PrepTest 129, Section 3, Question 13
Art historian: More than any other genre of(70 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- ALandscape painting and(19 more words not shown)
- BThe only way(25 more words not shown)
- CNonrepresentational painting does(16 more words not shown)
- DIn genres of(20 more words not shown)
- EWhen painting a(26 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
The comparison is among kinds of representational painting: paintings depicting recognizable subjects. Still-life painting is said to be especially suited to self-expression because the artist controls the objects being depicted.
Think of a bowl of fruit. The artist can choose the fruit and decide whether the apple or orange sits in front. Those choices become part of what the picture expresses. Painting a landscape gives less freedom to rearrange the subject: moving a forest's trees would be much harder than rearranging objects on a table. A portrait painter can ask for a different expression, but cannot simply move the person's nose to a new position.
What we’re looking for
The historian connects that control with opportunities for self-expression. We might question how much one depends on the other, but this task asks what the statements support, so we should work with the historian's account. I'd expect an answer along the lines of greater control making a form of painting better suited to self-expression. There could be another supported implication, though; we should keep the actual comparisons and their limits clear.
Working the answers
- A
Being less suited than still life to self-expression does not make landscapes and portraits the genres most suited to reflecting external reality. The historian never ranks every genre by that second goal. Another genre could fit it better. A takes a limited comparison and turns it into an unsupported first-place ranking.
- B
Choosing and arranging the objects is a way of controlling a painting, but the historian does not call it the only way. An artist might also make choices about paint or technique. We do not need to establish a full alternative theory; it is enough that the passage has not excluded every other means of control.
- C
The comparison is limited to representational painting. Nonrepresentational painting lies outside that group, so we cannot use the historian's ranking within the group to place it below still life. It could be very well suited to self-expression without conflicting with anything stated.
- DCorrect
The historian presents the artist's invariably choosing, modifying, and arranging the objects as an advantage of still life over other representational genres. That supports the modest conclusion that artists in those other genres do not always have that same combination of control over the objects.
For example, the landscape can supply objects the painter depicts as they already are, rather than objects the painter has chosen and rearranged. D does not say other artists never make such choices. It preserves room for the portrait painter who changes a pose or arranges a background while recognizing the contrast the historian draws.
- E
Less control does not mean artists rarely try to express themselves. Portrait painters could routinely try to express themselves through backgrounds while still having less overall control than still-life painters. The passage compares control and suitability; it does not give the frequency of those attempts.
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