Đề thi thật IELTS Reading Passage 3: 200 Years of Australian Landscapes at the Royal Academy in London

READING PASSAGE 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 on pages 10 and 11.

200 Years of Australian Landscapes at the Royal Academy in London

This exhibition promises to chart the evolution of a nation through its art, but not everyone agrees with the reasons behind the choice of artwork.

For the casual viewer, the exhibition of landscapes, Australia, selected by the Royal Academy of Art will be a spectacular guide through Australian art history. Included in the exhibition are a range of artists and styles, dating from the earliest days of colonial art and progressing through expressionism and modernism to the artists of the 20th century, culminating with the current generation of Australian artists. It is hardly surprising, then, that this results in a flexible, wide-ranging notion of landscape.

But this landmark exhibition gives rise to some questions, and perhaps problems, regarding Britain’s relationship with its former colony. By choosing a style of painting at which British artists excel, the Academy could be seen as inviting criticism that hints at a telling attitude towards art by comparison. But it is the very theme of landscape painting that makes this a controversial selection. To consider if condescending is perhaps too strong, but for Joanna Mendelssohn, Australian critic and Associate Professor at the University of NSW’s College of Fine Arts (COFA), there is a suggestion that British artistic values have directed this exhibition, rather than allowing Australia the freedom to demonstrate its maturity.

What Mendelssohn found surprising about the exhibition was the underlying rules for the selection of works seemed to have been so conservative. Since the landscape is a very strong British artistic theme, it appeared to her that when the British looked to the art of a former colony, there was a tendency for them to think that those colonies would continue to be like the British themselves. In reviewing Australian art, the British insisted on looking at the genre of landscape painting.

Because of colonial ties, it was inevitable during Australian art’s formative years that it would reflect Britain’s devotion to the beloved landscape before its own character and idiosyncrasies took shape. And while Mendelssohn’s concern over the exhibition’s conventional selection is valid, the Academy is nevertheless embracing the peculiarities of Australian art from the mid-19th century onward, albeit within the boundaries of landscape.

Australia is curated by Kathleen Soriano, director of exhibitions at the Royal Academy. ‘Certainly the influence of English, French or German art is much more evident in the early periods, in the early 1800s to mid-1800s,’ she says. ‘What I wanted to show was how Australian art develops a real distinctiveness, associated with the landscape and the light.’

The fusion of ‘tradition’ of the European kind with something more specifically Australian, and often personal, is crucial to the exhibition and extends particularly to some of the more contemporary artists involved. Sydney-born video artist Shaun Gladwell is a good example of this. Gladwell’s most famous piece, which is featured in the exhibition, is Storm Sequence (2000), a video of Gladwell skateboarding on the Bondi seafront as one of Sydney’s signature brutal storms lingers offshore. It is his acknowledgment of landscape (or seascape) tradition, coloured by Gladwell’s own individualism. ‘To exhibit my work in this show might make some sense because I was interested in Turner and the idea of atmosphere affecting vision, something I was really interested in around the time of Storm Sequence. I was thinking about this tradition of Romantic landscape, but I wanted to make it personal,’ says Gladwell. But he didn’t want to just embark on borrowing imagery from elsewhere. He wanted to bring it to his experience and his world through skateboarding and beach culture.

So while it may seem narrow for Britain to reduce Australian art to the genre of landscape, there can be little denying that British landscape painting is still relevant to a current generation of Australian practitioners, however indirectly.

Visitors to the exhibition encounter Australian Aboriginal art first, the idea being that these works warrant a prominent position because they were ‘first’. Over the last couple of decades, London has hosted many successful exhibitions of Aboriginal art in smaller spaces, but for Soriano, Australia represents an opportunity to place such art within the context of new relationships to the art of the settlers and white Australia. ‘One of the reasons landscape was seen as being the right theme was because Australian art started in and on the landscape,’ she says. ‘[The exhibition] is a beautiful meshing of the two different kinds of art that allowed me to bring them together comfortably and honestly with this theme. It was important for me to present Indigenous art to audiences, and I felt it was most accurate to be seen as part of Australian art history, rather than a separate exhibition of its own.’

Meanwhile, Australian critic Mendelssohn also points out that London is increasingly less important to today’s generation of artists, and this somewhat weakens the ceremony surrounding the exhibition in London. ‘China is the most important art market in the world,’ she says. ‘If you’ve made it in Shanghai, you’ve made it. The world has changed. My students in Australia, who come from all over the world, really want to see Venice Biennale and Art Basel, but they’re less interested in going to London. When I was growing up, London was the destination, and then when I was at university all the smart young things wanted to go to New York,’ she added. ‘Now they want to go everywhere. There’s no such thing as the centre and the periphery like there used to be. It’s much more complicated.’

Questions 27-31

Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet, write:

• YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
• NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
• NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

27. As expected, the artworks chosen for the exhibition reflect a narrow interpretation of landscape.
28. The Academy rejected Australian suggestions for the subject of the exhibition.
29. The colonial relationship meant that early Australian landscape painting followed the traditions of English landscape painting.
30. The exhibition reflects the fact that Australian art developed its own particular qualities.
31. Contemporary Australian artists have generally rejected British landscape traditions.

Questions 32-36

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D.

32. What is the writer’s main point in the second paragraph?

• A. Australian landscape painting derives from the British tradition.
• B. Australian landscape painting is more highly regarded than British.
• C. Britain is still imposing its principles on Australian art.
• D. British art cannot be compared to Australian art.

33. What does Joanna Mendelssohn find surprising?

• A. Modern Australian landscape painting has great variety.
• B. The guidelines for the choice of work were very traditional.
• C. Landscape painting remains a popular subject for British artists.
• D. The British find the Australian landscape unsuitable as a subject.

34. Shaun Gladwell’s work is included in the exhibition because

• A. it adopts a subjective approach to depicting the landscape.
• B. skateboarding is an inspiration to many Australian artists.
• C. storms are a significant feature in the Australian landscape.
• D. Bondi is an iconic Australian location.

Questions 37-40

Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F.

37. In spite of its conservatism, the Royal Academy exhibition…
38. Australian art of the early to mid-1800s…
39. The modern work by Gladwell chosen for the exhibition…
40. Including Aboriginal art in the exhibition…

• A. reflects the mood created by the natural environment.
• B. demonstrates that the dominant art form in Australia is landscape painting.
• C. demonstrates an understanding of the historical importance of the land.
• D. showcases a very small number of artists.
• E. demonstrates a strong European flavour.
• F. shows an acceptance of the unique qualities of Australian art.

 

SUGGESTED ANSWERS

Questions 27 – 31

(Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3?)

• 27. As expected, the artworks chosen for the exhibition reflect a narrow interpretation of landscape.
  Answer: NO
  (The passage states that the exhibition includes a wide-ranging notion of landscape, meaning it is not a narrow interpretation.)

• 28. The Academy rejected Australian suggestions for the subject of the exhibition.
  Answer: NOT GIVEN
  (There is no clear mention in the passage about the Academy rejecting Australian suggestions.)

• 29. The colonial relationship meant that early Australian landscape painting followed the traditions of English landscape painting.
  Answer: YES
  (The passage explicitly states that due to colonial ties, early Australian landscape painting reflected Britain’s devotion to the landscape before developing its own identity.)

• 30. The exhibition reflects the fact that Australian art developed its own particular qualities.
  Answer: YES
  (The passage states that the exhibition demonstrates how Australian art gained distinct characteristics associated with its landscape and light.)

• 31. Contemporary Australian artists have generally rejected British landscape traditions.
  Answer: NOT GIVEN
  (The passage does not explicitly state that contemporary Australian artists have “rejected” British traditions, only that British landscape painting still influences some artists.)

Questions 32 – 36

(Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D)

• 32. What is the writer’s main point in the second paragraph?
  Answer: C – Britain is still imposing its principles on Australian art.
  (The paragraph discusses how Britain’s artistic values have influenced Australian landscape art, suggesting that Britain still has control over its artistic evaluation.)

• 33. What does Joanna Mendelssohn find surprising?
  Answer: B – The guidelines for the choice of work were very traditional.
  (She found it surprising that the selection of works was so conservative, despite the diversity of Australian landscapes.)

• 34. Shaun Gladwell’s work is included in the exhibition because:
  Answer: A – It adopts a subjective approach to depicting the landscape.
  (His video work “Storm Sequence” presents a personal interpretation of landscape through skateboarding and weather conditions.)

• 35. What was the reason for Soriano including Aboriginal art in the exhibition?
  Answer: C – It is part of the Australian art tradition and not independent of it.
  (The passage explains that Aboriginal art was included to show its connection with the evolution of Australian art.)

• 36. By referring to China, Mendelssohn is making the point that:
  Answer: A – Having an exhibition in London is not as important as it used to be.
  (She mentions that London was once the key global art center, but now young artists look to places like New York and Shanghai.)

Questions 37 – 40

(Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A–F)

• 37. In spite of its conservatism, the Royal Academy exhibition…
  Answer: F – Shows an acceptance of the unique qualities of Australian art.
  (Despite the traditional selection, the exhibition acknowledges the distinctiveness of Australian art.)

• 38. Australian art of the early to mid-1800s…
  Answer: E – Demonstrates a strong European flavour.
  (The passage explains that early Australian landscape paintings followed British traditions.)

• 39. The modern work by Gladwell chosen for the exhibition…
  Answer: A – Reflects the mood created by the natural environment.
  (His video captures the atmosphere of the landscape through movement and weather elements.)

• 40. Including Aboriginal art in the exhibition…
  Answer: C – Demonstrates an understanding of the historical importance of the land.
  (Soriano explains that Aboriginal art is essential to understanding the history of Australian landscape painting.)