Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 527.

What immortal hand or eye,

In the forest of the night,

1. Why is it sometimes so difficult to paint animals? Can you explain the interest of painters in animals? What do you think about the work of animalists? With the development of photography do you think this art may extinguish?

2. Have you ever seen monkeys alive? What were your feelings? Why are monkeys considered sacred animals in some Oriental / Orient - East, sunrise/ countries?

3. Do you prefer to go around museums all by yourself or with a guide?

4. They say Oriental philosophy and arts are radically different from those of the West. Have you ever thought about it? Why do artists of the east pay such a great attention to poses, contemplation /роздуми/, meditation, the trick of gestures, the revealing of the inner world of the things?

5. Can you imagine the picture that Soames bought for Fleur? Why was Aubrey Greene reverential, if not aghast, when he saw it? What did the artist want to tell the viewers having painted that white monkey?

Exercise 2. There are thousands of artists in Ukraine as well as in all other countries now. Each of them has been endowed with the gift and they can't help drawing. Drawing for them is another way of breathing. There was a one-man exhibition of Yevhen Levchenko from Kryvy Rih, whose pictures have won acknowledgement and fame both in Ukraine and abroad, because they radiate mysterious energy and are real masterpieces. Yevhen answered the questions of the journalists, who came to the exhibition to interview him. Read the answers given by the painter; comment on them; think what questions he tried to answer:

1. "No, it's not for having fame for fame's sake. I create art for people. I want to create kind, humane art. I am for good against evil. The universal love is my favourite subject. Art for me is like tintinnabulation /дзвін дзонів/, that carries the glad news all around the land and reminds the hearts of the highest spiritual values.

2. Good and evil can be found in the things we do, in our hearts and in our minds. Every person has a black and a white side. But we have a mind and will power and a freedom of choice and what we choose, good or evil, evidently depends upon us.

3. I am all for lofty, fine art, for subtlety /ніжність, проникливість, витонченість/ in art. Harmony is not something that has been invented by man. It has been in existence since before time. Disharmony is death, it's temporal, harmony is eternal.

4. The most important thing in art is not form or shape, it's spirit that one should be after. Colour is the soul of painting. Light and colour are inseparable. Great mysteries are concentrated even in the most trivial things, and one has to learn how to see them. Nature is the realm /[relm] - царство/ of harmony, so art should seek similar

perfection.

5. Finding one's own way in art is a slow process. An artist has to try very hard to establish himself in art, to prove his right for having a unique vision. I like many trends in art because usually there is a powerful personality that stands at the roots of each trend.

6. There's an easy way of making oneself popular - it is by criticizing political institutions, political leaders and the like, but art must not choose this way. An artist instead of criticizing should attempt to make himself better. Both he and his art will benefit.

7. Of course! Art is eternal, never-ending. There was great art in the past, there will be great art in the future. Here I want to stress the importance of finding one's own way, one's own individuality in art. If an artist puts his soul into his art, then every painting of his, no matter what it is - a landscape, a still-life, an abstract composition - is his self-portrait, or rather a portrait of his soul. Love, purity of heart and high morality - on these three art rests. "

Exercise 3. I believe there will be a volunteer in the group to speak for Yevhen Levchenko. The group are supposed to ask him questions and he is free to answer them, whether in the same way or differently.

Home assignment: firstly, it's interesting to sum up the ideas which Yevhen Levchenko shared in the interview; secondly, please, imagine that you are to take an interview from a group of well-known Ukrainian artists; think about 5-7 most

interesting questions and put them down.

Lesson twelve.

Exercise 1. Now, try to use your imagination and create a picture in your mind out of the following description:

If you happen to go to the National Gallery of Ukraine in Kyiv, you may be charmed by the picture named "The Bride" /Hаречена/. It's a big canvas 210 x 292, painted in warm, radiant, life-asserting colours /життєстверджуючий/. In the room of a village house there are women of different ages. They've come to help the bride to get dressed for the wedding ceremony and they have just finished and are looking at the young woman in the centre. She is stepping forward as if she were going to dance, feeling how young, beautiful and happy she is, wearing her finery - her best Ukrainian national costume. The colour scheme of her attire /убрання / is warm and rich: white - a new white sheet of her biography, scarlet meaning love and passion, golden for happiness, wealth and sunshine. There are fabulous home-made laces, decorating her skirt, and a coral necklace on her neck. There is also black in the pattern of the embroidery with which her costume is decorated, but it's not dominating, only reminding that there may be sorrow /журба/ in her future life too. The girl is tall, strong, her face being suntanned and beautiful, her eyes are bright, her full lips are beginning to smile. Though she is still young, her hands are strong and big, country girls beginning to work hard rather early in their lives. She is radiating /випромінює/ optimism, hope, strong will and longing to be happy, her youthful ardour /поривання, пристрасть/, a wish to triumph. Her whole image is generating pride and a sense of human dignity, spiritual beauty and vitality.

The women in the background are also wearing Ukrainian national costumes, but not so bright and rich. The expression of most of their faces is thoughtful and pathetic /жалісний/. Only the woman on the right, who is holding brightly and marvelously embroidered towels, is smiling. On the left a woman of about 40 is sitting, sadly looking down. She may be the bride's mother, who may have experienced quite a lot of sorrow in her family life, so her dress is rather dark and is contrasting with the whole atmosphere of the coming festivities.

Unlike William Hogarth, who ridiculed the ways and morals of his characters in his "Marriage a la Mode", the author of this painting wanted to tell the viewers something different. Have you understood his message?

Exercise 2. Would you participate in the press-conference, devoted to the opening of an art exhibition in any Ukrainian city? Split into two groups: painters and journalists. As it goes, journalists ask questions, artists, in this case, try to answer them.

Journalists, try to add a question or two about "The Bride".

Exercise 3. "The Bride" was created by an illustrious Ukrainian artist, one of the founders of the Ukrainian School of painting, Fedir Krychevsky (1879-1947).

While reading the text try to understand what things the artist was inspired by in his creative work, will you? Please, do your best:

Fedir Krychevsky holds a prominent place in the history of Ukrainian art. He made an invaluable contribution to the development of genre [ʒɑ:ŋr] and portrait painting and did a series of monumental canvases of great public importance. His aesthetic views and mastership were shaped at the turn of the century. Like Philip Malyavin, Olexandr Arkhipov, Boris Kustodiyev, Olexandr Murashko he tried to find a pictorial interpretation of a truly national theme. In the 20's and 30's of the 20th century his humanitarian principles developed more fully and extensively.

Krychevsky was born on May,10, 1879, in the town of Lebedin, Kharkov Province into the family of a medical attendant (doctor's assistant). He spent his childhood in the village of Vorozhba, whose colourful folk rites and customs and beautiful scenery left an unforgettable mark on him for the rest of his life.

Krychevsky received his basic training at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1899-1901), where he studied in the classes of such eminent masters as Valentin Serov, Olexandr Arkhipov and Leonid Pasternak, and completed his education at the Academy of Arts in St.Petersburgh (1907-1910) in the studio of the famous painter of battle pieces, Franz Rubo. (If you have visited The Panorama of the Crimean War in Sebastopol, you have seen the unsurpassed work of Rubo there).

It was 'The Bride", that Krychevsky entered in the Academy competition, and this mature work testified to the artist's inclinations and individuality. The traditional subject of a folk wedding rite is treated by the artist on a monumental and epic plane. This and other pictures of Krychevsky speak about the artist's desire to pay the highest tribute /віддавати належне/ to characters taken from the people and to create types of great power and meaning. This was to become a prevailing tendency in his entire creation.

The artist never tore the links /зв'язки/ with his people and their life. The village of Shishaky in Poltava Region had a special beneficial influence on him. Here he lived and worked for many years, inspired by the village's picturesque scenery and ancient folkways and traditions. His best oils were born in this blossoming part of Ukraine, which invariably filled him with new impressions and observations. His palette absorbed the decorative beauty and wealth of the patterns of Ukrainian carpets, embroidery and pottery, enriching his works and giving them a distinctly national colouring. In the artist's vision this corner of his Motherland was transformed into a generalized image of entire Ukraine, becoming a poetic symbol of his homeland and a nourishing /поживний/ source for his inspiration.

Profound as his love of nature was, it was scarcely so fundamental as his love of his people. His leading theme - the people - became more optimistic and life-asserting, having acquired laconic refinement and flexibility. Studying and observing the art of old masters, Krychevsky achieved in his own work an organic fusion /з'єднання/ of tradition and modernity.

The painter revealed a new facet in his creativity when he painted his "Kateryna", an absolutely fabulous composition based on the motifs from Taras Shevchenko's poem. Krychevsky focuses his attention on the spiritual beauty of Kateryna's character, her fine moral qualities which are in remarkable harmony with the painting's delicate drawing and refined colour.

Fedir Krychevsky combined his artistic career with teaching, to which he devoted much energy and effort, sparing neither time nor mastership, since he regarded it a significant task of his life. He took an active part in shaping the education program

at the Kyiv Art School, where he was an instructor and later the Principal. He

participated in organizing and creating his cherished pet project - the Kyiv Art College. He was the first person in Ukraine to hold a Doctor's Degree in art history and criticism.

Krychevsky was one of the founders of the Ukrainian School of painting, which was represented by such outstanding painters as Anatoliy Petrytsky, Volodymyr Kostet- sky, Tetyana Yablonska, Georgy Melikhov, Yevhen Volobuyev, to mention but a few.

Home assignment: there is a choice for you: 1/ write a 15-20- sentence essay about Fedir Krychevsky's creativity; or 2/ write an essay comparing the work and life of William Hogarth with those of Fedir Krychevsky.

Lesson thirteen.

Exercise 1. Some people visit museums and galleries quite voluntarily, because they feel the call of arts; others are made by their parents or teachers. For the first group it's usually entertainment, some minutes of joy, plunging into a different world, which gives them new experience. The other group turn their blind eye to whatever they see, and neither landscapes nor portraits or still-lives awaken any response in their hearts. How would you explain these attitudes?

Exercise 2. Practice the dialogues and have fun, will you?

I. A. It's raining, and raining, and raining. I feel I've soaked to the skin, damn it!

B. Let's go to an art museum for a change, shall we?

A. To where? Oh, you are cool, aren't you? By the way, I have already been to an art museum, you know. Nothing special. Walls, pictures, people.

B. When was that? Where was that? What museum was that?

A. An interview, eh? One question at a time, please. It was last year in Moscow. And I don't remember what museum it was, so ask me another, please!

B. Don't you remember anything?

A. Not a single thing. Oh, yes, I do remember a long queque [kju:] /черга/ where we wasted about an hour. And, yes, there was a statue of some man in front.

It was of stone.

B. You are something, you know? I believe it was the Tretiakov Gallery. And the 'man' was the statue of Pavel Tretiakov, the famous connoisseur and founder of the gallery. Don't you remember a single picture?

A. Stop it , will you? I don't remember, and I don't care, OK?

II. A. Whose portrait is that?

D. Which do you mean, who painted the picture or who is painted in it?

A. In fact, I'd like to know both. Let's look at the caption /підпис/, shall we?

D. It's Repin's picture of ... Repin. It's his self-portrait.

A. I say, why do painters create their own portraits, self-portraits? Do they love them-selves so much? "Now I'll paint a portrait of darling me!"

D. Gosh, I am not sure what to say. Perhaps, they don't have sitters for a portrait from time to time. Or they may want to peep /зазирнути/ deep into their own soul. A good portrait may reveal the truth about a person which one didn't suspect of having.

A. You are a born psychologist, you are!

D. If you don't like what I say, stop asking, will you?

A. Oh, oh, you are so hot! We're only talking.

III. C. Now what's that?

D. What's what?

C. What are these nails, cans, rags and an old tyre for?

D. They are a part of a composition. An artistic composition.

C. In that case there isn't enough rubbish to produce a great impression. You know, the greater the heap of garbage, the greater the impression. Come on, it's ugly and smelly. Don't you even try to tell me you like it, will you?

D. Just a moment, I 'll look at the caption. But of course, it's "Sorrow", as the caption indicates. I only wonder: sorrow for what? Or for whom?

C. Great sorrow for the man or a woman who has gathered all these. You know I create such compositions every day at home: all my clothes, books, a bag, make-up in a heap on the sofa. The only thing is I don't call them artistic. But, you should see the mess!

D. Is admission free? Or do you charge some money for the entrance ticket?

C. Great! Thank you for the idea!

IV. F. Oh, I'd like to see a Turner in the original.

H. Then you'll have to go to London.

F. Why so far?

H. Because most of his paintings are exhibited in London either at the National Gallery or at the Tate Gallery.

F. Oh, what a shame! Illustrations are small, one can hardly get the proper idea of the colours and the details. I have bought an album of Turner, published in Hungary, so I am irritated when I try to decipher the texts, and I am annoyed when I try to see the pictures.

H. But why on earth did you buy the album in Hungarean?

F. I couldn't find one in English. I am special, aren't I?

H. You are cool , aren't you? A real connoisseur!

F. Hey, do you think you are funny? Stop picking at me, will you?

V. K. Look! That is a picture, isn't it?

L. Of course, it's in a frame.

K. Is anything in a frame a picture?

L. At least at this exhibition. Let's have a look at the caption. What's it called?

K. What does it matter what it is called? There are lines, zigzags, dots and ovals. You can call it anything.

L. But I wonder what the painted meant with it. See, it's "Early Morning".

K. Why 'early', not 'late'? It doesn't make any sense to me. I think everybody is able to 'paint' such a chef-d'oeuvre.

L Then why doesn't everybody do it? Abstract art is in, the pictures are very expensive. There is the Museum of Modern Art in New York. You should have seen the pictures.

K. Have you seen them?

L. Only some and only in the album, unfortunately.

K. Lucky you! No, that's not my piece of cake. You see I don't know much about art in general, but when it comes to abstract art... thank you very much. I'd rather not.

Home assignment: none or ... an abstract picture or composition.

Lesson fourteen.

Exercise 1. These two poems are for you to feel the emotional influence of them: