盖蒂博物馆要求公众重建艺术品

Getty Museum Asks Public to Recreate Works¹ of Art

For years, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles has been famous for its large collection of European paintings, sculptures and other works of art. Recently, it has become popular for something else: an art challenge on social media.

Last week, the Getty asked its followers² on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to remake famous pieces from its collection. "We challenge you to recreate a work of art with objects (and people) in your home," the museum wrote.

The rules were simple: Choose your favorite work of art. Use three things from your house to recreate it. Then, take a picture and share it on social media.

The public's response came in the hundreds, then the thousands, of creative and funny remakes. And, it has not stopped yet.

When a coworker challenged Amy Retartha to do the art challenge, she knew exactly which painting she would use: Pablo Picasso's "Old Guitarist." Retartha, who lives in South Bend, Indiana, says she has always loved that painting, especially because of its history.

"There's a story behind that piece because, at the time Picasso painted it, he was a poor artist and he had painted over a painting he didn't like to reuse the canvas⁴."

If you look closely⁵ at the painting in person, you can see evidence of another person's face behind the guitarist, she says.

Retartha, who has been making art since she was a child, says it took only 20 minutes to do the piece. She used blue and white bedding, a white mask, and one of her husband's guitars. The local library where she works put the picture on its Instagram page.

Other people did the Getty challenge with something else they had at home: their children.

CGathier on Twitter remade the famous oil painting "Self-Portrait with Pipe" by Vincent Van Gogh with her son as Van Gogh. In her creation⁶, her son is wearing a gray hat and has white material around his head and a pipe in his mouth.

With many parents now homeschooling their children, the Getty challenge came at a perfect time. One woman on Twitter used the challenge as an art lesson for her son. With a toy monkey, a cat and other objects, the boy recreated "Self-Portrait with Thorns⁷ and Hummingbird⁸" – a painting by celebrated⁹ Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.

Other people included real animals in the challenge.

A picture that is appearing all over social media is of a woman who remade a 13th century Italian piece with just two objects: a scarf and her dog. It comes from a painting called "Madonna and Child," whose painter remains¹⁰ a mystery to this day.

Annelisa Stephan is assistant director for digital content at the Getty Museum. She has seen people use their dogs, cats, rabbits and even ferrets. As the challenge becomes more popular, one animal she would love to see people use is a snake -- a common symbol in Roman art.

Stephan says the challenge was born when the Getty recently asked its followers on social media what they wanted to do from home and got hundreds of replies.

"People really showed that they really wanted to look at art and engage with it and they were also eager to have fun."

So, the Getty staff began looking online for fun ideas and were moved by the art challenges of the Rijskmuseum in Amsterdam and an Instagram page called Between Art and Quarantine. Similarly¹¹, those challenges asked people to use home objects to remake art.

Stephan notes the Getty challenge has grown so much that people in the United Kingdom, Portugal and other European countries are doing it. She has even seen challengers from Australia.

But is there something no one has done yet that she would enjoy seeing? She would love to see people do recreations of the Roman sculptures. Stephan suggests people look at the portrait heads and see if any "look like them or has an expression that might speak to them."

Words in This Story

sculpture – n. a piece of art that is made by carving¹² or molding¹³ clay, stone, metal or something else

challenge – n. an invitation to participate in a competition

response – n. something that is done as a reaction to something else

canvas – n. a specially³ prepared piece of cloth on which a picture can be painted by an artist

pipe – n. a tube with a small bowl at one end that is used for smoking tobacco

toy – adj. of a kind that is meant for a child to play with

scarf – n. a long piece of cloth that is worn on your shoulders, around your neck or over your head

content – n. the ideas, facts, or images that are in a website or in a book, speech, movie or something else

engage – v. to become involved with

eager – adj. very excited and interested

1 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

2 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

3 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

4 canvas   

n.粗帆布，一块油画布

参考例句：

• The times that people used canvas boat have become history.人们用帆船的时代已成为历史。
• Smith painted an oil painting on the canvas.史密斯在画布上画了一幅油画。

5 closely   

adv.紧密地；严密地，密切地

参考例句：

• We shall follow closely the development of the situation.我们将密切注意形势的发展。
• The two companies are closely tied up with each other.这两家公司之间有密切联系。

6 creation   

n.创造，创造的作品，产物，宇宙，天地万物

参考例句：

• Language is the most important mental creation of man.语言是人类头脑最重要的产物。
• The creation of new playgrounds will benefit the local children.新游戏场的建立将有益于当地的儿童。

7 thorns   

（玫瑰之类植物的）刺( thorn的名词复数 )； 棘刺； 带刺的树； 荆棘

参考例句：

• I was sitting on the thorns while waiting for the outcome. 等待结果时我如坐针毡。
• They had to stop to pick out thorns from their feet. 他们只得停下来把脚上的刺拔去。

8 hummingbird   

n.蜂鸟

参考例句：

• The hummingbird perches on a twig of the hawthorn.小蜂鸟栖在山楂树枝上。
• The hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backward.蜂鸟是唯一能倒退向后飞的鸟。

9 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

10 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

11 similarly   

adv.类似地，相似地

参考例句：

• He was late and I similarly was delayed.他迟到了，我也晚了。
• These two pages are similarly glued together.这两页好像粘在一起了。

12 carving   

n.雕刻品，雕花

参考例句：

• All the furniture in the room had much carving.房间里所有的家具上都有许多雕刻。
• He acquired the craft of wood carving in his native town.他在老家学会了木雕手艺。

13 molding   

(C)[常~s][建筑](装饰墙壁等凸出部用)嵌线

参考例句：

• Resin Transfer Molding(RTM) is the fast developing process for manufacturing fiber reinforced composite recently. 树脂传递模塑工艺(Resin Transfer Molding,RTM)是近年来纤维增强树脂基复合材料制备工艺中发展较快的工艺。
• Determined to live free someday , he managed to get trained in iron molding . 他打定主意有朝一日要过自由的生活，便设法学会了铸铁这门手艺。