: Which of these women was associated with the nihilistic art movement called Dada?

Answer: Hannah Höch was among the women associated with Dada, the nihilistic movement in the arts that flourished primarily in Zurich, Switzerland; New York City; Berlin, Cologne, and Hannover, Germany; and Paris in the early 20th century. It favoured group collaboration, spontaneity, and chance.

Question: Who created the Renaissance painting The Birth of Venus?

Answer: Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, together with Primavera, is often said to epitomize for modern viewers the spirit of the Renaissance.

Question: Which French artist died in the Franco-German War?

Answer: Frédéric Bazille was an unenthusiastic medical student before his wealthy parents permitted him to study painting. He seemed destined to occupy a prominent place among the Impressionists, but he was killed in 1870 in the Franco-German War.

Question: Who was appointed court painter by King Charles I of England in 1632?

Answer: After Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck was the most prominent Flemish painter of the 17th century. Appointed court painter by King Charles I of England in 1632, he was knighted the same year.

Question: Which Mexican artist reacted against the paintings of the Mexican muralists?

Answer: Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo reacted against the epic proportions and political rhetoric of the paintings of the Mexican muralists, who had dominated the country’s art production since the Mexican Revolution. Instead, he chose to work on small canvases, using Cubist, Surrealist, and other European styles and fusing them with a basically Mexican subject matter.

Question: Who is generally regarded as the greatest artist of the German Renaissance?

Answer: Albrecht Dürer is the painter and printmaker generally regarded as the greatest German Renaissance artist. His vast body of work includes altarpieces and other religious works, numerous portraits and self-portraits, and copper engravings.

Question: Which English landscape painter popularized the limerick?

Answer: The painter Edward Lear’s true genius is apparent in his nonsense poems, which portray a world of fantastic creatures in nonsense words, often suggesting a deep underlying sense of melancholy. Their quality is matched, especially in the limericks, by that of his engaging pen-and-ink drawings.

Question: Which Spanish painter of Greek descent acquired in Italy the nickname by which he is known?

Answer: El Greco never forgot that he was of Greek descent and usually signed his paintings in Greek letters with his full name, Domenikos Theotokopoulos. He is nevertheless generally known as El Greco (“the Greek”), a name he acquired when he lived in Italy, where identifying a man by his country or city of origin was a common practice.