Impressionists Painting

选自《美国高中生课外阅读名篇精选》


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[1] To modern eyes, Impressionist paintings possess a familiar, well-loved beauty - Monet’s exquisite water lilies, Renior’s smiling girls, Degas’ delicate ballerinas.

Words:
exquisite [ˈɛkskwɪzɪt, ɪkˈskwɪzɪt] 精致的,细腻的
ballerinas 芭蕾舞女演员

[2] However, to contemporaries, Impressionist paintings were seen as scandalous and heretical.

Words:
sandoalous [ˈskændləs]丢脸的; 诽谤性的
heretical [həˈrɛtɪkəl] 异教的,异端的

[3] On their first appearance in Paris in the 1870s, the paintings caused outrage in the art world, were viciously denounced by critics and rejected by the public. They have declared war on beauty.

Words:
outrage [ˈaʊtˌredʒ]愤慨,暴行
viciously ['vɪʃəslɪ] 邪恶的,敌意的
denouce [dɪˈnaʊns] 公开指责,告发
reject [rɪˈdʒɛkt] 拒绝,排斥,抛弃
declare [rɪˈdʒɛkt]宣布,声明

[4] It was many years before this opinion would change.

[5] Impressionism is a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists. Their independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s, in spite of harsh opposition from the conventional art community in France. The name of the style derives from the title of a Claude Monet work, Impression, Sunrise, which provoked the critic Louis Leroy to coin the term in a satiric review published in the Parisian newspaper Le Charivari.

Words:
harsh [hɑ:rʃ]刺耳的
opposition [ˌɑ:pəˈzɪʃn]反对,敌对
derive [dɪˈraɪv]源于,来自
provoke [prəˈvoʊk]煽动,激起,挑起
coin  杜撰; 创造;
satiric [sə'tɪrɪk]含有讽刺一味的

Sentence:
The name of the style derives from the title of a Claude Monet work, Impression,Sunrise,which provoked the critic Louis Leroy to coin the term in a satiric review published in the Parisian newspaper Le Charivari.

“which”在这里指代风格的命名。
意思是:展览中,风格的命名源于克洛德 莫奈的作品:《日出印象》,这部作品引发了评论家路易 勒鲁瓦在巴黎人报纸《Le Charivari》上为其定义并且嘲讽。

[6] Impressionist painting characteristics include relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities(often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), common, ordinary subject matter, inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience, and unusual visual angles. The development of Impressionism in the visual arts was soon followed by analogous styles in other media that became known as impressionist music and impressionist literature.

Words:
composition [ˌkɑ:mpəˈzɪʃn] 创作,构图,布置
emphasis on 强调
depiction [dɪˈpɪkʃən] 描写,叙述
accentuate [ækˈsɛntʃuˌet]强调,着重指出
passage of time 时间推移,斗转星移
subject matter 题材
perception [pərˈsepʃn] 知觉,观念,觉察力
analogous [əˈnæləɡəs] 相似的,可比拟的

[7] Radicals in their time, early Impressionists violated the rules of academic painting. They constructed their pictures from freely brushed colours that took precedence over lines and contours, following the example of painters such as Eugene Delacroix and J.M.W.Turner. They also painted realistic scenes of modern life, and often painted outdoors. Previously, still lifes and portraits as well as landscapes were usually painted in a studio. The Impressionists found that they could capture the momentary and transient effects of sunlight by painting en plein air. They portrayed overall visual effects instead of details, and used short “broken” brush strokes of mixed and pure unmixed colour-not blended smoothly or shaded, as was customary-to achieve an effect of intense colour vibration.

Words:
radical 激进分子
violate 侵犯,违反
take precedence 领先,优先权
contour 外形,轮廓
still life 静物
vibration 震动,摆动

[8] Impressionism emerged in France at the same time that a number of other painters, including the Italian artists known as the Macchiaioli, and Winslow Homer in the United States, were also exploring plein-air painting. The Impressionists, however, developed new techniques specific to the style. Encompassing what its adherents argued was a different way of seeing, it is an art of immediacy and movement, of candid poses and compositions, of the play of light expressed in a bright and varied use of colour.

Words:
emerge [iˈmɜ:rdʒ] 出现,暴露
encompass [ɛnˈkʌmpəs] 围绕,包围; 包含或包括某事物; 完成;
adherent [ədˈhɪrənt] 支持者,拥护者
immediacy [ɪˈmidɪəsɪ] 直接(性); 即时(性)
candid [ˈkændɪd] 公正的; 率直的,坦白的

[9] The public, at first hostile, gradually came to believe that the Impressinists had captured a fresh and original vision, even if the art critics and art establishment disapproved of the new style.

Words:
hostile [ˈhɑ:stl] 怀有敌意的
capture [ˈkæptʃɚ] 俘获; 夺取; 夺得; 引起
disapprove [ˌdɪsəˈpruv] 不赞成

captured a fresh and original vision 捕捉到了新奇的独创的视角

[10] By recreating the sensation in the eye that views the subject, rather than delineating the details of the subject, and by creating a welter of the techniques and forms. Impressinism is a precursor of various painting styles, including Neo-Impressinism, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, and Cubism.

Words:
delineate [dɪˈlɪniˌet] 勾画,描述
welter [ˈwɛltɚ]混乱; 杂乱混合,大杂烩;
precursor [pri:ˈkɜ:rsə(r)] 前辈,前驱,先锋

Impressinism is a precursor of various painting styles:印象派是众多绘画派别的前驱。

[11] Prior to the Impressionists, other painters, notably such 17th-century Dutch painters as Jan Steen, had emphasized common subjects, but their methods of composition were traditional. They arranged their compositions so that the main subject commanded the viewer’s attention. The Impressionists relaxed the boundary between subject and background so that the effect of an Impressionists painting often resembles a snapshot, a part of a larger reality captured as if by chance. Photography was gaining populatity, and as cameras became more portable, photographs became more candid. Photography inspired Impressionists to represent momentary action, not only in the fleeting lights of a landscape, but in the day-to-day lives of people.

Words:
prior to 在...之前
notabaly 尤其
snapshot [ˈsnæpʃɑ:t]快照
portable [ˈpɔ:rtəbl] 轻便的; 手提的

[12] The development of Impressionism can be considered partly as a reaction by artists to the challenge presented by photography, which seemed to devalue the artist’s skill in reproducing reality. Both portrait and landscape paintings were deemed somewhat deficient and lacking in truth as photography “produced lifelike images much more efficiently and reliably”.

Words:
devalue [diˈvælju] 贬低,降低某物的价值
deem [dim]认为,主张,断定
deficient [dɪˈfɪʃənt]不足,缺乏
lifelike [ˈlaɪfˌlaɪk] 逼真,栩栩如生的

[13] In spite of this, photography actually inspired artists to pursue other means of artistic expression, and rather than compete with photography to emulate reality, artists focused “on the one thing they could inevitably do better than the photograph——by further developing into an art form its very subjectivity in the conception of the image, the very subjectivity that photography eliminated.” The Impressionists sought to express their perceptions of nature, rather than create exact representations. This allowed artists to depict subjectively what they saw with their “tacit imperatives of taste and conscience.” Photography encouraged painters to exploit aspects of the painting medium, like color, which photography then lacked:”The Impressionists were the first to conciously offer a subjective alternative to the photograph.”

Words:
emulate [ˈɛmjəˌlet] 仿真,竞争,努力赶上
inevitably [ɪnˈevɪtəbli] 难免; 不可避免地,自然而然地
in the conception of 强调
eliminate [ɪˈlɪməˌnet] 消除,淘汰

Sentence:
In spite of this, photography actually inspired artists to pursue other means of artistic expression, and rather than compete with photography to emulate reality, artists focused “on the one thing they could inevitably do better than the photograph——by further developing into an art form its very subjectivity in the conception of the image, the very subjectivity that photography eliminated.”
这里rather than 做连词使用时连接两个并列的成分,“是A,而不是B”,“要A,而不要B”,后边跟名词,代词,动词,副词,动词to do形式
这一句可以译为:尽管如此,摄影实际上激励了艺术家去追求艺术的其他表现方式,而不是和仿真的摄影相抗争,它让画家们把精力集中在某一点上,并且在这一点上比照片表现更好,进一步发展出非常强调绘画的主观性,而主观性正是照片所要排除的。

[14] Another major influence was Japanese art prints (Japonism), which originally came into France as wrapping paper on imported goods. The art of these prints contributed significantly to the “snapshot” angles and unconventional compositions that became characteristic of Impressionism.

Sentence:
The art of these prints contributed significantly to the “snapshot” angles and unconventional compositions that became characteristic of Impressionism.
这一句的that指的是the “snapshot” angles and unconventional compositions这一句可以译为:这些版画也为“快照”和非传统构图做出了具有深远意义的影响,而这两种是印象画派的显著特点。

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选自《美国高中生课外阅读名篇精选》


下载音频

[1] To modern eyes, Impressionist paintings possess a familiar, well-loved beauty - Monet’s exquisite water lilies, Renior’s smiling girls, Degas’ delicate ballerinas.

[2] However, to contemporaries, Impressionist paintings were seen as scandalous and heretical.

[3] On their first appearance in Paris in the 1870s, the paintings caused outrage in the art world, were viciously denounced by critics and rejected by the public. They have declared war on beauty.

[4] It was many years before this opinion would change.

[5] Impressionism is a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists. Their independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s, in spite of harsh opposition from the conventional art community in France. The name of the style derives from the title of a Claude Monet work, Impression, Sunrise, which provoked the critic Louis Leroy to coin the term in a satiric review published in the Parisian newspaper Le Charivari.

[6] Impressionist painting characteristics include relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities(often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), common, ordinary subject matter, inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience, and unusual visual angles. The development of Impressionism in the visual arts was soon followed by analogous styles in other media that became known as impressionist music and impressionist literature.

[7] Radicals in their time, early Impressionists violated the rules of academic painting. They constructed their pictures from freely brushed colours that took precedence over lines and contours, following the example of painters such as Eugene Delacroix and J.M.W.Turner. They also painted realistic scenes of modern life, and often painted outdoors. Previously, still lifes and portraits as well as landscapes were usually painted in a studio. The Impressionists found that they could capture the momentary and transient effects of sunlight by painting en plein air. They portrayed overall visual effects instead of details, and used short “broken” brush strokes of mixed and pure unmixed colour-not blended smoothly or shaded, as was customary-to achieve an effect of intense colour vibration.

[8] Impressionism emerged in France at the same time that a number of other painters, including the Italian artists known as the Macchiaioli, and Winslow Homer in the United States, were also exploring plein-air painting. The Impressionists, however, developed new techniques specific to the style. Encompassing what its adherents argued was a different way of seeing, it is an art of immediacy and movement, of candid poses and compositions, of the play of light expressed in a bright and varied use of colour.

[9] The public, at first hostile, gradually came to believe that the Impressinists had captured a fresh and original vision, even if the art critics and art establishment disapproved of the new style.

[10] By recreating the sensation in the eye that views the subject, rather than delineating the details of the subject, and by creating a welter of the techniques and forms. Impressinism is a precursor of various painting styles, including Neo-Impressinism, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, and Cubism.

[11] Prior to the Impressionists, other painters, notably such 17th-century Dutch painters as Jan Steen, had emphasized common subjects, but their methods of composition were traditional. They arranged their compositions so that the main subject commanded the viewer’s attention. The Impressionists relaxed the boundary between subject and background so that the effect of an Impressionists painting often resembles a snapshot, a part of a larger reality captured as if by chance. Photography was gaining populatity, and as cameras became more portable, photographs became more candid. Photography inspired Impressionists to represent momentary action, not only in the fleeting lights of a landscape, but in the day-to-day lives of people.

[12] The development of Impressionism can be considered partly as a reaction by artists to the challenge presented by photography, which seemed to devalue the artist’s skill in reproducing reality. Both portrait and landscape paintings were deemed somewhat deficient and lacking in truth as photography “produced lifelike images much more efficiently and reliably”.

[13] In spite of this, photography actually inspired artists to pursue other means of artistic expression, and rather than compete with photography to emulate reality, artists focused “on the one thing they could inevitably do better than the photograph——by further developing into an art form its very subjectivity in the conception of the image, the very subjectivity that photography eliminated.” The Impressionists sought to express their perceptions of nature, rather than create exact representations. This allowed artists to depict subjectively what they saw with their “tacit imperatives of taste and conscience.” Photography encouraged painters to exploit aspects of the painting medium, like color, which photography then lacked:”The Impressionists were the first to conciously offer a subjective alternative to the photograph.”

[14] Another major influence was Japanese art prints (Japonism), which originally came into France as wrapping paper on imported goods. The art of these prints contributed significantly to the “snapshot” angles and unconventional compositions that became characteristic of Impressionism.

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