X Speak on the topic using the following words and word-combinations:

Baroque and Rococo styles; to be characterised by; rich heavy details; to be used in; painting, sculpture, architecture; in modern usage; works of art; craft; excessive ornamentation; complexity of lines; spread; France; Germany; Austria; French Rococo; interior; furniture; etc.

TEXT B

I Read and remember:

1. visual arts візуальне мистецтво

2. surviving відродження

3. to be devoid of бути позбавленим

4. aesthetic experience естетичний досвід

5. trepidation страх

6. to wane занепадати

7. to assume приймати, набувати

8. coherent пов’язаний

9. rejection відмова

10. quest пошук

ІІ Read the text and define the main idea of it:

The History of Arts. Brief Overview

In the visual arts the European movement called "neoclassicism" began after 1765, as a reaction against both the surviving Baroque and Rococo styles.

Contrasting with the Baroque and the Rococo, Neoclassical paintings are devoid of pastel colours and haziness; instead, they have sharp colours.

Romanticism as an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement originated in 18th century Western Europe, around 1790, during the Industrial Revolution. It was partly a revolt against aristocratic, social, and political norms of this period and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature in art and literature. It stressed strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as trepidation, horror.

As the Romantic movement waned, the focus shifted away from idealism to a more realistic rendering of nature, social relationships, and the characteristics of the individual, society, and the nation at large. This new realism assumed various forms in the different countries where it took root.

Realism had a profound influence on the literature and figurative arts of Europe. The most systematic and coherent form evolved in France during the revolutions of 1830 and 1848. It reached its peak during the Second Empire (1852-70) and began to wane in the 1870s.

The beginnings of modern painting started in 19th-century France. The paintings of Gustave Courbet, Edouard Manet, and the Impressionists represent a deepening rejection of the prevailing academic tradition and a quest for a more naturalistic representation of the visual world. From about the 1890s on, different movements and styles arose, such as Neo-Impressionism, Symbolism, Cubism, Futurism, Expressionism, Constructivism, Surrealism, Social Realism, Pop art, Minimal art, and Neo-Expressionism, etc. Despite the enormous variety seen in these movements, most of them are characteristically modern in expressing a spiritual response to the changed conditions of life in the 20th century.

An important trend throughout the 20th century has been the abstract art – i.e., art in which little or no attempt is made to reproduce the appearances or forms of objects. The development of photography and of allied photomechanical techniques of reproduction has had an important influence on the development of modern art, because these mechanical techniques freed manually executed drawing and painting of their crucial role as the only means of accurately depicting the visible world.

III Make up a plan of the text.

IV Translate the paragraph in italics in a written form.

V Render the text in brief in a written form.

VI Work in pairs. Discuss the questions :

1. When and where did Neoclassicism begin?

2. What are Neoclassical paintings devoid of ... ?

3. What is Romanticism?

4. What is Realism featured by?

5. Where did modern painting start in?

6. What do the paintings of Gustave Courbet, Edouard Manet and the Impressionists represent?

7. What styles arose then?

8. What do they express?

9. What influenced the development of modern art?