首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Stupendous prices were paid in a historic sale of 19th- and 20th-century avant-garde paintings collected over a lifetime by John
Stupendous prices were paid in a historic sale of 19th- and 20th-century avant-garde paintings collected over a lifetime by John
admin
2013-08-05
67
问题
Stupendous prices were paid in a historic sale of 19th- and 20th-century avant-garde paintings collected over a lifetime by John Hay Whitney and his wife, Betsy Cushing Whitney.
Picasso’s "Gargon a la Pipe" (Boy With a Pipe), painted in 1905, shot up to $104.1 million at Sotheby’s during a protracted bidding match over the telephone. That is nearly twice the previous record for the artist: the $55 million paid for "La Femme aux Bras Croises" at Christie’s New York in November 2000.
The huge figure reflects the double iconic value that the portrait derived from its mastery and from the aura of its owners, the very patrician Whitneys. The portrait is perhaps the artist’s ultimate achievement. Constantly hailed as the giant of modern art, Picasso was probably at his greatest when working under the spell of Old Masters. The rigorous composition, the color balance and the profound psychological probe of the young sitter place the likeness in a category that begins with Italian Renaissance portraitists and continues right through the 19th century with Corot and Degas.
Bought by Whitney in 1950, the painting was seen at distant intervals in major exhibitions dealing with the artist, from the 1967 Grand Palais retrospective in Paris to the 1996 portrait show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The portrait was thus both famous in art history and forgotten. This maximized its impact.
Not least, "Gargon a la Pipe" epitomized the taste of connoisseurs of the old school who bought on the strength of their convictions, not on advice. They collected for the sake of the art, neither for investment—they were already rich—nor to achieve social status, which they had by birth In short, the Whitney sale marked the end of an era when the old cultivated elite of the Western world dominated the art market.
Buyers sensed the unique character of the occasion. They responded to pictures that played each other up, linked by affinities that went beyond style or school.
Edouard Manet’s "Les Courses au Bois de Boulogne" (Races in the Bois de Boulogne) is as important regarding the Impressionist’s painting as "Garcon" is within Picasso’s oeuvre. The complex composition worthy of 17th-century masters is combined with a sketchiness in much of the detail that already heralds the march toward Abstractionism.
The forward thrust of the horses in the foreground and the tense postures of their riders give the picture a vigor and an authority it shares with the Picasso. And like Picasso’s portrait, it owes a soothing harmony to its color balance. The Manet brought $26.3 million—a figure deemed disappointing by some only because market prices are at an all-time high.
The same combination of boldness in composition and harmony in the color scheme can again be detected in Claude Monet’s "Bateaux Sur le Galet" (Boats on the Strand), painted in 1884. Here too the work is unusual. The thrust of the brush strokes that define the boats and the close-up view of hulls that seem to burst out of the space in which they are lodged create an Expressionist effect. At $4.46 million, the rare masterpiece was worth every penny of it.
With remarkable consistency, Whitney sought and found similar characteristics in the work of artists that seemed least likely to display them. Odilon Redon’s admirable still life of flowers in a vase seems compressed in a space too small to contain it. Painted in oil rather than drawn in pastel, the still life has a brilliance in its color harmony that is quite unusual. Curiously, "Fleurs Dans un Vase Vert" cost a comparatively moderate $1.68 million. It was not obvious enough in the context of that evening’s sale.
The collector’s versatility where style, school and period were concerned was exceptional. He apparently bought with equal relish some paintings as extraordinarily advanced for their time as others seem rooted in timeless classicism.
"Nature Morte au Purro II" was painted by Matisse around 1904-1905 in the contrasted colors of the Fauves, quickly applied in juxtaposed touches. These distill form and outline. The still life rose to $1.85 million, but did not match the highest expectations pinned on it.
The Matisse bears a kinship of sorts to one of Paul Signac’s most original compositions, painted in 1887. In the small close-up view of the stern of a boat, the sea and the sky are handled as a shower of broad greenish and bluish specks. The Signac touched a chord. At $1 million it fared better than the Matisse in comparative terms. Given their modernity, neither picture was wildly expensive in today’s market.
According to the passage, _____ creates an Expressionist effect.
选项
A、Fleurs Dans un Vase Vert
B、La Femme aux Bras Croises
C、Races in the Bois de Boulogne
D、Boats on the Strand
答案
D
解析
第9段中提到表现主义的效果体现在其气势上,而只有莫奈的“搁浅之船”符合这一特点,故选D。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/GZ4O777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Theconcernthroughouttheworldin1988forthosethreewhalesthatwerelockedintheArcticicewasdramaticproofthatwhale
GovernmentofficialsorderedaplantinJapantohaltproductionbecause______.
GovernmentofficialsorderedaplantinJapantohaltproductionbecause______.
WhichofthefollowinghistoriceventsisoflittlesignificancetoAmerica?
Ifyouwanttoseewhatittakestosetupanentirelynewfinancialcenter(andwhatisbestavoided),headforDubai.Thistin
Whatisthewoman’smainpurposetoseetheman?
Before1973,abortionwasillegalinAmericaunlessthewoman’shealthwasthreatened.InMarchof1970,JaneRoe,asinglewom
Accordingtoarecentsurvey,morethan50%ofAmericansisconcerned(1)______aboutthegrowingrudenessintheU.S.Weassa
JonathanEdwards’worksincludethefollowingEXCEPT
愚人买鞋从前有个愚人,有一天想上市去买双新鞋。他便先用尺子把脚量了量。拿了根稻秆,记下尺码。可是因为急于赶路,把稻秆忘在家里了。他来到市上,找到了卖鞋的摊子,摸了摸口袋,记尺码的稻秆不见了,就对卖鞋的说:“尺码忘在家里了,不晓得大小,让我回家拿尺
随机试题
根据我国最高人民法院《关于适用
5岁患儿,8月15日开始发热,伴头痛、恶心、呕吐一次,次日稀便3次,精神不振,抽搐一次。体检:急性热病容,嗜睡状,颈强(+),克氏征(+)。血常规检查:WBC15.0×109/L;脑脊液为无色透明,白细胞数100×109/L,中性80%。该患者最可能
无效投标文件包括()投标文件。
甲公司系上市公司,该公司将2010年12月建造完工的建筑物对外出租,按照成本模式计量的投资性房地产核算。该建筑物的原价为3000万元,预计净残值为0,采用直线法按照10年计提折旧。2011年末公允价值为3200万元,2012年末公允价值为3300万元。20
某公司是一家中型软件公司,一个月前将人力资源管理系统全面信息化,为了节约时间,人力资源部门没有与公司管理层就战略问题详细沟通,就在供应商的引导下匆忙引进集中型的人力资源信息系统。经过一个月的使用,公司发现,虽然人力资源部门对整个公司人力资源活动的控制加强了
这块爱护绿地的《揭示牌》对无知小朋友是个________,对不文明的游人是种________,更是对那些别有用心者的一声________。依次填入画横线部分最恰当的一项是()。
只要前提正确且逻辑推理结构有效,则结论必然正确。根据以上判断,以下哪几种情况是可能出现的?I.结论正确且前提正确,但逻辑结构是无效的。Ⅱ.逻辑推理结构有效且结论正确,但前提是错误的。Ⅲ.前提错误且逻辑结构无效,但结论正确。Ⅳ.前提错误且逻辑结构无效,结论也
下列是有关我国国情的部分材料:我国人口占世界人口的22%,而耕地只占世界耕地的7%。从1980年到1996年,粮食产量增长52.9%,但由于人口增长24%,人均粮食只增长23%,近几年每年净减少耕地面积在300万至500万亩左右。据有关部门测算,
数据库应用系统中的核心问题是()。
Whichprogrammeisseasonfinaletop-ratedprime-timedrama?
最新回复
(
0
)