Photos that you might have found down the back of your sofa are now big business!
In 2005,the American artist Richard Prince’s photograph of a photograph,Untitled (Cowboy),was sold for $1 248 000.
Prince is certainly not the only contemporary artist to have worked with so-called “found photographs”—a loose term given to everything from discarded(丢弃的)prints discovered in a junk shop to old advertisements or amateur photographs from a stranger’s family album.The German artist Joachim Schmid,who believes “basically everything is worth looking at”,has gathered discarded photographs,postcards and newspaper images since 1982.In his on-going project,Archiv,he groups photographs of family life according to themes:people with dogs;teams;new cars;dinner with the family;and so on.
Like Schmid,the editors of several self-published art magazines also champion(捍卫)found photographs.One of them,called simply Found,was born one snowy night in Chicago,when Davy Rothbard returned to his car to find under his wiper(雨刷)an angry note intended for someone else:“Why’s your car HERE at HER place?”The note became the starting point for Rothbard’s addictive publication,which features found photographs sent in by readers,such as a poster discovered in your drawer.
The whole found-photograph phenomenon has raised some questions.Perhaps one of the most difficult is:can these images really be considered as art?And,if so,whose art?Yet found photographs produced by artists,such as Richard Prince,may raise endless possibilities.What was the cowboy in Prince’s Untitled doing?Was he riding his horse hurriedly to meet someone?Or how did Prince create this photograph?It’s anyone’s guess.In addition,as we imagine the back-story to the people in the found photographs artists,like Schmid,have collated(整理),we also turn toward our own photographic albums.Why is memory so important to us?Why do we all seek to freeze in time the faces of our children,our parents,our lovers,and ourselves?Will they mean anything to anyone after we’ve gone?
In the absence of established facts,the vast collections of found photographs give our minds an opportunity to wander freely.That,above all,is why they are so fascinating.
【小题1】The first paragraph of the passage is used to .A．remind readers of found photographsB．advise readers to start a new kind of businessC．ask readers to find photographs behind sofasD．show readers the value of found photographs【小题2】According to the passage,Joachim Schmid .A．is fond of collecting family life photographsB．found a plaining note under his car wiperC．is working for several self-published art magazinesD．wondered at the artistic nature of found photographs【小题3】The underlined word “them”in Paragraph 4 refers to“ ”.A．the readersB．the editorsC．the found photographs D．the self-published magazines【小题4】By asking a series of questions in Paragraph 5,the author mainly intends to indicate that .A．memory of the past is very important to peopleB．found photographs allow people to think freelyC．the back-story of found photographs is puzzlingD．the real value of found photographs is questionable【小题5】The author’s attitude toward found photographs can be described as .A．criticalB．doubtfulC．optimisticD．satisfiedD
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(答案→)D
解析：
【小题1】这是一道推断题。根据第一段Richard Prince的一张照片拍出了很高的价钱。说明回收的图片还是非常值钱的。
【小题2】这是一道推断题。根据第三段的“he groups photographs of family life according to themes:”可知Joachim Schmid搜集家庭照片。
【小题3】这是一道指代题。根据后面的“called simply Found,was born one snowy night in Chicago,”可知Found是一个杂志的名字,them 指代的是自己发行的杂志。
【小题4】这是一道推断题。从这几个问题中可以发行搜集到的别人废弃的照片带来了很多疑问,给人很多想象的空间。
【小题5】这是一道归纳题。从文中的第一句就可以看出搜集沙发后的旧照片是个大生意,说明作者对搜集废照片还是乐观的。