unit17 Trees Are Violet 树是紫罗兰色的

Unit 17

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 1, 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 2 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 3 critic, Louis Leroy, coined the label “Impressionist”. He looked at Monet’s Impression Sunrise, the artist’s sensory 4 response to a harbor at dawn, painted with sketchy 5 brushstrokes. “Impression!” the journalist scoffed 6. “Wallpaper in its embryonic 7 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 8.

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 9 themes. This tradition, drawn 10 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 11 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 12 goals overthrew 13 the monarchy 14, only to see conservatives seize the reins 15 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 16 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 17 of the Academy and the Academy’s rejection of them united the group.

译文：

树是紫罗兰色的

1874年，55位艺术家举行了第一次独立的印象派艺术展。他们中的大部分，包括戛纳、毕沙罗、雷诺尔、德加、夏奈、爱德华，还有他妻子的妹妹莫里索。一位参观者说，“一群疯子和一个女人，”已经被沙龙拒绝的，这个沙龙是每年法国国家赞助的为艺术家显示提供真实的机会并告诉他们工作不要记在心上，他们互相通知。在这个沙龙，图画被堆放有3或4个高高的挂在墙上紧密地围在一起。在独立的画展上，安装在以前的摄影工作室，艺术家把他们的作品挂在他们之间眼睛的高度。虽然最初这些艺术家不称他们自己为印象派，但这将是十二年来8个展览会中的第一个印象派。

一个气愤的评论家路易斯杜撰了印象派。他看了莫奈的日出印象,艺术家的感觉是黎明的港口,一个生动的写生。“印象!”记者嘲笑他。胚胎国家的壁纸更加完成!在一年之内,这个名字是一个印象派艺术界普遍公认的术语。

如果名字被接受,艺术本身并没有被接受。在印象派画家的作品,树是紫色的;天空的颜色是新鲜的奶油色…虽然有些人欣赏的新画，但许多人都不欣赏。评论家们同意不能让印象派和他们的颜色是为是庸俗的。他们的作品是很奇怪的。他们简短的，慌忙的笔画使他们的绘画几乎很难辨认。

印象派打破了法国美术学院的每条规则，保守的学校自从1648年就在艺术培训和审美方面占据了统治地位。城市和农村现代化生活的印象派景象已经远离了学院通过具有历史意义的、神话的主题努力教道德课程。这个传统,来自于古希腊罗马美术、精选理想化的图像。对称的成分,努力轮廓特征、滑油漆表面学术绘画。

尽管学院的力量,在1874年以前艺术和政治的种子动荡已经被撒播了很久。19世纪中期法国的政局是不稳定的。在1848年社会主义的革命目标是巴黎的工人推翻了君主制,只看到保守派抓住政权的后一年。害怕更大的起义引起了广泛的不信任在贵族、穷人,新兴资产阶级和中产阶级中。与此同时,工业革命在个人和他们无限地潜能里产生了一个深渊的信念。浪漫的画家开始从绘画技巧在暖色、充满活力的笔庆祝个性。在他们第一次在巴黎展览时，画家聚集了各种各样的影响、信仰和风格。他们拒绝学院及学院拒绝他们联合在一起。

词汇：

academic adj.学术的

academy n.专科院校,研究院

bourgeoisie n.资产阶级

characterize vt.表现出……的特点

critic n.批评家

display vt.展示

distrust n.不信任

dominate vt.主宰

far-reaching adj.深远的

feature vt.突出……特色

flesh n.肉

Impressionist n.印象主义者

mount vt.安放,设置

observer n.观察家

occasion n.场合,时机

outraged adj.愤怒的

overthrow 18 vt.推翻

practically adv.几乎

prosperous adj.繁荣的

rejuct vt.拒绝接受

sensory adj.感官的

sponsor vt.赞助

stack vt.叠放

symmetrical adj.对称的

stain n.污渍

uprising n.起义,反抗

urban adj.城市的

vigorous adj.有力的

流行短语：

be a far cry from 远远不同于

symmetrical composition 对称结构

sketchy brushstroke 粗略的笔画

the French Academy of Fine Arts 法国艺术学院