Art History AP Review Flashcards
Grade 12 · Art · Flashcards
Essential terms, movements, and artists for the AP Art History exam covering global art from prehistory to contemporary.
Flashcards
- Tenebrism
- Extreme contrast between deep shadow and bright light used by Caravaggio; a dramatic form of chiaroscuro.
- Sfumato
- Leonardo da Vinci's technique of blending tones so gradually that edges disappear in soft atmospheric haze.
- Chiaroscuro
- The use of strong contrasts between light and dark to model three-dimensional form in a two-dimensional work.
- Contrapposto
- A Greek and Renaissance sculptural stance in which the body's weight shifts to one leg, creating a subtle S-curve and naturalistic pose.
- Iconography
- The study of symbols, themes, and subject matter in art and their conventional cultural or religious meanings.
- Formal Analysis
- Close visual description of line, color, shape, texture, and composition used as evidence for interpretive claims.
- Patronage
- The commissioning of artworks by wealthy individuals or institutions, often shaping content, style, and message.
- Counter-Reformation
- Catholic Church's response to Protestantism; used emotional Baroque art to reaffirm faith and Church authority.
- Salon des Refusés (1863)
- Paris exhibition of works rejected by the official Académie; where Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe shocked the public and sparked Modernism.
- Fresco
- Painting technique using water-based pigment applied directly to wet plaster; used by Michelangelo on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
- Vanishing Point
- In linear perspective, the point on the horizon line where parallel lines converge, creating the illusion of three-dimensional depth.
- Hierarchical Scale
- Representing more important figures as larger than less important ones, used extensively in Egyptian, Medieval, and Byzantine art.
- Avant-Garde
- Artists or movements that push experimental boundaries, rejecting established conventions; key to understanding 20th-century art history.
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