Page 54 - Think 4. Teacher's Book B2

Unit 4
The art of thinking Reading; Train to

Culture notes THE ART OF THINKING UNIT 4
The National Gallery in central
London is one of the most-visited
art museums in the world. It was
founded in 1824 and has over 2,300
paintings from between 1250 and he National Gallery in Trafalgar Square in London almost impossible to move the paint from
has a collection of paintings that stretches from
one place to another or to store it for a long
1900. Thundreds of years ago right up to the present day. time, 4 . Most
You can plan a walk that goes chronologically through artists were used to dealing with this situation,
John Goffe Rand was born in New the centuries – 16 th , 17 th , 18 th century and so on. As you go but Rand thought he could do something to
through the first rooms, you get used to seeing paintings
Hampshire, USA in 1801 and lived in dark, heavy colours of brown and black, deep reds improve it.
And so in 1841 he invented … the metal
and worked in Boston, London and blues, with subjects that are indoors, or else in huge tube. Taking very thin layers of tin (a metal
landscapes that were created by imaginative painters.
and New York as a portrait painter But something happens 1 in the which would not react with the oil paint) he
made small tubes into which the paint could be poured. The tube
middle of the 19 th century. Suddenly, after about 1845, you
and inventor. Rand invented and start to see paintings with dazzling, bright colours and with could then be squeezed gently to get out as much paint as the artist

. And they
needed, and closed again 5
patented the first collapsible artist’s vivid outdoor settings. How can this remarkable change were small and light, so they could be taken wherever the painter
be explained?
paint tube, which allowed unused The answer is twofold. First of all, after the Industrial wanted. These tubes changed everything for artists. Suddenly, they
could go out into wide open spaces, fields, gardens and streets,
paint to be stored and used later Revolution, artificial pigments had now begun to be used in taking their paint with them and painting what they saw, not

. The second reason was the worrying about the paint itself.
paint, 2
without drying out. These tubes also work of a man almost no one has heard of: John Goffe Rand. The art movement known as ‘impressionism’ partly owes its
made oil painting more affordable, Rand was an American, born in 1801 in New Hampshire, but he existence to Rand and his tube. One of the greatest impressionist
painters, Renoir, told his son: “… without colours in tubes, there
moved to London when he got married. He was a practical but
which especially benefited art also a creative man: an inventor and an enthusiastic, competent would have been no Cézanne, no Monet, no Sisley or Pissarro,
students and amateur artists. painter. Like all other painters at the time, he worked mainly nothing of what people were to call impressionism.”
with oil paints. The problem with oil paint was how to store it
John Rand patented his invention, but never became especially
3 . Painters used to keep the paint wealthy because of it, even though the tube that he invented went
The Impressionist painters were in animal bladders, which they could pierce to get the paint on to be used in many other ways, 6 .
very radical for their time, studying out, but these were fragile and short-lived containers. It was
the effects of light and painting
mostly en plein air (outside). Their
work broke from tradition by
showing an ‘impression’ of what the
person, light, atmosphere, object
or landscape looked like to them
using quick, obvious and often messy
brushstrokes. Artists include Auguste
Renoir, Paul Cézanne and Berthe 7 SPEAKING
SPEAKING Here are more situations. Work in pairs
Morisot. and discuss possible answers.
Lateral thinking 1 A father and son are in a bad car crash. They are
‘Lateral thinking’ means solving problems by thinking in both taken to hospital. The son is taken into the
a creative way. It means not following the obvious line of operating theatre. The doctor there looks at the boy
and says: ‘That’s my son!’ How is this possible?
7 Check/clarify: operating theatre. thinking. Here is an example. 2 A woman is lying awake in bed. She dials a number
Remind students that there A man is driving down a city street at 25 miles per hour. on the phone, says nothing, puts the phone down
The speed limit is 30 miles per hour. He passes three cars that
may be more than one possible are travelling at 20 miles per hour. A police officer stops him and then goes to sleep. Why?
solution and encourage them to and gives him a £100 fine. Why? 3 A man lives on the 12th floor of a building. Every
morning, he takes the lift down to the entrance and
If we think too much about the speed, we may not get the
come up with as many ideas as answer. What does the situation NOT tell us? It doesn’t tell leaves the building. In the evening, he gets into the
they can. us, for example, what time of day it is – so a possible reason lift and, if there is someone else in the lift, he goes
directly to the 12th floor. If the lift is empty, he goes
for the £100 fine is that it is night time and the man is driving
Possible answers: 1 The doctor is the with no lights on his car. Or another possible reason for the to the 10th floor and walks up two flights of stairs to
boy’s mother. 2 The woman is in a fine is that the street is one-way, and the man is driving the his apartment. Why?
wrong way.
hotel room and the person in the next 39
room is snoring loudly. She calls the
number to wake them up and to stop
the snoring. 3 The man is not tall Activity idea Extension
enough to reach the button for the
12th floor. Here are two more lateral thinking problems:
• A cowboy rode into town on Friday, spent one night there, then left on Friday.
How is that possible? (His horse is called Friday.)
Homework • A woman had two sons, Billy and Bobby, who were born at the same hour on
Ask students to research a lateral the same day of the same year, but they were not twins. How is this possible?
thinking problem or come up with (They were two of a set of triplets.)
their own. They can bring them to Divide the class into AB pairs and give each student a different problem with
the next lesson for their partners to the solution. Ask students to exchange problems. Students ask each other
read and respond to them. questions to find the solution to each problem. Tell them they can only ask yes/
no questions (not Who, What, Why, etc.) to maximise language practice.
more
Critical ing
Evaluating ideas and arguments Worksheets
Evaluating arguments as a whole. Project Lateral thinking
Creative ing Communication Thinking outside the box
Generating ideas Get ing Are you a creative thinker?
Imagining alternatives and possibilities.
Unit 4 | The art of thinking T39