III. Speech practice.

Exercise 5. Prove that it was not easy for Eugene to find a job in Chicago.

Exercise 6. Say what did Eugene do to realize his dream.

Exercise 7. Make a plan and retell the story.

ІV. Discussion points.

Exercise 8. What’s necessary to become an artist? Are / were there people who can / could become painters without studying at an art school?

Exercise 9. Can you tell in what genre of painting did Eugene Witla work? Prove your guess (landscapes, seascapes, cityscapes).

Active Vocabulary.

to portray

to realize

to frighten

art director

to wonder

splendid

unfortunate

circumstances

to take art lessons

laundry

to learn to draw

a sheet of paper

war pictures

to be struck

to join a night class in

drawing

Keys.

Ex. 1. a- 2; b-3; c-6; d-8; e-10;

Ex. 3. a-F ; b-F ; c-F ; d-T ; e-F ; f-F.

Ex. 4. 1-a ; 2-b ; 3-c ; 4-a ; 5-b ; 6-a ; 7-b ; 8-c ; 9-b ; 10-c.

Тексти для III етапу навчання Text 1

І. Reading.

Read the text “The Artist of Wistful Reverie” and do the exercises given after the text.

The Artist of Wistful Reverie

Following Itie heightened interest in the Russian avant-garde of the postwar period on world art markets, there has been an upsurge in the popularity of Art Nou-veau, or Style Modeme as it is known in Russia, dating back to the turn of the century. This year is the 130th birthday of a Russian artist little known in the outside world, Victor Borisov-Musatov (1870-1905). It was only after his untimely death that the public in Russia began to awake to the quaint charm of his unusual works.

Like so many other Russian talents, Borisov-Musa­tov was bom in the Volga country. He spent his child­hood in Saratov in a middle-class family. His education began in 1880 in the local Realschule and art classes of the Radishchev Museum. At 16, Borisov-Musatov left school and traveled to Moscow to continue his studies at the School of Painting and Sculpture. In 1891 he transferred to the Academy of Arts, where he studied under P. P Chistyakov, but not for long. In the summer of 1895 he made a trip to the Caucasus, where Russian artists traditionally went to seek inspiration. In the fall of the same year, Borisov-Musatov set out for Paris, to study with French artist Fernand Cormon, and remained abroad until 1898. This trip had a tremendous impact on the artist. After 1898, when he returned to Russia and painted his self-portrait, his pictures mostly depicted the past in his own distinct style. They were exhibited in Berlin, Munich and Leipzig, but success did not come to the tragic artist in his lifetime. The self-portrait was a plein-air painting filled with light and colors which drew on the lessons of French Impressionism. But even in this early work, there was a subjective Russian element, a distinctive Borisov-Mu-satov melody and dreamy sadness. The artist was born short and hunchbacked. He was seriously ill and lived a short life. The world he created, as noted by the bril-liant art critic Sergei Makovsky, was perhaps not even a world of the past; it was his own phantom world of gentle beauty, colored by the withered flowers of the 19th century Russian estate, with the invariable park and pond. In his self-portrait the artist is depicted against the background of a shady park, and the young lady beside him, his sister, wears an old-fashioned dress. But the colors still resemble his earlier Crimean and Caucasian pictures. At the time when the artist painted his self-portrait, he was 27. From then on, over a period of about seven years, Borisov-Musatov creat­ed a large number of dreamy paintings (a total of 100 canvases) all imbued with the same mood, the same melancholy, the wistfulness of female images, quiet, forlorn and hopeless, recalling the past in deserted old parks, in the fall dusk and spring dawn, next to white balustrades, flower beds and sleepy ponds. Borisov-Musatovs' song without words was filled with ladies in flowing dresses in the style of the 1830s,with ringlets falling on slanting shoulders. An expression of his yearning for unattainable joy: Wherever he worked in the Saratov villages of Sleptsovka or Zubrilovka, near the town of Khvalynsk.or in Podolsk near Moscow, or, finally, in the beautiful spot in Kaluga province, Tarusa, he was obsessed by the same ghosts of young women, mournful and beautiful wanderers along the magical paths of abandoned estates. They walked in pairs or files, stopping to gaze musingly at the garden statues of weeping cupids, looked at their own reflections in still ponds, serenely ascended the wide stairways into the white deserted houses and came out again, aimlessly, in silence, strangers in this world, lost and vulnerable. In an earlier series, there were glimpses of gentlemen in powdered wigs and knee breeches. Gradually the gentlemen disappeared and the tall fig­ures of his unknown ladies became more despondent and misty, dressed in muslin and silk, silvery, blue, primrose, crimson, against the background of bosquets and trellises. The most memorable of Borisov-Musa-tov's paintings were "Quand les lilas refleuriront" (1899), "Encounter at the Column" (1901), 'Tapestry," "Prome­nade at Sunset" (1902), 'The Pond," "The Emerald Necklace" (1903), "Specters," four watercolor sketches for frescoes, and finally, "Requiem" (1905).

The artist's life ended after he had painted the con­cluding canvas. He was only 34 years old.

It was only on the eve of his death that he started to be appreciated. In 1903, the Mir Iskusstva (World of Art) group had refused to display his "The Pond," which is a remarkable composition with two female figures against the background of smooth water with reflections of trees and a cloudy summer sky.

Like his contemporary Vrubel, Borisov-Musatov was fascinated by mural painting. No wonder he was drawn to Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and achieved the honor of being his pupil. Even his easel pieces reflect the hidden desire for large-scale painting. But it was not until the appearance of "The Emerald Necklace" that Borisov-Musatov was really ready for the difficult art of the fresco. However, he was not destined to real­ize his ideas for monumental wall-painting, although he left behind numerous sketches which testify to his tremendous potential in this genre.

Victor Borisov-Musatov was one of the most won­derful Russian artists of the early the 20th century; however, there is no doubt that he failed to fulfill him­self. To quote Sergei Makovsky, he was the most pro­found and the quietest of retrospective poets. Finally, it should be borne in mind that reproductions do not do justice to Borisov-Musatov's works; they should be viewed in museums, live.

ІІ. Comprehension.

Exercise 1. Find where in the text it is said:

a) that Borisov-Musatov was born in the middle-class family.

b) that he went to seek inspiration in the Caucasus.

c) that the artist was born short and hunchbacked.

d) that gradually the gentlemen disappeared from his pictures, only ladies were left.

e) that Vrubel was his contemporary.

Exercise 2. Find in the text the answers to the following questions:

a) When did public begin to appriciate the charm of Boris-Musatov’s unusual works?

b) Where did Boris-Musatov study to paint?

с) What is depicted in Boris-Musatov’s self-portrait?

d) What world did Boris-Musatov fascinated with?

Exercise 3. Say whether the following statements are true or false:

a) Boris-Musatov is widely known in the outside world.

b) His pictures which were exhibited in Berlin, Munich an Leipzig brought him success.

c) Boris-Musatov never painted self- portraits.

d) Boris-Musatov painted scenes of the life around him.

e) Boris-Musatov was only 34 when he died.

Exercise 4. Reading comprehension test..

1. Borisov-Musatov lived and worked

a) in the 17^th century.

b) at the end of the 19^th and the beginning of the 20^th century.

c) at the end of the 18^th century and the beginning of the 19^th century.

2. Borisov-Musatov was born

a) on the banks of the Volga.

b) on the banks Moskva-river.

c) on the banks of the Lena river.

3. During his short life Boris-Musatov created

a) not many but very beautiful canvases.

b) about 100 sculptures.

c) about 100 canvases.

4. Borisov-Musatov filled his pictures with

a) fantastic creatures;

b) ladies in flowing dresses;

c) geometric figures.

5. The Mir Iskusstva group refused to display his picture

a) “The Pond”;

b) “Tapestry”;

c) “Promenade at Sunset”.

6. Borisov-Musatov didn’t manage to realize his dream of

a) making sculptures;

b) designing buildings;

c) painting frescoes;

7. To appreciate the beauty of Borisov-Musatov’s canvases

a) it’s enough to look at the reproductions in a magazine or a catalogue;

b) to buy one of them;

c) only to see them live in museums or exhibitions.