20 Pieces You Need to Know for the AP Test
20 Pieces You Need to Know for the AP Test
The following list contains MY suggested pieces to know inside and out. Based on past experience, any number of these pieces could be used as examples for a variety of essay topics. **Note: Being an expert on JUST these twenty doesn’t guarantee a passing grade on the AP Essays. You should still study the other 1,134 pieces we studied, but I think these 20 will help your odds greatly.
| |Piece |Why You Should Know It |
|1 |Stele of Naram-Sin |Example of Non-Western culture; hieratic scale; multiple ‘suns’ suggest a night scene, |
| |Akkadian Relief c2200 BCE |probably in honor of the Moon deity; stone is about 6.5 ft tall and the composition of |
| | |the picture is based on the shape of the rock. |
|2 |Akhenaton and his Family |Example of Non-Western culture; Style unlike all other Egyptian periods; only Ancient |
| |Amarna Period c1353-1335 BCE |Egyptian period to have monotheistic religion (Aten, the Sun God); rubbery-like figures |
| | |with bloated bellies; sunken relief style. |
|3 |Last Judgment of Hu-Nefer |Connection between art, religion and Egyptian afterlife; section from the Book of the |
| |Egyptian, c 1290-1280 BCE |Dead; specifically shows the soul (heart) being weighted by Anubis; Hu-Nefer is depicted|
| | |several times to show the story from left to right. Also depicts Osiris, the God of |
| | |Nature as green w/ horns. |
|4 |Bayeux Tapestry |Commissioned by Bishop Odo (half Brother of William the Conqueror), it depicts the |
| |Romanesque (?) c1070s |Normans conquest of England (Battle of Hastings) of 1066; One of the first records of a |
| | |historical event shortly after it occurred. |
|5 |Giotto di Bondone |Giotto was one of the 1st to use modeling to create figures with form; Arena Chapel may |
| |Arena Chapel, 1305-1310. |have also been designed by Giotto because the building and frescoes work so |
| |Late Gothic / Proto-Renaissance |harmoniously. |
|6 |Jan Van Eyck |Extreme detail indicative of Northern Renaissance; Painting in mirror on wall shows the |
| |Arnolfini and His Wife, 1434. |models as well as the painter; Perfect example of Flemish symbolism; Many of the |
| |Early Northern Renaissance |examples of symbolism in the painting include the dog, broom, mirror, etc. |
|7 |Masaccio |Like Hu-Nefer, depicts a story where a character is repeated more than once; Perfect |
| |Tribute Money, 1427. |example of Early Italian Renaissance – figures are modeled with lights, mediums AND |
| |Brancacci Chapel, Florence |darks (as opposed to Giotto’s use of mostly lights and mediums); linear perspective used|
| |Early Italian Renaissance |on buildings. |
|8 |Gianlorenzo Bernini |Great example of an early mixed media piece (marble and gilt bronze); Perfect example of|
| |St. Theresa of Avila in Ecstasy |High Baroque – emotional, detailed, awe-inspiring; created as part of the |
| |High Italian Renaissance, 1652. |Counter-Reformation to embrace Catholicism. |
|9 |Ara Pacis |Connection between art and political propaganda; to celebrate the peace established in |
| |Pax Romana (Roman), 13 BCE |the Empire after Augustus's victories in Gaul and Spain; meant to be a vision of the |
| | |Roman civil religion. (Pax Romana ="Roman peace"); Imperial Procession relief makes |
| | |attempt to show depth; Leaders and family members are not in hieratic scale – all same |
| | |size. |
|10 |Matthias Grunewald |Built for the Monastery of St. Anthony, which was known for treatments for skin disease;|
| |Isenheim Altarpiece, 1509-1515. |Altarpiece shows a distorted, sickly Jesus (probably the first of its kind); Lamentation|
| |High German Reniassance |of Christ on predella; One panel also shows the Temptation of St. Anthony with |
| | |cartoonish, demon-like characters – also a distant ancestor to Surrealism or even |
| | |Maurice Sendak (Where The Wild Things Are) |
|11 |Diego Velasquez |One of the most intriguing pieces ever painted; You have to consider the level of social|
| |Las Meninas, 1656. |class in 17th century Spain – are we standing next to King Philip and his wife in the |
| |Spanish Baroque |picture, or are we ourselves supposed to be royalty standing in the mirror? Based on the|
| | |vanishing point, we’re right next to them, so the viewer, painter and Royalty are all in|
| | |the same composition – something intentional, but not originally noticed by the Ruling |
| | |class. Needless to say, the portrait of 5-year old Princess Margarita is a simple front |
| | |for something bigger and deeper. |
|12 |Gericault |Narrative art – based on true account of the French ship Medusa filled with Algerian |
| |Raft of the Medusa, 1818-1819. |immigrants; multi-triangular composition similar to Reniassance works; composition is |
| |Romantic |split – left triangle =despair and agony, right = hope; dramatic lighting and intense |
| | |scene indicative of Romantic painting. |
|13 |Eduoard Manet |Painting's juxtaposition of fully-dressed men and nude women was controversial; Rejected|
| |Luncheon On the Grass, 1863. |by Salon in 1863 but exhibited in Salon de Refuses; |
|14 |Mary Cassatt |Female artist who used domestic maternal settings in art; piece was a direct influence |
| |Maternal Caress, 1891. |from Japonisme woodcut prints; flat, warmer colors, black outlines – which was |
| | |different from her normal blueish pastel paintings. |
|15 |Eduoard Manet |Rejected painting of a prostitute painted in a cold, indifferent mood; Greatly resembles|
| |Olympia, 1863. |Titian’s 1538 Venus of Urbino; Alert black cat in painting also contrasts sleeping dog |
| | |in Titian work. |
|16 |Marcel Duchamp |Ready-made sculpture which first questioned the notion of art as creative choice rather |
| |Fountain, 1917, Dada. |than a finished piece. |
|17 |Frank Lloyd Wright |Structured balance between man and nature – house built on top of waterfall; |
| |Fallingwater, Mill Run, PA 1930s? |cantilever-based architecture all on 90-degree angles; very Bauhaus-like, but considered|
| | |‘Prairie-Style’ due to many of these homes in the non-urban Midwest. |
|18 |Pablo Picasso |Connection between art and war; symbolism as shown in light bulb in middle (shining |
| |Guernica, 1937? |truth); victims of bombing showed in a variety of ways. |
|19 |Jackson Pollock |Abstract expressionism first questioned the use of subject matter as a means of art; |
| |Autumn Rhythm: Number 31 |Pollock used large canvas that he stood on to drip and sling paint, making him ‘part’ of|
| |Abstract Expressionism, 1950. |the artwork; Called ‘action painting’ for this reason. |
|20 |Any major Pop Art piece |180-degree reaction against Abstract Expressionism; marked beginnings of Post-Modernism;|
| |1950s-60s |combined the elements of recognizable Popular elements with a society where everything |
| | |is mass-produced; Last of the notable Art History periods. |
Other pieces that should probably make the list:
Abbot Suger – Church of St. Denis (for attempting to create a new vision of churches – the Gothic Cathedral)
Hugo Van Der Goes, Portinari Altarpiece (for inclusion of donor family in religious altarpiece AND the first to include common shepherds in the portraits)
Jan Van Eyck, Ghent Altarpiece
Trajan’s Column or Arch of Titus (for storytelling reliefs)
Edward Muybridge, Series of Horse Running (as a precursor to motion pictures)
Frank Gehry, Guggenheim – Bilbao, Spain
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