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RAPHAEL.

Awe the emotion with which we respond to the restless power of Leonardo and Michelangelo, even something like fear. Raphael, the third giant of the High Renaissance, inspires affection. Gentleness and grace run through all his work. In his own time, the admiration of his fellow artists for his genius as a painter was equaled by their love for him as a man.

Born in the city of Urbino about seventy miles east of Florence, Raffaello Sanzio (1483-1520) - whom we know as Raphael - studied with the great Umbrian painter Perugino.

In 1504, he moved to Florence, where Leonardo and Michelangelo were working together on two murals for the council chamber in the Palazzo Vecchio (neither was completed, and we know them today only through copies). We can see traces of the style of all three masters in Raphael’s work - Perugino’s feeling for light and color, Leonardo’s composition, Michelangelo’s profound knowledge of anatomy - as well as concern for the human figure he acquired from Masaccio’s frescoes in Florence. But Raphael absorbed all of these influences and put his personal stamp on everything he leaned from the earlier masters.

In Florence, Raphael soon earned commissions and completed a series of panels of the Madonna and Child that remain among his best-loved works. Among them is one known as the Madonna of the Meadows (1507), in which Raphael’sdebt to Leonardo is readily apparent. The Virgin is seated before a deep landscape with a lake in the distance. The Child stands in front of her. Kneeling before Him is the child St.John the Baptist, holding a reed cross, him usual symbol. The three figures are so arranged as to from a nearly equilateral triangle that recalls the rocksolid pyramidal compositions of Leonardo. The facial type of the Madonna and of the children are also reminiscent of Leonardo (for example, the face of St.Anne in the Virgin and Child with St.Anne, in the Louvre in Paris). Raphael likewise emulated Leonardo’s soft modeling, but he rejected the mysterious, smoky atmosphere favored by the older painter. The landscape background behind his Madonna is clear and airy.

AMERICAN ART.

At the opening of the twentieth century, when the seeds of modernism were germinating in Europe, American Art remained provincial, as it had been throughout most of its history despite the original ideas of a few gifted artists. Every current of European nineteenth-century painting continued to flow in the United States, and the most vigorous American movement of the early twentieth century, the Ash Can was a group of neorealists indebted largely to Courbet and the early Manet. But in these same years, several American artists were absorbing European modernism during trips to France and Germany, and they returned to develop their newly acquired ideas in the United States, chiefly in New York. There in 1908 two photographers began to show at the Photo-Secession Gallery, later renamed 291,works by Cezanne, Matisse, and Picasso; American art, the art of children; and new American paintings and sculptures, including works by John Marin, Marsden Hartly, and Georgia O’Keffe.

A totally original American painter, unconnected with any European movement was Georgia O’Keffe (1887-1986). Throughout her long creative life, O’Keffe’s imagery was derived from an infinite variety of objects surrounding her, from the magnified forms of flowers to driftwood and animals’ skulls. Her Blue and Green Music, of 1919, is a complete invention. The free flow of rhythmic shapes against the massive diagonals moves, as the title suggests, with the quality of visual music, this kind of melodic flow is never absent from her work.

A number of gifted American artists turned after World War I to new forms of realism, focusing on, even glorifying the dreariness and banality of much of American urban and rural life. One of the best of these so-called American scene painters was Edward Hopper (1882-1967). He presents us with a bleak world made up of dirty streets, gloomy houses, comfortless rooms such as in the Automate, of 1927.

THE PRESS.

Together with television and radio, the press is a very important means of mass media. The main aim of the press is keeping people informed on all topical issues of the day. There is practically no family that doesn’t subscribe to one or two newspapers or magazines. Besides, you can always buy the latest issue of the newspaper you need at any news-stall. Most newspapers appear daily, some of them come out weekly. As for the magazines, they are monthly as a rule.

All newspapers cover the main topics of our life. They publish material about politics and different viewpoints on it. You can read interesting articles about economy and get acquainted with a lot of ideas of what people are to do if they want to live better. Some papers carry articles on science, engineering, medicine, and education.

Many newspapers have publications about international events, about the life of the people in all parts of the word. They also keep you informed on the events in so-called “hot points”. Sometimes you can read some extraordinary and sensational articles. Sportsmen and sports fans can find comments on the most exciting sporting events and matches. TV viewers and radio listeners can get information about TV-and radio-programs. The last pages of any newspaper are given, as a rule, to those readers who need some practical advice in gardening, cooking, growing flowers, etc. You can also find here some funny stories, puzzles, crosswords and all that sort of thing that may enterlain you. It is not an easy thing to issue a newspaper. The editor-in-chief is at the head of every newspaper. He governs the editional board, every member of which is responsible for his own section in the paper. The editional board usually writes editorials for the newspaper that deals with the topical issues of the day. As for the articles of other columns they are written by the reporters or by the special correspondents who work for this newspaper. Their reports give full coverage of the most important international and domestic events and news items.

Problems of the youth.

One of the problems of the youth is the relationship of the young people with their friends and beloved. I believe in male friendship and I doubt that there can be any real female friendship.

I think it is impossible to have a lot of friends. A person can be on good terms with his or her classmates or university groupmates but have only one or two real friends. I believe that real friends will never betray each other. They will always understand and help each other. It is true that tolerance is the pledge of friendship. It is wonderful if your school friend will remain your friend for the rest of your life. Unfortunately when one enters a university school friends are often replaced by the new ones.

The problem of love is very important for the young. Today the young fall in love when they reach the age of Romeo and Juliet . Romantisism and idealism very often accompany the love of the young. Their belief in eternal love can end dramatically. Today nobody doubts about the depth of their passion. It is regrettable but the young are not always ready to have stable relations. For a happy family life two people must understand and respect each other. It should be said that the young have other problems as well. They are concerned with education money employment hobby spending their free time communication and the like.

TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS OF THE BRITISH.

“Every country has its customs”, says an English proverb. Englishmen are very proud of their traditions and carefully keep them up in everything. Even the appearances of an Englishman and his character have some specific features. To begin with, the English are very reserved. They don’t like to show their emotions and feelings. They don’t like any boasting or showing off in manners, dress or speech. Englishmen are very polite, even in the streets there is practically no noisy behavior or loud talk. People do not rush for seats in buses or trains, but take stand in queues at bus stops in a quiet manner.

The English are stay-at-home people. They prefer having their own house rather than having a flat. “An Englishman’s house is his castle”, says another proverb. When they don’t work they like to spend their days off at home with their families, working in the garden, growing flowers, etc. Englishman are in the habit of helping their wives about the house, they clean windows, cook supper. By the way, English people keep to their traditions even in meals.

Porridge is the dish Englishman are traditionally fond of. They say, even her Majesty the Queen begins her breakfast with a plate of porridge. Besides porridge they usually have bacon and eggs, marmalade with buttered toast, and tea or coffee. For a change they can have a boiled egg, cold ham, or perhaps fish.

At about 1 o’clock p. m. the English generally have lunch. If they have lunch at home, they enjoy cold meat, potatoes, salad and pickles, with a pudding or fruit to follow. In some houses dinner is the biggest meal of the day, with soup, meat, vegetables, etc. But in the evening there is usually a simple supper – an omelette, or sausage, sometimes bacon and sometimes just bread and cheese, a cup of tea or cocoa and fruit.

On the other hand, some families have dinner rather late in the evening. In this case they do without any supper.

The English are great tea-drinkers. They drink a quarter of all the tea grown in the world. They know how to make-tea and what it does for you. “Seven cups of it wake you up in the morning, nine cups will put you to sleep at night”, joke the world’s greatest tea-drinkers.