PrepTest 146, Section 4, Question 10
Most sociohistorical interpretations of art view a body(442 more words not shown)
The passage raises all of(11 more words not shown)
- Aartists who subverted(9 more words not shown)
- Bpatrons who had(11 more words not shown)
- Cpatrons whose taste(7 more words not shown)
- Dpatrons who bought(12 more words not shown)
- Epatrons who unwillingly(7 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
This is an EXCEPT question. We want the complication the author does not raise. The recurring problem is that an artwork cannot automatically stand in for the values of the class that financed it: the artist, the individual patron or the history of what survives may disrupt that connection.
Working the answers
- A
The third paragraph explicitly raises artists who subvert their patrons' ideals. If the artist is resisting the patron's beliefs, the work cannot simply be treated as an expression of those beliefs. This is a stated complication, so eliminate A.
- B
The fourth paragraph mentions a rich patron with eccentric tastes. Such a patron may support work precisely because their preferences differ from the establishment's. That makes the work a questionable guide to the elite's general outlook.
- C
We are told that aristocratic and upper-middle-class tastes did not always produce enduring art. The lasting works available to critics therefore need not simply reflect the art those groups typically favored. This complication is raised in the fourth paragraph.
- DCorrect
Buying solely to resell for profit is not discussed. The display motive concerns prestige, and the other motive concerns expressing ideals; neither establishes a market in which patrons bought art just to flip it.
- E
The final paragraph describes art paid for unwillingly and with misgivings despite its conflict with elite values. That is why the critic faces the problem of explaining how openly disapproved-of art supposedly embodies the patrons' ideals.
More Detail questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Detail questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.