Advanced Placement (AP) Art History (also known as APAH) is an Advanced Placement art history course and exam offered by the College Board in the United States. AP Art History is designed to allow students to examine major forms of artistic expression relevant to a variety of cultures evident in a wide variety of periods from the present to the past. Students acquire an ability to examine works of art critically, with intelligence and sensitivity, and to articulate their thoughts and experiences. The course content covers prehistoric, Mediterranean, European, American, Native American, African, Asian, Pacific, and contemporary art and architecture.
Course
The course is designed to teach the following art historical skills:
Visual Analysis Contextual Analysis Comparisons of Works of Art Artistic Traditions Visual Analysis of Unknown Works Attribution of Unknown Works Art Historical Interpretations Argumentation The course is also built on five core "Big Ideas":
Culture Interactions with Other Cultures Theories and Interpretations Materials, Processes, and Techniques Purpose and Audience Starting in the 2015–2016 school year, College Board has introduced a new curriculum and exam for students to apply art historical skills to questions.
Exam
Score distribution
The multiple-choice section of the exam is worth 50% of a student's score and the free response is worth 50%. Each correctly answered multiple choice question is worth one point. Wrong and omitted questions do not affect the raw score. For the free-response section, the four short essays are each graded on a scale of 0 to 5 and the two long essays are each graded on a scale of 0 to 7.
Works studied
The current curriculum, which began in 2015, focuses on 250 works of art and architecture across 10 units, beginning with prehistoric art and ending with contemporary art. Global Prehistory (30,000 – 500 BCE)
Apollo 11 stone Great Hall of the Bulls Camelid sacrum in the shape of a canine Running horned woman Beaker with ibex motifs Anthropomorphic stele Jade cong Stonehenge The Ambum stone Tlatilco female figurine Terra cotta fragment Ancient Mediterranean (3500 BCE – 300 CE)
White Temple and its ziggurat Palette of King Narmer Statues of votive figures, from the Square Temple at Eshunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq) Seated scribe Standard of Ur from the Royal Tombs at Ur (modern Tell el-Muqayyar, Iraq) Great Pyramids (Menkaura, Khafre, Khufu) and Great Sphinx King Menkaura and queen The Code of Hammurabi Temple of Amun-Re and Hypostyle Hall Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and three daughters Tutankhamun's tomb, innermost coffin Last judgement of Hunefer, from his tomb (page from the Book of the Dead) Lamassu from the citadel of Sargon II, Dur Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad, Iraq) Athenian agora Anavysos Kouros Peplos Kore from the Acropolis Sarcophagus of the Spouses Audience Hall (apadana) of Darius and Xerxes Temple of Minerva (Veii, near Rome, Italy) and sculpture of Apollo Tomb of the Triclinium Niobides Krater Doryphoros (Spear Bearer) Acropolis Grave Stele of Hegeso Winged Victory of Samothrace Great Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon House of the Vettii Alexander Mosaic from the House of Faun, Pompeii Seated boxer Head of a Roman patrician Augustus of Prima Porta Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheater) Forum of Trajan Pantheon Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus Early Europe and Colonial Americas (200 – 1750 CE)
Catacomb of Priscilla Santa Sabina Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well and Jacob Wrestling the Angel, from the Vienna Genesis San Vitale Hagia Sophia Merovingian looped fibulae Virgin (Theotokos) and Child between Saints Theodore and George Lindisfarne Gospels: St. Matthew, cross-carpet page; St. Luke portrait page; St. Luke incipit page Great Mosque Pyxis of al-Mughira Church of Sainte-Foy Bayeux Tapestry Chartres Cathedral Dedication Page with Blanche of Castile and King Louis IX of France, Scenes from the Apocalypse Röttgen Pietà Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel, including Lamentation Golden Haggadah (The Plagues of Egypt, Scenes of Liberation, and Preparation for Passover) Alhambra Annunciation Triptych (Merode Altarpiece) Pazzi Chapel The Arnolfini Portrait David Palazzo Rucellai Madonna and Child with Two Angels Birth of Venus Last Supper Adam and Eve Sistine Chapel ceiling and altar wall frescoes School of Athens Isenheim altarpiece Entombment of Christ Allegory of Law and Grace Venus of Urbino Frontispiece of the Codex Mendoza Il Gesù, including Triumph of the Name of Jesus ceiling fresco Hunters in the Snow Mosque of Selim II Calling of Saint Matthew Henri IV Receives the Portrait of Marie de' Medici, from the Marie de' Medici Cycle Self-Portrait with Saskia San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane Ecstasy of Saint Teresa Angel with Arquebus, Asiel Timor Dei Las Meninas Woman Holding a Balance The Palace at Versailles Screen with the Siege of Belgrade and hunting scene The Virgin of Guadalupe (Virgen de Guadalupe) Fruit and Insects Spaniard and Indian Produce a Mestizo The Tête à Tête, from Marriage à la Mode Later Europe and Americas (1750 – 1980 CE)
Portrait of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz A Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery The Swing Monticello The Oath of the Horatii George Washington Self-Portrait Y no hai remedio (And There's Nothing to Be Done), from Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War), plate 15 La Grande Odalisque Liberty Leading the People The Oxbow (View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm) Still Life in Studio, Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On) Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament) The Stone Breakers Nadar Raising Photography to the Height of Art Olympia The Saint-Lazare Station The Horse in Motion The Valley of Mexico from the Hillside of Santa Isabel (El Valle de México desde el Cerro de Santa Isabel) The Burghers of Calais The Starry Night The Coiffure The Scream Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building Mont Sainte-Victoire Les Demoiselles d'Avignon The Steerage The Kiss (Klimt) The Kiss (Brâncuși sculpture) The Portuguese Goldfish Improvisation 28 (second version) Self-Portrait as a Soldier Memorial Sheet for Karl Liebknecht Villa Savoye Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow Illustration from The Results of the First Five-Year Plan Object (Le Déjeuner en fourrure) Fallingwater The Two Fridas The Migration of the Negro, Panel no. 49 The Jungle Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Park Fountain (second version) Woman, I Seagram Building Marilyn Diptych Narcissus Garden The Bay Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks Spiral Jetty House in New Castle County
Indigenous Americas (1000 BCE – 1980 CE)
Chavín de Huántar Mesa Verde cliff dwellings Yaxchilán Great Serpent Mound Templo Mayor (Main Temple) Ruler's feather headdress (probably of Motecuhzoma II) City of Cusco, including Qorikancha (Inka main temple), Santo Domingo (Spanish colonial convent), and Walls at Saqsa Waman (Sacsayhuaman) Maize cobs City of Machu Picchu All-T’oqapu tunic Bandolier bag Transformation mask Painted elk hide Black-on-black ceramic vessel
Africa (1100 – 1980 CE)
Conical tower and circular wall of Great Zimbabwe Great Mosque of Djenné Wall plaque, from Oba's palace Sika dwa kofi (Golden Stool) Ndop (portrait figure) of King Mishe miShyaang maMbul Power figure (Nkisi n'kondi) Female (Pwo) mask Portrait mask (Mblo) Bundu mask Ikenga (shrine figure) Lukasa (memory board) Aka elephant mask Reliquary figure (byeri) Veranda post of enthroned king and senior wife (Opo Ogoga) West and Central Asia (500 BCE – 1980 CE)
Petra, Jordan: Treasury and Great Temple Buddha The Kaaba Jowo Rinpoche, enshrined in the Jokhang Temple Dome of the Rock Great Mosque (Masjid-e Jameh) Folio from a Qur'an Basin (Baptistère de St. Louis) Bahram Gur Fights the Karg, folio from the Great Il-Khanid Shahnama The Court of Gayumars, folio from Shah Tahmasp's Shahnama The Ardabil Carpet South, East, and Southeast Asia (300 BCE – 1980 CE)
Great Stupa at Sanchi Terra cotta warriors from mausoleum of the first Qin emperor of China Funeral banner of Lady Dai (Xin Zhui) Longmen caves Gold and jade crown Todai-ji Borobudur Temple Angkor, the temple of Angkor Wat, and the city of Angkor Thom, Cambodia Lakshmana Temple Travelers among Mountains and Streams Shiva as Lord of Dance (Nataraja) Night Attack on the Sanjô Palace The David Vases Portrait of Sin Sukju (1417–1475) Forbidden City Ryoan-ji Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings Taj Mahal White and Red Plum Blossoms Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura), also known as the Great Wave, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji Chairman Mao en Route to Anyuan The Pacific (700 – 1980 CE)
Nan Madol Moai on platform (ahu) 'Ahu 'ula (feather cape) Staff god Female deity Buk (mask) Hiapo (tapa) Tamati Waka Nene Navigation chart Malagan display and mask Presentation of Fijian mats and tapa cloths to Queen Elizabeth II
Global Contemporary (1980 CE – Present)
The Gates Vietnam Veterans Memorial Horn Players Summer Trees Androgyne III A Book from the Sky Pink Panther Untitled #228, from the History Portraits series The French Collection Part I, #1: Dancing at the Louvre Trade (Gifts for Trading Land with White People) Earth's Creation Rebellious Silence, from the Women of Allah series En la Barberia no se Llora (No Crying Allowed in the Barbershop) Pisupo Lua Afe (Corned Beef 2000) Electronic Superhighway The Crossing Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Pure Land Lying with the Wolf Darkytown Rebellion The Swing (after Fragonard) Old Man's Cloth Stadia II Preying Mantra Shibboleth MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts Kui Hua Zi (Sunflower Seeds) Notes
Harris, Beth; Zucker, Steven (January 25, 2017). "Required works of art for AP Art History". Smarthistory. Retrieved June 14, 2018. An open educational resource for art history, with free images and texts on 250 required works of art in revised exam. Khan Academy, AP® Art History, free study resource keyed to revised exam. Nici, John A. (2015). Barron's AP Art History (3rd. ed.). Hauppage, NY: Barron's. ISBN 978-1-4380-0493-8. Text with CD-ROM ISBN 978-1-4380-7513-6 Third edition focused on 250 required works in revised exam.
AP Art History at CollegeBoard.com
Demo article adapted from AP Art History on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License; additional terms may apply.
