AP Art History
Description
Within AP Art History, students will explore the interconnections between culture, art, and historical context through the critical analysis of art, culture, and purpose. Through the use of a defined art historical skill set and reflective learning, students will analyze relationships across cultures with a global lens. The examination of how people have responded to and communicated their experiences through art will enable students to think conceptually about art ranging from prehistory to contemporary. Students will be active participants, engaging with art and its context as they read, research, and collaborate to learn about art, artists, art making, and responses to and interpretations of art. The AP Art History course is structured around three big ideas, three essential questions, twelve learning objectives, and ten content areas outlined within the College Board Advanced Placement Art History Framework. Each content area is represented by a prescribed image set accompanied by enduring understanding and essential knowledge statements that provide required contextual information to serve as a foundation and catalyst for student learning within the course. The intention is for students to explore art in its historic and cultural contexts.
Major Topics and Concepts
Segment One
Gallery One—Introduction to Art History
An overview of art history and the purpose and function of the analysis of art within its cultural context
Global and chronological themes and subthemes in art history
An introduction to the College Board Advanced Placement Art History Framework
Formal analysis of the art process through the principles and elements of design
The College Board AP Art History Exam breakdown—what to expect, type of assessments on the exam, how the exam assesses the students’ application of art historical skills, and how the exam is scored
Understanding how to read and interpret architectural plans
Global Prehistory starting with Asia and Africa
Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic Periods
Human expression of the natural world prior to written record
Ceramics, painting, sculpture, and architecture representative of utilitarian art
Gallery Two—Indigenous Americas
Ancient America and Native North America—Olmec, Maya, Mexica (Aztec), and Central Andes
Art of the Indigenous Americas as a representation of the retention of pre-Hispanic traditions.
Overarching artistic traits of Indigenous Americas—unity with the natural world, cosmic geometry, Shamanism, animal-based media, incorporation of trade materials, and spiritual utilitarianism
Integration of terrestrial and plant imagery within architecture to represent power and hierarchy within the culture and community
Status, power, gifts, visual memory, and revival represented within art of the Ancient America and Native North American cultures
Trade resulting in exotic materials within artistic themes of interdependence and dualism
Exploration of Ancient America and Native North America within the context of colonization, persecution, genocide, and marginalization
Gallery Three—Asia
Secular and non-secular art produced from West Asia’s dominant Islamic culture
Sacred spaces of West and Central Asia as a result of cross-cultural fertilization
Connection of West and Central Asia through Buddhist and Islamic traditions
Architectural innovations and monuments driven by religious function and pilgrimages
Two-dimensional design favored in West Asia, while metalwork thrived in West and Central Asia
Visual traditions of South, East, and Southeast Asia among the oldest, identified by the interconnectedness of humans with the natural and spiritual world
Universal search for spiritual development within Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, resulting in unified visual representations
Buddhist reliquary stupas, ink paintings, pagodas, and rock gardens representing the overlap of secular and non-secular art
Gallery 4—The Pacific
Diversity in the Pacific resulting from ecological situations, social structure, and external influences such as commerce, colonialism, and missionary activity
The Pacific as defined by geographical location and its art as representative of materials carried and exchanged
Three sections of the Pacific—micro, poly, and mela, each defined by individual ecologies and sociological systems
Art of the Pacific as narrative and utilitarian expressing beliefs, social relations, essential truths, and information within the creation, performance, and the destruction of art
Wrappings, ritual dress, and tattoos as symbols for human interaction with deities
Architectural design and shared and rarified spaces reinforcing social order
Sacred spaces announcing and containing legitimacy, power, and life force.
Gallery 5—Ancient Near East and Africa
Sumerian, Akkadian, Neo-Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, and Persian cultures
Religious art and architecture of the Ancient Near East
Emergence of stylistic elements such as hierarchical scale, registers, historical narratives, and formal sculpture of humans interacting with gods
Architecture of the Ancient Near East housed places of worship and protection to represent the power and authority of the rulers
Predynastic Egypt including the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms
Artistic representations of royal figures and divinities serving a funerary function and representing order, stability, and permanence
Figural representation correlated with cultural placement, characterizing separation between the deified and lower classes
Predynastic Egypt driven by an elaborate funerary sect represented by the incorporation of mythological and religious symbolism
The artistic and cultural revolution of the Amarna period
African art resulting from human beliefs and interactions motivated by behavior, containing and expressing belief, and validating social organization
African art expressing the supernatural and used daily and ritually
Art and cultural practices as purposeful, with cultural protocols to ensure the artistic experience (meant to be sung, danced, and presented holistically) and produce expected results
Education, civic responsibility, and adulthood as represented by the creation, manipulation, and interpretation of art
African art misinterpreted as primitive, anonymous, and static
Africa’s global interaction resulting in dynamic intellectual and artistic traditions
Segment Two
Gallery Six—Ancient Mediterranean
Art of the Aegean—Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean cultures as driving influences in Greek, Etruscan, and Roman art and architecture
Greek, Etruscan, and Roman art and architecture identified by stylistic changes categorized according to styles, governments, or dynasties
Ancient Greek art throughout the Geometric, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods characterized by proportions and spatial relationships, expression of societal values, and harmony and order
Humanism
Roman art, including the Republican, Early Imperial, Late Imperial, and Late Antique Periods
Etruscan and Roman art characterized by iconographical eclecticism and portraiture that represent imperial values and power
Ancient Greek and Roman art as foundational for later Europe artistic and cultural traditions
Gallery Seven—Early Europe and Colonial Americas
Medieval art divided geographically by regions, governing cultures, and identifiable styles
Medieval art, including Late Antique, early Christian, Byzantine, Islamic, Migratory, Carolingian, Romanesque, and Gothic
Medieval art motivated by the requirements of Jewish, Christian, or Islamic worship, elite or court culture, and learning
Icons and reliquaries facilitating a divine connection
Cross-cultural fertilization facilitated through trade and conquest
Religiously functional architecture with ground plans and elevations designed around worship and including symbolic numbers, shapes, and ornament
Theological rejection of figural imagery on and within religious structures or objects as prevalent in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity
Romanesque and Gothic periods marking the initiation of globalization and the emergence of the Atlantic World in conjunction with the development of the Americas
The Atlantic World, comprising Western Europe—Italy, Spain, France, Germany, England, Belgium, and the Netherlands
The Americas, comprising the Caribbean, the Western and Southwestern regions of the U.S., Mexico, Central America, and South America
Pilgrimages driving new patronage and architectural innovations in the Romanesque and Gothic periods
Gallery Eight—Early Modern Atlantic World
A revival of antiquity defining the Renaissance with the incorporation of classical models, enhanced naturalism, Christianity, pageantry, and more formalized artistic training
Rise of the academy
Artistic production determined by corporate and individual patronage
Development of linear and atmospheric perspective, composition, color, figuration, and narrative all increasing the illusion of naturalism
Art as propaganda, commemorative, didactic, devotional, ritual, recreational, and decorative
Baroque art representing the polarization of north and south western European due to the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation
Art production in the Spanish viceroyalties representing a hybridization of European and indigenous ideas, forms, and materials
Industrialization, urbanization, scientific inquiry, economic upheaval, migrations, and wars concluding the 18th century
The Enlightenment, characterized by belief in progress, the Industrial Revolution, and the emergence of a new wealthy middle class, and satirical expressions within art
Rococo as evidence of the infiltration of aristocratic art, prompting the call for moral art and Neoclassicism as a reaction and new emphasis on human rights expressed in Romanticism
Gallery Nine—Later Europe and Americas
Artists gravitating to new roles in society, leading artistic movements that shifted quickly as a reaction and rejection to the previous movement
Modernism as an umbrella term enabling new roles and functions and giving audiences opportunities to experience art in new ways
Modernism, including Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Symbolism Expressionism, Cubism, Constructivism, Suprematism, Abstraction, Dadaism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Minimalism, Performance Art, and Environmental Art
Photography as art within the context of the Industrial Revolution, with increased popularity within the middle class
Criticism of the new industrial age leading to the rise of Realism and sympathy toward the working class
Evolving perception of women as the “male gaze” is applied to images of women outside of religious contexts
Post-Impressionism, Symbolism, and Expressionism as a rejection of the Modern
Architectural innovations driven by the evolution of needs, materials, and nationalism
Abstraction giving way to Cubism and non-objectivity as shape and color are intended to communicate meaning and represent Sigmund Freud’s philosophical declarations
Expression, Dadaism, and Surrealism as social commentary
Work of individual artist such as Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and Jacob Lawrence as a personal commentary on cultural conventions
Modern visions of architectural space embracing the machine and nature
Depiction of women in a modern world and evolution of the portrayal of women within Gestural Abstraction, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art
Modern and Postmodern architecture as defined through the exploration of the modern skyscraper and simplicity vs. complexity, anonymity vs. individuality, less is more vs. less is a bore
The duality of Modernism opening the art world and simultaneously becoming challenging for audiences and patrons to understand as individualism replaced church and corporate patronage
Public sale of art as non-elitists collect art
America dominating the art market after the devastation of World War II
Gallery Ten—Global Contemporary
Global contemporary art as a combination of tradition, technological advancements, and global awareness
Materials, function, style, and presentation inviting contemplation of how art is defined and valued
1980–present categorized by digital works, video-captured performances, graffiti, online museums and galleries, decline in natural materials, rise in disposable materials, and the digital divide
Existential investigations, sociopolitical critiques, natural world, and technical innovations unifying the vast diversity
Appropriation of cultural and/or sacred objects defying traditional classification by region, culture, or time
Architecture representing a city’s trademark to embody aspiration and idealism
Exploration of themes of contemplation, race, identify, stereotypes, appropriation, power, mass production, spiritual journey, migration, and unification