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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which statement is NOT true about viewing an image made in the past?

2. According to the authors, how is the focus of a man's power different than a female's?

3. Which statement best describes what is eliminated when a work of art is reproduced?

4. What does the author use "The Key of Dreams" as an example of?

5. In Chapter 2, what is the same between pages 40 to 41 and pages 42 to 43?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do you think is the overall mood of the collection of images in Chapter 2 on pages 38 and 39?

2. What is similar in all of the images in Chapter 2 on pages 36 and 37?

3. Describe the combination of images present in Chapter 2 on pages 40 and 41.

4. What happens to the meaning of a painting when many reproductions are made?

5. What effect does the inclusion of text have on the images in pages 40 and 41?

6. Explain how the commission by Frans Hals could easily be misunderstood by the modern viewer.

7. Explain how combining a variety of images to present a concept can be more powerful than using a single image.

8. Describe how there is a gap between words and sight, as explained in Chapter 1.

9. Explain how an image is a record of a sight.

10. Describe the metaphor of the lighthouse and the single eye of perspective.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain how traditional European oil paintings make their subjects appear tangible and desirable, and discuss the affect this has on the culture of the time period.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay to compare the techniques of traditional oil painting and early photographic techniques. In your writing, cover the following questions. Which techniques are better at exposing details in the subject? Which technique gives more life to a subject? What affect does early photography have on oil painting? Give an example from the text that compares an oil painting to early photography, and describe the obvious differences that appear to the viewer.

Essay Topic 3

Woman nudes are a common subject in traditional European oil paintings. Write the following three-part essay to describe the portrayal of women in these paintings.

Part 1 - Describe how female nudes are positioned and situated in paintings that are tailored to the male viewer.

Part 2 - Explain some of the various ways that artists manipulate the depiction of female nudes to shape the viewer's way of seeing.

Part 3 - Contrast the assumed humanism in European oil paintings with the portrayal of women nudes in traditional European oil paintings.

(see the answer keys)

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