Материал: bardinskaia_tr_angliiskii_iazyk_v_sfere_kulturologii

INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS ART?

Lead in

Answer the questions:

1.Can you easily answer the question “What is art”? W hy? / Why not?

2.Can the ancient people make art?

3.Is it possible to teach animals to make art?

Discuss with your partner:

1.Why do you think the specialists still can’t give a definite answer to the question “What is art?”?

2.How can you tell a work of art from any other object?

3.The scientific laws cannot help us to find out works of art, can they?

“Why is this supposed to be art?” “What is art?”

Few questions provoke such heated debate, yet provide so few satisfactory answers. Without coming to any final conclusions, we can still bring some light to problems. For Art to us is first of all a word, that acknowledges both the idea of art and the fact that the art exists.

Art is made everywhere. Art is an aesthetic object. It is meant to be looked at, appreciated for its intrinsic value. Its special qualities set art apart, so that precious examples have often been placed away from everyday life - in museums, churches or caves.

The word “aesthetics” is defined “that which concer ns the beautiful”.

The ability to make art is the most distinctive man’s feature that separates him from all other creatures. Though all the living creatures have imagination, only men can tell one another about imagination in stories and pictures.

The record of man’s earliest art is lost to us. Man has been walking the earth

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for some three million years. But the earliest prehistoric art that we know was made only about 25 000 years ago. It was undoubtedly the culmination of a long development, which we cannot trace.

Who were the first artists? They were shamans. With the shaman’s unique ability to penetrate the unknown and his rare talent for expressing it through art, he gained control over the forces hidden in him and nature. Even today the artist remains a magician whose work can mystify and move us.

Art represents its creator’s deepest understanding and highest aspirations. Being inspired an artist creates a masterpiece. We can say with assurance; a masterpiece is any work of art that contributes to our vision of life and leaves us profoundly moved. Moreover, it does so to many people over time and space. The scientific laws are useless in helping us to understand works of art. In other words, it withstands the test of time.

Art enables us to express our understanding in pictures. This way is worth a thousand words.

But what is the meaning of art? What is it trying to say? Artists provide no clear explanation, but some regularly repeated symbols can be regarded as universal. Nevertheless, each particular culture having its specific meaning gives rise to the diversity of art.

Thus, art like language requires that we learn the style and outlook of a country, a period and an artist.

The art imitating reality is easier to understand. But we know a great deal of works of art based on the leaps of the artists’ imagination. Needless to say, artistic creation is too subtle. Only the artist himself can observe it fully, but he is so absorbed by it that he cannot explain it to us. What sets the real artist apart is not the desire to seek but the mysterious ability to find which we call talent, gift or genius.

We must keep an open mind making attempts to understand the works of art. If we do so, we will discover the real value of art: the more we know about art,

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the more we understand what it means.

EXERCISES

I. Enlarge your vocabulary.

Try to remember correct pronunciation of the new words.

II. Form the adjectives from nouns by adding suffixes -ed, -al. Translate them.

Talent ………………….

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Universe ……………..

Gift …………………..

Idea …………………..

Nature ……………….

Culture ……………….

III. Underline the root in the following words.

aspiration, inspire, spirit, spiritual, inspiration; ability, enable, be able, ably, dis-

ability; art, artist, artistic, artificial; useful, use, useless, usage, using.

IV. Match the words to their synonyms.

V . E n r i c h y o u r v o c a b u l a r y b y u s e f u l e x - p r e s s i o n s a n d i d i o m s .

a ) T r a n s l a t e i n t o R u s s i a n a n d r e m e m b e r .

1.to provoke heated debates;

2.to come to the final conclusion;

3.to bring some light to the problem;

4.to set apart;

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5.tо penetrate the unknown;

6.tо say with assurance;

7.tо withstand the test of time;

8.to keep an open mind.

b ) C o m p l e t e t h e s e n t e n c e s w i t h t h e e x p r e s s i o n s g i v e n a b o v e ( i n p o i n t a).

1. Shamans gained control over the forces hidden in him and in nature due to their unique ability .... 2. We can ... that the scientific laws are useless in helping its to understand works of art. 3. Discussing the question “Wha t is art?” we can only ... . 4. Those works of art that contribute to our vision of life and still impress us …. . 5. Being an aesthetic object and having its special qualities, art ...

VI. Fill in the correct preposition; then choose any three and make sentences.

art is based ... the leaps of imagination; an artist is absorbed ... it; the style and the outlook ... the country; say ... assurance; art contributes ... our vision of art; earliest art is lost... us; to express ... art; art... is first... all a

VII. Match the words to their definitions.

aesthetic ■ culmination ■ imagination ■ magic magician ■ masterpiece ■ talent ■ unique ■ value

1) something made or done with great skill: the best example; 2) the degree of usefulness of something; 3) understanding and appreciating of what is beautiful, especially in the arts, music, nature; 4) act of controlling events by the pretended of supernatural forces; 5) having no like or equal; being the only one of its sort; 6) the highest point; 7) a person skilled in magic; 8) the act or ability of forming mental images of objects; 9) natural power or ability to do something very well.

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