Before reading the text answer the following questions.
1. What is sculpture? Do you know any legend connected with Venus?
3. What could prehistoric people carve?
4. What did prehistoric people use to make their statuettes, and statues?
Read and translate Text 3.
TEXT 3
The tiny female statuette jocularly known as Venus, found near Willendorf in Lower Austria, is datable between 30,000 and 25,000 BCE. It is one of the earliest known representations. Grotesque as it may at first appear, the "Venus" of Willendorf is, on careful analysis, a superb work of art. The lack of any delineation of the face, the rudimentary arms crossed on the enormous bosom, and the enlarged belly indicate that the statuette was not intended as a naturalistic representation but as a fertility symbol; as such. From the modern point of view, the statue harmonizes spherical and spheroid volumes with such power and poise that it has influenced twentieth-century abstract sculpture. A similar but larger statuette, from Lespugue in southwestern France, is dated much later, about 20,000–18,000 BCE. In this work, carved in fossil ivory, the forms of the "Venus" of Willendorf are conventionalized and become almost ornamental. Across the back of the statuette runs a sort of skirt, imitating cloth, which dates weaving back to a remarkably early moment.
One of the finest of these tiny sculptures is the delicate ivory head of a woman from the cave in southwestern France. The hair is carved into a grid suggesting an elaborate hairdo, which hangs down on the sides to flank a slender neck. The pointed face is divided only by nose and eyebrows; the mouth and eyes may originally have been painted on. As compared to these stylized images of human beings, the earliest represented animals are strikingly naturalistic. A little bison carved about 12,000 BCE from a piece of antler was found at La Madeleine in south-central France. The legs are only partially preserved, but the head, turned to look backward, is convincingly alive, with its open mouth, wide eye, mane, and furry ruff indicated by firm, sure incisions. The projections are so slight that the relief approaches the nature of drawing. Another brilliant example of animal art is the little spear-thrower, from Le Mas d'Azil in southwestern France, representing a chamois in a pose of alarm, its head turned backward and its feet brought almost together in a precarious perch on the end of the implement.
AFTER- READING TASKS
Give English-Russian equivalents for the following phrases.
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Крохотная статуэтка женщины; on careful analysis; великолепное произведение искусства; datable between … and…; изображенные животные; delineation of the face, символ плодородия; rudimentary arms; a naturalistic representation; заостренное лицо; шаровидная и сфероидальная масса; to date much later; вырезанная из мамонтовой кости; fine sculpture; насечки; the hair is carved into a grid; голова, вырезанная из кости мамонта; animal art; замысловатая прическа; to flank a slender neck; stylized images of human beings; фрагмент оленьего рога; изобразить серну; the relief approaches the nature of drawing; голова повернута назад.
Match the words in the pair of synonyms.
| enormous | decorative |
| originally | notably, strikingly, conspicuously |
| ornamental | huge, immense, tremendous, vast |
| elaborate | portray, depict, delineate |
| remarkably | inherently, indigenously |
| represent | sophisticated |
Complete the following sentences.
1. The tiny female statuette jocularly known as…
2. ….. a superb work of art.
3. …. was not intended as a naturalistic representation but…
4. …. s dated much later, about 20,000-18,000 BCE.
5. One of the finest of these tiny sculptures is …
6. … a grid suggesting an elaborate hairdo, …
7. … may originally have been painted on
8. … the earliest represented animals …
9. Another brilliant example of animal art is …
Answer the following questions.
1. Where were the earliest human representations found? Could you name the sites? How old are these statuettes?
2. What does one the earliest known representations symbolize?
3. What is the work carved in fossil ivory noted for?
4. What is one of the finest tiny sculptures? What does it look like?
5. What animals did the early people represent?
6. What are brilliant examples of animal art?
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