art deco.pdf

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La ngu age level: NEW YORK El estilo Art Déco no es patrimono de los europeos. De hecho, irrumpió en el continente americano ya en los años 20, cuando allí se vivía un boom económico. Nueva York conserva muchas muestras de este estilo. N ew York City is home to many amazing' things, not least Art Deco architecture. Examples range2 from the world-famous Chrysler and Empire State Buildings to less well- known muráis and interiors. Glen Lein- er, executive director of the Art Deco So- ciety of New York, runs 3 tours designed to promote awareness' of this unique style, but he is also actively involved in preservation campaigns. The term Art Deco wasn't in fact coined 5 until 1966, but it referred to a style that had come into existence in 1925, at a Paris exhibition, the Exposi- tion Internationale desArts Decoratifi et Industriéis Modernes. The modern style soon crossed the Atlantic, to the United States, which was enjoying an econom- ic boom in the 1920s. That carne to a dramatic halt with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 but, remarkably, says Leiner, that didn't spell the end4 of Art Deco: Glen Leiner (Standard American accent): We, of course, had the Great De- pression, 1929, that started right here in New York, and the response to the Great Depression in this country consisted of the New Deal. The New Deal programs that were initiated un- der President Roosevelt, beginning in 1933, and I'd like to think that that's a very special American contribution to the world of Art Deco because during those years the government sponsored a lot of architecture projects: bridges, highways, public housing 7 , schools, hospitals, a whole wealth of architec- ture 8 was sponsored and funded by the government and it happened all over the country, not just in New York or the big cities. Civil works projects were initiat- ed, we had waterworks', hydroelectric dams 10, harbors 11, just a whole range of types of projects were begun between 1933 and the start of World WarTwo and that was all done under the scope12 of the New Deal government programs and the aesthetics that were dictated by those programs were distinctly American. We had a lot of buildings that might look like the Novecento architecture that you see in Milán and might be similar to the French Art Deco, but it was very economical, very rational, very clean. THE EMPTY STATE BUILDING The Empire State Building, for exam- ple, opened in 1931, but many of its offices remained unoccupied until the Second World War - so much so in fact that it was nicknamed13 'The GLOSSARY 1 AMAZING: increíble 2 TO RANGE: variar 3 TO RUN: organizar U AWARE- NESS: consciencia 5 TO COIN: acuñar 6 THAT DIDN'T SPELL THE END: no significó el fin 7 PUBLIC HOUSING: vivienda de protección oficial 8 A WHOLE WEALTH OF ARCHITECTURE: un gran número de obras de arte arquitectónicas 9 WATERWORKS: central depuradora 10 DAM: presa, dique 11 HARBOR: puerto 12 UNDER THE SCOPE: bajo el ámbito 34SPEAKUP

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Page 1: ART DECO.pdf

La ngu age level: Q ¡

NEW YORK

El estilo Art Déco no es patrimono de los europeos. De hecho, irrumpió en el continente americano ya en los años 20, cuando allí se vivía un boom económico. Nueva York conserva muchas muestras de este estilo.

N ew York City is home to many amazing' things, not least A r t Deco architecture. Examples range2 from the world-famous Chrysler and

Empire State Buildings to less well-known muráis and interiors. Glen Lein-er, executive director of the Art Deco So-ciety of New York, runs3 tours designed to promote awareness' o f this unique style, but he is also actively involved in preservation campaigns.

The term A r t Deco wasn't in fact coined 5 unt i l 1966, but i t referred to a style that had come into existence in 1925, at a Paris exhibition, the Exposi-tion Internationale desArts Decoratifi et Industriéis Modernes. The modern style soon crossed the Atlantic, to the United States, which was enjoying an econom-ic boom in the 1920s. That carne to a dramatic halt with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 but, remarkably, says Leiner, that didn't spell the end4 of Art Deco:

Glen Leiner (Standard American accent): We, of course, had the Great De-pression, 1929, that started

right here in New York, and the response to the Great Depression in this country consisted of the New Deal. The New Deal programs that were initiated un-der President Roosevelt, beginning in 1933, and I'd like to think that that's a very special American contribution to the world of A r t Deco because during

those years the government sponsored a lot of architecture projects: bridges, highways, public housing 7, schools, hospitals, a whole wealth of architec­ture8 was sponsored and funded by the government and it happened all over the country, not just in New York or the big cities. Civi l works projects were initiat­ed, we had waterworks', hydroelectric dams10, harbors11, just a whole range of types o f projects were begun between 1933 and the start o f Wor ld WarTwo and that was all done under the scope12

of the New Deal government programs and the aesthetics that were dictated by those programs were distinctly American. We had a lot of buildings that might look like the Novecento architecture that you see in Milán and might be similar to the French A r t Deco, but it was very economical, very rational, very clean.

THE EMPTY STATE BUILDING The Empire State Building, for exam-ple, opened in 1931, but many of its offices remained unoccupied until the Second World War - so much so in fact that it was nicknamed13 'The

GLOSSARY 1 AMAZING: increíble 2 TO RANGE: variar 3 TO RUN: organizar U AWARE­

NESS: consciencia 5 TO COIN: acuñar 6 THAT DIDN'T SPELL THE END: no significó el fin 7 PUBLIC HOUSING: vivienda de protección oficial 8 A WHOLE WEALTH OF ARCHITECTURE: un gran número de obras de arte arquitectónicas 9 WATERWORKS: central depuradora 10 DAM: presa, dique 11 HARBOR: puerto 12 UNDER THE SCOPE: bajo el ámbito

34SPEAKUP

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EXERCISES Listening Questions 1) Choose which of the options is corred. A. The term Art Deco was first used in the

(1920s/1960s). B. The Wall Street Crash was a (FATAL BLOW /

DRAWBACK) for the Art Deco movement. c. The New Deal (HELPED / DIDN'T HELP] the Art

Deco style architectural programmes. D. The government sponsored [ONLY PRÍVATE /

MAINLY PUBLIC] building projects. E. Glen Leiner says that Art Deco architect­

ure was (PURELY/ PARTICULARLY) American. F. The Empire State Building remained

empty for around (FIFTEEN / THIRTY) years.

2] Place the topics into the order in which they appear in the original report. A. The Great Depression. B.The Radio City Music Hall c. The Art Deco Society of New York D.The empty Empire State Building E. President Roosevelt F. Ralph Walker, the architect. G.The Paris International Exhibition.

3) Are the following sentences true or false? A. New York City has many Art Deco

buildings. TRUE/FALSE B.Art Deco coincided first with an economic

upturn in the USA. TRUE/FALSE c. Art Deco buildings were mainly built on

America's east coast. TRUE/FALSE D. The Art Deco movement only lasted till

about 1939. TRUE/FALSE E. Donald Deskey designed many buildings

for the telephone company. TRUE/FALSE

F. He was also one of America's great industrial designers. TRUE/FALSE

¿) Indícate which of these buildings does not correspond to the architectural style. A. ART DECO: Bauhaus Archive, Chrysler

Building, Christ the Redeemer B. BAROQUE: ManchesterTown Hall,

St Paul's Cathedral, Piazza San Pietro c. GOTHIC: Notre Dame, Burgos Cathedral,

Bellas Artes Palace D. RENAISSANCE: St Peter's Basílica,

Cologne Cathedral, The Escorial E. ROMANESQUE: Santiago Cathedral,

Winchester Cathedral, Toledo Cathedral

Answers DA. 1960s, B. drawback, c. helped, D. mainly public, E. particularly, F. fifteen 2) C, G, A, E, D, F, B 3) A. True, B. True, c. False, D. True, E. False, F. True 4) A. Bauhaus Archive, B. Manchester Town Hall, c. Bellas Artes Palace, D. Cologne Cathedral, E. Toledo Cathedral

More exercises on CD

MORE ART DE Park Avenue (above, left) This sculpted mural is to be found on a building on one of Manhattan's most exclusive streets. In fact, many of New York's poorer áreas like Harlem have plenty of examples of Art Deco architecture. This is because property developers were not interested in the área and therefore left it alone.

42, East 39th Street (above, right) is one of many New York office buildings with decorative facades in this style. Remarkably, the Art Deco boom took place during the Great Depression.

The Hirsch Towers (right) are in nearby Port Elizabeth, Ne Jersey. This former office block i now a residential building.

Empty State Bui ld ing ' . A r t Deco ef-fect ively carne to an end w i t h the advent o f the war, b u t the buildings are still standing.

I n conc lus ión , we asked Leiner to ñame the most i m -portant A r t Deco architects:

Glen Leiner: Ralph Walker is a great American architect who did many, many, many build­ings for the telephone compa­ny and, because the telephone company was all over the country 1 ' , his architecture appears in many, many cities and these are great, innovative, brave15, courageous works of architec­ture using materials like brick 1 6 and

bronze and glass in innovative ways that had not previously ever been done. So

he's one of my héroes. Donald Deskey was a great

designer. He created Radio City Music Hall at Rockefeller Center. He not only designed the interior space, but he also designed all o f the furnish-ings17 that went into the space and he was an industrial de­signer of that t ime 1 8 , and one of the great industrial design­

ers in America, so he's very important.

GLOSSARY 13 TO NICKNAME: apodar 14 ALL OVER THE COUNTRY: por todo el país

15 BRAVE: valiente 16 BRICK: ladrillo 17 FURNISHINGS: mobiliario, accesorios 18 TIME: época