Task 1
Read the quotes, discuss your views with your partner, and
then present their opinion to the class.
1 “Art may imitate life, but life imitates TV." - Ani Difranco,
American contemporary artist
2 "People discuss my art and pretend to understand as if it were
necessary to understand, when it's simply necessary to love." - Claude Monet (1840-1926), French Impressionist painter
3 "The artist who aims at perfection in everything achieves it in
nothing." - Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) French classical
painter
4 "The enemy of art is the absence of limitations." - Orson Welles
(1915-1985), American filmmaker
5 “An artist is not a special kind of person, but every person is
a special kind of artist.” - Ananda Coomaraswamy (1877-1947), Sri Lankan patriot,
art
historian,
orientalist
6 "What garlic is to food, insanity is to art." - Anonymous
7 "What strikes me is the fact that in our society, art has become
something which is only related to objects, and not to individuals, or
to life." - Michel Foucault (1926-1984), French cultural
historian
8 “Whenever I hear the word culture, I reach for my gun.” - Hermann
Goering (1893-1946), President of the Reichstag in Nazi Germany
Task 2 Discussion Questions
1. What’s your favourite style of art? What styles do you dislike?
2. When was the last time you went to an art gallery?
3. What do you have on your walls at home?
4. If you could afford it, what kind of art would you have in your
home?
5. What are some of your favourite works of art?
Artwork Identification Quiz
Task 3 Look at the titles below and match them to the
descriptions of
artworks.
1. Donatello, David, 1433
2. Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa,
1503-1506
3. Diego da Silva y Velázquez,
Las
Meninas, 1656
4. Vincent Van Gogh, Sunflowers,
1888
5. Claude Monet, Waterlily Pond,
1899
6. Juan Gris, Glasses, Newspaper
and a Bottle of Wine, 1913
7. Andy Warhol, Marylin, 1967
8. Christo (Javacheff): The
Reichstag Wrapped, 1995
A) This is a massive sculptural work the environmental sculptor created
by covering one of the landmarks of Berlin in woven nylon, secured by
rope. The temporary transformation of the old parliament building into
a work of art was an exciting new way of creating sculpture. By
covering it in fabric, the artist drew people’s attention to the
sculptural details of the building, while also creating a majestic and
mysterious object of beauty. It also served to emphasize the importance
of preserving such a historical monument.
B) Brilliant and startling, this simple vase of flowers explodes with
razor-sharp vibrancy. The brushstrokes have been laden with thick
paint, which the author applied like a sculptor slapping clay on to a
relief. The colours – shades of yellow and brown – and the technique
express a beautiful world of hope and sunlight.
C) The artist has used sliced sections of newspaper to create this
unusual interpretation of a still life. The objects have been taken
whole and then fragmented, painted and glued back together again within
the confines of parallel vertical planes in the Cubist technique. The
importance of this work lies in its innovative method of portraying
different sections of an object simultaneously, while rejecting the
conventions of light and shade.
D) The painting is famous all over the world for the enigmatic smile of
its subject and for being one of the few paintings by the most esteemed
of the Renaissance masters. The identity of the sitter remains unknown,
and some debate still rages over whether the figure is indeed a man or
a woman, but the painting, with its haunting landscape, rises above
this controversy in the quality of its execution.A traditional
Renaissance portrait in composition, its beauty lies in the oil
painting technique known as sfumato.
E) Shimmering and mingling colours and reflections, this landscape is
airy and saturated with light. The author has achieved this effect by
covering his canvas with individual brushstrokes of different colours,
creating a rich mist of blues, reds, and greens that glint like light
on the surface of the water.
F) The five-year old Infanta Margareta-Teresa stands in the centre of
the canvas surrounded by her retinue of maids and dwarfs. The author
depicted himself on the left of the canvas, painting a huge portrait of
the King and Queen who can be seen reflected in the mirror directly
behind the Infanta’s head. The author is one of the greatest
portraitists of all time and this work is considered the masterpiece of
his final years.
G) The actress’s face is presented as an impenetrable mask in bright
luminous colours. Published in ten different colour combinations, using
the impersonal screen-printing process, the multi-coloured surface
portrays her image in a startlingly lurid manner. The author used a
publicity still as the basis for this and other pictures of her,
presenting us with a frozen image that reinforces the universal power
of the most tragic of all Hollywood’s personae.
H) This statue shows the young hero in a dreamy, contemplative mood
after slaying Goliath, whose head lies at his feet. The flowing
naturalism of the figure’s pose, his shy demeanour, and the sensual
surface texture of the bronze combine to bring the statue to life. This
ability to instil human emotion in Classical statues was the author’s
greatest gift.
Before you read… What was your experience of art education? To what
extent should
education include the arts?
Introduction to Art History: Perception Skills
1 The discipline of art history is dependent upon
not only a process that often requires precise and eloquent writing,
but equally precise and careful looking as well, a skill far less
well-taught than anything else. Research suggests that even museum
goers who characterized themselves as “regular” and “devoted” visitors
and “art lovers” spent on average less than three seconds in front of
any single art work. In addition, they were observed to spend more time
reading the wall labels than looking at the art work. At the recent
Art Institute of Chicago megashow Van Gogh and Gauguin, approximately
20% of visitors had difficulty determining the difference between the
original paintings and large-scale posters with reproductions and text. 2 As museums increasingly keep their major
paintings
behind glass and viewers at a distance, as “audio tours” replace
actual observation and passionate immersion in the artwork, these
trends will only continue. When you go to look at objects in museums,
remember, the museum is there to serve you. Remember that the art
objects may be there to impress or instruct you, but almost
certainly those were not the original intentions of the artist or the
original uses of the work.
Things you can do to improve your observation
experience: 3 Get up close. Surface, in a painting, work of
sculpture, or even a building, contains the most direct sign of the
artist; this layer is full of pain, doubt, and assertiveness. You can
get some idea of the artist’s relationship to the work by looking at
the marks left by brush stroke, darkroom chemistry, the strike of the
mallet against the chisel. Don’t be afraid of coming close to the
object. Look up from below, look across the surface. Treat it as a
topographical map. Look at the color within the brush strokes. 4 See the whole. Often we walk around an object,
consuming it in parts, because there are people standing in the way. Be
patient. Composition, structure, illusion: all these are meant to give
an impact at a certain distance, but only once you see the work
entire. 5 Read the labels. This is where you get the
instructions and sometimes the patronizing tone. It’s worth
noting that quality. To what level is the label directed? But don’t let
that tone affect you — take the information and go. 6 Look at the larger collection. At most museums,
art
objects have been carefully arranged in their rooms to reflect
important ideas, to stimulate comparisons, to clarify historical
periods or contrast them. Be sure to notice. 7 Question everything! You are neither a passive
observer nor an expert. Your greatest tool is your ability to ask
questions of the objects, the setting, the museum. Why those frames?
Why that date? Why oil and not tempera? Other people around you might
be full of interesting ideas. And don’t forget the guards. 8 Admit to it: It’s exhausting! Two rooms, a couple
of buildings, are about all you can really do. Indulge yourself. These
are guilty pleasures. Let your responses come, question them, study
them, take responsibility for them. They’re yours. They aren’t the
artwork’s, or the artist’s. Don’t confuse response, especially personal
response, with “reality.” But don’t deny, ignore, or reject those
responses. They’re part of the intended or unintended reactions that
artworks provoke. Consider this an adventure! It is.
By Peter Hales, Professor of Art History, University
of
Illinois,
Chicago
Modified from http:/tigger.uic.edu/~pbhales/ah111/Assign.html. Viewed
on January 23, 2002.
Task 4 Find the underlined words in the article to match the
descriptions below:
1. enjoy, but feel guilty (bad): ______________
2. perceiving, taking in: _______________
3. tiring: _______________
4. to show: _______________
5. complete interest, total experience: _________
6. strong effect:
_______________
7. refuse: _______________
8. pedantic: _______________
9. actions involved in making sculpture: ______
10. subject: _______________
11. to negate: _______________
12. exact: _______________
13. the use of the paint brush: ____________
14. environment: _______________
15. more and more: _______________
16. materials for developing photos: ___________
17. reactions, feelings: _______________
18: expressive: _______________
Discussion Questions
1. Does the author like museums?
2. Who did the author write this article for?
3. What is a neglected skill in the study of art history?
4. Would you like to study with this professor?
5. Has the study of art been inspiring for you? How?
Group Work
Task 5 You will receive some images (pictures)…
1. Describe the paintings in not more than three sentences each.
2. Choose one of the paintings and describe it in detail.
3. Choose two of the paintings and compare them (emphasise the
similarities).
4. Choose two of the paintings and contrast them (emphasise the
differences).
A note about writing style: When you
are writing a
paper, an opening
sentence of comparison should state that the two subjects are similar
enough to be compared, but can also mention some differences! An
opening sentence of contrast should state how the two subjects are
different, but can also mention some similarities!
For comparing/contrasting, the methods below can be used:
1. BLOCK FORMAT – first describe one image completely, then the second
one in relation to the first.
2. SEPARATING FORMAT – take individual features or qualities relating
to both images and compare/contrast them.
COMPARING
CONTRASTING
X is like Y
X is unlike Y
X is similar to Y
X is different from Y
X is comparable to Y
X differs from Y to some extent in that…
X is as … as Y
Unlike X, Y is …..
X resembles Y in many ways
In contrast to X, Y is ….
X parallels Y in some ways
Compared to X, Y is … (In
comparison to X, Y is ….)
X is exactly precisely very much (quite) a lot rather somewhat a
little slightly scarcely hardly only just not at all like Y.
X is exactly precisely just virtually practically more or less
almost nearly about the same as Y.
X is not exactly entirely quite the same as / like Y.
X is totally completely entirely quite different from Y.
X is not quite as… as Y. X and Y are different /
dissimilar in every way / respect.
Task 6 Paragraph Closing Sentences
Each paragraph usually ends with a
sentence that
paraphrases the main
idea of the paragraph, often leading the reader to the next paragraph.
Look at the two students’ paragraphs about art subsidisation and the
six sentences below. Which of the sentences do you feel best complete
their paragraphs?
Paragraph A:
When it comes to the arts, there is a clear case for subsidy. The
arts have nothing to do with making money. They exist in order to
express certain essential truths about human beings by means of new
kinds of poetry, music, painting, and so on. However, these new kinds
of art may not be popular, and thus there may be little support by the
general public for them, and so artists cannot rely on selling their
work to provide them with an income. In fact, history shows that many
artists have not been properly appreciated while they were alive. For
example, Mozart, whose works are so popular nowadays, lived close to
poverty for most of his life.
Paragraph B:
There are no grounds for subsidising the arts. The arts are not like
food, education, or health, which are part of the basic necessities of
life, and which should therefore be subsidised if necessary. On the
contrary, most of us live our lives quite happily without paying any
attention to the arts. They appeal only to a small minority and are a
luxury, rather than an essential. Furthermore, those who value the arts
can usually afford to pay the costs involved. The large corporations
that buy the paintings of artists such as Van Gogh for millions of
dollars are a case in point.
Possible closing sentences:
1. Thus, in order to ensure their survival, it is
essential for the arts to be subsidised.
2. Companies which are capable of making such large
payments should do much more to sponsor the arts.
3. If he had been subsidised, Mozart would not have
been so poor.
4. In addition, if the arts are subsidised, then they
are also likely to be controlled by the government.
5. Only essentials which cannot otherwise be paid for
should be subsidised, and the arts should therefore be left to pay
their own way.
6. When the arts have to make money, they are no
longer fulfilling their true purpose, but instead become a branch of
commerce.
Excerpt from M. Waters, A. Waters, Study Task in
English,
Cambridge
University Press, 1995, p.110.
Discussion point
Which of the two approaches to art subsidisation above do you
support?
Task 7 Examining the Self Portrait: Frida Kahlo
How would you describe these three paintings by Mexican artist Frida
Kahlo? Work with a partner and discuss what you think might be the
story behind each picture.
Roots, 1943
Frida and Diego Rivera,
1931 Self portrait with cropped hair, 1940
Task 8 Read the following summary of Frida Kahlo’s life story
and
discuss any aspects of her life that you can see depicted in the three
paintings above.
One of the most noteworthy artists
of the 20th
Century, Frida Kahlo
was born in Coyoacán, Mexico in 1907; however, she claimed her
birthdate as 1910, the year of the Mexican Revolution, saying that she
and modern Mexico had been born together. A mixture of Surrealism and
folk art, with a lot of introspection, her paintings are fascinating
glimpses into Mexican life during the first half of the century. The
subjects she chose reveal the dichotomy of her own life: the
self-portraits show both her physical and emotional pain; the still
lifes show the sensual joy of life which she also experienced.
When she was six years old, she contracted polio and spent nine months
confined to her room. When she was 18, she was seriously injured in an
accident between a streetcar and a bus. Over the years, she underwent
32 major operations and suffered enormous pain for the rest of her
life. Even though she had no formal training, this situation made her
into the artist that she was. Because she had to spend much of her time
"bored as hell in bed", she started painting.
She married the famous muralist Diego Rivera when she was twenty. He
was forty-two and had already been married twice. She told a
journalist, “When I was seventeen, Diego began to fall in love with me.
My father didn’t like Diego, because he was a communist and it was like
an elephant marrying a dove.” They had a stormy relationship. Her
husband was often unfaithful and even had an affair with Frida’s
younger sister. Frida also had extra-marital affairs, including one
with Leon Trotsky, when the Russian leader was exiled from the Soviet
Union.
In January 1939, she travelled to Paris where the Louvre purchased one
of her self-portraits. On her return to Mexico, Frida and Diego began
divorce proceedings; Frida was devastated and stopped wearing the
traditional Mexican dresses that Diego loved so much. Ironically, she
painted some of her most powerful works during their separation. The
couple remarried in December 1940. Frida was never able to have
children. She said, “My painting carries within it the message of
pain.” When asked why she painted herself so often, she replied,
“Because I am all alone.” She died in July 1954 barely two weeks after
taking part in a communist demonstration.
Task 9 Listen carefully to three people discussing the
paintings. How
is the text below different from what they are actually saying?
A: So this is her friend – Diego Rivera. She can’t have fallen in love
with him for his books, can she?
B: No, I suppose he must have been very rich or very intelligent.
C: Actually, he was both very intelligent and very rich. At first,
Frida’s mother was against her marrying Diego, because he was a
communist, but she finally agreed to it because she couldn’t pay her
daughter’s medical expenses anymore. Frida must have paid a fortune on
doctors and operations over the years.
B: Oh, yes, what a miserable life – first polio and then that awful
accident. It’s surprising she produced so many paintings, isn’t it?
A: Yes, she must have been a really brave woman.
B: But the marriage didn’t work out too well, did it?
C: Well, it had its problems.
B: She painted this one with the cropped hair while they were apart,
didn’t she?
C: Yes, that’s right.
B: She really looks like a man here. In fact, she looks as if she’s got
a moustache! And why was she wearing a man’s suit?
A: I thought it might have had something to do with women’s rights. You
know, she cut off her hair to symbolize equality or something.
C: No, the reason she cut off her hair and put on a man’s suit is
because Diego Rivera loved her long hair and also loved the customary
women’s Mexican dresses she used to wear. She did it to hurt him.
B: And why did they divorce?
C: Nobody really knows. Diego must have found out about Frida’s affair
with Leon Trotsky, or it could have been Frida who was unhappy about
Diego’s affair with an American film star. What we are certain about is
that Frida was very unhappy about the divorce.
A: But they were back together by the time she painted “Roots”.
C: Yes, they remarried a year after they separated. She painted this
one when her health was beginning to worsen. She must have been in a
lot of pain.
B: I find this one rather depressing. The rocks she’s lying on don’t
look very comfortable. I suppose they symbolize her pain.
C: Probably, but actually, if you look at the expression on her face,
she is quite calm. I think the green leaves imply hope. In spite of
everything, she was a very positive person. The last painting she did
was called “Viva la vida – Long Live Life”.
How did their interpretations of the paintings compare
with yours?
Adapted from: Sue Kay &
Vaghan Jones,
Inside Out Upper Intermediate
Student’s Book, Macmillan Heinemann, Oxford, 2001, Unit 10, and
http://www.theminx.com/issue11/frida.htm viewed on 18.3.2003.
Grammar – Comparatives – Superlatives
Task 10 Fill in the
blanks with as or like.
1. The Rococo painter Boucher,
Watteau, was
influenced by Rubens.
2. Florentine painters did not have such great feeling for
colour
most Venetians had.
3. Religious painting is not
popular
it used to be.
4.
Bosch before him, Breugel could
evoke a
surrealist-allegorical scene in his work.
5. František Kupka became a pioneer of a new style called
Orphism,
Kandinsky.
6. El Prado is
famous
Uffizi.
7. Abstract art doesn’t seek to represent the world around us
realism does.
Task 11 Complete the sentences using a superlative (-est or
most/least) or a comparative (-er or more/less).
1. The Venus of Milo is ____________ sculpture in The Louvre.
(well-known)
2. Ryman’s Courier II is ____________ painting I’ve ever seen; it’s not
a painting at all. (funny)
3. Renoir differed a lot from Monet with a much ____________ range of
subject matter and a ____________ response to things seen. (wide,
great)
4. ____________ the painting, ____________ the price will be.
(famous, high)
5. Some artists find that to produce a piece of art is
____________ part of their work; to sell is ____________ problem.
(little, difficult)
6. “Shockingly mad, ____________ than ever, quite mad,” wrote
Horace Walpole in 1785, having seen a picture by Henry Fuseli. (mad)
7. In the painting Anatomy Lesson of Dr Tulp (by Rembrant), the
Amsterdam surgeons are ____________ than the dissected corpse before
them. (little interesting)
8. ____________ and ____________ genius of the 18th century
was Francisco Goya. (long-lived,
influential)
9. Impressionism is often ____________ to understand than
expressionism. (easy)
Listening