Art Movements Over the Centuries Quiz

Answer: Renaissance

The early Renaissance period commenced in the late 14th century and was encouraged by the clergy and aristocracy alike. It reached its peak in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Proponents of this art period were Michelangelo, Hugo van der Goes, Leonardo and Sandro Botticelli.

The movement was characterised by a belief among some that it was possible to achieve a mystical union with God by the contemplation of beauty.

Answer: True

Beginning in the late 1700s, the Romantic Movement reflected the ideas of poet William Wordsworth, who suggested that poetry should be an outlet for an "overflow of powerful feelings". Artists began to use light more dreamily, with a greater focus on the emotions of the subject to the fore. Artists in this style include Constable, Goya, and Turner.

Answer: Pointillism

Pointillism was a very time-consuming method, which consisted of using thousands of tiny coloured dots (points) to create the work. Seurat's painting now hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago.

Rococo was a movement from the 18th century, founded about 150 years before pointillism and Art Deco had its heyday in the early 20th century. Socialism was more associated with politics, rather than art.

Answer: Painting in which small, discrete dots of colour collectively form an image

George Seurat developed Pointillism, painting with small dots, which is not part of the post-impressionist movement. Post-impressionism is poorly defined as a movement. The term was first used in 1906 by English painter and critic Roger Fry. In 1910 he organised an exhibition of French painters for an exhibition in London called 'Manet and the Post-Impressionists'.

Post-impressionist painters disliked the the loss of structure and the triviality of subject matter in Impressionist paintings. Paul Cezanne wanted to restore order and structure to a painting. Paul Cezanne became known as father of Post-impressionism.

Some of the major works of the period included Henri Rousseau's 'The Dream' (1910) and Paul Cezanne's 'Still Life with a Curtain' (1895).

Answer: Unconscious

This movement grew in Paris from the early 1920s and was triggered by the Dada movement which began in Zurich and blossomed in Paris. As a simplistic description, Surrealism would use everyday objects and turn them bizarre objects, they would create images that defied logic or create a super reality. One of the earliest masters of the movement was Max Ernst, and his work 'The Elephant Celebes' is considered one of the movement's most important pieces.

Answer: The Wild Beasts

This movement was brief, lasting only from 1905 through to 1908. During that time there were only three exhibitions held. The movement demanded realistic values in the paintings and the use of strong colour. The works also had to be painterly. An example of being painterly is leaving the brush strokes visible so that the painting may appear to have been done in a somewhat uncontrolled manner.

Henri Matisse ('Self-Portrait in a Striped T-shirt' and 'Blue Nude'), and Andre Derain ('The Drying Sails') are held out as the leaders and masters of this movement.

Answer: Cubism

The other three answers above were all art movements that were pioneered in the nineteenth century. Cubism is considered one of the most significant and influential art movements to emerge in the twentieth century and it was partly inspired the later works of Paul Cezanne that were done in three dimensional form. The aim of Cubism is to present a subject from a multitude of viewpoints rather than one. To achieve this the artist will analyse an object, deconstruct it and then reassemble it in an abstract form.

Answer: Russia

Constructivism is a style or movement where mechanical objects are 'combined into abstract mobile structural forms' (as defined by the Oxford Dictionary). The movement influenced many aspects of modern architecture and design as well as art itself. Artists closely associated with Constructivism include Konstantin Medunetsky, Konstantin Melnikov and Ella Bergmann-Michel.

Answer: Italy

Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti, an Italian poet, is considered the founder of the Futurist movement and his key work was the 'Futurist Manifesto' published in 1909. From this came an art movement that placed a great deal of emphasis on violence, speed and youth. It embraced the modern world and took upon itself to unshackle Italy from its ancient past. The key works from this moment in history include Boccioni's sculpture 'Unique Forms of Continuity in Space' and Giacomo Balla's painting 'Abstract Speed + Sound' (both 1913).

Answer: 1950s

The first elements of Pop Art began to come forward during the 1950s, led by the works of Eduardo Paolozzi and Richard Hamilton in Great Britain. Their efforts were complimented by artists such as Larry Rivers and Robert Rauschenberg in the United States. The movement centred on producing quality artworks, with the centrepieces being kitschy items that were popular, but definitely not elitist, at the time. The most famous example is Andy Warhol's 'Campbell's Soup' cans.