1. Unit 1 Art
Reading
A SHORT HISTORY OF
WESTERN PAINTING

2. Warming up
What is art?
Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions，
especially in visual form, e.g painting, sculpture, or architecture.

3. art painting dance jewelry Sculpture雕刻 calligraphy music （书法） clothing……
art
clothing
embroider
(刺绣)
opera歌剧
Pottery 陶艺
architecture
literature
seal cutting 篆刻
photography

4. Skimming
to get
general ideas

5. Reading Comprehension I
Skimming
Reading Comprehension I
What’s the topic and how’s the information organized?
It’s about Western painting and the information is organized in time period, from earliest to present time.
2. How many styles of Western painting
are mentioned in the text?
What are they?
Four. They are the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, Impressionism and Modern Art.

6. Reading Comprehension II
Skimming
Reading Comprehension II
1.The paintings with religious themes mainly appear during ______.
A. the Middle Ages B. the Renaissance
C. the late 1800s D. the early 1900s
2. Drawing things in perspective is the most important discovery in the _____ century.
5th B. 16th C.19th D. 20th
3. The beginning of “Modern Art” are the ____paintings.
Religious B. perspective
C. Impressionist D. ridiculous

7. Scanning
to get
detail information

8. Reading Comprehension III
Scanning
Reading Comprehension III
1. Which of the following statements is true?
A. Paintings in Middle Ages were very realistic.
B. Western art has changed a lot since the 5th century.
C. Impressionist paintings were painted mainly indoors.
D. Modern art began in the Renaissance.

9. 2. In the Renaissance, painters___.
painted religious scenes in a more realistic style.
B. focused more on religion than on humans.
C. began to paint outdoors.
D. returned to classical Roman and Greek ideas about art.

10. 3. At first most people hated the impressionists’ style of painting, because _____.
their paintings were very abstract.
their paintings were very realistic.
They broke away from the traditional style of painting.
D. their paintings were very ridiculous.
4. ____discovered how to make paintings
look more real by using perspective.
A. Giotto di Bondone. B. Masaccio.
C. Claude Monet D. Pablo Picasso

11. The history of western painting.
Middle Ages, from 5th to 15th century.
The Renaissance:
from 15th to 16 century
Impressionism:
late 19th to early 20 century
Modern Art: from 20th to today

12. Reading Comprehension IV
Scanning
Reading Comprehension IV
Complete the chart below.
Period
Time
Characteristics
of the paintings
Middle Ages
Renaissance
Impressionism
Modern

13. Period
Time
Characteristics
of the paintings
Middle Ages
Renaiss-ance
1 religious themes
2 many religious symbols
5th-15th century
1 realistic themes
2 perspective
3 new oil paints
15th-16th century

14. Period
Time
Characteristics
of the paintings
Impress-ionism
Modern
Art
1 painted outdoors
2 painted changes in light
3 not detailed
Late 19th-early 20th century
1 abstract: concentrated
on qualities of the object
2 very realistic: like
photographs
20th century-today

15. Careful reading Read the text and choose the correct answers. B
1. Which of the following statements is true?
A. Paintings in Middle Ages were very realistic.
B. Western art has changed a lot since the 5th
century.
C. Impressionist paintings were painted
mainly indoors.
D. Modern art began in the Renaissance.

16. 2. At first most people hated the impressionists’ style of painting, because _____.
A. their painting were very abstract
B. their painting were very realistic
C. they broke away from the
traditional style of painting
D. their paintings were very ridiculous C

17. 3. In the Renaissance, painters ___.
A. painted religious scenes in a
more realistic style
B. focused more on religion than
on humans
C. began to paint outdoors
D. returned to classical Roman and
Greek ideas about art D

18. 4. ____ discovered how to make paintings look more real by using perspective.
A. Giotto di Bondone
B. Masaccio
C. Claude Monet
D. Pablo Picasso B

19. 5. What does the text mainly tell us?
A. How religious painting developed.
B. How oil painting developed.
C. How impressionist painting
developed.
D. How Western art developed. D

20. Tell the sentences true or false.
1. Western art has changed very little over the last seventeen centuries.
2. Paintings in the Middle did not use perspective.
3. Impressionists painted landscapes.
4. You cannot recognize any object in abstract modem art.
5. In the Renaissance most artists painted indoors.
6. Abstract art is still an art style today. F T T T T T

21. Now can you tell which period the following pictures belong to?

22. Post-reading: Write a summary. Do not include your own opinion, but be
sure to use our own words (about 30words.)
(不能添加自己的见解，但是要用自己的语言概括.
大约30个词左右）
The text describes four of the major movements in
western art over the past 1600years and tells us
social ,political ,and cultural changes are related to
change in artistic style(31)

23. Complete the passage and then retell the text accordingly.
Art is __________ by the customs and
faith of a people. During the Middle Ages,
the main aim of painters was ___________
religious themes, which _______ a feeling
of respect and love for ______.
influenced
to represent
created
God

24. During the Renaissance, people began to _______a more humanistic attitude to life. The painters tried to ______ people and nature ____ they really were. One of the most important discoveries during this period was how to draw things ____ ___________. If the rules of perspective ______________________, no one would have been able to paint such _______ pictures.
adopt
paint as in
perspective
had not been discovered
realistic

25. In the late 19th century, Europe________
___________, from a mostly agricultural society to a mostly industrial _____, leading to a new painting styles — Impressionism. The Impressionists were eager _________ how light and shadow _______ objects at different times of day. They _________ paint quickly.
changed
a great deal
one
to show
fell on
had to

26. controversial accepted encouraged either or predict
Although _____________ when created, the Impressionist paintings are ________ as the beginning of “modern art”, because they __________ artists to look at their environment in new ways. Modern art can be _______ abstract ___ realistic. The styles are changing. Can you ______ what painting styles there will be store in the future?
controversial
accepted
encouraged
either or
predict