The earliest controversies about the relationship between photography and art centered on whether photograph’s 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 defense 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 themselves—anything 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 photography’s 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 the1960’s. Appreciating photographs is a relief to sensibilities tired of the mental exertions demanded by abstract art. Classical Modernist painting—that is, abstract art as developed indifferent ways by Picasso, Kandinsky, and Matisse—presupposes 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 activity—in short, an art.
47. What is the author mainly concerned with? The author is concerned with ______.
48. Which of the following adjectives best describes “the concept of art imposed by the triumph of Modernism” as the author represents it in paragraph 2?
49. Why does the author introduce Abstract Expressionist painter?
50. How did the nineteenth-century defenders of photography stress the photography?
问题1选项
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
问题2选项
A.Objective
B.Mechanical
C.Superficial
D.Paradoxical
问题3选项
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.
问题4选项
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.
第1题:
【试题解析】主旨大意题。题干意思是“作者主要关注的是……”。文章一开始讲述了19世纪摄影家为确立摄影是艺术而提出的种种依据,并把绘画和摄影作比较,来反驳否定摄影的论点,第二段和第三段阐述了即使摄影被确立为一门艺术,当代严肃的摄影师仍然声称自己绝不是创作艺术作品,接着作者用抽象表现主义绘画和古典现代主义绘画进行举例,证明摄影更多的是关注自身的主题而非艺术,最后总结摄影宣传会使公众忘记摄影是一种艺术。综上所知,文章中的作者主要关注的是当代严肃的摄影师对艺术的态度,所以C项“解释当代严肃的摄影师对摄影艺术的态度,并将这些态度放在他们的历史背景中”符合题意。A项“定义现代主义对艺术的态度”、B项“解释摄影是如何成为一门艺术的”和D项“定义当代严肃的摄影师对他们的艺术采取的各种方法,并评估这些方法的价值”都只是部分提及。因此,该题选择C项正确。
第2题:
【试题解析】作者态度题。题干意思是“下面哪个形容词最好地描述了作者在第2段中描述的‘现代主义的胜利所强加的艺术概念’?”。根据题干定位到第二段最后一句话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.(这说明他们就是把现代主义胜利所强加的艺术概念视为合理的,其合理程度是:艺术越强,对艺术的传统目的破坏得越大。),结合第二段倒数第三句有提到Serious photographers variously claim to be finding, recording, impartially observing, witnessing events, exploring themselves—anything but making works of art.(严肃的摄影师都声称自己在寻找、记录、公正地观察、见证事件、探索自我,但绝不是创作艺术作品。)可知,严肃的摄影师虽然声称自己不是在创作艺术作品,但是他们却把现代主义胜利强加的艺术概念视为合理的,可推理这是一种矛盾的现象,所以D项“矛盾的”正确。A项“客观的”、B项“机械的,呆板的”和C项“肤浅的”都不正确。因此,该题选择D项正确。
第3题:
【试题解析】推理判断题。题干意思是“作者为什么要介绍抽象表现主义画家?”。根据题干中的关键信息定位到第三段第二句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. (例如,这些认为通过拍照可以摆脱绘画所表现的艺术的矫饰的摄影家,使我们想起了那些抽象表现主义画家,他们想象着通过专注于绘画的物理行为来摆脱古典现代主义绘画的严肃思想),结合第二段提到的Serious photographers variously claim to be finding, recording, impartially observing, witnessing events, exploring themselves—anything but making works of art.(严肃的摄影师都声称自己在寻找、记录、公正地观察、见证事件、探索自我,但绝不是创作艺术作品。)推断,作者在第三段介绍抽象表现主义画家的例子,是要举例说明这些画家也如同当代严肃的摄影家一样,摆脱了传统的艺术目的,故A项“他要列举这样艺术家的例子,他们像当代严肃的摄影家一样抛弃了传统上被接受的现代艺术目的”正确。B项“他想在抽象表现主义画家和古典现代主义画家之间找出相似点”不符合原文。C项“他要在流行艺术家和其他艺术家之间作一个对比”,文中在此处介绍抽象表现主义画家是想和当代严肃的摄影家进行类比,而不是流行艺术家和其他艺术家的对比,所以C项不选。D项“他想解释为什么严肃摄影,像其他当代视觉形式一样不是艺术,而且也不应当充作艺术”,文中没有提到其他当代视觉艺术形式不是艺术。因此,该题选择A项正确。
第4题:
【试题解析】细节推理题。题干意思是“19世纪的摄影捍卫者是如何强调摄影的?”。第一段最后两句提到Throughout the nineteenth century, the defense 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.(整个十九世纪,对摄影的捍卫与将其确立为一门艺术的斗争是一致的。有人指责摄影是一种没有灵魂的和对现实机械性的复制,摄影工作者却声称摄影不是复制品,而是一种特殊的观察方式,是对平庸视觉的叛逆,和绘画一样有艺术价值。),由此可推知,19世纪的摄影捍卫者认为摄影和绘画一样具有艺术价值,它是一种艺术,所以D项“这是一种可与绘画相媲美的艺术”正确。A项“他们强调摄影是一种让人快乐的方式”没有提到。B项“它是记录世界的艺术”和C项“这是一种公正地观察世界的装置”是当代严肃的摄影师对自己工作的声称,并不是摄影捍卫者强调的内容。因此,该题选择D项正确。