WHAT IS ART?

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 490.

WHAT IS ART?

Task 1. With a partner, try to make up a definition of art. Then consult several monolingual dictionaries and compare your definition with the ones given there. How much do they have in common? How different are they?

Task 2. Read the text and translate it in the written form.

What is art? This is still a controversial question after centuries of debate. No particular definition, however wide or narrow, has ever been universally accepted. In its traditional sense the term ''the arts" refers to the whole range of cultural phenomena that have a primarily aesthetic function: music, dance, painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, theatre, film and related forms.

The practice of the arts goes back to the prehistory of humankind. Artistic creation is a distinctive characteristic of the human species and serves countless needs and purposes. Art may be produced purely for art's or the artist's sake or to give pleasure and to entertain; on the other hand art is also a reflection of its time; finally, art can become directly committed to social and political issues. The arts can be regarded as the collective memory of humankind and as an instrument of truth.

State subsidies and private sponsorship are important for the fostering of the arts. Although the rise of democracy has freed artists from censorship and personal harassment, it is still difficult for most artists to make a living from art. Accordingly, most artists are not "professionals" in the strict sense of the word: they earn their living elsewhere and cannot devote themselves to the arts on a full-time basis. The English poet Philip Larkin (1922-1985), for instance, worked as a librarian, and one of America's most important composers, Charles Ives (1874-1954), was an insurance executive. Today, particularly cost-intensive arts like theatre and film, receive some state support. Institutions like the National Endowment for the Arts in the USA or the Arts Council in the UK support the arts.

Mass media influence has resulted in works of art being far more accessible to the general public today. This has stimulated artistic creativity in a greater number of people than ever before in human history.

The progress in reproductive technologies – from print, photography, the phonograph, motion pictures, radio and television to the latest computerized audiovisual equipment – has greatly contributed to the spread of popular art forms as opposed to art that aims at an elite of highly educated people. Naturally mass culture and the commercialization of art raise many questions. Can artists aim at a large market without doing damage to the quality of their work? With so many artists and so much art around, how can an artist still be "original" and avoid producing kitsch? How can a local and personal style be preserved when at the same time the artist produces for an almost global public? And how can a work of art do justice to an increasingly complex reality?

Task 3. Answer the questions on the text.

1. Is it easy to give the answer to the question “What is art?”
2. What functions does art have in a human society?
3. Is it lucrative to be an artist?
4. How does mass media influence the arts?
5. What does the expression mass culture imply?
6. Can you prove from the text that dramatic technological changes have a big impact on art as well as other spheres of human activities?
7. Do we need the arts?
8. What is kitsch? Define the word and give examples of the phenomenon.

Task 4. Complete the gaps with words from the text:

1. Deer has been eaten by man since _____________.
2. The decision to use the atomic bomb remains the most _____________ question of the Second World War.
3. Recent studies have shown that advertising usually _____________ competition and therefore low prices.
4. The ski resort is easily _____________ from the hotel via free public transportation.
5. Celebrities often suffer from paparazzi _____________.
6. The local wood was made into key rings and other tourist _____________.
7. The company looks for highly _____________ people, who are willing to study for further professional qualifications in their own time.
8. Staff and management training has _____________ much to the sense of fellowship and corporal social identity.

Task 5. Paraphrase the underlined vocabulary units in the text in the written form. Make up 5 fresh-context sentences with the word combinations you like most.

Task 6. Write a summary of the text “What is art?”.