2006年VOA标准英语-New York Museum Goes To the Dogs

By Gini Sikes
New York
21 March 2006

Photogragh in exhibit by William Wegman  
  
At an unusual art exhibit, a dog in a blonde wig¹ lounges by a pool wearing a skimpy leopard-skin bikini. Another lies on a tabletop, covered in flowers and Christmas ornaments² serving as the centerpiece of a table. Still another lurks³ in a tree. It is a dog's life, according to the renowned⁴ artist and photographer William Wegman. This month the Brooklyn Museum unleashes⁶ a Wegman retrospective entitled "Funney/Strange," featuring some 300 works of art, foremost among them his innovative⁷ photos of canines⁸.

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The poet Dante had his Beatrice. Picasso had his lover Dora Maar, whom he painted over and over. Leonardo found his inspiration in the mysterious smile of Mona Lisa. For 62-year-old artist and photographer William Wegman, his muse⁵ and model is a dog. Or dogs to be precise. Over 30 years, he has employed eight dogs, transforming their images into some of the most iconic artworks in the last half of the twentieth century. They have appeared not only in museums around the world but also on posters, coffee mugs and T-shirts.

"There was Man Ray, and then Fay Ray, no relation, and Fay had an off spring of eight but three that I used, Chundo, Batti and Crooky, and then Battie had Chip who is in a lot of pictures here because he is so damn handsome. Then Chip had Bobbin, and he had Penny so that is about where we are at now," he said.

William Wegman exhibition catalogue   
  
In 1970 Wegman, a painter and respected conceptual artist, acquired a six-week old Weimaraner puppy, a shorthaired, silver-coated breed originally raised for hunting. Wegman named the dog Man Ray, after the surrealist photographer, and took his pet to the studio daily. Man Ray wandered onto sets or got entangled⁹ in equipment, clearly needing something to do. So Wegman let him pose for his camera. Thus was born one of the longest and most productive modeling careers in fashion history.

Man Ray became known for his comic, deadpan¹⁰ stare. In a photograph entitled "Dusted, the dog sits stoically in a black space as powder is dumped on top of him, turning him white. Wegman used flour, which becomes beautifully iridescent¹¹ captured by the light.

Man Ray died in 1982. After mourning for five years, Wegman returned to his dog/man collaboration¹². He used a 20 by 24 centimeter Polaroid camera to create large-format portraits of Faye Ray dressed as the evil stepmother in Cinderella for a children's book, and her off-spring Chundo as Prince Charming in a powdered wig. Despite the elaborate get-ups, Wegman insists he does not overtax his models.

"Most of what I do is not much different than putting a blanket over a horse. You know the clothes are not really on them, they're in front of them, the illusion that they're walking on their hind¹³ legs to look vertical¹⁴ is not true. They are sitting on stools and they are elevated. I found little tricks about how to make them look different. For instance, I needed to make a dog look evil. But he was a lovely, happy dog so I found that if I walked far, far away he would squint¹⁵ and the camera person would be up close to him and he would look kind of demonic," he said.

One wonders whether dogs were always William Wegman's best friends, and whether he had a dog as a child. As it turns out, his first dog was named Wags, a mutt who lived for 21 years. "I was a boy growing up in a rural area in western Massachusetts. So he was fishing with me and camping out, slept in the tents with me and the huts that I would build, but I never adorned¹⁶ him with dresses or hats or sunglasses or any of those things. In fact, I never did that with my first dog I had as an adult, Man Ray. I never dressed him up, until I did for some reason," he said.

Whatever the reason, no one seems to mind that Wegman has let fine art go to the dogs.

1 wig   

n.假发

参考例句：

• The actress wore a black wig over her blond hair.那个女演员戴一顶黑色假发罩住自己的金黄色头发。
• He disguised himself with a wig and false beard.他用假发和假胡须来乔装。

2 ornaments   

n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The shelves were chock-a-block with ornaments. 架子上堆满了装饰品。
• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments. 一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 lurks   

n.潜在，潜伏；（lurk的复数形式）vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Behind his cool exterior lurks a reckless and frustrated person. 在冷酷的外表背后，他是一个鲁莽又不得志的人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Good fortune lies within Bad, Bad fortune lurks within good. 福兮祸所倚，祸兮福所伏。 来自互联网

4 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。

5 muse   

n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感

参考例句：

• His muse had deserted him,and he could no longer write.他已无灵感，不能再写作了。
• Many of the papers muse on the fate of the President.很多报纸都在揣测总统的命运。

6 unleashes   

v.把（感情、力量等）释放出来，发泄( unleash的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• These findings qualify the common view that economic growth unleashes myriad discontents. 这些发现，纠正了一个普遍观点，即经济发展使人们尽情宣泄不满。 来自互联网
• This caster unleashes a storm of electric discharge on the enemy. 法师向敌人释放出一片电火花的风暴。 来自互联网

7 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

8 canines   

n.犬齿( canine的名词复数 )；犬牙；犬科动物

参考例句：

• For example, the teeth are more primitive. There are large canines and unusually shaped incisors. 譬如，牙齿更为原始，有大的犬齿和非常合适的门齿。 来自辞典例句
• Well-to-canines can attend doggy daycare centers while their owners work. 富人家的狗在主人上班的时候可以去狗狗托管中心。 来自互联网

9 entangled   

adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The bird had become entangled in the wire netting. 那只小鸟被铁丝网缠住了。
• Some military observers fear the US could get entangled in another war. 一些军事观察家担心美国会卷入另一场战争。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 deadpan   

n. 无表情的

参考例句：

• Some people don't catch his deadpan humor,that makes it even funnier.有些人不能了解他那种无表情的幽默，因此更有趣。
• She put the letter on the desk in front of me,her face deadpan,not a flicker of a smile.她把那封信放在我面前的桌子上，故意一 脸严肃，没有一丝的笑容。

11 iridescent   

adj.彩虹色的，闪色的

参考例句：

• The iridescent bubbles were beautiful.这些闪着彩虹般颜色的大气泡很美。
• Male peacocks display their iridescent feathers for prospective female mates.雄性孔雀为了吸引雌性伴侣而展现了他们彩虹色的羽毛。

12 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

13 hind   

adj.后面的，后部的

参考例句：

• The animal is able to stand up on its hind limbs.这种动物能够用后肢站立。
• Don't hind her in her studies.不要在学业上扯她后腿。

14 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

15 squint   

v. 使变斜视眼, 斜视, 眯眼看, 偏移, 窥视; n. 斜视, 斜孔小窗; adj. 斜视的, 斜的

参考例句：

• A squint can sometimes be corrected by an eyepatch. 斜视有时候可以通过戴眼罩来纠正。
• The sun was shinning straight in her eyes which made her squint. 太阳直射着她的眼睛,使她眯起了眼睛。

16 adorned   

[计]被修饰的

参考例句：

• The walls were adorned with paintings. 墙上装饰了绘画。
• And his coat was adorned with a flamboyant bunch of flowers. 他的外套上面装饰着一束艳丽刺目的鲜花。