PrepTest 118, Section 3, Question 12
Surrealist: Many artists mistakenly think that models need(42 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- AAn artist's work(9 more words not shown)
- BArtistic representation is(7 more words not shown)
- CArtists should not(7 more words not shown)
- DGreat art can(8 more words not shown)
- ETrue works of(8 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Think of drawing a bowl of fruit versus drawing something you imagined. That's a simpler way into this vocabulary: outside the psyche means outside the mind. The artist could copy something already in the room or use an image that came from within.
The surrealist isn't impressed with limiting art to the first option. Even an ugly object could look beautiful in an artist's representation, so the author grants that this work can have value. But why use all that creative power only to preserve things that already exist? The author calls that a waste.
What we’re looking for
I don't have to share that opinion to identify the conclusion. For this main-point question, I'd look for a recommendation to go beyond external objects. Keep only and solely in view. The criticism is of that restriction, not a ban on ever drawing fruit, landscapes, or people.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
An artist's work should not merely represent things outside the mind. Merely preserves the important limit in the argument: the artist shouldn't confine the work to external objects. A leaves room for drawing things from imagination as well as representing objects in the world. It doesn't turn the author's objection into a demand that every artwork be imaginary.
- B
This says artistic representation is used solely to preserve and reinforce objects. The author criticizes using it solely that way; the author doesn't say that's all anyone ever uses it for. A complaint about limiting a tool to one purpose isn't a claim that the tool has no other uses.
- C
The restriction concerns what artists represent, not representation itself. An artist could represent an imagined scene and still do exactly what the surrealist wants. C broadens the criticism from representing only external objects to basing work on representation generally. It drops the distinction the argument is built around.
- D
The author grants that human sensibility can confer beauty on vulgar external objects. But that concession sets up the criticism: even with that ability, restricting art to such objects wastes its potential. D gives us something the author allows along the way, not the recommendation the argument supports.
- E
We haven't been given a rule for deciding which works count as true art, or a claim about how rarely those works portray external objects. The author says artists shouldn't limit themselves to external models. An artist could frequently portray such models and still also draw from imagination. E makes a much stronger claim.
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