Épreuve de spécialité LLCER terminale

Anglais sujet B

Le candidat traitera, au choix, l’ensemble du sujet 1 ou du sujet 2.

SUJET n°1
Le sujet porte sur la thématique « Arts et débats d'idées »
Axe d'étude n°1 « Art et contestation »

Partie I (16 points) : prenez connaissance des documents A, B et C et traitez le sujet suivant en
anglais.

Write a short commentary on the three documents (about 500 words): taking into account their
specificities, analyse how artists voice their political opinions in the documents.

Partie II (4 pts) : traduisez le passage suivant tiré du document A en français.

“The tension between art and politics has long been debated, certainly since the 1960s, when the
cultural revolution introduced neon posters, protest music, and lyrics that offered more than “ooh
baby baby” to the national conversation. (…) Films, TV, art, and music found the incitement of
violent unrest, sexual freedom, social controversy, and evolving standards ripe for exploration. All
the rules changed and, for artists, that was a glorious thing.” (l.1-5).

Document A

The Politics of Art: Should Artists Keep Their Opinions To Themselves?

The tension between art and politics has long been debated, certainly since the 1960s, when the
cultural revolution introduced neon posters, protest music, and lyrics that offered more than “ooh
baby baby” to the national conversation. (…) Films, TV, art, and music found the incitement1 of
violent unrest, sexual freedom, social controversy, and evolving standards ripe2 for exploration. All
5 the rules changed and, for artists, that was a glorious thing.
Yet here we are in 2018, once again debating the explosive merge3 between politics and art (…)
The Zeitgeist4 on that question has clearly evolved over time. Swinging from earlier eras when
artists and celebrities fought hard to keep their [private lives from their political opinions] from

1 Incitement (n) : awakening, urging, motivation (n)

2 Ripe for (adj) : it is high time to do something, mature enough (adj)
3 Merge (n) : fusion (n), mixture (n)
4 Zeitgeist (n) : state of mind at a certain time (n)
 impacting any part of their public brand (with McCarthy’s blacklist making it a matter of career life
10 and death), current trends find politics and identity more readily meshed5, making public not only
what an artist has to offer, but who they are and what they believe.
Of course, that’s not true in all genres of the creative world. It’s well known that country music
defines conservatism (…) Some say that hard line has been softened in more recent years; when
big stars like Tim McGraw and Faith Hill can throw their support behind Obama and sane gun
15 control, and still maintain status as one of country’s power couples, perhaps the sharper edges of
political witch-huntery have been dulled6. Even the TV series Nashville has tackled police profiling
and the outing of one of its most popular characters.
On the other side of the aisle, actors like Bruce Willis, Kelsey Grammer, and Tim Allen claim their
conservative politics have contributed to backlash7 from liberal Hollywood. (…) But for me it comes
20 down to this: the products of my creativity are built on the foundation of my political and social
beliefs. The topics I cover, the characters I create, the messages of my stories are all imbued with
one aspect or another of my perspective, either by echoing it or arguing it. In fact, it is my
worldview—my philosophies, spiritual beliefs, and politics—that contributes to the whole of my
assembled persona, and that persona is inexorably linked to my artistic expression. These things
25 are inseparable.
I’m particularly drawn to artists propelled by the same impulse. I love that J.K. Rowling makes no
secret of her liberal views on Twitter, stirring trolls into Voldemort-like frenzy! (…) I appreciate that
Ken Olin, Rob Reiner, Alyssa Milano, Ava DuVernay, Don Cheadle, John Leguizamo, and Jeffrey
Wright relentlessly use their pulpits to push against nationalist hate and right-wing demagoguery.
30 But I especially applaud lesser known artists, those who have more to lose by boldly going where
their politics lead.

By Grace Amandes, Rock Paper Magazine, 02/02/2018

https://rockpapermusic.com/2018/02/02/the-politics-of-art-should-artists-keep-their-opinions-to-
themselves/

5 Meshed (v) : intertwined, mixed (v)

6 Dull (v) : decrease (v)
7 Backlash (v) : face criticism (v)
 Document B

We Shall Overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome, some day
Oh, deep in my heart
5 I do believe
We shall overcome, some day

We'll walk hand in hand

We'll walk hand in hand
10 We'll walk hand in hand
We'll walk hand in hand, some day

Deep in my heart
Oh, deep in my heart
15 I do believe
I do believe

We shall overcome, some day

We shall overcome, some day
20 We shall live in peace
We shall live in peace
We shall live in peace, some day
We shall live in peace, some day

25 Oh, deep in my heart

I do believe
We shall overcome, some day

The most important verse if the one they wrote down in Montgomery Alabama
30 They said 'We are not afraid'
And the young people taught everybody else a lesson
All the older people that had learned how to compromise
And learned how to take it easy, and be polite, and get along
And leave things as they were
35 The young people taught us all a lesson

We are not afraid

We are not afraid
We are not afraid, today
40 Oh, deep in my heart
 I do believe

We shall overcome, some day

We shall overcome, some day
45 The whole wide world around
The whole wide world around
The whole wide world around
The whole wide world around, some day

50 Oh, deep in my heart

I do believe
We shall overcome, some day

By Joan Baez, “We Shall Overcome”, 1963

Document C

By Norman Rockwell, Town Meeting – Freedom of Speech, oil on canvas, 116 cm x 90 cm, Private Collection,
1942.
 SUJET n°2
Le sujet porte sur la thématique « Arts et débats d'idées »
Axe d'étude n°2 « L'art qui fait débat »

Partie I (16 points) : prenez connaissance des documents A, B et C et traitez le sujet suivant en
anglais.

Write a short commentary on the three documents (about 500 words): taking into account their
specificities, analyse how the artists perceive art and beauty in the three documents.

Partie II (4 pts) : traduisez le passage suivant tiré du document B en français.

“It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art
shows that the work is new, complex, vital. When critics disagree the artist is in accord with
himself. We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only
excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.
All art is quite useless.” (l.21-25).

Document A

The Beauty of Ugly Painting

Lost in the fun house of Laura Owens's unstoppably inventive show at the gallery Sadie Coles HQ in
London last year, I spent a whole afternoon eyeballing1 a painting of Garfield2. The L.A.-based
Owens transforms elements that could be too swiftly called ‘‘zany’’ 3 or ‘‘lurid’’4 (…) into something
ravishing.
5 In a 2013 interview, the artist – Laura Owens – said she had no intention of making ‘‘good’’ art (…)
Owens, who will be the subject of a midcareer retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American
Art this fall5, is a master of what might be called ‘‘ugly painting.’’ As paradoxical as this sounds, the
term is in fact ferocious praise. Ugly art is sloppy6, wild and, yes, transgressive, exciting confusion
and joy because it abandons commonplace ideas of what is — and looks — pretty. This is not a
10 question of being merely grotesque, but daring. It’s a philosophy that harks back 7 to Tristan Tzara,
Dada’s chief theorist, who in 1918 trashed beauty as ‘‘a boring sort of perfection, a stagnant idea
of a golden swamp.’’ The Dadaists were advocates for ugliness as not just a valid artistic condition,
but as a way of shocking a public reeling8 in the midst of a hideous war. (…)

1 Eyeball (v) : look (v)

2 Garfield : the famous cat from the comic strip
3 Zany (adj) : strange (adj)
4 Lurid (adj) : disgusting (adj)
5 Fall (n) : autumn (n)
6 Sloppy (adj) : untidy (adj), neglected (adj)
7 Hark back to (v) : date back to (v)
8 Reel (v) : trap (v)
 But what unifies ugly painting is its defiance of the obviously attractive, familiar or ‘‘lifelike.’’ It
15 serves as a reminder that art isn’t a branch of mortuary science, providing faithful replication of
lost beauties. It’s a mind-altering drug: It exists to cause trouble, knock things head over heels and
show that there are other ways to see.
(…) Ugly painting — even expensive ugly painting — defies a bloated9 art market, in which
inoffensive works all too often become trophies. Ugliness is also a way of responding to the
20 difficulty of being a painter now (…).
And so many painters right now have become good at being ugly. The heartbreaking works of
Karen Kilimnik recast the icons of consumerism and popular culture — from Kate Moss to drowsy10
dogs — as strangely deformed things: For a show last year at New York’s 303 Gallery, she stuck cat
stickers onto reproductions of baroque tapestries. Torey Thornton’s paintings turn contextless
25 objects — a roll of toilet paper, a lopsided pineapple, an egg — into disembodied abstractions,
placing each in a scene that suggests a computer simulation of surrealism.

By Charlie Fox, “The Beauty of Ugly Art”, The New York Times Style Magazine, Sept 4th2017
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/04/t-magazine/art/ugly-painting-laura-owens-karen-kilimnik-sam-
mckinniss.html

9 Bloated (adj) : wealthy (adj), rich (adj)

10 Drowsy (adj) : sleepy (adj)
 Document B

The Picture of Dorian Gray, preface

The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal 1 the artist is art's aim. The
critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful
things.
The highest, as the lowest, form of criticism is a mode of autobiography. Those who find ugly
5 meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault.
Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope.
They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only beauty.
There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written.
That is all.
10 The nineteenth-century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass.
The nineteenth-century dislike of romanticism is the rage of Caliban2 not seeing his own face in a
glass.
The moral life of man forms part of the subject matter of the artist, but the morality of art consists
in the perfect use of an imperfect medium. No artist desires to prove anything. Even things that
15 are true can be proved. No artist has ethical3 sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an
unpardonable mannerism of style. No artist is ever morbid. The artist can express everything.
Thought and language are to the artist instruments of an art. Vice and virtue are to the artist
materials for an art. From the point of view of form, the type of all the arts is the art of the
musician. From the point of view of feeling, the actor's craft is the type. All art is at once surface
20 and symbol. Those who go beneath4 the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do
so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a
work of art shows that the work is new, complex, vital. When critics disagree the artist is in accord
with himself. We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The
only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.
25 All art is quite useless.

By Oscar Wilde, preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1890

1 Conceal (v) : hide (v)

2 Caliban : a heinous and monstruous character who appears in The Tempest (1610) by William Shakespeare
3 Ethical (adj) : moral (adj)
4 Beneath (adv) : under (adv)
Document C

By Willem de Kooning, Woman IV, oil, enamel, charcoal on canvas, 1,7 m x 1,24 m, 1953.
 Correction

SUJET n°1

Partie 1 (16 points) : prenez connaissance des documents A, B et C et traitez le sujet suivant en
anglais.

Write a short commentary on the three documents (about 500 words): taking into account their
specificities, analyse how artists voice their political opinions in the documents.

Can art play a political role? The set of documents is composed of an article by Grace
Amandes who wonders about the relationship between art and politics. Then, it is composed of a
song protest by American singer Joan Baez released in 1963 who intended to criticise the Vietnam
war and of Norman Rockwell's “Freedom of Speech” painted during the Second World War in
1942. The recent article casts light1 upon these articles as Grace Amandes stresses how a work of
art is influenced by its social context. Indeed, we cannot separate documents B and C from their
historical contexts.
Therefore, we shall examine whether art should always be a political manifesto or not.
First, we will study how the artists feed on what they live and go through to create. Then,
we will see how artists are not politicians but focus on aesthetic dimensions.

In a first stage, Grace Amandes prompts2 us to analyse every work of art – may it be “films,
TV, art and music” (l.3) – in the light of history. She states that Hollywood has changed since the
1950s and 1960s as artists are not afraid to voice their political opinions. Indeed, she evokes
“McCarthy’s blacklist” (l.9) which aimed at blacklisting artists who did not criticise communism
publicly as the Cold War gained momentum3. Now those times are over and “violent unrest, sexual
freedom” (l.4) have forced artists to react. We can think about the Oscars which promote more
diversity and denounced the tendency to whitewash cinema. Documents B and C seem to
epitomise4 Grace Amandes's tenets5. Indeed, the documents illustrate the tensions at stake6.
Norman Rockwell entitled his painting “Freedom of Speech” which recalls Franklin D. Roosevelt's
speech “the Four Freedoms” delivered in 1941 during the war. For Rockwell, a man from the lower
class – his clothes tend to prove that – is the embodiment7 of this freedom. Document B also
defend the poorest or the victims as the singer criticises the Vietnam War arguing that they “shall
overcome” the war.
However, Grace Amandes declares that artists can denounce our society implicitly. For
example, the TV series Nashville (l.16) – a somewhat conservative show – address the issue of
racial profiling indirectly. The producers included this bit without analysing it further. They do not

1 Cast a ligh on / upon (v) : mettre l'accent sur, éclairer

2 Prompt (v) : inciter qqn à qqch
3 Gain momentum (v) : gagner de l'ampleur
4 Epitomise (v) : symboliser
5 A tenet (n) : un principe, une idée
6 At stake (adv) : les enjeux
7 Embodiment (n) : l'incarnation
dwell on it; it is up to the spectator to understand the issues at stake. Norman Rockwell also is not
a political manifesto per se8, it is a work of art. Indeed, the pyramidal construction highlights9 the
importance of the working-class man who sharply contrasts with the people from the middle class
around him. Joan Baez also resorts10 to a song without directly addressing the Vietnam War. It is
merely suggested through the chorus “we shall live in peace”.

To conclude, the documents seem to be quite complementary as they crystallise what is at

stake in Grace Amandes's article. That is to say that they illustrate to what extent a work of art can
be shaped by its historical and social contexts. Yet, artists do not voice their political opinions
blatantly11. Indeed, the beholder12 or the spectator need to analyse the symbols hidden in these
works.

545 words.

Conseils supplémentaires :
Pensez toujours à étudier une œuvre, picturale ou littéraire, en fonction du contexte au cours
duquel elle fut créée. Lors de cette épreuve, on vous demande de mettre en rapport des
documents avec des mouvements littéraires, picturaux ou des événements historiques.
Pour analyser un tableau, ici le tableau de Rockwell, pensez bien à étudier les dimensions : si le
tableau est immense ou s’il est minuscule… Tout cela peut influencer la lecture de l’œuvre. Ici, il
était intéressant de se pencher sur la position du personnage au centre du tableau. Cela démontre
à quel point la liberté d’expression semble émaner des classes les plus populaires. Vous auriez
aussi pu étudier les couleurs, ici, relativement sombres ainsi que le visage ou la réaction des autres
personnages.
Pour l’article, vous auriez pu l’étudier à la lumière des dernières élections américaines : de
nombreuses célébrités ont en effet appelé leurs fans à voter pour Joe Biden. Vous auriez pu alors
vous demander le rôle que celles-ci jouent dans nos sociétés. Sont-elles des modèles ?
Si vous avez une chanson à étudier ; penser à regarder les rimes. Pourquoi l’artiste a-t-il ou elle
décidé d’associer ces mots ? Enfin, si vous repérer des figures de style, n’hésitez pas à les
commenter. Nous aurions ici pu commenter l’allitération en [w] dans l’avant dernière strophe qui
rythme la chanson, accentuant ainsi sa musicalité.

Partie 2 (4 pts) : traduisez le passage suivant du document A en français.

“The tension between art and politics has long been debated, certainly since the 1960s, when the
cultural revolution introduced neon posters, protest music, and lyrics that offered more than “ooh
baby baby” to the national conversation. (…) Films, TV, art, and music found the incitement of
violent unrest, sexual freedom, social controversy, and evolving standards ripe for exploration. All
the rules changed and, for artists, that was a glorious thing.” (l.1-5).

8 Per se (adj) : à proprement parler

9 Highlight (v) : souligner
10 Resort to (v) : utiliser
11 Blatantly (adv) directement, de manière explicite
12 Beholder (n) : celui qui contemple, qui regarde
 « Les rapports entre l'art et la politique ont longtemps fait l'objet de débats. Ces tensions
ont certainement commencé dans les années 60 lorsque la révolution culturelle donna naissance à
des posters aux couleurs flashy, aux chansons engagées, à des paroles de chansons qui nous
offraient davantage que des ''oooh chéri chéri'' pour peupler nos conversations. (…) Les
producteurs de cinéma, de la télévision et de musique trouvaient le climat d'insurrections
violentes, la liberté sexuelle, les polémiques controversées et les attentes de la société excitants. Ils
étaient prêts à explorer ces aspects. Toutes les règles avaient changé et, pour les artistes, ce fut
une époque glorieuse. »
SUJET n°2

Partie 1 (16 points) : prenez connaissance des documents A, B et C et traitez le sujet suivant en
anglais.

Write a short commentary on the three documents (about 500 words): taking into account their
specificities, analyse how the artists perceive art and beauty in the three documents.

“When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself”, Oscar Wilde claims. The set of
documents is composed of an article written by Charlie Fox for The New York Times which pays a
tribute1 to “ugly art”. Then, it is composed of the preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray, a famous
novel by Oscar Wilde and finally of a painting by Willem de Kooning. According to the three
documents, artists separate beauty from morality which goes against Plato's doctrine. In Plato
opinion's, if a work of art is perceived as being beautiful, then it is necessary moral; if a work of art
is perceived as being ugly, then it is necessary immoral. The three documents question these
common clichés.
Therefore, we shall wonder to what extent they redefine what art should look like. In a first
stage, we shall examine how the concepts of morality, beauty or ugliness have been associated in
art. In a second stage, we shall analyse how and why they question the sense of beauty in our
world.

First, Charlie Fox mentions “Ugly art” (l.8) as an artistic genre in itself. Laura Owens is one of
its key painters. She resorts2 to images drawn from our daily lives such as Garfield, Kate Moss and
dogs (l.1) and to “zany”, “lurid” elements (l.3) to transform them into “something ravishing” (l.4),
into something beautiful. As a result, the artist seems to be a magician exactly like “Caliban” (l.10)
mentioned in the preface. Caliban is the son of Sycorax, an evil witch. In Oscar Wilde's preface,
ugliness is clearly associated to immorality. Similarly3, Willem de Kooning's Woman seems to be
horrendous4 at first. It depicts5 a naked and shapeless woman who surprises the beholders. Willem
de Kooning and Laura Owens see eye to eye6 when it comes art: art is meant to shock us, to
unsettle us “when critics disagree the artist is in accord with himself.” (l.22, doc B).
Then, we can safely assume that these artists question what is deemed to be moral.
According to Oscar Wilde, a work of art is neither moral nor immoral “There is no such thing as a
moral or an immoral book.” (l.8). The world of art seems to be beyond the social world and thus
does not obey the same rules. Woman IV also illustrates these tensions as the painter refused to
embrace social norms by painting such a body. Therefore, Charlie Fox states that “ugliness is also a
way of responding to the difficulty of being a painter now” (l.19-20). Modern art accounts for our

1 Pay a tribute to (v) : rendre hommage à

2 Resort to (v) : avoir recours
3 Similarly (adv) : de la même manière
4 Horrendous (adj) : horrible
5 Depict (v) : dépeindre, représenter
6 See eye to eye : être d'accord
world which can unsettling, appalling7, disgusting, poorly shaped and hardly ever beautiful. “Ugly
art” is then a way to criticise today's society, hence8 art imitating life in Wilde's preface.

To conclude, “ugly art” is not an oxymoron. This new genre reflects on the differences
between normality, morality and art. Art does not obey any law defined by society. Oscar Wilde
embraced its uselessness, while Kooning and Fox embraced their unique ugliness.

578 words.

Conseils supplémentaires :
N’hésitez pas à faire part de vos impressions ou émotions si jamais le tableau vous interpelle ou
vous choque. Démontrez ainsi que l’artiste souhaite faire réagir son public comme c’est ici le cas. Il
s’agit de provoquer le bon goût et les beaux-arts. Ce sujet concernait l’art : l’art peut-il être laid ?
Vous pouvez vous appuyer sur d’autres exemples : les œuvres d’Otto Dix ou de Francis Bacon sont
en effet extrêmement dérangeantes et révèlent les atrocités de la guerre.
Pour étudier le texte du dramaturge irlandais Oscar Wilde, vous auriez pu parler davantage de
William Shakespeare. Chez ce dernier, les personnages fous sont souvent les plus sages car ils font
fi de la moralité. En revanche, les personnages les plus puissants se déforment sous le coup de la
jalousie ou de la folie progressive. Pensez par exemple à Macbeth ou à Othello. Si vous connaissez
d’autres pièces d’Oscar Wilde ou si vous avez lu le roman Le Portrait de Dorian Gray, vous pouvez
analyser ces œuvres à la lumière de cette préface.
Enfin, pour l’article, pour pouvez aussi débattre : l’art jugé laid vous semble-t-il artistique ou être,
au contraire, une vaste farce ?

Partie 2 (4 pts) : traduisez le passage suivant du document B en français.

“It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art
shows that the work is new, complex, vital. When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with
himself. We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only
excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.
All art is quite useless.” (l.21-25).

« C'est le spectateur, et non la vie, que l'art reflète. Les opinions diverses suscitées par une œuvre
d'art démontrent que cette œuvre est nouvelle, complexe et vitale. C'est lorsque les critiques n'ont
pas le même avis que l'artiste est en accord avec lui-même. Nous pouvons pardonner à un homme
d'avoir fait une chose utile aussi longtemps qu'il ne l'admire. La seule excuse pour faire une chose
inutile est de l'admirer avec intensité.
Toutes les œuvres d'art sont totalement inutiles. »

7 Appalling (adj) : dégoûtant

8 Hence (adv) : d'où