With Robert Laurent and William Zorach, direct carving
enters into the story of modem sculpture in the United States. Direct
carving – in which the sculptors themselves carve stone or wood with mallet and
chisel – must be recognized as Line something more than just a technique.
Implicit in it is an aesthetic principle as well:
(5)
that the medium has certain
qualities of beauty and expressiveness with which sculptors
must bring their own aesthetic sensibilities into harmony. For example, sometimes the shape or veining in a piece
of stone or wood suggests, perhaps even dictates,
not only the ultimate form, but even the subject matter.
The technique of direct carving was
a break with the nineteenth-century tradition in
(10)
which the making of a clay model
was considered the creative act and the work was then
turned over to studio assistants to be cast in plaster or bronze or carved in
marble. Neoclassical
sculptors seldom held a mallet or chisel in their own hands, readily conceding that the assistants they
employed were far better than they were at carving the
finished marble.
(15)
With the turn-of-the-century
Crafts movement and the discovery of nontraditional sources
of inspiration, such as wooden African figures and masks, there arose a new urge for hands-on, personal
execution of art and an interaction with the medium. Even as
early as the 1880's and 1890's, nonconformist European artists were attempting direct carving. By the second decade of
the twentieth century, Americans – Laurent
(20) and Zorach most
notably - had adopted it as their primary means of working.
Born
in France, Robert Laurent (1890-197Q) was a prodigy who received his education in the United States. In 1905
he was sent to Paris as an apprentice to an art dealer,
and in the years that followed he witnessed the birth of Cubism, discovered primitive art, and learned the techniques
of woodcarving from a frame maker.
(25)
Back in New York City by 1910, Laurent began carving pieces such as The
Priestess, which reveals his fascination with African,
pre-Columbian, and South
Pacific
art. Taking a walnut plank, the sculptor carved the expressive, stylized
design. It
is one of the earliest examples of direct carving in American sculpture. The
plank's form
dictated the rigidly frontal view and the low relief. Even its irregular shape
must
(30)
have appealed to Laurent as a
break with a long-standing tradition that required a sculptor to work within a
perfect rectangle or square.
1. The word "medium" in
line 5 could 2. What is one of
the fundamental be used to refer to principles
of direct carving?
(A) stone
or wood (A) A sculptor must work
with (B) mallet and chisel talented
assistants.
(C)technique
(B) The subject of a sculpture
(D)principle
should be derived from classical stories.
(C) The
material is an important element in a sculpture.
(D) Designing
a sculpture is a more creative activity than carving it.
4. The
word "dictates" in line 8 is closest in meaning to
(A) reads
aloud
(B) determines
(C) includes
(D) records
5. How
does direct carving differ from the nineteenth-century tradition of sculpture?
(A) Sculptors
are personally involved in the carving of a piece.
(B) Sculptors
find their inspiration in neoclassical sources.
(C) Sculptors
have replaced the mallet and chisel with other tools.
(D) Sculptors
receive more formal training.
6. The
word "witnessed" in line 23 is closest in meaning to
(A) influenced
(B) studied
(C) validated
(D) observed
7. Where
did Robert Laurent learn to carve?
(A) New
York
(B) Africa
(C) The
South Pacific
(D) Paris
8. The
phrase "a break with" in line 30 is closest in meaning to
(A) a
destruction of (B) a departure from
(C) a
collapse of
(D) a
solution to
9. The
piece titled The Priestess has all of the following characteristics EXCEPT:
(A) The
design is stylized.
(B) It
is made of marble.
(C) The
carving is not deep.
(D) It
depicts the front of a person.
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