[高级英语]unit5 - arts - student version

Unit Five Arts

Unit Five Arts

1. What can you do?

1.1 Background information Terms oil painting Tempera Impressionism reggae

1.2 Word Expansion 1.2.1 Word family n. v. accelerate reflect adj. adv. ----- realistically Definitions integration variation

1.2.2 intense Derivative Derivatives e roots volve terra stance 2. Let’s read

Oil Painting

1】 The term oil painting refers to more than a technique. It defines an art form. The technique

Unit Five Arts

of mixing pigments with oil has existed since the ancient world. However, oil painting as an art form was not born until there was a desire to develop and perfect the technique in order to express life in its natural form because the existing painting techniques were felt to be inadequate for this need. Canvas instead of wooden panels was found to be a suitable medium for oil painting, as wood did not hold the paint well.

2】 The oldest known oil paintings date from 650 A.D., found in 2008 in the caves of Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Valley. Historians believe that walnut and poppy seed oils were used in these early paintings. Ancient Mediterranean civilization painting techniques included use of mixture of beeswax, mineral pigments that consisted of iron, copper, and manganese oxides, and tempera. □;ASince vegetable oils such as flax, walnut, and poppy seed oil were known to the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, scholar believe these substance may have been used in early oil painting. □;BFor example, early Greek paint recipes have been found that involve the use of drying oils such as walnut, poppy, hempseed, pine nut, castor, and linseed. □;CIn Italy and Greece, olive oil was used to prepare paint pigments, but the dying time was too long and was especially troublesome when painting figures. □;D 3】 At the end of the Roman Empire and up to the Renaissance period, primitive oil paints were replaced by tempera paint and then by oil paint. Tempera is a fluid mixture of organic material, water, and volatile additives. Italian artists used organic binders from animal sources, such as the whole egg, animal glues and milk. In the 14 century, Gennino Cennini introduced a painting procedure that integrated tempera painting converged with light layers of oil.

4】 The use of tempera paints gave way to oil paints. Oil paint was invented in Northern Europe around 1410. Art scholars believe that Jan Van Eyck ,a Flemish painter, developed as table varnish based on oil was the binder of mineral pigments. Van Eyck’s mixture probably consisted of piled glass, calcium, and mineral pigments boiled in indeed oil until reaching a viscous state. Painters of the time probably observed that linseed oil, as well as walnut and poppy seed oil accelerated the drying time of their painting canvases in the sun. Historians agree that Van Eyck’s masterpiece, the weeding portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife, painted in 1434, is one of the first and finest examples of the new oil painting technique. Van Eyck’s technique set the standard in oil painting, which lasted many years. The beauty of the technique is that the oil increases brilliance, translucence, and intensify because the pigments are suspended in a layer of oil that also trapped light.

5】 The invention of oil paints opened up the world to Renaissance painters. The Renaissance was the period of Western European history from the 14th century to the mid to late 16th century. During this period of ‘rebirth’, Renaissance painters began studying nature more closely and expressing what they observed in their paintings. The new oil paints enabled them to articulate their images much more realistically, since the oil controls the drying time, artists were also able to take more time to work on fine details and to capture skin fabric, and other organic texture. Oil paints permitted artists to work slowly, to build their paintings up in thin layers, allowing better light reflection. Some oil paintings reflect light and shading so well, that they can look life-like.

Unit Five Arts

6】 For 5000 years, oil paints remained the most popular and widely used paints. In the 1800s, oil paints were made available in airtight tubes, making them easier to use. The end of the period of oil painting cannot be dated exactly, as oil painting is still being painted today. The period of traditional oil painting is thought to be roughly between 1500 and 1900. Around 1900, the era of oil painting and natural and realistic paintings was undermined, first by impressionism, and then by Cubism. Acrylic paints were introduced in the 1950s and are widely used today. Lastly, photography has virtually taken the place of painting as our principle source of visual imagery.

2.1 Exercises

1. Which of the following statement about oil painting is supported by paragraph 1? A. It was a result of artists’ attempt to paint life in its natural shape. B. It was developed to create a radically different art form. C. It completely replaced the existing techniques.

D. It satisfied the artists’ desire to express a perfect way of life.

2. According to paragraph 1, artist chose canvas for oil painting because it ________. A. was more affordable than other types of panels. B. had a good texture for drawing a sketch C. held the paint better than wooden panels. D. was a suitable replacement for wooden panels.

3. Why does the author mention Afghanistan’s Baniyan Valley in paragraph 2? A. to provide the location where the first oil painting was painted. B. to prove that the technique of oil painting is not a very old art form. C. to indicate where the oldest known oil painting was found. D. to give an example of an ideal place for storing oil paitings.

4. It can be inferred from the passage that tempera paint ________. A. was considered to be the better than oil paint. B. replaced oil paint because of its glue like quality C. required the use of too many organic materials. D. was favored by artists around the 14th century.

5. The word procedure in the passage is closest in meaning to ________ A. material. B. subject. C. surface D. practice,

6. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted

sentence?

Historians agree that Van Eyck’s masterpiece, the weeding portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife, painted in 1434, is one of the first and finest examples of the new oil painting technique.

Unit Five Arts

A. B. C. D.

Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information. Van Eyck’s wedding portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife is considered by experts to be one of the first and most outstanding works of the new oil painting technique.

Historians have no problems of attributing Van Eyck’s masterpiece which he painted in 1434 as the finest example of the new oil painting technique.

The wedding portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife by Van Eyck’s is viewed as one of the first examples of the new oil painting by scholars.

One of the first and most outstanding examples of the new oil painting technique is Van Eyck’s masterpiece, the portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini’s wife painted in 1434.

7. The word layer in the passage is closes in meaning to ________. A. Color

B. Reflection C. Coat D. Gap

8. The word them in the passage refers to ________. A. painters B. paintings C. paints D. images

9. The word capture in the passage is closest in meaning to ________. A. cover B. depict C. identity D. sketch

10. All of the following are mentioned in paragraph 6 as the reason for the end of the era of oil

painting Except ________.

A. the dominance of photography as a visual medium B. the competition between impressionism and cubism C. the emergence of new artistic trends D. the introduction of a new kind of paint.

11. The word undermined in the passage is closest in meaning to A. attacked B. challenged C. submerged D. overrun

12. Look at the four squares that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the

passage.

These oils, when thickened, become resinous and could be used as a varnish to seal and protect paintings from water.