Art Questions

1. When and how American visual arts developed?

Until the 1940s American visual arts were influenced by European trends. American
art developed through subject matter and skills, as artists imitated the established
styles of the European masters. The most significant development emerged after the
Second World War.

2. Describe the movement called abstract expressionism? Who were its leaders?
Abstract expressionism, begun by a group of New York artists in the 1940s, was the
first American art movement to command the attention of artists abroad. It rejected
traditional subject matter (human body, rural scenes). They focused on the utilization
of space, dimension, and surface texture. Leaders: Jackson Pollack, Williem de
Kooning, Mark Rothko.

3. What is pop art? Who were its most famous leaders? What was the aim of the
movement?
Pop art=popular art. The aim of the movement was to produce works of art that
reflect the influence of mass media, mass marketing. Leader: Andy Warhol

4. What are those music genres which origins are in the American culture?
Ragtime, blues, jazz, country-western, rock n roll, musical.

5. Describe how the Hollywood film became an authentic American popular art
form?
During the 1940s (golden age). In Hollywood after the turn of the century, the motion
picture became the monumental popular art form. Motion picture executives wanted to
develop products that had mass appeal. Westerns, gangster films, comedies, was
popular they emerged as distinct genres. Hollywood films were tailored to audience
and appealed to its taste by reinforcing traditional myths, values, and beliefs. The
western fused violence and rugged individualism into larger, mythical themes of
taming the frontier, forging the nation. Comedies carried optimism. The movies have
changed since the appearance of tv. Film attendance declined, Hollywoods old
monopoly and American style was lost. Todays moviegoers are mostly teenagers.
Parents prefer tv. Film studios have adapted new viewing patterns, targeting films to
the younger audience. Studios recaptured tv audience by renting their films to tv
networks, and producing tv movies, tv series, video cassettes.

6. List eight examples of the type of voluntary activities in which many ordinary
British people engage.
Choirs, local dramatic groups, shelters for homeless, provision of the lifeboats
service, voluntary organizations: sport clubs, trade unions, rambling clubs, protest
groups. Disaster relief and work development agency Oxfam sells second-hand goods
and Third-World products, staffed by unpaid volunteers.

7. Some people want to encourage different dialects of English because they admire
their richness. Other people think they are socially divisive and should be
 abandoned. Based on the discussion in the text argue in favour of one point of
view.
In favor of the second thought: Accents should be abandoned as there are many
prejudice towards people who speak West Midland accents, they are thought to be
unreliable. Some accents suggest trustworthiness, competence and friendliness while
others not. Different dialects suggest distinctions of social class. The English
(received pronunciation RP) of south-east England has been considered the
standard, because that area is the region of economic and political power. RP is the
dialect of the national elite. It is suggest social snobbery and superiority.

8. Is Britains nostalgia for life in the countryside beneficial or damaging? State

your opinion and support it with evidence from the text. Is there an equivalent
nostalgia in your own country?
In my point of view Britains nostalgia for life in the countryside is beneficial. The
National Trust, which manages hundreds of country estates, encourages a love of the
country and of the past. The 80% of the population live in towns. They want to have a
garden in which to grow flowers. They love the countryside so much, they even
protested against the government when it neglected the countryside. It is sufficiently
important to their sense of identity. I think their nostalgia is beneficial, living in
countryside is more tranquil, safer and clearer than in towns. They preserve the
natural habitation.

9. How does fashion reflect the British character?

British are the worst dressed people in Europe. Nostalgia and tradition are also
expressed in appearances. British people dress conservatively rather than fashionably.
Their tolerance and inventiveness reflect in the way they dress, especially youngsters.
Young people tend to buy clothes from charity shops.

10. Tradition and creativity are in conflict (in Britain). Give examples from the text
to support this view.
At the end of the 1980s, in the field of architecture. There was a strong revolt against
the use of bare concrete, and against the high-rise buildings which had been popular
in the 1960s. Protest against the unfamiliarity and apparent brutality of modern
architecture, associated with the cheap public housing and office blocks. In 1980s
Prince Charles openly championed a return to traditional architecture and building
materials, intervening to prevent a modernist addition to the National Gallery, and to
prevent the construction of what he called a glass stump. The attack on modern
architecture tended to concentrate on the worst examples and to ignore more exciting
modern work.
The modernists insisted that buildings should be, and appear, true to their purpose.
Post-modern and neo-classical styles were associated in peoples minds with private
development in the way that cheap, high-rise, concrete buildings were thought of as
the architecture of the welfare state. Thus, post-modern and classical were associated
with the free-market ear of Conservative government. Fear of change.
 Coming to power Labour distanced itself from nostalgia and tradition to embrace
young, innovative and exciting. Labour wanted to promote Britain as cool through
the Millennium Dome project. Britain was invaded by American culture since 1945. In
the 1960s Britain was more influenced by Europe-Italian, French, Spanish cuisine,
espresso bars, modernist architecture, change in pop music, and fashion (mini-skirts).

11. Why do young people join sub-cultures? What sub-cultures exist in your own
country?
Sub-cultures: Teds, Mods, Rockers, Bikers, Skinheads, Punks, Rastafarians, New Age
Travellers, Goths, Pervs, Indie Kids.
Young people join sub-cultures because: they have low self-esteem, they have done
poorly at school, and joining a gang is a mean of finding status, and of defying the
conventional world in which they have been defined as failures. For example heavy
metal is the music of failure, and the fact that it is widely despised by those who enjoy
pop is its appeal. The followers of heavy metal have the manner of victims, some
wear gothic script, skull, suggesting morbid interests.
Sub-cultures in Hungary: rockers, punks, skinheads, motorists

12. In what ways has the character of football as a national sport changed in the last
40 years?
Britain was the first country to organize sport as a national activity. The purpose
behind organized sport was to provide and outlet for youthful energies at public
schools. Businessmen organized football as recreational activity for their workforces.
Football sprang up in towns and cities all over Britain, and was taken into working-
class culture. From 1960s the character of football began to change. The reason was
financial. Match attendances dropped, clubs sought external help from sponsorship
and advertising. The decline in spectators forced club managers to make their
sporting events less occasions for local support and ore displays of spectacular skill.
Football clubs started buying and selling players. Players moved into rich suburbs,
supporters became consumers. The glamorous lives of players, and the lack of
participation in the control of clubs, undermined the traditional involvement and
loyalty of supporters. The football clubs have shifted their priority from simply
playing the game to becoming profitable businesses. Traditionally the clubs were run
by committees composed of local people. That changed with the creation of Premier
League in 1992. Football became big business; attract multimillionaires who bought
the control of particular clubs.

13. Why are many of the best British theatrical productions to be found in the
smallest theatres?
The real vitality of British theatre is to be found less in the West End than in the
regional fringe and pub theatres all over the country. West End theatres are
commercial. They stage what will fill the house, there is an emphasis on musicals,
comedy. They depend on foreign tourists to fill up to 40% of seats. However, the
liveliest theatres didnt follow the classical tradition of repertoire, nor offer a menu of
light entertainment. They presented seasons of plays, each running for 6 weeks. They
 stage mostly dramas; actors took drama to young people. Much of the excellence of
these theatres is a result of the intensive preparation and speed with which
productions are staged. Their intensity and freshness is not allowed to grow stale.
Another important feature is the youthfulness of many of the best productions. Young
people perform many leading roles.

14. What, if anything, strikes you as distinctive about artistic life in Britain?
The level of popular participation which makes British artistic life so distinctive.
There are millions of people engaged in amateur music, art and theatre. The Royal
Academy in London has held an annual Summer Exhibition for which any painter or
sculptor may enter their work. Every town has its amateur music group, a choir.
15. William Beveridge remarked that the vigour and abundance of voluntary action
are the distinguishing marks of a free society. Do you agree? Is it true of
Britain? Is it true of your country? Give reasons for your opinions. !
I agree with this statement. Everything outside the citizens home, are controlled by
the government, but there is a public, organized expression of society: the charities,
co-operatives and community groups that make up the voluntary sector. People
depend on not just the state but each other as well.
16. British society is strongly individualistic. Find examples of the ways in which this
individualism is expressed in the following areas: dress, urban sub-cultures; the
theatre; voluntary activities. !
British society is deeply individualistic in a way which is inseparable from ideas of
liberty and localism. Individualism is built into custom and practice, and into local
work places and community organizations.
Dress: People wear what they like. Mostly young people buy their clothes from
bargain markets and charity shops. Many people are old-fashioned, and wear the
clothes of the middle classes. Many men have their suit tailored, which shows their
belongings to the upper class. How they dress is wholly unrepresentative of society in
general.

Urban sub-cultures: Everyone can join a sub-culture, and he/she can choose. They
can wear distinctive clothes associated with their gang, have distinctive haircuts. They
can speak in a special dialect.

Theatre: On the stage some of the most painful questions can be asked about the way
they live, both as individual and as a community. Many pub theatres operate without
subsidy. Many operate in the informality of a room above in a pub.

Voluntary activities: Many organization is independent form the government. All

citizens can do voluntary work. British have strong civic sense and participate in
public affairs as their birthright.