Question

2 3 Golden Autunm. 1893 4 Two Dancers. 1905 Mona Lisa. 1503 II. What Russian artists do you know? What are they famous for? Morning in a Pine Forest. 1880 III. Try to match up the adjectives in column A with the nouns in column B. Use the text. A B 1. Russian a) life 2. real b) town 3. realistic c) sky 4. daily d) land 5. indifferent e) artist 6. provincial f) feeling 7. subtle g) poct 8. native h) landscape Isaac Ilyich Levitan, the great Russian artist, was one of the first painters of the Russian scer to reveal its beauty. He is a real poet of the Russian countryside. Levitan developed the tradition painters of the Russian realistic landscape school - Savrasov, Polenov, Serov and others. He fo poetry in what would seem daily life. Levitan is a very special sort of painter. There is something in his landscapes that reflects own moods. He deeply felt what he wanted to depict, and his brush transferred his feelings to canvas. A master of landscape, he never introduced figures into it. Though if you look at "The Au Day in Sokolniki”, everything seems to bring out the loneliness of the figure in the centre: the losing their leaves, the remote, indifferent sky, the path going off into the distance. But the fact is was not Levitan who painted the figure. It was Checkov's brother Nikolai who did it. Levitan's art was greatly influenced by his travels along the Volga. He chose Plyoss, a provincial town on the Volga, for his place of residence and for a subject of many of his canvas paintings like "Evening", "Golden Plyoss”, “After the Rain” depict the scenery of the place. They of subtle feeling and tenderness, but there is no sentimentality in them; Levitan's pictures as realistic. In the closing years of his life Levitan made several journeys abroad. He travelled to Fran and Germany where he painted many of his landscapes. Levitan was only 49 when he died in 19 Levitan's influence over lyrical landscape painters can't be overestimated. His deep fe nature, love for his native land, his ability to reveal the poetry of the Russian countryside have paintings the love and gratitude of people. IV. Read the text again, and answer the questions. 1. What is Levitan famous for as a painter? 2. Why can be called a very special sort of painter? 3. What genre did he paint in? 4. What was Levitan's art greatly influenced by? 3. Why can you say that Levitan's influence over lyrical landscape painters can't be overestimated? V. Make up the plan of the text, and talk about Isaac Ilyich Levitan and his paintings. SLCollec