- •Topical vocabulary
- •1. General terminology
- •2. Genres in painting
- •2.1. Landscape painting
- •3.3. Composition
- •3.4. Colour
- •3.5. Light and shade
- •3.6. Line(work)
- •3.8. Style and technique
- •5. Going round a museum or art gallery
- •6. Names of museums and galleries
- •Vocabulary exercises
- •X. Choose the right word:
- •Illustration and training
- •II. Make up statements choosing suitable words.
- •III. Make up statements.
- •IV. Make sentences using these patterns.
- •V. React to the following sentences as in the model below.
- •VI. Say you did not know about the facts your partner tells you.
- •VII. Tell what genres of painting would choose the following as their objects.
- •VIII. Object to the following statements.
- •IX. Memorize these short dialogues.
- •Glimpses of british art
- •I. An outline of english painting
- •Exercises
- •1. Read the text given above.
- •3. Find the English equivalents for:
- •4. Explain and expand on the following:
- •Portrait painting
- •I. Read the texts for obtaining information. Sir joshua reynolds
- •Thomas gainsborough
- •Exercises
- •1. Study the italicised phrases, translate the sentences with them, give a back translation without consulting the texts.
- •2. Explain or expand on the following:
- •II. Without translating the extracts give the English equivalents for the italicized words, groups of words or phrases and render the paragraphs.
- •III. Study and describe Thomas Gainsborough's famous picture Portrait of the Duchess of Beaufort. Make use of the text given below and the following vocabulary:
- •VI. Two portraits of sarah siddons
- •1. Study the text “Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse” in “In the World of Painting” ( p.P. 22-24). Summarize it. Use the following vocabulary:
- •2. Read the text of Ex. V in “Practical Course of English” (3d year) edited by Prof. Arakin, 1974, p. 145. Render it in English.
- •3. Pass your judgement on the opinion of an enthusiastic admirer who saw the “Mrs. Siddons” by Gainsborough in the Manchester exhibition of 1857.
- •4. Work in pairs. Compare the two portraits. Landscape painting
- •I. Give a brief talk about the outstanding English landscape painters Constable and Turner.
- •II. Read the following text and speak on the similarities and differences between Constable’s and Turner’s painting.
- •Exercises
- •1. Learn the italicized phrases and use them while speaking about the painters.
- •2. The following sentences may be used while speaking about the painters. Your task is to decide who they refer to:
- •III. Translate the following into English:
- •V. Act as interpreter in the following dialogue:
- •The tretyakov gallery
- •I. Describe the reproduction of Surikov's "Boyarina Morozova" using this text as a guide.
- •Exercises
- •1. Find in the text English equivalents for the following phrases and write them out:
- •2. Use the active vocabulary in sentences of your own.
- •3. Describe the “Boyarina Morozova” according to the following plan:
- •II. Act as interpreter in the following dialogue:
- •From "Christmas Holiday" by w. S. Maugham
- •1. Still Life with Soup Tureen by Paul Cezanne (1883 – 1885)
- •2. "Picnic" by Claude Monet (1866)
- •3. Portrait of Cardinal Bontivoglio by Antonis Van Dyck (after 1621)
- •Exercises
- •Free speech activity
- •Instructions
- •Reference literature
Free speech activity
I. Make a secret note of the title of the picture that is reasonably well known. Tell the others in the group about the picture. See if they can guess the title.
II. Get your fellow-student to give you information about his/her favourite museum/picture gallery. Try to get as many details as you can.
III. Give a brief talk on a favourite painter of yours.
IV. One of you has recently returned from England. The other is questioning him/her on the impressions of the National Gallery/the Tate Gallery.
V. You are an expert in Peredvizhniki. Your partner is a foreigner who is completely ignorant of this period in Russian art.
VI. You are doing the Tretyakov Gallery.
VII. You are both young teachers, just beginners. Ponder over and argue about what and how you would tell your junior schoolchildren to introduce them to the vast and complicated world of Fine Arts. Outline those basic things you find indispensable to their general conception of Arts.
VIII. You are both learning to be guides in art. Evaluate what you have been taught and what you are studying presently. Exchange your opinions about what other knowledge of the subject you’d like to obtain.
IX. While preparing for an interview with a famous artist discuss the general trend of the interview and its particular items.
Role playing
Suggested characters and situations.
1. A guide explains pictures to a group of tourists. The scene is set in a picture gallery.
2. A young woman finds herself in an artist's studio for the first time in her life. She does not know much about painting but does her best to conceal it and expresses her opinion about the pictures she is shown using words she picked from art books. Her praise of the pictures is over-enthusiastic and exaggerated.
Use the following:
It's the best picture I've ever seen.
It surpasses all work of old masters.
It's thought-provoking.
It was clever of you to...
The drawing is too divine!
I do like this effect!
The colour scheme is strikingly original.
The colours are extremely effective.
The composition is wonderfully balanced.
3. A young man shares his impressions about a recent art exhibition. He thinks he knows a lot about painting and criticizes severely everything he saw at the exhibition.
Use the following:
The drawing is all faulty.
The colour scheme is muddy.
The perspective lacks depth.
The greens (reds, yellows) are shrill.
The red (yellow, blue) patch kills whatever effect there might be.
Light is not rendered at all.
a feeble imitation of Post-Impressionists (of Rerich, of old masters, etc.)
The exhibition is a flop (one big flop).
Note. Students will be well advised to use reproductions for their role-playing; the latter should be carefully selected to meet each situation.
4. Sharing Impressions at an Exhibition of Young Artists.
a) An ancient art critic who keeps complaining that it is all "outrageously modern stuff" and "a dangerous outbreak from tradition".
Use the following:
in my young days
we should be taught by old masters
originality for originality's sake
it offends the eye
The drawing is...
The composition lacks...
If you remember the treatment of the same subject by Courbet...
b) A young artist whose pictures are exhibited, and who is anxious to draw attention to them.
Use the following:
I'd like your opinion about...
If you just take a look at...
This composition device is...
The treatment of light is...
What I meant to convey was...
c) The young artist's friend and fan, a girl, who enthusiastically supports all he says trying, at the same time, to fend off the attacks of the old critic (Character 1) and of the venomous critic (Character 5).
Use the following:
Yes, isn't it superb!
Oh, but do look at this landscape (portrait, etc.)!
It's quite a find, isn't it?
...is tremendously effective
Oh, but it is unfair! How can you say such things? We're in the twentieth century now.
Well, what I say is...
You simply lack proper discrimination.
d) A sceptically-minded visitor who is sure that no young artist can create anything of value.
Use the following:
Well, I don't know but...
Somehow it doesn't strike me as...
I'm not sure what he aimed at but...
...decidedly lacks something
I wouldn't go so far as to...
...not much of an achievement
e) A venomous critic who never praises anything believing that it is a proof of high discrimination.
Use the cliches of disapproval and censure:
It’s rotten (nasty, beastly, ridiculous, outrageous, disgusting).
It’s below all criticism.
Too bad for words.
It couldn’t possibly be worse.
Absolutely inapt.
Completely meaningless.
Unbelievable trash.
I was repelled.
It made me sick (inf.).
It’s incredible, but...
I was shocked by...
What’s the use (good) of...?
What next, I wondered.
It was the last straw.
No good at all!
It’s a shame...
f) A middle-aged lady who is in raptures over everything she sees at the exhibition considering it a proof of high cultivation.
Use the cliches of praise and approbation:
It’s magnificent (lovely, superb, amazing, fantastic, incredible, great).
I’m absolutely thrilled (I’m thrilled no end).
I’m crazy about... (inf.).
a marvellous achievement
an impressive piece of art
It’s too divine for words (inf.).
Art Problems
I. All great art is believed to be thought-provoking. How do you understand this statement? Give examples of pictures that, in your opinion, stir thinking and imagination.
II. Children and Art. Is it necessary to teach art? How shall we teach children to look at pictures? (See G. B. Antrushina. Talks about Art for English Speech Practice, p.p. 16-20, 22.)
III. General Discussion