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  3. MEXICAN MURAL ART (1) The first major modern art movement in Latin America was Mexican muralism, which featured large-scale

MEXICAN MURAL ART (1) The first major modern art movement in Latin America was Mexican muralism, which featured large-scale

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问题                                                 MEXICAN MURAL ART
    (1) The first major modern art movement in Latin America was Mexican muralism, which featured large-scale murals painted on the wall surfaces of public buildings. One of the most persistent strands in Latin American art in the last 80 years has been an engagement with political and social issues, including the struggle for social justice. This in turn has been accompanied by a desire for authentic forms of self-expression and freedom from cultural dependency. Although these preoccupations have taken many different forms, Mexican muralism was the first, and its influence was the most far-reaching. Muralism flourished in Mexico in the years immediately following the Mexican Revolution (1910—1920) as a result of a combination of circumstances: a climate of revolutionary optimism and cultural experimentation that challenged traditional Eurocentrism, a small but strong group of relatively mature artists of energy, ideas, and ability, and a visionary minister of education, Jose Vasconcelos. Vasconcelos believed that Mexico was destined to play a central role on the international stage. He understood that ideas could be more quickly assimilated through images than through any other medium, and he had the courage to allocate the funds, and the walls of public buildings, to the artists to do with as they liked.
    (2) The muralists shared a belief in the power of art to transform society for the better, to challenge social, political, economic, and cultural stereotypes, and to enrich the intellectual life of their country. During the 1920s and 1930s, they covered miles of wall with paintings representing aspects of Mexico’s past and present and the future to which all aspired. Although Mexican muralism is representational and often narrative in form, it should be recognized as a modern movement. It was modernizing in intent, in that it challenged the old order—culturally, socially, and politically. By definition, it was a public, accessible form of art—not a commodity that could be bought and sold by the wealthy elite. Its purpose was to educate, inform, enlighten, politicize and thus empower the general public, in particular the working classes.
    (3) The muralist movement was not a unified force, however. The painters who were its leaders took different directions and did not always see eye to eye. Diego Rivera (1886—1957) sought to promote a pluralistic vision of Mexican society by drawing on the rich heritage of the pre-Columbian past (before Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas in 1492) and contemporary popular culture, and he investigated pre-Columbian styles and techniques in an effort to create an aesthetic language that was new and Mexican. He was deeply influenced by native pictographic traditions of communication in which pictures represent written words and ideas, and he sought to develop a modern equivalent, a visual language that could be read like a book. The art of Jose Clemente Orozco (1883—1949) is less optimistic: he saw both the pre-Columbian past and the revolutionary present in a more negative light, the former as barbarous, the latter often tarnished by corruption and cruelty. He offers no comforting narratives and his expressive, aggressive technique serves as a metaphor of Mexico’s harsh, contradictory reality. David Alfaro Siqueiros (1898—1976) was the most politically active of the three and was an internationalist both ideologically and artistically. In his art he deliberately avoided traditional materials and methods, preferring to use modern industrial paints and spray guns. His works look forward to a fully socialist future where the workers will have won the right to the benefits of the modern industrial era, and his often fragmented, complex imagery does not patronize or make concessions to his audience.
    (4) [A] The Mexican muralist movement is undoubtedly one of the most important manifestations of 20th-century Mexican culture. [B] Its impact elsewhere in the region, as well as in the United States and Europe, has been enormous. [C] The work of Rivera, Orozco, and Siqueiros triggered a homegrown muralist movement in the United States in cities like New York City, Detroit, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. [D] The influence of the Mexicans on the modern Spanish painter Picasso’s first mural and almost his only major explicitly propagandist work of art—his famous Guernica of 1937—is unmistakable even though the artist himself would have derived it. In Latin America, Mexican-influenced muralism has recurred whenever artists have felt the need to make a clear, public statement in a language that has not been borrowed from outside.
An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.
Mexican muralism, the first major modern art movement in Latin America, has been highly influential throughout the Americas and internationally.
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Answer Choices
(A) The Mexican Revolution resulted in a new respect for traditional culture, leading the muralists to paint scenes depicting the everyday lives of poor Mexicans.
(B) Jose Vasconcelos made Mexico an important international player by promoting the art and ideas of the revolutionary muralists.
(C) The leaders of the muralist movement—Rivera, Orozco, and Siqueiros—all believed in the transformative power of art but differed in terms of their artistic methods and political beliefs.
(D) The muralists challenged cultural and economic stereotypes and experimented with both pre-Columbian and industrial themes, styles, and techniques.
(E) Mexican mural was a traditional representational art focused on Mexico’s pre-Columbian society and culture.
(F) In the 1920s and 1930s, following the Mexican Revolution, a talented group of artists painted many large-scale, politically motivated murals on public buildings.
选项
答案C,D,F
解析 本题属于文章总结题。C项“壁画运动的领导者——里维拉、奥罗斯科和西凯罗斯——都相信艺术的变革力量，但他们的艺术方法和政治信仰不同”是对原文第3段的概括总结；第3段具体说明了墨西哥这三大壁画家对于壁画艺术的不同观点，故C项正确，为文中的主旨之一。D项“壁画家们挑战文化和经济上的刻板印象，尝试运用前哥伦布时代和现代工业时代的主题、风格和技术”前半句大致概括了第2段的中心思想，后半句可定位至第3段第3句所讲述的壁画家迭戈.里维拉的壁画艺术思想，故D项正确，为文中的主旨之一。F项“在20世纪20、30年代，墨西哥革命之后，一群才华横溢的艺术家在公共建筑的墙壁上创作了许多带有政治动机的大型壁画”是对第1、2段的总结。A项“墨西哥革命让人们开始重新尊重传统文化，使得壁画家们开始描绘墨西哥穷人的日常生活图景”错误，原文第2段第4句提到，墨西哥壁画运动的现代化体现在其挑战文化、社会和政治的旧秩序这一目的上，A项与原文的说法相悖。B项“何塞.瓦斯康塞洛斯通过发扬革命壁画家的艺术和思想，使墨西哥成为重要的国际社参与者”，原文第1段倒数第2句说瓦斯康塞洛斯“认为”墨西哥注定要在国际舞台上发挥核心作用，并非他使得墨西哥“成为了”国际社会的重要参与者，B项与原文说法不符。E项“墨两哥壁画是一种传统的具象艺术，关注墨西哥前哥伦布时代的社会和文化”说法错误，第2段第3句提到墨西哥壁画艺术应被视为一场现代运动，并非传统的。
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