Free-Response Tips

1
Free-Response Tips Sample Questions

• Tips taken from Barrons APAH Exam Review

2
Tip

• Never use value judgments or matters of taste or
  opinion in an essay.
• Never say that a work of art is better or that
  an artist used perspective better or color
  better.
• Instead, express differences in terms of values
  that few can object to such as The work on the
  right has more vivid color than the work on the
  left.

3
Tip

• It is permissible in questions with two slides to
  simply refer to them as right and left rather
  than repeating a title. Once you have
  established what they are, left and right, or
  even L and R, are sufficient.

4
Tip

• Always identify a work of art clearly and not
  generically.
• For example, dont identify by simply using the
  pyramid or a cathedral.
• Use the Pyramid of the Sun in Teothuacan, Mexico
  or the Pisa Cathedral in Pisa, Italy.

5
Tip

• Write in complete sentences.
• Do not list and do not use bullets!

• Read the question carefully
• and fully answer each part.

6
Tip

• To focus the readers attention, have your
  opening statement rephrase the question
• Example question
• Often the original context of a work of art is
  essential to its interpretation. Choose two
  works of art from two different periods in which
  the original context is known, explain the
  context, and discuss how it contributes to its
  meaning

7
Tip

• Example Answer
• The original context of a work can add
  significantly to its meaning artists often
  having been commissioned to create works for a
  particular place or function. Two works that
  create this impression are the High Renaissance
  painting of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci
  and Robert Smithsons Site Art work called Spiral
  Jetty in Great Salt Lake, Utah.

8
Tip

• Questions 3 9 will be short answer
• Free-response questions
• You will have between 5 10 minutes to answer
  each.
• The questions are based on color images and/or
  text
• 1 question will include a quote

9
The work on the left is from the beginning of the
Roman portrait tradition, and the work on the
right is from the end of that tradition. Identify
the portrait on the right. Discuss ways in which
the function and time period of each account for
the differences in their appearance. 10 mins
10

• Identify the period of the fresco shown here in a
  black and white illustration. How does the work
  exemplify the artistic concerns of its period. 5
  mins

11

• Attribute the painting to an artist you have
  studied. Justify your attribution by identifying
  and discussing specific characteristics seen in
  the painting. 10 mins

12

• This shows a Roman copy of a Greek original.
  Name the specific art-historical style of the
  original. How is the theme of death treated and
  why? 5 mins

13

• Identify the architect of this building. How did
  the innovations in this building lead to the
  development of the modern skyscraper? 10 mins

14

• The architect of the building shown on the right
  is Leon Battista Alberti.
• Name the period of the building on the right.
  How and why did Alberti adapt elements of the
  work on the left? 10 mins

15

• The two works were made in the same period about
  100 years apart.
• Identify the period. Explain how the two works
  exemplify developments in sculpture during that
  period. Refer to specific characteristics of
  both works to support your answer. 10 mins

16

• Identify the culture in which the manuscript page
  was made. How is the manuscript page
  characteristic of its culture? 5mins

17

• Identify the photographer. How did the
  photographers work influence painting? 10 mins

18

• An aerial view of a monumental work is shown.
• Identify the artist. What artistic concerns
  motivate the creation of earthworks such as the
  one shown? 10 mins

19

• Analyze how the Roman temple is similar to and
  different from a Greek temple. 5 mins

20
Both of these paintings were made by the same
artist. Identify the artist. Citing specific
details from the paintings, analyze how the
artist used satire to comment on class and taste
in the society of the time. 10 mins
21

• Thomas Cole painted the work shown.
• Identify the art historical school with which
  Cole was associated. Discuss how this painting
  embodies the political, social, or philosophical
  ideas of its time. 10 mins

22

• The following statement, made by Mary Cassatt in
  1904, refers to her 1879 collaboration with the
  artistic group with which she is most closely
  associated.
• Our . . . exhibition . . . Was a protest against
  official exhibitions and not a grouping of
  artists with the same tendencies . . .
• To which group of artists does Cassatts remark
  pertain? Referring to the work shown and a work
  by one other artist in this group, defend her
  claim that these artists did not have the same
  stylistic tendencies. 5 mins