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  3. David Sylvester Although celebrated for his art crit

David Sylvester Although celebrated for his art crit

游客2024-12-16  26
问题                         David Sylvester
    Although celebrated for his art criticism and his interviews with Francis Bacon and other artists, the late David Sylvester began his writing career as a cricket correspondent for the Observer. It was, he said, "the most testing literary exercise I have undergone". But it proved invaluable, for the qualities that make a good cricket commentator—a sense of timing and acute observation, a passion for elegant ritual and the psychology mixed with physicality of a sport that is puzzling to outsiders—all contributed to making Sylvester one of the greatest art critics of his time. This collection of his writings and interviews published after his death provides a valuable opportunity to re-examine his talent for observing the long game of art.
    The book displays in full Sylvester’s catholic interests. There is an interview with Diaghilev’s friend, the Russian-born Leonide Massine, and also a conversation with Sir Harrison Birtwistle, a British composer whose son Adam was one of many artists to paint Sylvester’s portrait. It includes Sylvester’s catalogue essay, as well as an interview, for an exhibition he organized of the film designs of his school friend Ken Adam, creator of Dr. Strangelove’s war room and of James Bond sets. There are encounters with visual artists both old (William Coldstream, Henry Moore) and new (Rachel Whiteread, Douglas Gordon).
    The collection is by no means comprehensive—there are none of the famous Bacon interviews here—and would have benefited from more entries, illustrations and a stronger introduction to the man and his work. But it makes up for this with numerous insights into the creative life. In one interview, for example, Howard Hodgkin says, "for an artist time can always be regained, wonders never cease because by any act of imagination, you can always go back."
    Perhaps the most touching interview is his last, a few months before his death. In it, he asks Mike Brearley, a retired cricketer, now a psychoanalyst and art enthusiast, about the similarities between greatness in sport and in art. Mr Brearley replies that both share a sense of the uncompromising, of "not turning one’s face away".
    In a way, this is also an attribute of a great critic. Sylvester was firm in his gaze. The descendant of a teacher of Jewish law, he was unreligious, reserving his awe for art and his intense anger for anyone who violated it. He spoke only when he had something to say and was sacked as a radio critic for what became known as the "Sylvester pause", his long silences during conversations.
    Yet his sleep-inducing voice could lure the most revealing admissions from artist—not about their personal lives, a topic he considered superficial—but about the mystery of how they made their work, of creation itself. He had a Socratic gift for dialogue, drawing out from artists ideas that had never occurred to them before; unlike Socrates, however, he didn’t prove his conversational partner wrong at the end. It is clear from these interviews that both parties made discoveries. So will anyone who reads this intelligent and elegant book. [br] According to the author, the collection of Sylvester’s works______.
选项 A、records his encounters with leading artists such as Francis Bacon
B、shows his talent at observing and commentating matches
C、betrays his masterful understanding of modern artists
D、contains his last interview with a retired sportsman
答案 D
解析 本题考查具体细节。第三段首句指出该选集的不足之处，如，没有收入与弗朗西斯·培根的访谈，[A]与此意相悖，排除。第三段第二句指出，该选集的优点是展示了采访对象对艺术的丰富见解，紧接着第三句以霍华德·霍奇金的话为例说明采访对象的一种见解。[C]错在偷换成“西尔威斯特本人的理解”，应排除。由第二、三段可知，该选集收人的都是他对艺术家的访谈，并未涉及他作为体育评论员的内容，所以排除[B]。[D]在第四段提到，因此是正确项。
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