slide identification format

regular slide identifications -- I show you a slide and you have 3 minutes (more or less) to identify and comment briefly.

Give the fullest information you can about this object -- IN THIS FORMAT

 artist (if known) -- most artists we deal with in this course are anonymous.  the few known ones are especially important!
     title
     date
     culture of origin
     location -- only in the case of buildings do you need to give location, or in the case of sculpture attached to a building, give the building location, too!  Location is city and (modern) nation.

Then give some idea of its stylistic characteristics or significance to the history of art.

unknown slides identifications -- almost every group of identifications will end with an UNKNOWN -- a slide you have not seen before.

the way to answer an unknown is to BEGIN by comparing it to things you do know
THEN identify it at the bottom of the essay answer.  Your identification items can be based on things you do know --
    for example:  "the pose is like the statue of Pharaoh Khafre, so it is Old Kingdom Egypt"
 

A WHOLE PAGE ON SLIDE IDENTIFICATION

General Principles for Tests

"what about this object seems characteristic of its society?"

"is there a particular object to which we always compared this?"

"is this an early or a late example of its type -- is it the first known one?"

"why would he ask us this?"
 
 

An Actual Test

Art 101
Test  1
September 20, 2001

identification questions
 3 minutes each
 5 points each, 25 points total
1. through 5.
give the fullest information you can about this object -- IN THIS FORMAT, with each piece of data on a separate line!!!!!!
 artist (if known)
 title
 date
 culture of origin
 location if a building or part of a building
Then give some idea of its stylistic characteristics or significance to the history of art. (ask yourself ìwhy is he putting this on the test?  what about it is characteristic of its style/period/culture?î)
 

1.  Kamares ware jar from Phaistos, dophins
2.  Step Pyramid, Funerary complex of King Zoser, architect: Imhotep
3.  Pharaoh hunting, box from tomb of Tutankhamun
4.  Bust of Queen Nefertiti, sculptor: Thutmose
5.  Lion gate, Mycenae

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

comparison questions:
 10 minutes each
 15 points each (5 points i.d., 10 points essay), 75 points total
 

Identify each work using the format from the previous section then answer the following question in ESSAY format.
6.   These two items are from the same period.  All our ideas about them are approximations rather than having any basis in writing or certain knowledge about what the artists were doing.  Evaluate each of these statements in terms of how helpful you think it is in understanding the art works:

"Art is always about the self-expression of the artist."
"These images were made for magical purposes."
"These images were made as a religious thanksgiving."
"These images are records of the real world the artists inhabited."

Two images from prehistoric cave painting

Identify each work using the format from the previous section then answer the following question in ESSAY format.
7.   The way these statues are conceived and made, their style, and differing approaches to naturalism can tell us much about what their societies wanted from the statues.  Discuss the religious function of these art objects inside each culture.  Feel free to bring other works of art into your discussion.
Statue of Khafre
Abu temple statuettes
 

Identify each work using the format from the previous section then answer the following question in ESSAY format.
8.   Each of these shows interactions between people and the divine, but they are quite different.  Does the artist help you tell humans from gods?  Is that important in ART terms?  What were people inside the culture supposed to understand about the person TO WHOM the offering was being made in relationship to the people making the offerings?
Hagia Triada Sarcophagus
Stele of Hamurabi
 

Identify each work using the format from the previous section then answer the following question in ESSAY format.
9.   Explain IN DETAIL with examples drawn from these slides and from any other examples you wish to use how the designers intended the visitor to move through the complex.  What is the experience like?  How would the decoration of the complex  have reinforced the experience?  Are there wider parallels you can draw to other buildings from the same cultures?
Complex of Hatshepsut
Uruk
 
 
 

Identify each work using the format from the previous section then answer the following question in ESSAY format.
10.   How can you use the idea that different cultures have individual styles to sort these two out?  Identify the cultures.  Good answers will compare the images to other works from the cultures.
Snake Goddess
Head of an Akkadian Ruler