Обучающихся по специальности «История и теория искусств»

Составители:

К. В. Кайшева

В. И. Синицына

Санкт-Петербург

Рекомендовано на

заседании кафедры

31.08.2011 г,

протокол № 1

Рецензент О. C. Муранова

Тексты предназначены для студентов, обучающихся по специальности «История и теория искусств», комплекс упражнений на основе текстов позволяет развить навыки разговорной речи.

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Contents

Unit 1. Prehistoric art: the beginning..................................................................... 5

Unit 2. Antique art: Greek and Roman.............................................................. 10

Unit 3. Medieval art: the reign of religion............................................................ 20

Unit 4. The rebirth of art: the Italian Renaissance.............................................. 28

Unit 5.The rebirth of art: the Northern Renaissance........................................... 37

Unit 6.Baroque: the Ornate Age........................................................................... 46

Unit 7. Baroque and Rococo................................................................................ 55

Unit 8. Neoclassicism............................................................................................. 63

References.............................................................................................................. 68

Unit 1

PREHISTORIC ART: THE BEGINNING

1. Discuss the following questions:

· What is art?

· What art forms do you know?

· When was art born?

· Do you know any examples of prehistoric art?

· How would you describe the distinctive features of prehistoric art?

Comment on the quotations. Do you agree with them? Explain your answers.

Read and translate the text.

The Birth of Art

Art was born around 25,000 years ago with the birth of our human ancestor Cro-Magnon man. With greater intelligence came imagination and the ability to create images in both painting and sculpture. For thousands of years three art forms – painting, sculpture, and architecture – embodied the ambitions, dreams, and values of their cultures. The history of art is not a story of progress from primitive to complex but a story of the varied forms the imagination has taken in painting and sculpture.

The oldest surviving art objects are sculptures made from bone, ivory, stone, or antlers. These were engraved (by incising an outlined figure with a sharp tool), carved in deep relief, or fully rounded three-dimensional sculptures.

The first «paintings» were probably made in caves approximately 15,000 years ago. These pictures of bison, deer, horses, cattle, mammoths symbolized good luck in hunting. Cave artists used charcoal to outline irregularities in the walls of caves that suggested forms from nature. Bulges in the rock implied hulk, and tonal shading with earth–tone pigments lent contour and perspective. Drawings were often superimposed randomly, perhaps because new images were necessary before each hunt. Almost all images represent animal figures in two-dimensional profile and seem to float in space, without background surroundings.

Mesopotamiaand its capital city Babylonare called «the navel of the world». This premier city was the cradle of ancient art and architecture, as well as the site of both the Hanging Gardens and Tower of Babel. Besides architecture, the predominant art form of Mesopotamia was bas-relief sculpture. Combined with wedge-shaped cuneiform writing, scene after scene of these wall carvings scrupulously detail military exploits. «The Dying Lioness» portrays a wounded beast, paralyzed by arrows. The figure's flattened ears and straining muscles convey her death throes with convincing realism.

Egypt is famous for the art of immortality. Considering Egyptian society's obsession with immortality, it's not surprising that Egyptian art remained unchanged for 3,000 years. Their overriding concern was assuring a comfortable after-life for their rulers, who were considered gods. Colossal architecture and Egyptian art existed to surround the pharaoh's spirit with eternal glory. In the pursuit of permanence, the Egyptians established the essentials of a major civilization: literature, medical science, and higher mathematics. Much of what we know about ancient Egypt comes from the surviving tombs. Wall paintings and hieroglyphics were a form of instant replay, life and daily activities in minute detail. Sculpture and paintings followed a rigid formula for representing the human figure. In acres of stone carvings and drawings, the human form is depicted with a front view of the eye and shoulders and profile view of head, arms, and legs. In wall paintings, the surface is divided into horizontal bands separated by lines. The spare, broad-shouldered, narrow-hipped figure wears a headdress and kilt, and stands rigidly, with arms at his side, one leg advanced.

The size of a figure indicated rank, with pharaohs presented as giants towering over pygmy-size servants. Since statues were intended to last eternally, they were made of hard substances like granite and diorite. The pose was always frontal and bisymmetrical, with arms close to the torso. Human anatomy was usually, at best, an approximation. Nefertiti's husband was an artist, who encouraged a temporary loosening of artistic conventions, seen in this more naturalistic representation of his wife.

ancestor – someone who is related to you who lived a long time ago.

to embody – to be the best possible example of a particular idea, quality, or principle, especially a good one.

value – amount something is worth.

ivory – a knife with an ivory handle.

antlers – one of the horns on the head of a male deer.

to engrave –a trophy engraved with the winner’s name.

charcoal – a black substance made from burnt wood, used as a fuel, especially for cooking food outside.

bulges – a shape that curves outwards on the surface of something, often made by something under it or inside it.

hulk – the shape of something such as a large ship or building, especially after the inside of it has been destroyed by fire.

randomly – chosen or happening without any particular method, pattern, or purpose.

navel – a small round place in the middle of someone’s stomach where they were separated from their mother at birth.

cradle – a small bed for a baby that you can move gently from side to side.

convey – to communicate ideas or feelings indirectly.

pursuit – the process of trying to achieve something.

rigid –not easily changed.

acre – a unit for measuring the surface area of land, equal to4,047 square metres.

depict – to describe someone or something using words or pictures.

rigidly –not easily changed.

granite – a type of very hard stone, used especially for building.