Form 10
Foreign Philology Class
Task 1. Read the text, translate it and make up 20 questions about the text.
What is Sculpture?
The most enduring and,
arguably, the greatest form of fine art known to man, sculpture has played a
major role in the evolution of Western culture. Its history and stylistic
development are those of Western art itself. It is a key indicator of the
cultural achievements of Classical Antiquity, and became an important influence
on the development of Renaissance art in Italy. Together with architecture, it
was the principal form of monumental religious art which for centuries was the
driving force of European civilization. Even today, although continuously
evolving, sculpture is still the leading method of expressing and commemorating
both historical figures and events.
During its history, it has attracted some of the
world's greatest artists, including classical sculptors like Phidias, Myron of
Eleutherae, Polyklitos, Skopas, Lysippos, Praxiteles and Leochares, as well as
Donatello (1386-1466), Michelangelo (1475-1654), Giambologna (1529-1608), the
great Bernini (1598-1680), Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), Henry Moore (1898-1986),
Picasso (1881-1973), Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957), and Damien Hirst
(b.1965). Supreme examples of this long-established form of public art can be
found in many of the best art museums. Also known as "plastic art",
for the shaping process or "plasticity" it involves, sculpture should
be fairly simple to define, but unfortunately it's not.
Definition of Traditional
Sculpture
Traditional sculpture prior to the 20th century had
four main defining characteristics. First, it was the only three dimensional
art form. Second, it was representational. Third, it was viewed as an art of
solid form. Any empty spaces involved were essentially secondary to its bulk or
mass. Moreover, as a solid form it had no movement. Fourth, traditional
sculptors used only two main techniques: carving or modelling. That is, they
either carved directly from their chosen material (eg. stone, wood), or they
built up the sculpture from the inside, so to speak, using clay, plaster, wax
and the like. The models for traditional sculpting derive from Greek and Roman
Sculpture of Classical Antiquity.
Definition of Modern and
Contemporary Sculpture
The art of sculpture is no longer restricted by
traditional sculptural concepts, materials or methods of production. It is no
longer exclusively representational but frequently wholly abstract. Nor is it
purely solid and static: it may reference empty space in an important way, and
can also be kinetic and capable of movement. Finally, as well as being carved
or modelled, it can be assembled, glued, projected (holographically), or
constructed in a wide variety of ways. As a result the traditional four-point
meaning and definition of sculpture no longer applies.
The History of Sculpture
Three-dimensional art begins with prehistoric
sculpture. The earliest known works of the Stone Age are The Venus of Berekhat
Ram and The Venus of Tan-Tan, both primitive effigies dating to 230,000 BCE or
earlier. Thereafter, sculptors have been active in all ancient civilizations,
and all major art movements up to the present. After Egyptian Sculpture, the
principal Golden Ages in the evolution of sculpture have been: Classical
Antiquity (500-27 BCE); The Gothic Era
(c.1150-1300); The Italian Renaissance
(c.1400-1600); and Baroque Sculpture (1600-1700).
Elements of Sculptural Design
The two principal
elements of sculpture are mass and space. Mass refers to the sculpture's bulk,
the solid bit contained within its surfaces. Space is the air around the solid
sculpture, and reacts with the latter in several ways: first, it defines the
edges of the sculpture; second, it can be enclosed by part of the sculpture,
forming hollows or areas of emptiness; third, it can link separate parts of the
sculpture which thus relate to one another across space. Works of sculpture can
be assessed and differentiated according to their treatment of these two
elements. For instance, some sculptors focus on the solid component(s) of their
sculpture, while others are more concerned with how it relates to the space in
which it sits (eg. how it "moves through" space or how it encloses
it). Compare Egyptian sculture with the works of Alexander Calder (1898-1976)
and Naum Gabo (1890-1977).
Another important
element of (most) sculptures are their surfaces. These can produce quite
different visual effects according to whether they are convex or concave, flat
or modelled, coloured or uncoloured. For example, convex surfaces express
contentment, satiety, internal pressure and general "fullness", while
concave surfaces suggest external pressure, an inner insubstantiality and
possible collapse. Then again, a flat surface carries no suggestion of
three-dimensionality, while a modelled surface - one that contains
light/shadow-catching ridges or hollows - can convey strong effects of 3-D
forms emerging from or retreating into darkness, similar to a painter's use of
chiaroscuro. Although most traces of pigment have now disappeared, a good deal
of the sculpture produced in Antiquity (eg. Egyptian, Greek, Roman
statues/reliefs) and Medieval times (eg. gothic cathedral scultures) was
covered with paint or other colouring materials, including gold or silver leaf
and other precious colourants. Alternatively, sculptors carved directly from
precious coloured materials, like ivory, jade, and gold, or combinations
thereof. Colour can obviously endow a surface with differing attributes of
(inter alia) texture, proportion, depth and shape. An interesting use of colour
by a modern sculptor can be seen in the Pop-Art work Ale Cans (1964, oil on
bronze, Offentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel) by Jasper Johns (b.1930).
Types of Sculpture
The basic
traditional forms of this 3-D art are: free-standing sculpture, which is
surrounded on all sides by space; and relief sculpture (encompassing
bas-relief, alto-relievo or haut relief, and sunken-relief), where the design
remains attached to a background, typically stone or wood. Examples of relief
work can be seen in megalithic art such as the complex spiral engravings found
at Newgrange (Ireland), on Trajan's Column in Rome, the Temple of Zeus at
Olympia, and the Parthenon. Gothic architectural reliefs appear on all major
European Cathedrals of the period: witness the Saints on the south trancept of
Chartres cathedral, and the apostles on the north trancept of Rheims cathedral.
It can also be
classified by its subject matter. A statue, for instance, like the two versions
of David by Donatello and Michelangelo, is usually a representational full
length 3-D portrait of a person, while a bust usually depicts only the head,
neck and shoulders - see the bust of George Washington (1788) by Jean-Antoine Houdon
(1741-1828). A statue of a person on horseback, such as the one by Giambologna
(1529-1608) of Cosimo de' Medici in Florence, is termed an equestrian
sculpture. Perhaps the greatest ever equestrian statue is Falconet's
Baroque-style Bronze Horseman in Decembrist Square, St Petersburg: a monument
to Tsar Peter the Great and a masterpiece of Russian sculpture, albeit created
by a French
A sculpture's
vivid physical presence makes it an ideal form of public art: supreme examples
in Western culture being the monumental megaliths at Stonehenge, the classical
sculptures of the Parthenon in Athens, the Celtic High Crosses of Ireland, and
the 12th/13th century Gothic column statues and reliefs in the cathedrals of
Northern France and Germany. Religious wood-carving was taken to new heights
during the Northern Renaissance by master carvers like: Tilman Riemenschneider
and Veit Stoss, known for their intricate wooden altarwork and figurines, while
the Baroque Counter-Reformation stimulated supreme examples of Catholic
Christian art in the form of bronze and marble sculptures by (inter alia)
Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), known for the Cornaro Chapel series (1645-52)
including The Ecstasy of St Teresa. Modern secular public art features famous
sculptures like the Statue of Liberty, the Chicago Picasso - a series of metal
figures produced for the Chicago Civic Centre and the architectural sculpture
The Spire of Dublin, known as the 'spike', created by Ian Ritchie (b.1947).
Contemporary public sculpture continues to challenge traditional concepts of
3-D art through its new spatial concepts and its use of everyday materials
assembled or created in numerous installation-type and fixed forms of
sculpture.
Task 2. Write
summary of the text as if you were a sculptor who is giving a lecture to the
students.
Task 3. Revise the
forms of the Passive Voice (Indefinite).
Task 4. Everyone in the house has a task that he or
she normally does. Describe what everyone does, changing each active voice
sentence into a passive voice sentence:
EX: John buys the food. --> The food is bought by
John.
1. George cooks the food. --> The food.............................. by George.
2. My grandma feeds the cat. --> The cat...............................by my grandma.
3. Our organization helps those animals. --> Those
animals........... by our
organization.
4. The coach selects the players. --> The players..........................by the coach.
5. Mr. McKee teaches the class. --> The class..................................by Mr. McKee.
6. My sister makes the pastries. --> The pastries...................................... by my sister.
7. A local church organizes the fundraiser. --> The
fundraiser............... by a local
church.
8. Everyone here understands English. --> English............................. by everyone
here.
9. Santa Claus delivers Christmas presents. -->
Christmas presents................by Santa Claus.
10. Brad Pitt plays the lead role. --> The lead
role......................................by Brad Pitt
Task 5. Fill in the verb in the Past Active or Passive Voice.
- The Cape of Good Hope ... (discovered / was discovered) by Bartolomeo Dias.
- The clown ... (entertained / was entertained) the public.
- We ... (arrived/ were arrived) at the camp in time.
- Many experiments ... (did/ were done) under water.
- Many people ... (invited / were invited) to the festival.
- They ... (discussed / were discussed) many exciting things.
- I ... (learnt / was learnt) many interesting things in this unit.
- What artist ... (painted / was painted) this picture?
Task 6. Change the active
sentences into passive sentences.
- They played the match in the evening.
- They calculated the answers very quickly.
- They filmed the movie in black and white.
- They sent the e-mail yesterday.
- They built our house ten years ago.
- Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin.
- The shopkeeper opened the shop at nine o'clock
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