Slavko Pengov: Litostroj

Warming Up

Red is the colour of fire, passion, love, sudden change, revolution. Can you name some famous revolutions?

If you are visually impaired, what do you associate the colour red with?

If you are a learner with dyslexia, which colours do you prefer? Are there any colours which you cannot stand?

If you are an older learner, you will probably remember a film by the Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski titled “Red”. What were the other colours in his Three Colours trilogy?

Do you remember the title of a French novel where two colours were mentioned, “The Red and the ”? What was the second colour? Who wrote the novel?

Michel Pastoreau argues that in some languages the word “red” is used to mean wonderful, beautiful etc. Is this the case in your language?

There is an animal that becomes furious if he sees a red cloth. Which animal is it?

Story: Litostroj

Factory workers in the post-war socialist era in the former Yugoslavia are featured in this picture by Slavko Pengov.

Gender equality, promoted by the new post-war Communist government, is symbolised by a woman who is leading the workers and holding a flag.

This picture represents workers of the newly built Litostroj metal factory in Ljubljana, which is now the capital city of Slovenia. The motif of political meeting used here was highly appreciated at that time, and was characterised by enthusiasm and readiness to build a new society.

The painting is included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary History of Slovenia.

Cultural Heritage Background

Wars bring enormous disruption to all aspects of society. In the former Yugoslavia, the Second World War was won by partisans, the resistance movement. They formed the new post-war government which was progressive in many ways. It established modern schools, kindergartens and factories. It provided benefits for female workers, and institutes for family planning. In comparison with nearby Eastern bloc countries, people had a good standard of living, and were allowed to travel, to read foreign press, etc. Nevertheless, the country experienced a “dictatorship of proletarians” and there were limits on freedom of thought and expression, including in art.
Artists were divided into those who the regime recognised and supported, and those it did not.

Listening

Listen to sentences from the story and answer the following questions….

Which motif was highly appreciated in fine arts of the post-war socialist era?
What kind of factory was Litostroj?
How is gender equality symbolised in Slavko Pengov’s picture?

Reading the story

Factory workers in the post-war socialist era in the former Yugoslavia are featured in this picture by Slavko Pengov.
Gender equality, promoted by the new post-war Communist government, is symbolised by a woman who is leading the workers and holding a flag.
This picture represents workers of the newly built Litostroj metal factory in Ljubljana, which is now the capital city of Slovenia. The motif of political meeting used here was highly appreciated at that time, and was characterised by enthusiasm and readiness to build a new society.
The painting is included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary History of Slovenia.

Deep reading (if you are visually impaired or you have dyslexia ask a student to do the reading)

Help yourself with the following discourse organizers:

What

When

Where

Reading Comprehension

Grammar

Read about “determiners” (a, an, this, that, those) on pp 71-72 of this document.

https://www.pdfdrive.com/basic-english-grammar-for-english-language-learners-basic-english-grammar-for-english-language-learners-e158730664.html

Look at the sentences below and decide if they are correct or incorrect. If they’re incorrect, what is the mistake?

Additional activities

Look at the famous French oil painting “Liberty Leading the People”, by Eugene Delacroix: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Leading_the_People

Can you see any similarities to the painting we have looked at by Slavko Pengov? Can you see any differences? When you look at each of the paintings, what feelings do you have?