World outstanding artists and arhitects

The Arts

 

Words on the text

1. embody v – воплощать

2. entirely adv – совершенно, вполне

3. forbid (forbade, forbidden) v – запрещать

4. image n – образ

5. is not the case = is not so – не так

6. a way of – способ

 

1. Read the text and answer the questions.

1. What is “artificial” art? 2. What are the dominant forms in the visual arts of Western civilizations? 3. What other forms of visual arts exist in other cultures? 4. What other ways of presenting visual images do you know?

 

The Arts

 

In a broad sense, all art is the opposite of nature: this meaning is embodied in the contrast between “artificial” – that is created by people – and “natural”.

 

Visual Arts

 

In the visual arts of Western civilizations, painting and sculpture have been the dominant forms for many centuries. This has not always been the case in other cultures. Islamic art, for example, is one of ornament, for under the Muslim religion artists were forbidden to portray living creatures. In some cultures masks, tattoos and metalwork have been the main forms of visual art. In the recent past, technology has made new art forms possible such as photography and cinema, and today electronic media have led to entirely new ways of creating and presenting visual images.

If you want to see the paintings of a famous artist, you need to go to an art gallery or museum. There you can see individual paintings and sometimes an exhibition (= a collection of paintings by one painter or school of painters, e.g. the Impressionists). There are many different types and styles of painting.

 

2. Now match the words from A with their definitions from B.

 

A	B
1. a portrait	a. a painting of part of the countryside
2. a self-portrait	b. a painting of inanimate objects, e.g. fruits
3. a landscape	c. a painting of a person
4. a still-life	d. a painting that is not realistic
5. an abstract painting	e. a painting of the artist by himself/herself

 

Reading

3. Guess if these statements are True or False. Then read the text and check your answers.

1. High Renaissance style was founded in the 17-th century.

2. Leonardo da Vinci was not only a great artist but also a great thinker.

3. Only eighteen paintings of Leonardo came down to us.

4. Three of Leonardo’s paintings are in the Hermitage Museum.

 

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

 

High Renaissance style was founded by one of the most gifted individuals ever born. Leonardo da Vinci fulfilled the Renaissance ideal of the Universal Man. He was not only a great painter and sculptor, but also the outstanding architect, an inventor, an engineer, a musician, and leading physicist, botanist, anatomist, geologist and geographer of his time.

Leonardo’s fame as an artist is based on eighteen paintings that came down to us, some of them incomplete, some damaged as a result of his experimental techniques. Leonardo’s art surpassed the achievements of his time.

Leonardo’s power as an artist and thinker is evident in the Last Supper and the Mona Lisa, his two most famous works.

There are two Leonardo’s paintings in the Hermitage Museum. They are Madonna with a Flower and the Madonna Litta.

 

4. Answer the questions.

 

1. Who founded High Renaissance style in painting?

2. Why have so few of Leonardo’s paintings come down to us?

3. What are Leonardo’s most famous works?

Notes:

the Last Supper – «Тайная вечеря»

the Mona Lisa – Мона Лиза (Джоконда)

 

 

5. Match the antonyms.

 

A	B
1. birth	a. demands
2. success	b. slow
3. immediate	c.natural
4. retain	d. death
5. harmony	e. failure
6. establish	f. chaos [‘keios]
7. artificial	g. ruin
8. famous	h. unknown

 

6. Make up word combinations from A and B.

 

A	B
1. absorb	a. demands
2. achieve	b. knowledge
3. establish	c. position
4. meet	d. style
5. retain	e. success
6. recognize	f. ideals

 

7. Read the text and answer the questions.

 

1 Do you know who the two other giants of the High Renaissance are. 2. When did Raphael live? 3. When did Raphael arrive in Florence? 4. How long did he stay in Florence and what did he paint?

 

Raphael (1483-1520)

 

Raffaello Sanzo, known as Raphael, was the third giant of the High Renaissance. In his art the High Renaissance ideal of harmony comes to its most complete expression.

Raphael was born in Urbino. First taught by his father, Giovanny Santi, Raphael worked for some time in the studio of Perugino.

In about 1505 Raphael arrived in Florence and achieved immediate success. Leonardo and Michelangelo, who were working there on the murals for the council chamber in the Palazzo Vecchio, had established the High Renaissance style. Raphael met the demand with ease and grace. Having absorbed Perugino’s feeling for light and colour, Leonardo’s composition, Michelangelo’s profound knowledge of anatomy, Raphael put his personal stamp on everything he did.

During his three-year stay in Florence he painted a great number of portraits and Madonnas. The loveliest of which is the Madonna of the Meadows dated 1505.

In 1509 Raphael was invited to paint the Stanza (Chamber) of the Vatican. Raphael retained the position as court painter until his early death. His ideals of compositional harmony came to be recognized as the High Renaissance principles.

 

Notes:

stamp – зд. автограф

Stanza (Chamber) – Станцы (комнаты)

murals – зд. живопись на стенах

 

Architecture

Architecture is the art of building structures. The term covers the design of any structure for living or working in: houses, churches, temples, palaces, castles; and, as such, the style of building of any particular country at any period of history. For example, the civilization of ancient Egypt provided the pyramids, massive monuments of exact symmetry with decorative sculptures and wall painting. Examples include Karnak and tombs of the Valley of the Kings.

The great example of classical Greek architecture is the Parthenon in Athens.

 

Notes on the text:

temple – храм

tomb [tum] – могила, надгробие

 

Speaking

Self-Portraits

 

Imagine you are an artist painting a self-portrait. What do you want to look like (e.g. a funny cartoon character, an important person from history, a person with strong feelings, etc).

 

Tell your partner. Think about:

 

· where you are

· what you are wearing/holding

· what you are doing

· what you want people to think when they see the portrait (e.g. that you are happy (funny, important, clever, etc).

 

9. In pairs, read the dialogue and then talk about other architects and painters from the text below.

Al: Hi, Agnes. How was your weekend?

Agnes: It was great, thanks! I was in St. Paul’s Cathedral. There

was a concert of classical music. They performed Bach’s

[bα:k] music.

Al: It sounds fantastic. Were there many people there?

Agnes: Oh, yes. The Cathedral was packed!

Al: Do you know that its erection took 35 years from 1675

to 1710.

Agnes: Really? I didn’t know that. Wasn’t it Wren who designed

and built the Cathedral?

Al: Yes, that’s right. And his individual works include

Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, part of Hampton Court

Palace, and many other buildings.

Agnes: They are wonderful!

 

Le Corbusier. Pseudonym [‘psju:dənim] of Charles E. Jeanneret (1887-1965), Swiss-born French architect. His works include the Palace of the Nations, Geneva and the town plan for Chandigarh, India.

Bernini ( 1598-1680)an Italian artist who was perhaps the greatest sculptor of the 17th century and an outstanding architect as well. Bernini created the Baroque style of sculpture and developed it to such an extent that other artists are of only minor importance in a discussion of that style. As an architect, he is famous for the Colonnade at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome.

Flemish painter Jan van Eyck [aik] (d. 1441).His strength lay in his detail analysis of the beauty of the world around him.

The great Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) longed to give visible form to every emotion and used brilliant unnatural colours to express his inner passions, even in something as simple as a pot of sunflowers.

Rene Magritte (1898-1967) painted dream-world scenes filled with symbolism and humorous couplings of illusion and reality.

John Hash (1752-1835), British architect, designed Regent’s Park and its terraces, Regent Street and Marble Arch, intended as the entrance gate to Buckingham Palace.

The greatest Renaissance Italian architects are Brunelleschi Filippo (1377-1446) (responsible for the construction of the dome of Florence Cathedral, completed in 1438), Michelangelo, Raphael, Palladio.

Gaudi Antonio (1852-1926) is a Spanish architect noted for his style. His Church of the Holy Family in Barcelona was begun in 1883 and is still under construction.

 

10. In pairs, read the dialogue and name any Russian artists you know.

Irina: Come and look! This painting is worth seeing. It looks like there’s a lamp hidden behind the canvas, doesn’t it?

Lena: Yes. It’s called ‘Moonlit Night on the Dnieper’ by Arkhip Kuindzhi. Did you know that he painted at different times of the day to experiment with the effects of light?

Irina: He’s a great painter! Indeed, he is probably one of the best Russian landscape artists.

11. Match the type of painting to the definitions on the right:

1. portrait a. hills, fields, rivers, trees

2. landscape b. plants, buildings

3. seascape c. ocean, waves

4. cityscape d. people, faces and figures

12. In pairs, use the facts below to ask and answer questions about the museum.

A: When was the museum built?

B: In the 18^th century.

Russian Museum Facts

· built in the 18^th century by Italian architect Rossi

· also known as Mikhailovsky Palace founded as the state museum of Russian art by Tsar Nicholas II in 1885

· opened to public in 1888

· located in Arts Square, occupies four buildings

· world’s largest collection of Russian art

· 370,000 items in its collection of paintings, icons and sculptures exhibited in 120 halls

13. Writing.Collect information about any widely-known painter or architect and write a short text about them. Decorate your project with pictures. Write about: What he is famous for, place where he lived, when he lived.

 

14. Learn the useful phrases.