Exercise 14. Choose any picture of genre painting and act as a guide to a group of English speaking viewers.

Exercise 15. Draw the difference between portraits of Russian critical realism and Russian classicism (portraits by Kiprensky, Borovikovsky, Levitan, Tropinin, Rokotov and others); Russian critical realism and European classicism.

 

If you have to compare and contrast two pictures don’t mention every detail. The aim is to give a general description and the comparison. The following expressions could be helpful:

 

Both pictures are on the subject of…/of the same genre

… show similarities/differences … neither one is …

In comparison to picture 1 picture 2 …

In the painting … while in the other picture…

In spite of the fact that they are both …, they have very little in common.

There is a large number of differences between …

… is quite different/rather similar … a lot more /better…

There are more similarities than differences …

… have something (much) in common.

There isn’t much difference between …

 

Exercise 16. Team up with another student and talk about similarities and differences between the genre of landscape in Russian Realism and French Impressionism. Here are some ideas for the discussion:

 

Levitan’s“March” versus Van Gogh’s “Red Vineyards in Arle”

Shishkin’s “Rye Field” versus Monet’s “Luncheon on the Grass”

Exercise 17. Work alone for a few minutes and make a list of landscapes, portraits, genre paintings, still life, seascapes, and battle-piece paintings you like most. Then get ready to motivate your choice.

Exercise 18. Comment on the following:

Живопись и музыка… Сестры. Так сказал Леонардо да Винчи. Они желанны всем. Понятны. Ведь можно не знать языка, на котором говорили Бетховен или Эль Греко, надо только смотреть и слушать … И размышлять.

И. Долгополов