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BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 455
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST 455 – PASSAGE – 3
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST – 455
READING PASSAGE – 3
Russian Icons
The ambivalence of the Soviet authorities towards the art and artefacts of the Orthodox Church throughout the 50s and 60s is even more apparent in relation to icons. These religious paintings have always held a personal spiritual significance for believers in Russia, and some have been the objects of public veneration at a local or even national level.
Conscious of the need to instil a sense of pride in the richness f pre-revolutionary Russian heritage, but wary of allowing religious sentiment to flourish, Soviet art historians strove to emphasise the uniqueness of the Russian icon tradition and its central role in the cultural development of 12th to 16th century Russia., while minimizing its Orthodox Christian essence. It was a narrow path to tread.
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One obvious ploy was to detach the icons from their normal setting in churches and cathedrals and display them in secular art galleries. This is particularly clear in the case of the Tretyakov Art Gallery in Moscow which houses many of the oldest, most beautiful and most venerated icons. Hung on impassive cream walls, these wonderful paintings are stripped of their religious significance encouraging the spectator to concentrate on their artistic merits. Elsewhere in the gallery hang the mordant social commentaries of nineteenth-century Russian realist painters such as Repin, Makovsky and Yaroshenko, some of them specifically attacking the veniality and corruption of the Russian Orthodox Church, or mocking the superstitious ignorance of the Russian peasants.
Further on are the paintings of the Soviet era, explicitly socialist, concentrating on human, particularly collective human, achievement. The peasants, now liberated from their attachment to religion and superstition (the two are synonymous in Soviet parlance), become heroic figures, contributing to the socialist future.
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The inference is not hard to draw: the icons belong to a continuous tradition of Russian artistic creativity which emphasises the dignity and universal emotional, intellectual and spiritual integrity of man, without reference to an external god. The Soviet authorities, of course, were not content to let visitors to the gallery draw this inference for themselves. It was explicitly stated in all the official guidebooks.
A further development in this separation of icons from their religious context can be seen in the creation of the museum of iconography in northwest Moscow. Housed in the former Andronikov Monastery, and named after the 15th-century icon painter Andrei Rublev, the museum contains a representative selection of icons mainly from the 15th to the 17th century from various parts of Russia. The paintings are displayed in 15th-century monastic buildings retaining the outward semblance of a church with monks’ living quarters, but which have been stripped of all religious purposes. The guidebook stresses the harmonious lines of the museum buildings as if the original architects had designed them with that future purpose in mind.
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Icons depicting the Virgin and Child lent themselves easily to appropriation by secularising art historians. The Virgin is no longer the Mother of God, but a symbol of human motherhood, her sorrowing face no longer a foreboding of the death of her son on the cross, but an expression of universal maternal tenderness and pity. Icons of saints of the early eastern and Russian churches, such as St. Nicholas, Sts. Cosmas and Damian, and St. Sergius of Radonezh are similarly described in terms of their civilizing influence, the humanitarian acts they performed or the role they played in the early development of a Russian national identity.
Some of these saints were martyrs, dying for their faith, and so become symbols of Russian stoicism and steadfastness in the face of the invader. But icons of a more abstract or mystical nature, particularly those depicting the holy trinity, presented a more intractable interpretative problem.
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In the Bible, the Holy Trinity is described as appearing to Abraham and his wife Sarah in the form of three angels. Icons of the Three Angels of the Trinity are to be found dating from the late 14th century onward, though few survive from this early period. The angels are normally depicted seated in repose, gesturing towards mystical symbols of divinity. They do not lend themselves to humanistic interpretation, but the three relaxed yet at the same time grave and tautly composed linear figures, combine to create some of the most compelling images in Russian iconography.
The names of few icon painters from the 15th century are known to us, but, fortunately for Soviet art historians, the name of the painter of what is usually considered the most astonishingly beautiful “Trinity’ icon of all is known. It is Andrei Rublev. So instead of being forced to focus on the not-very apparent humanity of the painting, the historians are able to turn their attention to the artist. They emphasise his skill, they explain his technique, they place his work firmly in the emerging Russian national consciousness of the early 15th century. The artist is hero.
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Questions 28-33
Do the statements below agree with the information in the Reading Passage? In Boxes 28-33, write:
TRUE – if the statement agrees with the information in the passage
FALSE – if the statement contradicts the information in the passage
NOT GIVEN – if there is no information about the statement in the passage
28. Icons have never been of much importance to Russian believers.
29. Soviet art historians have stressed the contribution of the Russian icon tradition to Russian cultural development in the 12th to 16th centuries.
30. To downplay the connection between Russian icons and Orthodox Christianity Russian icons were removed from churches and cathedrals and displayed in a secular setting.
31. The Tretyakov Art Gallery is home to paintings of a secular nature as well as religious paintings.
32. The spectator of the icons in the Tretyakov Art Gallery is invariably mesmerized by the sheer artistry of the works.
33. None of the works by Repin, Makovsky and Yaroshenko make fun of the religious beliefs of Russian peasants.
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Questions 34-37
Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 34-37 on your answer sheet.
34. The Tretyakov Art Gallery
A. only contains major religious paintings
B. contains only icons
C. contains a range of paintings from different eras.
D. is worth visiting according to the author
35. From the layout of the Tretyakov art gallery, spectators are meant to see
A. That Russian icons belong to a tradition which stresses the quality of man and has nothing to do with God
B. That Russian icons belongs to a religious tradition
C. That Russian icons belong to a tradition which stresses the glory of God and diminishes the quality of man
D. That Russian icons belongs to a tradition which celebrates the achievements of Russian peasants
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36. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A. The icons in the Museum of Iconography comes from different parts of Russia
B. The Museum of Iconography contains religious paintings from 15th and 17th century
C. The Museum of Iconography is the premium museum in the world of Russian icons
D. The former Andronikov monastery was destroyed to build the Museum of Iconography
37. The guidebooks for the Museum of Iconography
A. Sing the praises of original architects of the monastic complex
B. Point out the importance of 15th century icons
C. Minimize the religious significance of the monastery buildings
D. Stress the religious significance of the monastery buildings
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Questions 38-40
Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each blank space.
38. To secularising art historians, the Virgin was symbolic of ________.
39. The Three Angels of the Holy Trinity are not easily open to ________.
40. The artist of what is considered the most beautiful ‘Trinity’ icon in the world is celebrated by Soviet art historians as a __________.
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ANSWERS
28. FALSE
29. TRUE
30. TRUE
31. TRUE
32. TRUE
33. FALSE
34. C
35. A
36. B
37. A
38. HUMAN MOTHERHOOD
39. HUMANISTIC INTERPRETATION
40. ANDREI RUBLEV
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