Urusevsky as an Artist

Sergei Urusevsky, the outstanding Russian cinematographer, was born in 1908. (When?) He started his career as an artist. He studied art in Saint-Petersburg under the well-known artist Favorsky. (Where?) At the Art Institute Urusevsky tried his hand at painting, etching and photography. (What?) He graduated from the institute at the age of 27. (At what age?) Favorsky gave him a letter of introduction to Pudovkin (Who?) because he knew of Urusevsky’s interest in film photography. (Why?) This is how it happened that Urusevsky took part in the shooting of Pudovkin’s film “The Victory” (1935) as an assistant cameraman. (How?) During his long film career Urusevsky shot a great number of films, which brought him popularity. (How many films?) His best motion pictures were “The 41st”, “The Cranes are Flying” and “I am Cuba”. (What?) Urusevsky made a valuable contribution to film photography, because he never stopped experimenting. (Why?) With the help of expressive close-ups and a dynamic hand camera, he managed to convey the inner life of the characters. (How?) There was inner likeness between his camera-work and painting. As a cameraman he showed a good taste of a painter in lighting his film portraits, sets and locations. Modern form was typical for his paintings and his films. At the end of his life, Urusevsky turned to film direction. (What?) The last film he made as a director was a movie about Esenin. Urusevsky died in 1974. (When?) But his films will always remain in the history of film art. (What?)

Exercise 23. Look at the cartoons, arrange the actions in the logical order and say what

these people did. Use the words: