Ерус Е.С. All About Arts. Visual Art

Подождите немного. Документ загружается.

F. - But it's good, George! It's got great qualities of energy and design.

G. - You don't think it's too hard and angular?

F. - No, not a bit. It's excellent. By far the best thing you've done.

After R. Aldington, Death of a Hero.

3. Think of the title of the picture that is reasonably well known. Tell the

others in the group about the picture. See if they can guess the title.

Look at paintings The Lily Pond by Claude Monet and The Guitar Player

by Pablo Picasso (ask your teacher for the visual material).

a) Which of the following words/phrases would you use to describe each of

the two paintings? Why? Are there any you would use for both? Which are

not appropriate for either painting?

 sentimental, puzzling, dreamy, intriguing, charming, detached, evocative,

thought-provoking

 geometric shapes, springtime scene, abstract meaning, peaceful setting

 confusion, romance, isolation, tranquility, distance, innocence

b) Can you think of alternative titles for the paintings?

CREATIVE WORK

1. Look at the picture by Peter Brueghel The Fall of Icarus (ask your

teacher for the reproduction). Why is it called so? Talk about the various

things that are going on in the picture and make notes on the main points.

2. Read this poem and then discuss the questions below:

Museé des Beaux Arts

About suffering they were never wrong,

The Old Masters: how well they understood

Its human position; how it takes place

Whole someone else is eating or opening the window or just walking dully

along;

How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting

For the miraculous birth, there always must be

Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating

On a pond on the edge of the wood:

They never forgot

That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course

Anyhow in the corner, some untidy spot

Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer’s horse

Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.

In Brueghel’s Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away

Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may

Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,

But for him it was not important failure; the sun shone

As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green

Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen

Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,

Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

W.H. Auden

COMPREHENSION

Give answers to these questions:

1. What did you find about the picture that you hadn’t noticed already?

2. Did the poem make you think differently about the picture? In what ways?

3. What are the main points made in the poem?

3. Write a short description of the painting, explaining what it shows and

what you think about it (about 150 words). Use some of these of the

conjunctions and connectors.

These phrases are used when making generalisations:

as a rule

broadly speaking

everyone would agree that

generally speaking

in many cases in most cases

in some cases

it is often said that

it is recognised that

it is sometimes said that

many people believe

on the whole

These phrases are used when explaining exceptions:apart from

but all the same

but every so often

but now and then

but in other cases

but in this one case

but there are exceptions to every rule

except for

however

on the other hand

to some extent

to a certain extent

Select a reproduction of a painting and write a description of it according

to the following outline:

1.The general effect. (The title and name of the artist. The period or trend

represented. Does it appear natural and spontaneous or contrived and artificial?)

2.The contents of the picture. (Place, time and setting. The age and physical

appearance of the sitter. The accessories, the dress and attempt to render the

personality and emotions of the model. What does the artist accentuate in his

subject?)

3.The composition and colouring. (How is the sitter represented? Against

what background? Any prevailing format? Is the posture bold or rigid? Do the

hands (head, body) look natural and informal? How do the eyes gaze? Does the

painter concentrate on the analysis of details? What tints predominate in the

colour scheme? Do the colours blend imperceptibly? Are the brushstrokes left

visible?)

4.Interpretation and evaluation. (Does it exemplify a high degree of artistic

skill? What feelings, moods or ideas does it evoke in the viewer?)

READING 2

GUERNICA

Pablo Picasso's Guernica was painted after the bombing of a Basque town in

1937 during the Spanish Civil War. The painting itself is nearly eight metres

across, but the reproduction which your teacher provides you with gives an

idea of what it looks like.

1. Before you read this text, discuss your reactions to the picture (your

teacher will provide you with the visual material).

2. Read the text and answer each of the questions that follow in a word or

short phrase:

Guernica was the last great history-painting. It was also the last modern

painting of major importance that took its subject from politics with the

intention of changing the way large numbers of people thought and felt about

power. Since 1937, there have been a few admirable works of art that contained

political references - some of Joseph Beuys's work or Robert Motherwell's

Elegies to the Spanish Republic. But the idea that an artist, by making a

painting or sculpture, could insert images into the stream of public speech and

thus change political discourse has gone, probably for good, along with the

nineteenth-century ideal of the artist as public man. Mass media took away the

political speech of art.

When Picasso painted Guernica, regular TV broadcasting had been in

existence for only a year in England and nobody in France, except a few

electronics experts, had seen a television set. There were perhaps fifteen

thousand such sets in New York City. Television was too crude, too novel, to

be altogether credible. The day when most people in the capitalist world would

base their understanding of politics on what the TV screen gave them was still

almost a generation away. But by the end of World War II, the role of the 'war

artist' had been rendered negligible by looked like bad, late German

Expressionism, or the incontrovertible photographs from Belsen, Majdanek,

and Auschwitz?

It seems obvious, looking back, that the artists of Weimar Germany and

Leninist Russia lived in a much more attenuated landscape of media than ours,

and their reward was that they could still believe, in good faith and without

bombast, that art could morally influence the world. Today, the idea has largely

been dismissed, as it must be in a mass media society where art's principal

social role is to be investment capital, or. in the simplest way, bullion. We still

have political art, but we have no effective political art. An artist must be

famous to be heard, but as he acquires fame, so his work accumulates 'value'

and becomes, ipso facto, harmless.

As far as today's politics is concerned, most art aspires to the condition of

Muzak. It provides the background hum for power. If the Third Reich had

lasted until now, the young bloods of the Inner Party would not be interested in

old fogeys like Albert Speer or Arno Breker, Hitler's monumental sculptor; they

would be queuing up to have their portraits silkscreened by Andy Warhol. It is

hard to think of any work of art of which one can say, This saved the life of one

Jew, one Vietnamese, one Cambodian. Specific-books perhaps; but as far as

one can tell, no paintings or sculptures. The difference between us and the

artists of the 1920s is that they thought such a work of art could be made.

Perhaps ii was a certain naїveté that made them think so. But it is certainly our

loss that we cannot.

from The Shock of the New by Robert Hughes

COMPREHENSION

1. What does the writer mean by insert images into the stream of public

speech?

2. How do people in the West nowadays form their political opinions,

according to the writer?

3. Why does the writer say so much about television?

4. Why is the word effective in italics in the text?

5. Why is the word value in inverted commas?

6. According to the writer, what is the function of art today?

7. How does the writer feel about the ineffectiveness of political art today?

DISCUSSION

• To what extent do you agree with the writer's views?

• What do you think is the purpose of a work of art?

• What influence can a painting, or any other work of art, have on your own

feelings and attitudes?

• Does a critic like Robert Hughes perform a useful function in explaining and

interpreting works of art as well as evaluating them?

• Does the same hold good for a music critic, a film critic, a TV critic, a

restaurant critic or a sports writer?

LISTENING 3

PART 1

Listen to a talk about the famous artist Jackson Pollock and answer the

questions:

2. What was Jackson famous for?

a) using his hands to paint with

b) his unorthodox style

c) his directness of expression

3. What does the speaker find clever about Pollock’s work?

a) his adjustment of canvas side after painting

b) the abandonment of traditionalism in favour of emphasis

c) that the subject was decided on completion of the work.

PART 2

Art for art’s sake

a) You will hear part of a radio programme in which two experts, Tia and

Darien, are discussing modern art. Before you listen, discuss the following

questions:

1. Do you appreciate art that you can understand easily, or do you also enjoy

art which challenges you to think?

2. Do you think it’s possible to advertise something as ‘art’ when it is in fact of

little artistic value? Can you think of any examples?

b) For the opinions stated below, write (T) if they are expressed by Tina,

(d) if they are expressed by Darien or (B) if they agree.

1. Modernism developed as a result of some artists’ discontent with society

2. There were two kinds of modernists.

3. Modernists were sympathetic to the needs of the poor.

4. Modernists were not interested in following the rules of art.

5. The modernists manipulated people too.

6. Modernists were reacting against materialism

DISCUSSION

Discuss the problems:

1. Is the appreciation of pictures a special faculty which only a few can

possess?

Talking points:

1. The excellency of style is not on the surface, but lies deep. It is the florid style

which strikes at once. There is no need to be ashamed of one's apparent

dullness.

2. The habit of looking at good pictures is in itself a means by which taste can

be formed and the scope of one's enjoyment widened and developed.

3. The acquisition of good taste is a matter of time. Painting in this respect

doesn't differ from other arts.

2. A great painting enriches our experience of life, just as a great poem

does or a great musical composition.

Talking points:

1. Great painters make us see and think a great deal more than the objects before

us, they teach us to look at a scene through their eyes.

2. The masterpieces of painting, like the masterpieces of music and poetry

transform experience; they are a source of beauty.

3. Are you for modern or for old art?

We know that many people today reject old art and protect new trends in

art. But what shall we do about the great works of Raphael and Leonardo

da Vinci, or Rembrandt and Rublev? Shall we reject them?

For old art:

1. Painting of old masters is one of the greatest treasures mankind has collected

in the history of its civilization.

2. Old painting reflects the collective experience of human spiritual life of many

centuries.

For modern art:

1. New times call for new songs. Modem man is naturally interested in the art

reflecting his own time and his own experience.

2. Worship of old masters is a drag on the development of new progressive art.

We should look forward instead of turning back all the lime.

UNIT 6

FINE ARTS MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERIES

READING

a) You are going to read a passage about art museums and galleries. Before

you read, discuss the following questions.

1. Have you ever visited an art gallery? If yes, what was your impression of it?

If not? Would you like to visit one sometime? Why? Why not?

2. Do you think governments should put more money into arts? How can art

benefit society?

b) Several paragraphs have been removed from the passage. Choose from

paragraphs (A-H) to fill the gaps. There is one paragraph you do not need

to use.

ART FOR ALL?

There were more than a few eyebrows raised when Martin Creed’s

installation, ‘The Lights Going On and Off’, was unveiled at this year’s Turner

Prize show at Tate Britain. The museum’s curator of communications, Simon

Williams, declared that the work signified ‘the movement towards the

dematerialization of art since the 60s’, but most of the general public seemed to

reckon that an empty room with a light flicking on and off was a pretentious

conceit. Yet even those who loathed the piece still tried to engage with it as a

work of art.

_______________________________

There are still some who mutter darkly about the perils of dumbing down, but

the upside is that many more people are gaining the confidence to appreciate

works they might previously have considered dull of incomprehensible.

_______________________________

A recent survey published by Artworks, the National Children’s Art Awards,

revealed that average yearly spending on art materials in English and Welsh

schools had fallen an already dangerously low figure to a derisory one. Five to

seven-year olds were allocated a mere £1.18 per head, while 11 to 18-year-olds

fared little better with an average annual budget of 2.68.

_______________________________

If you went into a museum or gallery back in the 1970s, you would have found

a dusty regime run by an elite for an elite. A curator would have gathered a

collection of artifacts or pictures into a gallery, and useless the visitor was

steeped in art history, he or she would have little idea of why any particular

group of objects had been grouped together in the same room, as there was no

explanation or interpretation on offer.

______________________________

A case in point is the newly reopened British Galleries, housing a collection of

objects from 1500-1900, at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. In many

museums, the education team is brought in as an afterthought to tidy up after

the curator and the designer have decided on the exhibits and the layout. But for

the British Galleries, the education team was in on the act from the outset.

______________________________

Museums outside London often have to fight harder for recognition and in

many ways have an even greater part to play in the cultural fabric of the

community than their grander counterparts. The National Museum of

Photography Film & Television in Bradford is an example. Situated in the

second poorest ward in the country, it has become a focal point for the north-

east, attracting people from all sections of the community.

_______________________________

‘In countries such as Italy and France, opera has always been a popular musical

form’, says Mark Tinkler, artistic director. ‘It’s only in the US and the UK that

it has been branded elitist. We believe it is something that should be available

to everyone so, as well as providing workshops in schools, we perform in

places such as Hemel Hempstead and Thames Ditton where opera is seldom

ever, staged’.

______________________________

At its best, art represents the highest form of human achievement; at its worst, it

is tame, unchallenging and hollow. To engage or not to engage? Now, more

than ever, the choice is ours.

A ‘We wanted to be clear about what the galleries were trying to say about the

history of art and design and to ensure we catered for out target audiences,’ says

Christopher Wilk, chief curator. ‘Art galleries have tended to appeal to the

analytical learner who likes to absorb information from a plaque, but we have

gone out of our way to arrange exhibits in a variety of ways so that the galleries

can be understood and absorbed by everyone’.

B Unsurprisingly, then, and because art counts for nothing in the performance

league tables, schools have largely washed their hands of the subject and in the

process a generation of schoolchildren have had their access, both to practical

artistic experience and to a wider appreciation of aesthetics, severely

compromised. But where the schools have failed, arts organizations, museums,

galleries and the media have tried to step in.

C But for all the success in the efforts to reach a wider public, a note of caution

is also required. Even in times of prosperity, arts budget are tight and in times

of recession they are often slashed. Arts organizations are fighting for every

penny and many are struggling on a shoestring to continue to offer a first-rate

programme; no one can take their survival for granted.

D They want meaning on a plate, served up the way it has always been. They

often seem to want demonstrations of familiar skills. Some people are afraid,

both of the feelings art provokes and of having their preconceptions of what art

ought to be upset.

E Twenty-five years ago we tended to take a very different view. Art meant

high art. If it wasn’t a Mozart opera, a Shakespeare play or a Rembrandt

painting, then it wasn’t art: it was popular culture. Today the distinctions have

become increasingly blurred. Circus skills, pop music, even TV soaps, are now

all recognized as legitimate art forms.

F While painting, film and theatre may have opened up to a wider public, there

are still some art forms, such as opera, that are still regarded in some quarters as

inaccessible. But this too is changing. The Royal Opera House has taken to

providing a running English translation of its foreign language works, but more

importantly there are a number of small opera groups, such as English Pocket

Opera (EPO), which are dedicated to making the art from more accessible.

G You might have thought that it was the education system that had inspired

this latter-day cultural revolution. But even though there has been a lot of talk

coming out of the government about creativity in schools, little more than

window dressing has emerged.

H There is still a minority of curators and critics who believe that the art should

stand alone and speak for itself, but most now recognize that museums have a

duty to inform, as our national treasures belong to all of us.

Read the article and then a) tell how sensible you find the idea rendered in

it; b) if you were the director of an art gallery or a museum what would

you do to attract visitors?

For the art, turn left at the dance floor

It is Saturday night at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York, a large

important-looking nineteenth-century building. Since six o’clock, entry to the

museum has been free of charge. People are shouting in the galleries, but the

guards, who seem to be unusually relaxed, take no notice. On the ground floor,

in the galleries devoted to African art, children are playing hide-and-seek while

their parents sip beer from plastic cups. Some teenage girls wander by, leaving

a trail of perfume, and head tough the sculpture exhibition to a temporary dance

floor where a DJ is playing reggae music. Watching the scene is Bryan, a young

teacher from a local school. What brings him out tonight? ‘I’m here for the

reggae, of course’, he says. ‘When I heard they were playing that I thought, ‘I

have to be there’, and obviously a lot of people feel the same way’. Besides the

DJ, the museum has laid on gallery talks, a Martin Scorsese film, a puppet show

and a samba band.

The Brooklyn Museum of Art wasn’t always so trendy. For decades, it put

on excellent exhibitions that few came to see. Guidebooks described the

enormous building as ‘as undiscovered treat’. Had it been over in the city’s

fashionable Upper East Side, of course, the museum would have been packing

them in. Even when they put on dull exhibitions, New York’s top museums can