Assignments

(a) Quickly look through the list and mark the lettered word or phrase nearest in meaning to the word or phrase tested.

1. Point of view: (i) a belief; (ii) a way of thinking; (iii) a way of looking at the world.

2. Impression: (i) an idea; (ii) a feeling; (iii) a picture in the mind's eye.

3. Consciously: (i) knowingly; (ii) unknowingly; (iii) not fully understanding.

4. Subconsciously: (i) knowingly; (ii) unknowingly; (iii) not fully understanding.

5. Genuine modern artist: (i) a modern artist of genius; (ii) a modern artist in the true meaning of the word; (iii) a modern artist who paints scenes of contemporary life.

6. In terms of: (i) in the style of; (ii) giving every detail of; (iii) in the language of.

7. Brushstroke: (i) the colours used in painting; (ii) the painter's manner of manipulating the brush; (iii) forms and shapes.

(b) Complete the following.

1. Artist is synonymous with —. 2. Traditional is synonymous with —. 3. Living is synonymous with —. 4. Modern is contrasted with —. 5. Consciously is contrasted with —. 6. The mind is contrasted with the —. 7. Inner is the opposite of —.

(c) Choose the answer that expresses most accurately what is stated in the passage. Only one answer is correct.

The idea behind the sentence "Yet no one would confuse it (Picasso's Woman in White) with the early Greek sculpture it so plainly looks like, for Picasso has put the stamp of his own art into its every line and brushstroke" is that: (i) though Picasso's genius is seen in every line and brushstroke of Woman in White, it is plainly done in the classic Greek tradition and you can easily mistake it for an example of early Greek sculpture; (ii) though Woman in White is done in the classic Greek style and the figure looks like early Greek sculpture it is nevertheless unique; there can be no mistake about the genius of the man who painted it, his greatness is felt in its every line and brushstroke; (iii) Woman in White plainly imitates early Greek sculpture, and for Picasso, the great painter he was, it was easy to copy the model in every line and brushstroke.

(d) Select the statement which best expresses the main idea of the text. Give your reasons.

1. Modern art is first of all a point of view. 2. It is this sort of seeing, in a very real meaning, that makes the modern artist different from the traditional or academic artist. 3. Not all living or contemporary artists are modern. 4. In general, the modern artist looks at both the inner world of mind or emotion and the outer world of the senses as though he were the very first person not only to see but to present that world in art form.

(e) Explain what was behind Courbet's idea to close all the museums for twenty years.

(f) Say what, in your opinion, the author is trying to prove by quoting the example of Picasso's Woman in White.

(g) Explain why Cezanne is sometimes called the father of modern art. Say how Cezanne's vision of the world differed from that of other artists of his time.

(h) Say if you believe the following statement of the author's to be complimentary to Cezanne's genius, or not. Give your reasons.

"... in fact, to know any of his canvases of Monte Sainte Victoire is to know Cezanne."

(i) Sum up (orally, or in writing) what the author has to say on each of the following points.

1. The definition of modern art. 2. The modern artist and how he sees the world. 3. The modern artist and how he differs from the traditional or academic artist. 4. The contemporary and the modern artist.

(j) Read the text critically, and state your agreement (or disagreement) with the author's arguments or conclusions.

(k) Write a close summary of the text.

Ex 52 Read the text carefully, without a dictionary. While reading, pay special attention to the words you don't know: look carefully at the context and see if you can get an idea of what they mean. Pick out the facts and arrange them in note form.

THE TRETYAKOV GALLERY

A two-storey dark-red brick building in the old part of Moscow known as Zamoskvorechye is the home of the illustrious Tretyakov Gallery. The central part of the facade was designed at the beginning of the century by the painter Vasnetsov. The Tretyakov Gallery is one of the greatest in the world, and is named after its founder, Pavel Tretyakov. In 1856, at the age of 24, this young Moscow merchant bought a painting called "Temptation" from the Russian painter N. Schilder. This was the painting that initiated the internationally famous collection.

Pavel Tretyakov collected art for 40 years. He bought paintings at exhibitions or right from the artist in the studio.

Beginning with the 1860s, he established a gallery of portraits of outstanding Russian scientists and people in culture, commissioning the famous painters of the time — Vassily Perov, Nikolai Ghe, Ivan Kramskoy and Ilya Repin.

One portrait stands out in this vast collection. It is of Leo Tolstoy, painted by Ivan Kramskoy in 1873.

In 1892 Tretyakov presented the Gallery to the city of Moscow. His collection then numbered 1,200 paintings and 500 drawings.

Tretyakov's undertaking was continued by his followers and grew to an unprecedented scale under Soviet power. The Gallery continues to receive the finest of Russian and multinational Soviet art, and its collection now contains over 60,000 works of art.

SPEECH AND COMPOSITION

Ex 53 Answer the following questions, using the vocabulary of the lesson. Sum up your answers (orally, or in writing).

ON PICTURES AND PICTURE GALLERIES

1. Which is your favourite art gallery? 2. What masters has it got in its collection? 3. What kind of pictures do you like: landscapes, seascapes, genre, etc? 4. Will you name some of the representatives of those styles? 5. Who is your favourite painter? 6. How is it that the pictures of Old Masters are admired nowadays? 7. Why does looking at their pictures make you feel happy? 8. What role does pictorial art play in your life? 9. Why is a visit to a gallery of great educational value?

SHOPPING

1. Who does the shopping in your family? 2. Is there a shopping centre anywhere near your house? 3. When do you have to go shopping in other parts of the city? 4. What do big department stores sell? 5. Why are goods wrapped in paper before they are handed to the customer? 6. What do the English mean by "window-shopping"?

CHOOSING A PRESENT

1. When do people give each other presents? 2. Is it easy or difficult to choose a present? 3. Do you ask a person what kind of present he (she) wants or do you usually know what they expect? 4. Do you usually buy the same presents for a friend, your parents, a relative, etc?

Ex 54 Read and discuss the text; write a précis.

In the summer of 1936, civil war broke out in Spain. Angered by the news that the dictator General Franco was leading a revolt against the government of Spain, Picasso sent money to help the Army of the Republic. He was so moved by stories of suffering in his country that he sold some of his favourite canvases to buy milk for hungry children.

During the tragic year the Spanish government asked Picasso to decorate a wall of the pavillion which it was building for the Pans exposition. Picasso found a big studio, big enough to hold a very big canvas but when spring came, he had not started on the picture.

Then one April day in 1937, he learned that the little Spanish town of Guernica had been destroyed. For three hours German planes had dropped bombs on the helpless town. Two thousand innocent people had been killed. Picasso's dark blue eyes became very angry when he read the news. He picked up a pencil and started to work. In ten days he made hundreds of drawings of wounded horses, dying people and shrieking women, he worked out a composition for a painting. One month later Picasso's big canvas, "Guernica",^* was exhibited in the Spanish pavillion.

Visitors to the exposition were shocked by the power of the picture. It was a scene of violent tragedy, painted in black, grey and white.

"Guernica" is not a work of beauty. It is a crime and also a protest against crime.

A German officer asked Picasso if he had done this. "No," he answered, "You did."

This is a painting of the artist's anger. The picture showed the world how the people of Guernica, an ancient capital of Northern Spain, was bombed by the Germans helping General Franco.

On the left you see a woman holding a dead baby and shrieking in agony. In the centre a woman holding a lamp, so that people may see the truth and shouting against the suffering. Also a horse. This is not a horse, it is pain advancing with hooves on four legs. The bull on the right is not a bull. It is the symbol of a country made to suffer dumbly like an animal.

The rider under the hooves of the horse is not a person who has died. It is a once-innocent man who has been killed without reason.

On the right a woman, shrieking in agony; she fell from a burning building; another woman, a little below is begging to be saved.

The only sign of life in this scene of devastation is the flower growing from the dead horseman's hand.

Picasso was exhausted after a month of hard work. He packed paints and canvases into his big car and set off for the South of France.

(After "A Biography" by Elizabeth Ripley and "Morning Star")