Opinions on Visual Arts

Opinions on visual arts

with art vocabulary collocations and word formation

Give your opinion on a work of art, an artistic style, a particular artist, etc, such as those below, and see if your partner agrees. Discuss that topic as long as you like, then take turns doing the same with other artistic topics until your teacher stops you.

Ask about any topics you don’t understand or can’t come up with an opinion on, working together as a class to give an opinion on them each time.

Change groups, then take turns giving opinions on art again, but this time flipping a coin to decide what opinion you and your partner should give.

Heads = positive opinion                                                      Tails = negative opinion

Heads = strong opinion                                           Tails = weak opinion

Heads = agree                                                          Tails = disagree

Heads = strong (dis)agreement                             Tails = weak (dis)agreement

 

Possible (visual) art topics to give opinions on

• (Semi-)abstract art such as Abstract Expressionism, e.g. Pollock’s drip paintings
• Amateur art/ artists
• Ancient art (e.g. classical art or pre-historic art such as cave paintings)
• (Visual) art vs crafts (e.g. pottery/ ceramics)
• Art based on ancient myths, e.g. Greek myths
• Art education/ Art degrees such as fine art courses and history of art courses
• The “art establishment”
• Art fairs such as biennales
• (Public/ Private) art galleries, e.g. The Museum of Western Art in Tokyo, The National Gallery in London, or MOMA in New York
• Art mixing local and international styles
• Art Nouveau/ Art Deco
• Art supplies (canvases, paints, easels, palettes, etc)
• Art prizes such as the Turner Prize
• Auction prices of art
• Banned art/ Censored art
• Baroque art such as Bernini’s statue of Saint Teresa
• Blockbuster shows
• Busts
• Byzantine art
• (Chinese) calligraphy
• Children and art
• Collages
• Conceptual art
• Contemporary art
• Cubism such as Picasso and Braque
• (Charcoal) drawings/ sketches
• Erotic art such as Japanese shunga erotic prints
• Exporting art
• Expressionism such as Munch’s The Scream or Klimt’s The Kiss
• Fakes/ Forgeries
• Figurative art
• Folk art
• Funding for art/ artists (companies funding public art galleries, etc)
• Futurism
• Graffiti (art)
• Group shows - Solo shows
• History painting
• Impressionism such as Degas’s ballet dancers or Monet’s Water Lilies
• Instillations
• Kitsch, e.g. Jeff Koons
• Landscape painting
• Life models
• (So-called) masterpieces/ Works of genius
• Medieval art
• Miniatures
• Minimalism
• Mixed media
• Mobiles by Alexander Calder etc
• Museum gift shops
• (Faux) naïve art such as Henri Rousseau’s jungle paintings
• Nudes
• Open air sculpture gardens
• Outsider art
• Overrated artists/ artwork
• Pastels
• Performance art such as Yoko Ono’s cut dress
• Permanent collections – Temporary exhibitions
• (Black and white/ Colour/ Digital) photography such as Doisneau’s couple kissing
• Photography in art galleries
• Pointillism, e.g. Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
• Political art/ Protest art
• Pop art such as Andy Warhol’s soup cans
• (Official/ Group/ Self-) portraits such as Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring
• Post-impressionism such as Van Gogh’s Sunflowers or Gauguin’s pictures of Tahiti
• Pre-Raphaelites such as Millais’s Death of Ophelia
• (Woodblock/ Silk screen) prints, such as Japanese ukiyo-e
• Public art/ Public sculpture in this city/ country
• Ready-mades such as Duchamp’s urinal
• (Photo)realism
• Religious art, e.g. Islamic art, Buddhist statues, Madonna and Child, Annunciation, Descent from the Cross, or Adoration of the Magi
• Renaissance art such as Da Vinci’s Last Supper, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling, Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, or Titian
• (Career) retrospectives
• Scroll paintings
• (Stone/ Wooden/ Bronze/ Clay) sculpture/ statues such as Rodin’s The Thinker, Michelangelo’s David or the Venus di Milo
• Shocking art/ Scandalous art
• Site-specific art
• Still lives
• Studio space for artists in this city
• Surrealism like Salvador Dali’s dripping clocks or lobster telephone
• Tapestries
• The general public’s taste in art
• The most famous artists from one particular country or period
• Traditional art
• Wall paintings
• Watercolours
• Western art
• Wildlife painting
• Young artists/ Up-and-coming artists
• YBAs such as Damien Hirst’s shark in a tank or Tracy Emin’s bed

Art vocabulary collocations part one

First of all without looking at the next page, write as many suitable words before and/ or after the things below to make common collocations related to art.

 

 

 

+ism/ist

 

 

 

 

 

+art/Art+

 

 

 

 

 

+photo+

 

 

 

 

 

+gallery+

 

 

 

 

 

+sculpture+

 

 

 

 

 

+painting+

 

 

 

 

 

Mixed suggestions

Put the words below in at least one place above. Some can go in more than one place.

• abstract
• Abstract Expression
• action
• ancient
• Baroque
• black and white
• bronze
• Buddhist
• Byzantine
• cave
• classical
• collection
• collector
• colour
• conceptual
• contemporary
• contemporary art
• crafts
• critic
• Cub-
• Deco
• degree
• digital
• erotic
• Expression
• fair
• fine
• Flemish
• folk
• Futur-
• gallery
• garden
• graffiti
• -grapher
• -graphy
• history
• history of
• Impression
• Islamic
• -ist
• -istic establishment
• -istic movement
• landscape
• Minimal
• modern
• modern art
• municipal art
• Nordic
• Nouveau
• oil
• outsider
• performance
• Pop
• pop up
• Post-Impression
• private
• prize
• public
• realism
• religious
• Renaissance
• representative
• -s and crafts
• school
• sculpture
• site-specific
• staff
• stone
• supplies
• Surreal
• teacher
• The Museum of Western
• The National
• tour
• trick
• video
• wooden

--------------------------cover, fold or cut---------------------------

Suggested answers

• Abstract Expression/ Cub-/ Expression/ Futur-/ Impression/ Minimal/ Post-Impression/ Surreal + ism/ist
• abstract/ ancient/ Baroque/ Byzantine/ classical/ conceptual/ contemporary/ erotic/ fine/ Flemish/ folk/ graffiti/ history of/ Islamic/ modern/ Nordic/ outsider/ performance/ Pop/ public/ religious/ Renaissance/ representative/ site-specific/ The Museum of Western/ trick/ video + art/ Art + collector/ collection/ critic/ Deco/ degree/ fair/ gallery/ -ist/ -istic establishment/ -istic movement/ Nouveau/ prize/ -s and crafts/ school/ supplies/ teacher
• black and white/ colour/ digital + photo + -grapher/ -graphy/ realism
• contemporary art/ crafts/ modern art/ municipal art/ pop up/ private/ public/ sculpture/ The National + gallery + staff/ tour
• abstract/ bronze/ Buddhist/ Renaissance/ stone/ wooden + sculpture + garden
• action/ cave/ history/ landscape/ oil + painting

Art vocabulary collocations part two

Join beginnings and endings in the same section to make common art collocations. Sometimes more than one match might be possible, but there should be only one way to join up all the words in that section.

1. auction                                     calligraphy       
2. bi-/tri-                                      drawing/ sketch
3. blockbuster/ group/ solo             ennale
4. career                                       exhibition/ show            
5. charcoal                                   myths
6. Chinese                                    prices/ house
7. gift                                           retrospective
8. Greek/ Roman                           shop

 

9. hand/ hanging                          air sculpture garden     
10. life                                          collection         
11. papier                                      mâché…
12. (so-called) master-                   media
13. mixed                                      model
14. open                                       piece
15. over-                                        rated
16. permanent                               realism/ realist
17. photo-/ sur-                              scrolls

 

18. group/ official/ self-                abstract
19. post-                                     colours             
20. pre-                                      Impressionism
21. semi-                                    lifes
22. site-                                      portrait              
23. still                                        prints
24. studio/ exhibition                    Raphaelite
25. water                                     space
26. woodblock/ silk screen             specific art

 

27. Michelangelo’s Sistine                      cans
28. Monet’s Water Chapel                      ceiling
29. Van Gogh’s Sun                               Child
30. Jackson Pollock’s drip                       Earring
31. Bernini’s statue of Saint                    -flowers
32. Pop art such as Andy Warhol’s soup    Lilies
33. Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl             of Venus
34. Religious art, e.g. Madonna and        paintings
35. Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last                   Supper
36. Botticelli’s Birth                                Teresa

Check as a class or above.

 

Art vocabulary word formation

Find and correct the mistakes with word formation in the art expressions below.

• Half-abstract art
• Art based on ancient mythicals
• Fine artist courses
• Historical of art courses
• (Public/ Private) art galleries, e.g. The Museum of Westerly Art in Tokyo or The Nationalist Gallery in London
• Art Nouveaux
• Artist prizes such as the Turner Prize
• Auctioneer prices of art
• Banned art/ Censor art
• Baroque art such as Bernini’s statue of Saintly Teresa
• Blockbustering shows
• Byzantium art
• China calligraphy
• Charcoal draws
• Concept art
• Contemporaneous art
• Cubeism such as Picasso and Braque
• Ero art such as Japanese shunga prints
• Expressionism painters such as Munch or Klimt
• Faked paintings
• Figurive art
• Futureism
• Graffito (art)
• Grouped shows - Solo shows
• Impressionism such as Degas’s ballet dancers or Monet’s Water Lily
• Islam art
• Landscaping painting
• (So-call) masterpieces/ Works of genius
• Medi-eval art
• Minimumism
• Mix media
• Mobilities by Alexander Calder etc
• Museums gift shops
• Opened-air sculpture gardens
• Too-rated artists/ artwork
• Perform art such as Yoko Ono’s cut dress
• Permanent collections – Temp exhibitions
• (Black and white/ Colour/ Digital) photograph such as Robert Doisneau’s couple kissing
• Pointyism, e.g. Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
• Pops art such as Andy Warhol’s soup cans
• (Official/ Group/ Selfie-) portraits such as Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring
• Pre-impressionism such as Van Gogh’s Sunflowers or Starry Night or Gauguin’s pictures of Tahiti
• Pot/ Ceramics
• Post-Raphaelites such as Millais’s Death of Ophelia
• (Woodenblock/ Silk screen) prints, such as Japanese ukiyo-e
• Ready-makes such as Duchamp’s urinal
• (Photograph)realism
• Religion art, e.g. Madonna and Child, Annunciation, Descent from the Cross, or Adoration of the Magi
• Re-naissance painting such as Da Vinci’s Last Supper, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling, Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, or Titian
• (Career) retro-spectives
• Scrolls paintings
• (Stone/ Wooden/ Bronze/ Classic/ Renaissance) sculpture/ statues such as Rodin’s The Thinker, Michelangelo’s David or the Venus di Milo
• Shocking art/ Scandal art
• Site-specified art
• Sketchings
• Still lifes
• Surrealism like Salvador Dali’s dripped clocks or lobster telephone
• The general publics’ taste in art
• The famousest artists from one particular country or period
• Tradition art
• Walled paintings
• Waterycolours
• West art
• Wild life painting

Check as a class or above. There is sometimes more than one way of making them correct, so please check if you wrote something different.