Unit 3
Art for Eternity
Art is the signature of civilization.
Beverly Sills
造型艺术始自最初的图像，那些出自千万年前生活、劳动在各自土
地上的人们手中的图像，今天依然能够深深触动人心。
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Reading A
Strange Beginnings
We do not know how art began any more than we know how language started.
If we take art to mean much activities as building temples and houses, making
pictures and sculptures, or weaving patterns, there is no people in all the world
without art. If, on the other hand, we mean by art some kind of beautiful
luxury, something to enjoy in museums and exhibitions or something special
to use as a precious decoration in the best parlour, we must realize that this
use of the word is a very recent development and that many of the greatest
builders, painters or sculptors of the past never dreamed of it.
We can best understand this difference if we think of the architecture. We
all know that there are beautiful buildings and that some of them are true
works of art. But there is scarcely any building in the world which was not
erected for a particular purpose. Those who use these buildings as places of
worship or entertainment, or as dwellings, judge them first and foremost by
standards of utility. But apart from this, they may like or dislike the design or
the proportions of the structure, and appreciate the efforts of good architect to
make it not only practical but “right”. In the past, the attitude to paintings and
statues was often similar. They were not thought of as mere works of art but as
objects which had a definite function. He would be a poor judge of houses
who did not know the requirements for which they were built. Similarly, we
are not likely to understand the art of the past if we are quite ignorant of the
aims it had to serve. The further we go back in history, the more definite but
also the more strange are the aims which art was supposed to serve.
The same applies if we leave towns and cities and go to the peasants or,
better still, if we leave our civilized countries and travel to the peoples whose
ways of life still resemble the conditions in which our remote ancestors lived.
We call these people “primitive” not because they are simpler than we are –
their processes of thought are often more complicated than ours – but because
they are closer to the state from which all mankind once emerged. Among
these primitives, there is no difference between building and image-making as
far as usefulness is concerned. Their huts are there to shelter them from rain,
wind and sunshine and the spirits which produce them; images are made to
protect them against other powers which are, to them, as real as the forces of
nature. Pictures and statues, in other words, are used to work magic.
We cannot hope to understand these strange beginnings of art unless we try
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to enter into the mind of the primitive peoples and find out what kind of
experience it is which makes them think of pictures, not as something nice to
look at, but as something powerful to use. I do not think it is really so difficult
to recapture this feeling. All that is needed is the will to be absolutely honest
with ourselves and see whether we, too, do not retain something of the
“primitive” in us. The primitives are sometimes even more vague about what
is real and what is a picture. On one occasion, when a European artist made
drawings of cattle in an African village, the inhabitants were distressed: “If
you take them away with you, what are we to live on?”
All these strange ideas are important because they may help us to
understand the oldest paintings which have come down to us. These paintings
are as old as any trace of human skill. And yet, when they were first
discovered on the walls of caves and rocks in Spain, and in southern France in
the nineteenth century, archaeologists refused at first to believe that such vivid
and lifelike representations of animals could have been made by men in the
Ice Age. Gradually the rude implements of stone and of bone found in these
regions made it increasingly certain that these pictures of bison, mammoth or
reindeer were indeed scratched or painted by men who hunted this game and
therefore knew it so very well. It is a strange experience to go down into these
caves, sometimes through low and narrow corridors, far into the darkness of
the mountain and suddenly to see the guide’s electric torch light up the picture
of a bull. One thing is clear, no one would have crawled so far into the eerie
depth of the earth simply to decorate such an inaccessible place. Moreover,
few of these pictures are clearly distributed on the roofs or walls of the cave
except some paintings in the cave of Lascaux. On the contrary, they are
sometimes painted or scratched on top of each other without any apparent
order. The most likely explanation of these finds is still that they are the oldest
relics of that universal belief in the power of picture-making; in other words,
that these primitive hunters thought that if they only made a picture of their
prey — and perhaps belabored it with their spears or stone axes – the real
animals would also succumb to their power.
我们对于艺术如何起源跟对于语言如何产生一样不甚了解。如果我
们说的艺术是指建庙筑屋、绘画雕塑或编织图案这一类工作，那么全世
界就没有一个民族没有艺术。但是，如果我们说的艺术是指一些精美的
奢侈品，摆在博物馆和博览会供人欣赏的展品或专供高级客厅陈设的华
贵装饰，那么就必须理解艺术一词这种涵义是近世的发展，以往许许多
多伟大的建筑师、画家或雕塑家做梦也没有想到。
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Cave art
from
Altamira
Words and Expressions
weaving pattern n. 编织图案
precious adj. 精致的，宝贵的
decoration n. 装饰，装饰品
parlour n. 客厅，营业室
architecture n. 建筑学，建筑物；architect 建筑师
erect v. 建立，树立；盖
worship v.拜神，崇拜； n. 崇敬
dwelling n. 住处
utility n. 实用性，效用
proportion n. 比例；面积；部分
structure n. 结构，建筑
definite adj. 明确的
ignorant adj. 无知的，不知道
resemble v. 象，类似
remote ancestor 远祖
primitive adj. 原始的；远古的；n. 原始人
image-making n. 制像
shelter…from 保护免遭
recapture v. 再体验，取回； n. 再获得
retain v. 保持，保留
vague adj. 含糊的，茫然，不清楚的
inhabitant n. 居民，居住者
archaeologist n. 考古学家
vivid and lifelike 生动逼真的
representation n. 再现，描述，表现
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implement n. 工具，器具
region n. 区域，地方
bison n. 野牛
mammoth n. 长毛象，庞然大物
reindeer n. 驯鹿
scratch v. 刮擦，乱涂
corridor n. 走廊，通道
torch n. 火炬，火把，手电筒
eerie adj. 怪诞的，可怕的
inaccessible adj. 难达到的，难达成的
distribute v. 分发，分布
on the contrary 相反
relic n. 古迹，遗物
universal adj. 普遍的，通用的
prey n. 猎物
belabor v. 痛打
spears or stone axes 长矛或者石斧
succumb v. 屈服，屈从
Notes
Cave Art
1. Altamira (阿尔塔米拉洞窟)
The first painted cave was discovered in Altamira, northern Spain, in1879,
while an amateur paleontologist ( 业 余 古 生 物 学 者 ) was searching for
prehistoric tools. At first, the authenticity (真实性) of these spectacular
paintings was rejected because the works were thought too good to be
prehistoric, and it was not until the early 1900s that the art was accepted by
prehistorians as genuine and dating to 18,000 BC. The ceiling of the main hall
is loaded with paintings of bisons, red deer, horses, and boar.
Some of the animals, the deer especially, are large in size, over six feet long
(1.8m), and very lifelike, for the artists carefully recorded their physical
features. What makes the creatures so vivid is their energy and because they
seem three-dimensional from the way they have been painted on carefully
chosen undulating (起伏的) walls of the caves. Furs and manes of the
different species are painted with great fidelity (逼真) despite using only the
colors ochre (赭色), red, and black. Because of the potential danger to the
surfaces, the public is no longer allowed to enter Altamira.
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2. Chauvet (雪维洞窟)
The most recent discovery, on December 18, 1994 – also in France – has
proved that cave art is far, far older than anyone believed. At “Chauvet,”
named for one of the finders, Jean-Maire Chauvet, in the Ardeche Gorges of
southeastern France, amateur speleologists (洞穴学者) discovered the world’s
oldest painted prehistoric cave, which has paintings that date to some 31,000
years ago. While exploring a cave, the explorers felt a blast of fresh air. They
proceeded towards it and discovered a series of galleries and rooms. Some
300 horses, rhinoceros, lions, buffalo, mammoth, alone or in packs, came to
light after thousands of years of sleep.
The creatures are so naturalistic that they remind you of zoological
illustrations, and highly polished anatomical details make it possible to guess
the precise (准确的) species of each animal. Bursting with vitality (生命力),
these age-old animals fight and chase one another, appearing like the players
in some contemporary nature television program.
Exercises
1. Discussion topics:
1）In the past the attitude to paintings and statues was often
similar. Why?
2）In what way can you understand these strange beginnings of
art?
2. Fill in the blanks with given verbs in their proper forms:
Lascaux (拉斯科洞窟)
The “Sistine Ceiling” (西斯庭大教堂天顶画) of Paleolithic (旧石器时代) art
___1___ (be) to be found in the caves of Lascaux in France near Montignac. It
___2___ (be) found on September 12, 1940, when four local boys and a dog,
Robot, ___3___ (climb) to the top of Lascaux Hill, which was their favorite
place to explore. Robot ___4___ (fall) into a hole in the ground, and the four
boys determined ___5___ (return) early the next morning with a rope and
lamps ___6___ (find) their special friend. As they dropped one by one into the
unknown, how could they have thought that they ____7___ (discover) a site
of prehistoric man. (They did find Robot, too.) Until recently, the boys, grown
up, served as guides at Lascaux.
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Lascaux consists of a main cavern and many galleries – in fact, there are
110 caves. The 2,000 or more animal figures on the cave walls are mostly
bulls, bison, and horses. There are signs of near-human representation, but
man ___8___ (be) not nearly as richly defined as the creatures. Lascaux
would most likely have been a place where humans ___9___ (do) not
necessarily go to pray for a good hunt, but where the gifted artists would go to
draw what they hoped ___10___ (be) a good hunt.
3. Fill in the blanks with given words or phrases,
and then translate the sentences into Chinese:
can not … unless, the further … the more, scarcely … not,
not because … but because, no … without
1) __________ we go back in history, __________ definite but also the
more strange are the aims which art was supposed to serve.
2) We ___________ hope to understand these strange beginnings of art
___________ we try to enter into the mind of the primitive peoples
and find out what kind of experience it is which makes them think of
pictures, not as something nice to look at, but as something powerful
to use.
3) We call these people “primitive”__________ they are simpler than we
are — their processes of thought are often more complicated than ours
— __________ they are closer to the state from which all mankind
once emerged.
4) If we take art to mean much activities as building temples and houses,
making pictures and sculptures, or weaving patterns, there is
__________ people in all the world ___________ art.
5) We all know that there are beautiful buildings and that some of them
are true works of art. But there is __________ any building in the
world which was ____________ erected for a particular purpose.
Reading B
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Egypt, the True Grandmother of the Fine Arts
Some form of art exists everywhere on globe, but the story of art as a
continuous effort does not begin in the caves of southern France or among the
North American Indians. There is no direct tradition which links these strange
beginnings with our own days, but there is a direct tradition, handed down
from master to pupil, and from pupil to admirer or copyist, which links the art
of our own days, any house or any poster, with the art of the Nile Valley of
some five thousand years ago. For we shall see that the Greek masters went to
school with the Egyptians, and we are all the pupils of the Greeks. Thus the
art of Egypt has a tremendous importance for us.
In many ways, Egypt was the grandmother of all the arts of Western
civilization, providing the roots of all artistic forms that followed thereafter.
The character of Egyptian art
Architecture was invented in Egypt around 2650 BC – just south of Cairo at
the stepped pyramid at Saqqara, which King Zoser’s architect and physician,
Imhotep, designed.
Most of art was made for tombs, but don’t assume it’s gloomy or funereal.
Quite the opposite. Egyptians believed that once the mummified remains were
lain in the tomb along with scads of representations of food, servants, and all
the possessions of the departed, eternal life was a sure thing. That explains
why Egyptian art is so naturalistic and so optimistic. It was thought that the
more realistic it was, the more certain the deceased would be able to feed off
his represented goods forever.
At first glance, the reliefs and paintings may not look all that real – you
know, heads, shoulders, hands and feet always somewhat stiffly in profile or
directly frontal with astonishing attention to specific anatomical details. But
realism in ancient Egypt meant emphasizing the most obvious view of each
part of the body and bunching them all together. The human figure was
created by adding up individual, real-looking separate pieces into a sum of
parts that doesn’t fit together organically. Action is only implied. Once you
understand this essential formula, then Egyptian art becomes stunningly
lifelike.
Where to see Egyptian art
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To see the cream of Egyptian art and architecture you must travel to Egypt to
the well-known sites of the pyramids of Giza and Saqqara, and see the painted
and carved tombs in the Valley of the Kings, the temples of Karnak at Luxor,
and the mammoth sculptures of Rameses II way south at Abu Simbel.
Outstanding collections can be seen at the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, and the
museum at Luxor (which is the only modern museum in the country).
But since Europeans have been hooked on Egypt since the 18th century and
Americans from the late 19th century, and because free exportation of
antiquities to foreign lands shut down only in the 1920s, there are many places
to see exceptional Egyptian works, including whole buildings and tombs. In
Europe, the British Museum (despite the depressing hodgepodge installation)
is rich, as is the Louvre in Paris. In Munich, a small but super museum is
solely devoted to Egyptian art. In Turin, Italy, you can also find an astounding
collection. In the U.S., the Metropolitan Museum in New York is the best,
especially because every item in the 5,000-fold collection is on view – and
there’s even an entire temple, from Dendur, preserved under glass (lots of it).
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston also has a prime collection. In fact,
virtually every museum in our country has something ancient Egyptian
worthy of seeing.
The best of Egyptian art
If you had the time (and the resources) to see the very best of the best of
Egyptian art, here’s a chronological list. By the way, Egyptologists divide the
art into four main historical categories: the Old Kingdom, the Middle
Kingdom, the New Kingdom, and the late period – all according to various
dynasties or rulers. It isn’t necessary to learn what these categories are to
appreciate Egyptian art, but having a passing familiarity is one way of getting
a handle on the mind-boggling ancientness of the civilization.
The life-size statue of King Zoser (Egyptian Museum, Cairo) of the third
dynasty (2630~2611 BC) found in a hidden room at the base of the pyramid at
Saqqara. The eyes were gouged out by ancient tomb robbers seeking the
precious gold and crystal that artists commonly used.
The Great pyramid at Giza, which Khafre caused to be built as his
monument for eternal life and possibly his tomb, is one of the most
compelling sculptures of mankind. It was shrouded in polished marble, and its
summit was covered with gold, symbolizing the sun. The surprising thing to
most first-time visitors is that this supposedly incomprehensibly huge shape is
in human scale, more so than the Sphinx.
The Sphinx represents Khafre as the embodiment of the sun god Ra and is
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immense, some 240 feet (73m) long and 66 feet (20m) high. In Arabic, this
massive stone is known as “Abu al-Hawl,” or the “Father of Terror,” which
may strike you when you gaze at this mysterious wonder in the dead of night
with a full moon to illuminate it.
There’s good news for Pyramid-watchers: The great Pyramid, the Sphinx,
and the temple in front of the creature are now open again after extensive
reconstructions. The Sphinx’s 66-foot by 66-foot temple has 24 pillars
representing the day’s hours. It also has two carved niches that depict sunrise
and sunset. The stones, some of which weighed eight tons, had collapsed and
are now, once again, standing in position. The Egyptian government will
allow tourists into the great Pyramid, but only 300 a day instead of the
pre-restoration 5,000 – so plan the visit accordingly.
For the New Kingdom and the 18th dynasty (1503~1482 BC), there’s a
gorgeous, seated, polished stone sculpture of the only female pharaoh of
Egypt history, Queen Hatshepsut, in the metropolitan. She’s young and
fetching, elegant, delicate, and gracious – more a ballet dancer than a
goddess-in-the-flesh.
There is nothing in the world like the nearly 5,000 objects found in the
early 1920s in the tomb of King Tut (1361~1352 BC), which had been
hidden for thousands of years because a later pharaoh’s grave was built over it.
They are all in the Cairo museum (except for a few pieces at the Met and in
Brooklyn, which the finders stole and sold). These objects are gripping as
works of art not only for their grace and suppleness, their perfection of
craftsmanship, but for their exceptional degree of psychological awareness.
埃及是一个奇迹，一个以眩目的光芒照亮人类文明世界的奇迹。虽
然在地理位置上埃及属于东方，但是它由强大的文化凝聚力发散开来的
影响却遍及西方，是文明社会的艺术之源。
Words and Expressions
poster n. 招贴，广告，海报
physician n. 医师
mummified adj. 木乃伊化的；mummy n. 木乃伊
tomb n. 墓，坟地，墓碑
gloomy adj. 黑暗的，令人沮丧的
scads n. 许多，大量
possession n. 拥有，所有，财产
eternal adj. 永恒的；eternity n. 永恒
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optimistic adj. 乐观的
deceased n. 死者，已故者
relief n. 浮雕
stiffly in profile 外形呆板
anatomy n. 解剖
formula n. 表达公式
stunningly adj. 绝妙的，令人目瞪口呆
be hooked on 钩住，迷上
exportation n. 输出，出口
antiquity n. 古代的遗物
hodgepodge installation 大杂烩式的展示
be solely devoted to 专门（收藏）
astounding adj. 令人震惊，可怕的
chronological list 按年代顺序排列
historical category 历史分类
mind-boggling adj. 令人难以置信的
gouge v. 抠出，凿出
crystal n. 水晶，水晶装饰品
compelling adj. 引入注目，强迫性的
polished marble 光滑的大理石
shroud v. 隐藏，裹在……内
illuminate v. 照亮
pillar n. 柱子，栋梁
carved niches 雕刻物
collapse v. 倒塌，崩溃
gorgeous adj. 华丽的，美丽的
pharaoh n. 法老
lapis lazuli 天青石（宝石）
evocative adj. 唤…起，引…起
smashing adj. 轰动一时
execution n. 制作，完成
vulnerable adj. 易受攻击的，柔弱
visage n. 脸，面容
Proper Names
1．stepped pyramid at Saqqara 阶梯式金字塔
2．Pyramids of Giza 被称为古代世界奇观的三座大金字塔
3. Valley of the Kings 王陵谷
4. temples of Karnak at Luxor 卡纳克神庙
5．Metropolitan Museum in New York 纽约大都会博物馆
6．embodiment of the sun god Ra 太阳神-拉的化身
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7．The Sphinx 狮身人面像
8．Queen Hatshepsut 哈特谢普苏特, 埃及历史上惟一的女性法老王
Exercises
1. Translate the following passage into Chinese.
I shall never forget how I felt, as the organizer of the exhibition
throughout the United States of some of Tut’ s works of art, when I personally
lifted the golden mask that covered the mummy’s face and touched it. I
actually kissed it on the lips and didn’t fall victim to the famous curse.
This gold and lapis lazuli mask is the most evocative and smashing work
of decorative art that’s survived antiquity. It is perfect in execution and
condition. Artistically, the mask ranks among the top portraits ever created —
the gorgeous youth (he was 14 or so when he died) is portrayed as a king, a
god, and a vulnerable teenager. If you gaze at this magnificent piece, you can’t
help but be moved by the strength, as well as the sensitivity, of the visage.
2. Draw a travel map of Egypt, marking five most interesting places.
The hypostyle hall, Temple of Amon-Mut-Khonsu, Luxor
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Tutankhamen’s Coffin
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