AP ART HISTORY SUMMER WORK INTRODUCTION—COURSE STRUCTURE Globally:

(70%) A chronological survey of Western art, from ancient Mesopotamia to the present. (30%) A brief survey of non-Western art, plus a number of specific examples of your choosing. This is

referred to as Art Beyond Europe, or ABE. Within Western art, chronologically:

For each period, you must know the key characteristics of the style(s) key works relationship between the art and the broader historical context (i.e., How does the art fit into the

overall history of the time?)

For a given work of art: context: its place in its historical setting (Why it was made? What was its purpose? What does it

tell us about the time?) composition: its makeup and arrangement (How is it constructed? Why was it done this way?

What was its purpose?)

RED ALERT WARNING!: You won’t be asked to learn every important work from every time period, and everything about each work. Instead, we’ll focus on learning a number of representative samples and learning how to analyze properly. That way if you’re asked about an unknown work, you’ll be able to offer a valid answer. That said, you will learn a lot…

THE AP ART HISTORY EXAM 40% multiple-choice questions: You’ll be given 115 multiple-choice questions. Some will be based on images, others will be standard m-c questions. Timed for 60 minutes. 40% short-answer response questions: You’ll be given one or two images and a question to answer, about a paragraph of writing. There will be 6 of these questions. Timed for 10 minutes. (Ex: Name this work and its style, and offer three characteristics of that style.) 20% long-answer essays: You’ll be given a theme and asked to choose two works that relate to the theme; you’ll compare and contrast how the two relate to the theme in a page-length essay. There will be two of these questions; one will ask for works before and after a given date and the other will ask for at least one non-Western work. Timed for 30 minutes. (Ex: Art sometimes is used to illustrate or enhance the authority of a political leader. Choose any two works of art, which served to support the authority of a political figure and compare how they do so. At least one work must come from outside the European tradition.) THEMES family domestic art treatment of death love human body portraiture war symbolism civic architecture nature humor/satire political authority justice sacred spaces national pride animals influence of patrons standards of feminine beauty science religious figures and any others you make up

SUMMER WORK This summer, you will complete the following and bring in written results on the first day of class in September.

1. Explore the following websites: www.smarthistory.org www.metmuseum.org www.artchive.com

Note how each site is set up and how it might be useful for the types of work done in this course.

2. Find and learn 10 interesting adjectives. These will help you to write more evocative and precise descriptions of art works, so they may describe colors, numbers, movement, or any other qualities. Your list may overlap somewhat, but not entirely, with that of other students.

3. Assemble 5 works of art from outside the Western tradition. These will be the start of your ABE portfolio

in preparation for the exam, though we'll all share with one another too. For each, assemble an image of the work with the name, artist, and date of creation. See the attached sheet for full details on this component of the assignment. Save your notes and the image as a word document and email them to me by September 3.

4. Study the Ancient Mesopotamia outline. Familiarize yourself with both the vocabulary words and the key works, and be able to identify examples of the vocabulary in those works.

***You’re strongly advised to purchase an AP study guide over the summer; it’ll pay off over the course of the year. I have Barron’s and REA’s The Best Test Prep, and will share parts with you as a textbook supplement.***

Email me with any questions: roodvoets@hotmail.com