2006年VOA标准英语-Whitney Museum of American Art Celebrates 75th

By Joseph Mok
Washington, DC
11 July 2006
 
watch Whitney Museum report

New York's Whitney Museum of American Art this summer celebrates its 75th anniversary - along with its every-other-year exhibit, called Biennial¹ 2006.  The museum is a leading advocate of 20th and 21st century American Art. VOA's Joseph Mok reports on some of the provocative² artworks on display and some great artists who contribute significantly to the collection. Elaine Lu narrates³.

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shards⁴ studded shoes 
  
A pair of shards-studded shoes, a baby with a head covered by a toy frog, a cracked heel on a stiletto.

These are artworks on display at the Whitney Biennial 2006: Day for Night.  The title is taken from the well-known 1973 Francois Truffaut film, Day for Night using a technique with photographic filters to make daylight resemble night.

Curators say the exhibition is more than a collection of fine artworks. It features important works that reveal certain artistic⁵ responses to a broad range of aesthetic⁶, social, political and cultural phenomena⁷. 

The peace tower standing⁸ in the sculpture court outside the museum is an example.  The tower was constructed in 1966 in Los Angeles by Mark Di Suvero as a statement against the Vietnam War. The tower re-emerged at the Whitney Museum as a protest of the Iraq War.  Di Suvero and fellow artist Rirkrit Tiravanija invited some 200 artists to participate in the project, each contributing an artwork on a 60 by 60 centimeter panel for display on the tower and the wall in the court.

Digitally altered images splatters   
  
In Black Star Press, artist Kelly Walker presents large-scale canvasses⁹ of racial unrest. The images of a white policeman and black youth set at 90-degree angles attempt to portray¹⁰ a world turned on end.  The digitally-altered images splattered with abstracted patterns in symbolic¹¹ red, white, and chocolate mimic¹² violence and contrast, merging¹³ ethical¹⁴ corruption¹⁵ and graffiti pop.

This year's Bucksbaum Award and a $100,000 prize were given to Mark Bradford's untitled canvas.  Layers of mixed-media literally¹⁶ presented the pop culture constructed from his collection of paper material in the streets of Los Angeles. 

Painting, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney  
  
The Whitney Museum of American Art was founded by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in 1931 with 700 works from her estate.   Every two years the museum hosts the Whitney Biennial, which showcases works of many lesser-known figures in the field of American contemporary art.

Michael Hayes is the architecture curator of the museum says there is a network of artists to tap. "We really try to have a kind of network, so that we understand there is a young artist that is emerging. Then, we have an older artist that said you should go and look at her work. And you should go look at his work. So we have a kind of network of artists and curators to help us to keep ahead."

Along with the Biennial Exhibition, this summer also marks the museum's 75th anniversary.  It launched the Full House: Views of the Whitney's Collection at 75 this month, offering a new look at the museum's permanent collection.

The entire fifth floor is devoted¹⁷ to the works of Edward Hopper, the artist most closely identified with the museum.   Hopper's family contributed 2,500 of his paintings, watercolors, prints, and illustrated¹⁸ journals to the museum's holdings. 

Curtis Foster is the curator of drawings at the Whitney. "He was in his 40s when he really started to sell and make a living out of his art work. So, a painting like this is actually produced when he was fairly mature. But, it has this poetic¹⁹ quality of light. And a kind of strange timelessness in a sense of narration²⁰, that is, you are not sure what is going on. If there is something that happened before and something that's about to happen after. This is the famous cinematic quality that Hopper is known for."

The museum boasts the world's largest collection of Alexander Calder, who pioneered the sculpture forms of mobile and stabile in the 1930s.  Applying the principle of equilibrium²¹, Calder used wires and beams to construct free-moving or completely stationary²² artwork.

One of his most famous projects among the museum's permanent collection is the Calder Circus, a miniature reproduction of an actual circus made from wire, cork²³, wood, cloth and other easily-found materials.  

Calder, Fearless Lion Tamer   
  
A fearless lion-tamer.  Raised axes against the ringmaster's beautiful assistant.  The hustle²⁴ and bustle²⁵ to care for a wounded acrobat²⁶.  A sword swallowed in front of everyone.

Between Hopper and Calder, the Whitney Museum of American Art will be a hot spot for art lovers wandering the streets of New York City this summer. 

1 biennial   

adj.两年一次的

参考例句：

• The workers were strongly against the biennial election.工人们强烈反对两年一次的选举。
• His is a biennial,and one of the most useful pasture plants we have.这是两年生植物，也是我们最有用的牧草之一。

2 provocative   

adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的

参考例句：

• She wore a very provocative dress.她穿了一件非常性感的裙子。
• His provocative words only fueled the argument further.他的挑衅性讲话只能使争论进一步激化。

3 narrates   

v.故事( narrate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• It narrates the unconstitutional acts of James II. 它历数了詹姆斯二世的违法行为。 来自辞典例句
• Chapter three narrates the economy activity which Jew return the Occident. 第三章讲述了犹太人重返西欧后的经济活动。 来自互联网

4 shards   

n.（玻璃、金属或其他硬物的）尖利的碎片( shard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyewitnesses spoke of rocks and shards of glass flying in the air. 目击者称空中石块和玻璃碎片四溅。 来自辞典例句
• Ward, Josh Billings, and a host of others have survived only in scattered shards of humour. 沃德、比林斯和许多别的作家能够留传下来的只是些幽默的残章断简。 来自辞典例句

5 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

6 aesthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的，有美感

参考例句：

• My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
• The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。

7 phenomena   

n.现象

参考例句：

• Ade couldn't relate the phenomena with any theory he knew.艾德无法用他所知道的任何理论来解释这种现象。
• The object of these experiments was to find the connection,if any,between the two phenomena.这些实验的目的就是探索这两种现象之间的联系，如果存在着任何联系的话。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 canvasses   

n.检票员，游说者，推销员( canvass的名词复数 )v.（在政治方面）游说( canvass的第三人称单数 )；调查（如选举前选民的）意见；为讨论而提出（意见等）；详细检查

参考例句：

• He canvasses by singing, and the votes have really increased a lot. 他唱歌为自己拉票，票数还真是增长了不少呢。 来自互联网
• Even the canvasses on the restaurant's walls are up for sale. 连餐厅墙上的绘画作品也能出售。 来自互联网

10 portray   

v.描写，描述；画(人物、景象等)

参考例句：

• It is difficult to portray feelings in words.感情很难用言语来描写。
• Can you portray the best and worst aspects of this job?您能描述一下这份工作最好与最坏的方面吗？

11 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

12 mimic   

v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人

参考例句：

• A parrot can mimic a person's voice.鹦鹉能学人的声音。
• He used to mimic speech peculiarities of another.他过去总是模仿别人讲话的特点。

13 merging   

合并（分类）

参考例句：

• Many companies continued to grow by merging with or buying competing firms. 许多公司通过合并或收买竞争对手的公司而不断扩大。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• To sequence by repeated splitting and merging. 用反复分开和合并的方法进行的排序。

14 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

15 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

16 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

17 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

18 illustrated   

adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• His lecture was illustrated with slides taken during the expedition. 他在讲演中使用了探险时拍摄到的幻灯片。
• The manufacturing Methods: Will be illustrated in the next chapter. 制作方法将在下一章说明。

19 poetic   

adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的

参考例句：

• His poetic idiom is stamped with expressions describing group feeling and thought.他的诗中的措辞往往带有描写群体感情和思想的印记。
• His poetic novels have gone through three different historical stages.他的诗情小说创作经历了三个不同的历史阶段。

20 narration   

n.讲述，叙述；故事；记叙体

参考例句：

• The richness of his novel comes from his narration of it.他小说的丰富多采得益于他的叙述。
• Narration should become a basic approach to preschool education.叙事应是幼儿教育的基本途径。

21 equilibrium   

n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静

参考例句：

• Change in the world around us disturbs our inner equilibrium.我们周围世界的变化扰乱了我们内心的平静。
• This is best expressed in the form of an equilibrium constant.这最好用平衡常数的形式来表示。

22 stationary   

adj.固定的，静止不动的

参考例句：

• A stationary object is easy to be aimed at.一个静止不动的物体是容易瞄准的。
• Wait until the bus is stationary before you get off.你要等公共汽车停稳了再下车。

23 cork   

n.软木，软木塞

参考例句：

• We heard the pop of a cork.我们听见瓶塞砰的一声打开。
• Cork is a very buoyant material.软木是极易浮起的材料。

24 hustle   

v.推搡；竭力兜售或获取；催促；n.奔忙(碌)

参考例句：

• It seems that he enjoys the hustle and bustle of life in the big city.看起来他似乎很喜欢大城市的热闹繁忙的生活。
• I had to hustle through the crowded street.我不得不挤过拥挤的街道。

25 bustle   

v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹

参考例句：

• The bustle and din gradually faded to silence as night advanced.随着夜越来越深，喧闹声逐渐沉寂。
• There is a lot of hustle and bustle in the railway station.火车站里非常拥挤。

26 acrobat   

n.特技演员，杂技演员

参考例句：

• The acrobat balanced a long pole on his left shoulder.杂技演员让一根长杆在他的左肩上保持平衡。
• The acrobat could bend himself into a hoop.这个杂技演员可以把身体蜷曲成圆形。