大学英语泛读教程3(第三版)课件Unit 2

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A Do You Get It?
Multiple Matching
The following people (a-d) are mentioned in the text. Match the people with the images (1-4) below.
c
a
d
b
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a 3. Why did the committee refuse to display Fountain? Inference
a. Because it was far from creative.
b. Because they don’t know the artist’s background
c. Because it was not a real fountain
d. Because the committee didn’t like it.
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c 4. Why was Marcel Duchamp disgusted? Inference a. Because he thought Fountain was awful. b. Because he was the one who created Fountain. c. Because the committee were not following the rules. d. Because he thought modern art was lacking creativity.

A Question of Taste
Reading: Defining Art Words to Know: Arts; key word: pay Further Reading: The Master Forger
Before You Start
• Do you know any famous artists or any famous works of art? • Are there many places to see art in your country? • Have you ever seen any strange, modern artworks? Why are
1. Duchamp used the term “readymade” to refer to ordinary, manufactured objects that were put on display as artworks.
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Track 4
Today, Fountain is among the most well-known pieces in the world. Duchamp’s aim was to change the perception of what could be considered art. By doing nothing more than choosing the object, he was attempting to minimize the connection between artist and artwork and provide a new definition for art. “The creative act is not performed by the artist alone,” Duchamp said. “The spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act.”
b. Information about a writer is unimportant when interpreting their work.
c. The work The Death of the Author was groundbreaking.
d. All art is essentially the same.
a. It was the wrong shape.
c. It used faulty logic.
b. It showed poor taste.
d. His opponents didn’t like it.
d 2. What was Barthes’ theory? Detail
a. Most good writers were already dead.
they impressive?
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Reading
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Defining Art
What is a work of art? At first sight, this might seem like a stupid question. However, if we look a little closer we find that – as with any kind of value judgment – there is no foolproof answer. Such are the differences in opinion, that providing an evaluation of artworks or even a simple definition of art has proved almost impossible over the centuries. Of course, this hasn’t stopped critics and theorists from trying, and many schools of thought have emerged.
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Death of the Artist
For a long time, art interpretation focused on an artist’s background and intentions in creating a work. However, in the mid-20th century, the importance of artist began to be questioned. It was the French theorist Roland Barthes who led the way with his groundbreaking essay The Death of the Author, in which he asserted that the author was of no-account. Although Barthes was referring to literary criticism, his ideas were quickly applied to other artistic disciplines. So influential and far-reaching were they, that modern and contemporary art were soon also declaring the artist dead.
Reading Comprehension
Based on the reading text, choose the most appropriate answer to the following questions.
c 1. What was the problem with Hume’s definition of art? Detail
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Down the Toilet?
Rarely has one individual had such a massive impact on a field of endeavor as Marcel Duchamp did on the art world in the early 20th century. Not only did the French-American artist shock the critics world with his “readymades”,1 he completely revolutionized the way we think about art. In 1917, Duchamp was on the committee for an exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists when a work named Fountain was submitted. It was nothing more than a urinal that one would find in a men’s public restroom. The person submitting it had not done anything creative, nor had they altered the object in any way. They had simply placed it on a display stand and scribbled a small signature: R. Mutt. Although the rules of the exhibition stated that all submitted works would be accepted, under no circumstances were the committee prepared to display the item. Little did they know that it had been submitted by none other than Duchamp. Such was the artist’s disgust at the committee’s decision that he resigned in protest. What annoyed him was the committee’s hypocrisy.