Passage Ten
The earliest controversies about the relationship between photography and art centered on whether photographs fidelity to appearances and dependence on a machine allowed it to be a fine art as distinct from merely a practical art. Throughout the nineteenth century, the defence of photography was identical with the struggle to establish it as a fine art. Against the charge that photography was a soulless, mechanical copying of reality, photographers asserted that it was instead a privileged way of seeing, a revolt against commonplace vision, and no less worthy an art than painting.
Ironically, now that photography is securely established as a fine art, many photographers find it pretentious or irrelevant to label it as such. Serious photographers variously claim to be finding, recording, impartially observing, witnessing events, exploring themselvesanything but making works of art. They are no longer willing to debate whether photography is or is not a fine art, except to proclaim that their own work is not involved with art. It shows the extent to which they simply take for granted the concept of art imposed by the triumph of Modernism: the better the art, the more subversive it is of the traditional aims of art.
Photographers disclaimers of any interest in making art tell us more about the harried status of the contemporary notion of art than about whether photography is or is not art. For example, those photographers who suppose that, by taking pictures, they are getting away from the pretensions of art as exemplified by painting remind us of those Abstract Expressionist painters who imagined they were getting away from the intellectual austerity of classical Modernist painting by concentrating on the physical act of painting. Much of photographys prestige today derives from the convergence of its aims with those of recent art, particularly with the dismissal of abstract art implicit in the phenomenon of Pop painting during the 1960s. Appreciating photographs is a relief to sensibilities tired of the mental exertions demanded by abstract art. Classical Modernist paintingthat is, abstract art as developed in different ways by Picasso, Kandinsky, and Matissepresupposes highly developed skills of looking and a familiarity with other paintings and the history of art. Photography, like Pop painting, reassures viewers that art is not hard; photography seems to be more about its subjects than about art.
Photography, however, has developed all the anxieties and self-consciousness of a classic Modernist art. Many professionals privately have begun to worry that the promotion of photography as an activity subversive of the traditional pretensions of art has gone so far that the public will forget that photography is a distinctive and exalted activityin short, an art.
1. What is the author mainly concerned with? The author is concerned with
[A]. defining the Modernist attitude toward art.
[B]. explaining how photography emerged as a fine art.
[C]. explaining the attitude of serious contemporary photographers toward photography as art and placing those attitudes in their historical context.
[D]. defining the various approaches that serious contemporary photographers take toward their art and assessing the value of each of those approaches.
2. Which of the following adjectives best describes the concept of art imposed by the triumph of Modernism as the author represents it in lines 1213?
[A]. Objective [B]. Mechanical. [C]. Superficial. [D]. Paradoxical.
3. Why does the author introduce Abstract Expressionist painter?
[A]. He wants to provide an example of artists who, like serious contemporary photographers, disavowed traditionally accepted aims of modern art.
[B]. He wants to set forth an analogy between the Abstract Expressionist painters and classical Modernist painters.
[C]. He wants to provide a contrast to Pop artist and others.
[D]. He wants to provide an explanation of why serious photography, like other contemporary visual forms, is not and should not pretend to be an art.
4. How did the nineteenth-century defenders of photography stress the photography?
[A]. They stressed photography was a means of making people happy.
[B]. It was art for recording the world.
[C]. It was a device for observing the world impartially.
[D]. It was an art comparable to painting.
Vocabulary
1. fine arts 美术(指绘画,雕刻,建筑,诗歌,音乐等)
2. assert 主张,声明,维护(权利)
3. privileged 特殊的,享受特权的,特许的
4. pretentious 狂妄的,做作的
5. irrelevant 不相干的,无关的
6. subversive 破坏性的,颠覆性的
7. disclaimer 弃权者
8. harry 掠夺,折磨
9. austerity 严格,简朴
10. convergence 聚合,集合点
11. implicit 含蓄的
12. distinctive 区别的,独特的
13. exalted 高贵的,高尚的
日本队赛后“清理”更衣室,就像没来过……
国内英语资讯:Chinas opening up more than fulfilling WTO accession commitments: experts
国际英语资讯:Photo exhibition in Singapore traces Chinas education journey over 70 years
Crocodile tears?
合适的才是最好的
国内英语资讯:Regional countries should be vigilant against interference in South China Sea: spokesperson
马克龙欲重启国民兵役制度 要求所有16岁法国公民强制服役
比尔•盖茨将斥资400万美元培育转基因“杀手蚊”
俄罗斯科学家研制出人参巧克力
18个美容行业不希望你知道的秘密
Run of the mill?
中国股市跌至熊市,金融体系面临挑战
体坛英语资讯:Tunisia smashes Philippines 86-67 at FIBA World Cup
体坛英语资讯:Spain beats Italy 67-60 to enter FIBA WC quarterfinal
子曰:英语里的孔子鸡汤,都不是我说的!
国内英语资讯:Feature: Mutual understanding keystone of China-Australia story
战胜懒惰的12大方法
国内英语资讯:China Focus: Lis visit to Bulgaria, Germany to promote pragmatic cooperation
Queen's taxpayer-funded costs up 13% in 2017-18 由纳税人买单的英女王花销去年增长13%
一周热词榜(6.23-29)
不动产登记平台实现全国联网
国内英语资讯:Commentary: China remains committed to opening up
河北省辛集中学2017-2018学年高二下学期第二次阶段考试英语试卷
国内英语资讯:Internet Plus Agriculture model to promote integrated rural development
国际英语资讯:U.S. House committees seek Ukraine-related documents from Vice President Pence
体坛英语资讯:Argentina crushes Venezuela to reach FIBA World Cup quarterfinals (updated)
国内英语资讯:China shares its strategy in winning war against poverty with ASEAN
国内英语资讯:Chinese premier calls on China, ROK to uphold multilateralism, free trade
为什么和闺蜜分手比离婚更难?
国内英语资讯:Senior Chinese officials meet with U.S. Secretary of Defense
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |