The artist gazes upon a reality and creates his own impression. The viewer gazes upon the impression and creates his own reality.
Date: 2015-10-07; view: 448.
IMPRESSIONS OF LIGHT
Robert Brault
You are going to watch a story of the Impressionists by Sister Wendy Beckett, an art expert. Before you watch it, do Tasks 1-3.
Task 1. Discuss the following questions with the group:
· Can you name any famous Impressionist painters? Whose paintings do you enjoy most?
· In what ways is the Impressionist movement different from other art movements?
· How would you characterize their manner of painting?
Task 2. Here are some words and expressions that you'll come across while watching the video. Match them with their definitions.
| 1. a water-shed 2. hypocrisy 3. with aplomb 4. a fallen woman 5. to be not on 6. puny 7. pathos 8. vulnerable 9. an easel 10. a snapshot 11. to take smth in | a) BrE infml: used for saying that something cannot be allowed or that it is impossible; b) a photograph taken very quickly; c) in a confident and skilful way, especially when you have to deal with difficult problems or a difficult situation; d) small, thin, and weak; e) an event or time when important changes happen in history or in your life (= turning point); f) understand and remember smth (that you hear, read or see); g) a wooden frame that you put a painting on while you paint it; h) pretending to have certain beliefs or opinions that one does not really have; i) easy to harm or hurt; j) old-fashioned: a woman who has had a sexual relationship with someone she is not married to; k) the quality that a person, situation, film, or play has that makes you feel pity and sadness. |
Task 3. Look at two paintings Sister Wendy is going to talk about in the video. Work with a partner. Describe the paintings and answer the questions below. Then discuss your answers with the whole group.
Edouard Manet. Olympia. 1863.
| · Whom do you see in the painting? · What does the woman feel or think, judging by her face expression, the gaze of eyes and the whole situation? · What do you feel when looking at the painting? |
Claude Monet. The Water Lilies (Nympheas). 1908.
| · What is depicted in the picture? · What do you feel like doing when you look at it? · What piece of music would be in harmony with this painting? |
Now watch the video once and do Tasks 4 and 5.
Task 4. Watch the video and turn back to the questions in Task 3. Will you change any of your answers?
Task 5. Are the following statements true or false? Correct false statements.
1) The first impressionist paintings were painted in Rome. T / F
2) Edouard Manet came from the higher stratum of society. T / F
3) In his painting Olympia, Manet depicted a fallen woman. T / F
4) Olympia got to be appreciated by Parisians as soon as it was exhibited. T / F
5) Claude Monet became the centre of a group of young artists who got to be known as the Impressionists. T / F
6) The Impressionist movement got its name from a painting. T / F
7) Many paintings by the Impressionists look spontaneous and unpolished. T / F
8) Many Impressionists painted their pictures en plein air. T / F
9) Many paintings by Claude Monet show views of his garden. T / F
10) The Water Lilies is a series of paintings. T / F
Watch the video again and do Tasks 6 and 7.
Task 6. Study the vocabulary in the right column. Then watch the video taking notes. Use your notes and the vocabulary to answer the questions in the left column.
| A. The rise of the Impressionist Movement. Olympia by Edouard Manet. 1. Why do so many people love the Impressionists? 2. When did the Impressionism emerge as a genre? 3. Where does it originate from? 4. What was Edouard Manet like? 5. Why did Olympia scandalize Paris and cause hysterical cries? 6. What did the artist show in the picture? 7. How different was the painting from what the audience got used to? 8. How is pathos revealed in the painting? | To be a water-shed, an art revolution, to start accidentally, to cause offence, to have a raw power, to seem shocking in an overcivilized age, to scandalize, hysterical cries, a (puny) prostitute, hypocrisy was exploded, to look out with great aplomb, to look with a measuring glance at, not to be on, pathos, to be self-assured, to be vulnerable |
| B. The Impressionists. 1. Did Manet have any lasting influence? 2. The public knew them as….. 3. What gave the art movement its name? 4. What was the important feature of the new art movement? | To become the centre of, to catch fire from, portable easels, ready-mixed tubes of paint, to abandon one's studio for the open air, a snapshot approach, to be all dashes and inspiration, spontaneous but unpolished, to take the ball and run with it, to begin a long and lucrative love affair with. |
| C. Claude Monet. “He was only an eye, but what an eye!”, said Cezanne. 1. What were the favourite views for Monet to paint? Why? 2. “Monet was only an eye, but what an eye!”, said Cezanne. Comment on the quotation. 3. What kind of feeling does the series of water lilies awaken in the viewers? Why do you think such feelings arise? 4. What would you feel if you could see the original of “Water lilies”? | A revolutionary, Giverny, to plan the garden, to capture every flickering change of light and every fleeting moment, to feel disoriented, to take smth in, to look at/in a painting, a beloved pond, to build big sheds, to reflect, the foliage, the water lilies, to be set free, to be liberated, to be set at peace. |
Task 7. Tell the story of the Impressionist movement. Use the chart from Task 6 as a plan.
& — READING&SPEAKING
3.5. Édouard manet
Task 1. Look up the pronunciation of the following names of Impressionists in a dictionary and practise pronouncing them.
| Édouard Manet | Alfred Sisley | ||
| Edgar Degas | Camille Pissarro | ||
| Claude Monet | Paul Cézanne | ||
| Auguste Renoir |
Task 2. Look at two paintings by Édouard Manet and answer the questions below.
E. Manet. Music in the Tuileries. 1862.
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E. Manet. Le déjeuner sur l'herbe (Luncheon on the Grass). 1863.
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Task 3. Read the text and find answers to the questions in Task 2.
Édouard Manet – not just an impression
The famous French painter, Édouard Manet, was born in Paris in 1832. Sometimes he is called the first Impressionist, because his pictures influenced the Impressionists. The Impressionists were a group of artists from the middle of the 19th century, with new ideas on what art should represent. They wanted to represent everyday reality as they perceived it in their painting, and they used contrasts of colour and lightto give an exciting new visual impression.
Manet painted his first innovative picture in 1862, Musique aux Tuileries. It represented a group of Parisians at an outdoor concert. The painting was unusual because there was no central subject. The figures cover the entire canvas, some faces detailed, others indistinct, and some figures only half in the picture.
In 1863, his picture Déjeuner sur l'herbe scandalised critics at the Salon des Refuses exhibition. The picnic scene of a female nude with two young men was criticised because nudity in art was considered immoral if it was not in a mythological context.
But Manet's unconventional stylefascinated many of the Impressionist artists like Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissarro and Paul Cézanne. The Impressionists' use of colours and light also influenced Manet. He began to use a lighter, freer style. He also painted outdoors "en plein air"' occasionally, an important activity for the Impressionists.
However, Manet never accepted the opportunity to exhibit with the Impressionists. He wanted to show his pictures at the official Salon, but this remained a dream. An official honorary membership to the Légion d'Honneur came two years after his death in 1883.
Task 4.Answer the questions:
1. Who were the Impressionists?
2. What did they represent in their pictures?
3. When did Manet paint Musique aux Tuileries?
4. How many people were painted in Déjeuner sur l'herbe?
5. What do you know about the Salon des Refuses?
6. What "dream" did Manet have?
Task 5.Write the appropriate date, year or number for each event.
| The century when Impressionism emerged. | |
| The year Manet was born. | |
| When Manet's exhibited his first "scandalous" painting at the Salon des Refuses. | |
| Manet's age when he died. |
Task 6.Choose the correct alternative.
1. Manet was an influence on / a member of the Impressionist movement.
2. "Musique aux Tuileries" was unusual because it showed an outdoor concert / had no central subject.
3. "Déjeuner sur l'herbe" was a mythological / picnic scene.
4. Manet sometimes / often painted outdoors.
5. Manet never / always wanted to exhibit his pictures with the Impressionists.
6. Manet became a member of the Légion d'Honneur 2 years before / after he died.
Task 7.Write a short paragraph about an artist you like. Say when he/she was born, where, what the main events in his/her life were, and describe the main subject of one of his/her pictures. Remember to use topical vocabulary units.
— SPEAKING
| <== previous lecture | | | next lecture ==> |
| Task 6. Describing your favourite landscape painting. | | | The world today doesn't make sense, so why should I paint pictures that do? |