London Museums and Galleries

London is a cultural capital of Great Britain. It is famous for its museums and galleries. There are a lot of museums and galleries in the city, which attract a lot of tourists.

The British Museum is the oldest museum and attracts millions of visitors each year. It was founded in 1753 by an act of the Parliament. The enormous collection includes treasures from the Egyptian, Greek and Roman civilizations through to medieval European art and Japanese and Asian antiquities. Highlights include the Rosetta Stone (dates from 195 ВС and is the key to understand ancient Egyptian picture writings and the hieroglyphs), the Egyptian mummies, sculptures from the Greek Pantheon in Athens, and Sutton Hoo treasure (comes from the burial site of 7th-century Anglo-Saxon King in Suffolk). In 1857 the famous domed Reading Room was built.

The Natural History Museum has a fine collection of dinosaurs, birds, mammals and plant life, as well as geology and ecology displays. It is divided into five departments covering botany, entomology, mineralogy, paleontology and zoology. It was opened in 1881. Its research and educational departments continue to make a vital contribution to the world's store on information about our planet and its inhabitants.

The Science Museum has five floors packed with imaginative displays about science and technology from the Industrial Revolution through to space exploration, and even the digital age in the Wing, opened in 2000.

The Museum of London at the Barbican takes a look at the fascinating history of the city and its people from prehistoric times to the present day. It is the largest and the most comprehensive city museum in the world. There is also a research library containing a vast amount of material relating to London. The museum has a lively and original outlook — quite the opposite of the popular idea of a museum as a stuffy, boring place. It is a unique museum.

At the London Transport Museum trams, buses and even underground trains are among the colourful displays. It displays London's first horse-drawn omnibus of 1829 and a locomotive used on the Circle Line in 1866. The Museum houses the old Flower Market.

In the National Army Museum you'll discover the compelling story of the British soldier in peace and in war through five centuries, from Tudor times to the present day. It shows its visitors how soldiers lived, worked and fought. The treasures on display include medals, paintings, weapons and items from one of the world's finest collections of military costume.

The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich was opened in 1937. The museum displays cover naval history from Tudor times to the present day. There is a large collection of navigation instruments there. Two outposts of the museum should not be missed: the first will be seen at once by all visitors arriving by boat: the Cutty Sark, the last sailing clipper to be built, launched in 1869. Behind the museum, in Greenwich Park you can sec the Old Royal Observatory, erected by Christopher Wren in 1675-76. The observatory moved out after World War II, but this is still the position of the zero meridian of longitude, marked on the cobbled yard.

The National Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green displays over 4,000 toys past and present, from historic folk toys to Robots and Barbie. It is one of the largest collections on public view in the world. But it's more than just a toy museum — you will also discover many fine examples of children's books, costumes and nursery furniture.

The Museum of Moving Image explores the magical story of cinema, television and video, from its early beginnings in 2,000 ВС with shadow plays to the latest developments in TV technology. Visitors can also experience the wonderful interactive exhibits — they can read the news, fly over London "like Superman", make their own cartoon. Popular with children of all ages the museum was voted by its visitors as their best-liked London attraction.

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V & A) is a national museum of fine and applied art, and covers all countries, periods and styles. Its collection includes sculpture, fashion and textiles, paintings, silver, glass, ceramics, jewellery, books prints and photographs from Britain and all over the world.

The National Gallery and the Tate Gallery are two big London art galleries. They have some very famous pictures in them. You can see the history of British art in the Tate Gallery besides the Thames. It was opened in 1897 and was named after the sugar millionaire Sir Henry Tate who gave the Victorian paintings and paid for the building. The National Gallery, overlooking Trafalgar Square, has over 2,000 paintings in its collection covering more than 700 years of art. The pictures belong to the public and access to them is free. It has been since the Gallery was founded in 1824. Famous names in British history and culture from Tudor times to the 21st century are represented at the National Portrait Gallery.

One of the top London's attractions are Madame Tussaud's and the London Planetarium. The famous exhibition of waxworks was established in Paris in 1770 by Marie Tussaud, who later made her name with models of victims of the guillotine. She moved to London in 1802. This museum consists of several halls with wax images of outstanding political characters, poets and writers, world-famous film stars and musicians.

You can see a lot of other museums in London, and besides there is a show or a new exhibition every week in London. People like different things, and London has exhibitions of cars, boats, books, pictures, food, clothes, bicycles and what not. The saying "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life" means that you can't be bored in London.

 

1. Why is London a cultural capital of Britain? 2. What is London famous for? 3. Which is the oldest museum in London? 4. What museums in London do you know? 5. What art galleries in

London do you know? 6. What museums would you like to visit and why? 7. What galleries would you like to visit and why? 8. What do you know about the V & A museum? 9. What do you know about the famous exhibition of waxworks? 10. What does the saying "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life" mean?

The Arts in the USA

As American culture evolved, American artists began to create their own art forms. The styles of American art are as diverse as the people. Just as there is no single ethnic group, there is also no single American style. American artists have been inspired by a variety or influences. Painters, sculptures, musicians and innovators in other fields have won fame both at home and abroad.

Until the 1940s, America's visual arts — painting and sculpture — were primarily influenced by European trends. American art, developed mainly through subject matter and skills, as artists, imitated the established styles of the European masters. The most significant developments in American art emerged in the years following the Second World War.

Abstract expressionism, which was begun by a group of New York artists in the 1940s, became the first American art movement to attract the attention of artists abroad. Abstract expressionism focused on such things as the utilization of space, dimension, the interrelationship of colours. The international influence of America's abstract expressionists was so great that the painting centre of the world shifted from Paris to New York. Among the movement's leaders were Jackson Pollack (1912-54), Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko.

During this period American sculpture developed new styles of their own. Alexander Calder (1898-1976) designed the mobile. David Smith (1906—65) was the first sculptor to work with welded metals.

The reaction to abstract expressionism continued with a movement called "pop art" ("pop" is short for "popular"). The members of this movement attempted to produce works of art that would reflect the pervasive influence of mass marketing, mass media and other trends in American popular culture. Important in the pop-art movement were Andy Warhol (1930-87), famous for his multiple rows of soup cans and multiple portraits of Marilyn Monroe; and Roy Lichtenstein, recognized for his mimicry of well-known comic strips.

Recent trends in art emphasize variety and innovation. Movements of the 1970s and 80s include performance art, earth art, conceptual art, graffiti art, neo- and figural-expressionism, and neo-geo art.

Unique forms and styles of music have been invented in America. Ragtime, blues, jazz, country-western, rock'n'roll, rock and the musical were all born in America.

Closely tied to developments in American music was modern dance, which emerged in America as a new art form early in the country. The first and most influential leader of the movement was Isadora Duncan (1878-1927). America's newest generation of modern dance choreographers includes Alvin Ailey whose style features African dance elements, and Twyla Tharp, who experiments with new areas for dance such as video and films.

In the past three decades dance, both ballet and modern, has been the most rapidly developing performing art in the nation. New York City has become the dance centre of the world.

Born in Hollywood after the turn of the century, the motion picture became the popular art form of the century. Audiences were charmed by westerns, gangster films, comedies, musicals.

 

1. How did the styles of American art develop? 2. What influenced the development of America's visual arts until the 1940s? 3. When did the most significant developments in American art emerge? 4. When did abstract expressionism begin to develop in America? 5. What artists were among the movement's leaders? 6. What unique forms and styles of music have been developed in America? 7. What do you know about American modern dance? 8. What was born in Hollywood?