单选题 That Louise Nevelson is believed by many critics to be the greatest twentieth-century sculptor is all the more remarkable because the greatest resistance to women artists has been, until recently, in the field of sculpture. Since Neolithic times, sculpture has been considered the prerogative of men, partly, perhaps, for purely physical reasons: it was erroneously assumed that women were not suited for the hard manual labor required in sculpting stone, carving wood, or working in metal. It has been only during the twentieth century that women sculptors have been recognized as major artists, and it has been in the United States, especially since the decades of the fifties and sixties, that women sculptors have shown the greatest originality and creative power. Their rise to prominence parallels the development of sculpture itself in the United States: while there had been a few talented sculptors in the United States before the 1940s, it was only after 1945—when New York was rapidly becoming the art capital of the world that major sculptures were produced in the United States. Some of the best were the works of women.
By far the most outstanding of these women is Louise Nevelson, who in the eyes of many critics is the most original female artist alive today. One famous and influential critic, Hilton Kramer, said of her work, "For myself, I think Ms. Nevelson succeeds where the painters often fail."
Her works have been compared to the Cubist constructions of Picasso, the Surrealistic objects of Miro, and the Merzbau of Schwitters. Nevelson would be the first to admit that she has been influenced by all of these, as well as by African sculpture, and by Native American and pre-Columbian art, but she has absorbed all these influences and still created a distinctive art that expresses the urban landscape and the aesthetic sensibility of the twentieth century. Nevelson says, "I have always wanted to show the world that art is everywhere, except that it has to pass through a creative mind."
Using mostly discarded wooden objects like packing crates, broken pieces of furniture, and abandoned architectural ornaments, all of which she has hoarded for years, she assembles architectural constructions of great beauty and power. Creating very freely with no sketches, she glues and nails objects together, paints them black, or more rarely white or gold, and places them in boxes. These assemblages, walls, even entire environments create a mysterious, almost awe-inspiring atmosphere. Although she has denied any symbolic or religious intent in her works, their three-dimensional grandeur and even their titles, such as Sky Cathedral and Night Cathedral, suggest such connotations. In some ways, her most ambitious works are closer to architecture than to traditional sculpture, but then neither Louise Nevelson nor her art fits into any neat category.
单选题 Which of the following statements is supported by the information given in the passage?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 第一段最后两句提到,在美国,女雕塑家的崛起和雕塑艺术本身的发展是同步的:虽然20世纪40年代之前也有几位有天赋的雕塑家,但是,直到1945年纽约迅速成为世界艺术之都后,美国才出现了一些杰出雕塑作品,其中有些佳作是女雕塑家创作的。
单选题 The author quotes Hilton Kramer most probably in order to illustrate ______
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 在第二段作者说,到目前为止Louise Nevelson在女雕塑家中最杰出,许多评论家认为她是今天活着的最具独创力的艺术家。作者引用Kramer的话说:在其他画家经常失败的地方,恰恰是Nevelson女士的成功之处。这表达了对其作品的肯定。
单选题 Which of the following is one way in which Nevelson"s art illustrates her theory?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 第三、四段谈到了Nevelson的创作理论。有些人认为她的作品可以同毕加索的立体派、米洛等的超现实主义、施威特的美尔滋建筑相比,Nevelson第一个承认她不仅受到所有这些人的影响,还受到非洲雕塑、印第安人和哥伦布发现美洲大陆以前的艺术的影响,但是,她吸收了所有这些影响,并创造出独特的艺术,用来表现都市景色,表现20世纪对美的感受。她说,我想告诉世界:艺术无处不在,只是要经过创作加工。下一段提到她利用各种普通物品进行创造,这实际上表达了她的创造理念:艺术无处不在。
单选题 It can be inferred from the passage that the author believes Nevelson"s sculptures ______
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 最后一段提到,Nevelson不画草图,自由创作,她将物品用胶粘、用钉子钉在一起,用漆料涂成黑色,或有个别时候涂成白色或金黄色,然后将它们用方框裱起来。她创造的这些组合品、墙壁甚至整个环境都带有一种神秘——或几乎是肃穆的气氛。虽然她否认自己的作品有任何象征和宗教意图,但她的作品表达的庄严的三维效果,甚至它们的名字,如《天空中的教堂》和《黑夜中的教堂》,都暗含着这样的意义(指宗教和象征意义)。在某种意义上,她最理想的作品与其说接近传统雕塑,不如说更像建筑物,但是又很难清楚地说出Nevelson以及她的艺术到底是属于那一类。可见,在作者看来,Nevelson的作品充满神秘气息,具有宗教和象征意味。
单选题 The author regards Nevelson"s status in the art world as "remarkable" in part because ______
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 第一段第一、二句提到,许多评论家相信Nevelson是20世纪最伟大的雕塑家,这个事实非常不寻常,因为直到最近,雕塑领域还一直在排斥女艺术家。自新石器时代以来,雕塑创造一直被认为是男人的专属领域,也许部分的原因是出于纯体力的考虑:人们错误地认为,妇女不适合于雕刻石头、木头或摆弄金属这样的体力劳动。