Deck 14: Modernism: the Assault on Tradition

Question 1

Wright's extraordinary house, "Fallingwater," depended on the inventive use of

A) the cantilever.
B) the Roman arch.
C) sheet glass.
D) ribbon windows.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which artistic movement thrived on nihilism and irrationalism?

A) Cubism
B) Dada
C) Futurism
D) Fauvism

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Jules Verne and H.

A) Symbolist poetry
B) Verse drama
C) Science fiction
D) Stream-of-consciousness narratives
G) Wells were pioneering figures in which literary genre?

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The names Gropius and Le Corbusier are associated with the

A) birth of motion pictures.
B) first efforts at abstract sculpture.
C) International Style in architecture.
D) twelve-tone system in music.

Question 5

Albert Einstein and other twentieth-century physicists argued that

A) Newtonian laws of physics did not function at the microscopic level.
B) Newtonian laws of physics did not function at the cosmic level.
C) the properties of an object changed as it approached the speed of light.
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 6

Freud theorized that the libido was an important drive of

A) sublimation.
B) the superego.
C) the ego.
D) the id.

Question 7

The first totalitarian state of the twentieth century was established in

A) Russia.
B) China.
C) Germany.
D) Japan.

Question 8

The most distinctive feature of Imagist poetry was its

A) lyricism.
B) pared down, abstract style.
C) revival of fixed meter and rhyme.
D) attention to realistic detail.

Question 9

Purging the canvas of all recognizable subject matter was the aim of artists such as

A) Picasso and Matisse.
B) Duchamp and Kahlo.
C) Mondrian and Kandinsky.
D) Miró and Klee.

Question 10

Picasso's landmark work Les Demoiselles d'Avignon was a precursor to the style that became known as

A) Cubism.
B) Fauvism.
C) Futurism.
D) Impressionism.

Question 11

Fauvist artworks are most notable for their bold use of

A) dreamlike images.
B) distorted geometrical shapes.
C) color.
D) abstract imagery.

Question 12

The Holocaust resulted from Hitler's

A) rapid industrialization.
B) enforced collectivism of farmland.
C) theory of Aryan racial superiority.
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 13

According to Freud, civilization was the product of the

A) ego's sublimation of the id.
B) conscious efforts of the superego.
C) undirected power of the id.
D) unchecked libido, or sex drive.

Question 14

Picasso's landmark painting, Guernica, immortalized the

A) fall of Moscow during the Russian Revolution.
B) aerial bombing of a civilian target.
C) revolt of underpaid Spanish workers.
D) destruction of Hiroshima.

Question 15

In his landmark poem The Rock, T. S. Eliot claimed that the knowledge accumulated by Western civilization brought twentiethcentury Westerners closer to

A) enlightenment.
B) technological superiority.
C) God.
D) ignorance and death.

Question 16

Leopold Bloom is the central figure in James Joyce's landmark work,

A) Metamorphosis.
B) The Waste Land.
C) The Search for Lost Time.
D) Ulysses.

Question 17

Vaslav Nijinksy is associated with

A) the twelve-tone system in music.
B) the birth of Nonobjective art.
C) method acting.
D) Russian dance.

Question 18

Jung argued that the collective unconscious manifested itself in

A) archetypes.
B) dreams.
C) fairytales.
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 19

The use of cinematic shots in rapid succession is known as

A) montage.
B) collage.
C) assemblage.
D) frottage.

Question 20

According to Marcel Duchamp and other Dada figures, the artists should be the

A) conscience of the nation.
B) eyes of the people.
C) advocates for peace.
D) destroyers of tradition.

Question 21

A major component of the music known as "jazz" is

A) improvisation.
B) syncopation.
C) the blues motif.
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 22

Write an essay on Modernism that uses the words "innovation," "disjunction," and "nihilism" to discuss some of the landmarks of the early twentieth century. Be sure to select one representative work from each of the arts.

Question 23

Discuss the landmarks of the early twentieth century from the point of view that despite the wide variety of styles, artists became more preoccupied with form than with content.

Question 24

The pioneering narrative films of George Méliès and Edwin S. Porter were early examples of which popular genres?

A) War stories and westerns
B) Westerns and science fiction
C) Science fiction and historical romance
D) Historical romance and war stories

Question 25

Which of the following attitudes is LEAST characteristic of art in the first half of the twentieth century?

A) An interest in the purely formal aspects of artistic expression
B) The influence of new theories of time and space
C) The disjunctive juxtaposition of motifs
D) Confidence in an orderly and predictable universe

Question 26

Which landmarks of the era prior to 1950 illustrate most dramatically the idea of Modernism as an assault on tradition? How so?

Question 27

For much of his music, Aaron Copland found inspiration in

A) Cubist paintings.
B) American folk songs.
C) the twelve-tone system.
D) Russian folk music.