Prime Time 7, Coursebook plus Semester Self-checks

8 Spot on language Discussing a photo Two trainee photo-journalists are discussing photos at an exhibition of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s work. They are standing in front of one of his portraits of Alberto Giacometti. a) Fill in appropriate words in suitable forms of the present tense. to reach to bring to give to look to be (5x) to get to face to embrace Trainee A: I can see why we were told to come but what I don’t get is why this  1  all in an art gallery. The images  2  forceful, the sense of a specific moment is vivid and he’s a good photo-journalist. But why is this kind of documentary photography supposed to be appreciated in some weird aesthetic way? They  3  just images like any others, only more striking, of events that happened. I  4  at them the same way I look at all photos in newspapers. The pleasure I  5  is no different from the pleasure I get from lots of other photographs which  6  put in art galleries. Trainee B: But look at the structure of this picture. Not just any image of him with his sculptures would be as good. The sculpture  7  in the foreground, mottled, the clay pressed deep with fingers and facing Giacometti. The artist  8  the sculpture, each mirroring the other’s posture, and his left hand  9  out touching the shoulder of the sculpture. This  10  them close together, so your eye sweeps round, as if one  11  the other in an act of creation and fatherly devotion. It’s like a visual allusion to Michelangelo’s Creation where God brings Adam to life. The effects of the light and shading also  12  Giacometti’s skin a mottled, worn and worked texture similar to the sculpture’s. You have to look at the way in which the photograph is composed, and how it shapes, organises and highlights certain features in your experience of it. b) Explain your choice of the tenses. Michelangelo’s creation scenes a) Read about Michelangelo’s creation scenes and comment on the use of the present perfect. Michelangelo is considered one of the greatest artists the world has known. Among his most famous works are the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. The scenes on the ceiling tell the story of the creation of mankind. In the first scene, God has just made Adam. He is reaching out to touch Adam’s finger and bring him to life. In the next picture, God is making Eve from one of Adam’s ribs while Adam is sleeping. The third picture shows two scenes: in the first Adam and Eve are taking a fruit from the tree they have been told not to touch. In the other, they have eaten from the tree and are being expelled from the Garden of Eden by an angel. b) Choose a work of art and write a short description of it. Pay attention to the use of the present tenses, simple and progressive, and the present perfect. 1  2  118 Art Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv