午后咖啡unit17 Trees Are Violet 樹是紫羅蘭色的
Trees Are Violet
In 1874, fifty-five artists held the first independent group show of Impressionist art. Most of them, including Canne, Pissarro, Renoir, Degas, Monet, Manet and his sister-in-law Berthe Morisot — “a bunch of lunatics and a women,” remarked one observer — had been rejected by the Salon, the annual French state-sponsored exhibition that offered the only real opportunity for artists to display and tell their work. Never mind, they told each other. At the Salon, paintings were stacked three or four high, and crowded too closely together on the walls. At their independent exhibition, mounted in what was formerly a photographer’s studio, the artists could hang their works at eye level with space between them. Although the artists didn’t call themselves “Impressionists” at first, this occasion would be the first of eight such “Impressionist” exhibits over the next twelve years.
An outraged critic, Louis Leroy, coined the label “Impressionist”. He looked at Monet’s Impression Sunrise, the artist’s sensory response to a harbor at dawn, painted with sketchy brushstrokes. “Impression!” the journalist scoffed. “Wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished!” Within a year, the name Impressionism was an accepted term in the art world.
If the name was accepted, the art itself was not. In impressionist paintings, trees are violet; the sky is the color of fresh butter … Although some people appreciated the new paintings, many did not. The critics agreed the Impressionists couldn’t draw and their colors were considered vulgar. Their compositions were strange. Their short, hurried brushstrokes make their paintings practically illegible.
Impressionism broke every rule of the French Academy of Fine Arts, the conservative school that had dominated art training and taste since 1648. Impressionist scenes of modern urban and country life were a far cry from the Academic efforts to teach moral lessons through historic, and mythological themes. This tradition, drawn from ancient Greek and Roman art, featured idealized images. Symmetrical compositions, hard outlines, and smooth paint surfaces characterized academic paintings.
Despite the Academy’s power, seeds of artistic and political unrest had been sown long before 1874. The mid-19th century was a time of political instability in France. During the Revolution of 1848, Parisian workers with socialist goals overthrew the monarchy, only to see conservatives seize the reins of government later that year. Fear of further uprising created widespread distrust among the aristocracy, the poor, and the newly prosperous bourgeoisie or middle class. Meanwhile, the far-reaching Industrial Revolution fostered a new faith in the individual and his unlimited potential. Romantic painters began to celebrate individuality in term of painting technique with warm colors and vigorous brushstrokes. The Impressionists brought together a variety of influences, beliefs, and styles when they first exhibited in Paris. Their rejection of the Academy and the Academy’s rejection of them united the group.
譯文：
樹是紫羅蘭色的
1874年，55位藝術(shù)家舉行了第一次獨立的印象派藝術(shù)展。他們中的大部分，包括戛納、畢沙羅、雷諾爾、德加、夏奈、愛德華，還有他妻子的妹妹莫里索。一位參觀者說，“一群瘋子和一個女人，”已經(jīng)被沙龍拒絕的，這個沙龍是每年法國國家贊助的為藝術(shù)家顯示提供真實的機會并告訴他們工作不要記在心上，他們互相通知。在這個沙龍，圖畫被堆放有3或4個高高的掛在墻上緊密地圍在一起。在獨立的畫展上，安裝在以前的攝影工作室，藝術(shù)家把他們的作品掛在他們之間眼睛的高度。雖然最初這些藝術(shù)家不稱他們自己為印象派，但這將是十二年來8個展覽會中的第一個印象派。
一個氣憤的評論家路易斯杜撰了印象派。他看了莫奈的日出印象,藝術(shù)家的感覺是黎明的港口,一個生動的寫生。“印象!”記者嘲笑他。胚胎國家的壁紙更加完成!在一年之內(nèi),這個名字是一個印象派藝術(shù)界普遍公認(rèn)的術(shù)語。
如果名字被接受,藝術(shù)本身并沒有被接受。在印象派畫家的作品,樹是紫色的;天空的顏色是新鮮的奶油色…雖然有些人欣賞的新畫，但許多人都不欣賞。評論家們同意不能讓印象派和他們的顏色是為是庸俗的。他們的作品是很奇怪的。他們簡短的，慌忙的筆畫使他們的繪畫幾乎很難辨認(rèn)。
印象派打破了法國美術(shù)學(xué)院的每條規(guī)則，保守的學(xué)校自從1648年就在藝術(shù)培訓(xùn)和審美方面占據(jù)了統(tǒng)治地位。城市和農(nóng)村現(xiàn)代化生活的印象派景象已經(jīng)遠(yuǎn)離了學(xué)院通過具有歷史意義的、神話的主題努力教道德課程。這個傳統(tǒng),來自于古希臘羅馬美術(shù)、精選理想化的圖像。對稱的成分,努力輪廓特征、滑油漆表面學(xué)術(shù)繪畫。
盡管學(xué)院的力量,在1874年以前藝術(shù)和政治的種子動蕩已經(jīng)被撒播了很久。19世紀(jì)中期法國的政局是不穩(wěn)定的。在1848年社會主義的革命目標(biāo)是巴黎的工人推翻了君主制,只看到保守派抓住政權(quán)的后一年。害怕更大的起義引起了廣泛的不信任在貴族、窮人,新興資產(chǎn)階級和中產(chǎn)階級中。與此同時,工業(yè)革命在個人和他們無限地潛能里產(chǎn)生了一個深淵的信念。浪漫的畫家開始從繪畫技巧在暖色、充滿活力的筆慶祝個性。在他們第一次在巴黎展覽時，畫家聚集了各種各樣的影響、信仰和風(fēng)格。他們拒絕學(xué)院及學(xué)院拒絕他們聯(lián)合在一起。
詞匯：
academic adj.學(xué)術(shù)的
academy n.?？圃盒?研究院
bourgeoisie n.資產(chǎn)階級
characterize vt.表現(xiàn)出……的特點
critic n.批評家
display vt.展示
distrust n.不信任
dominate vt.主宰
far-reaching adj.深遠(yuǎn)的
feature vt.突出……特色
flesh n.肉
Impressionist n.印象主義者
mount vt.安放,設(shè)置
observer n.觀察家
occasion n.場合,時機
outraged adj.憤怒的
overthrow vt.推翻
practically adv.幾乎
prosperous adj.繁榮的
rejuct vt.拒絕接受
sensory adj.感官的
sponsor vt.贊助
stack vt.疊放
symmetrical adj.對稱的
stain n.污漬
uprising n.起義,反抗
urban adj.城市的
vigorous adj.有力的
流行短語：
be a far cry from 遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不同于
symmetrical composition 對稱結(jié)構(gòu)
sketchy brushstroke 粗略的筆畫
the French Academy of Fine Arts 法國藝術(shù)學(xué)院
