PrepTest 153, Section 2, Question 22
Critic: Almost all of the paintings from our(74 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- AIn spite of(6 more words not shown)
- BBlue Irises does(6 more words not shown)
- CBlue Irises is(4 more words not shown)
- DAll of the(11 more words not shown)
- EAll of the(19 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What if Blue Irises is one of the exceptions?
The critic gives us two usual features of this art movement: bold brushwork and a sharp contrast between light and shadow. Those descriptions don't tell us whether the paintings are good. They tell us what almost all the paintings have in common.
Then comes an exception we need to keep: abstract paintings don't have to display those features together. They don't depict light or shadow. That doesn't mean an abstract painting couldn't have bold brushwork; the passage never takes that possibility away.
Now look at Blue Irises. It has bold brushwork but lacks the sharp contrast. The critic treats that missing contrast as a reason to exclude it. But the critic just allowed abstract paintings into the movement without that feature. If Blue Irises is abstract, the stated reason for rejecting it no longer works.
What we’re looking for
That's our objection. The necessary-assumption question asks what the critic must believe to avoid it: Blue Irises is not abstract. Be careful with the direction. 'What if it's abstract?' attacks the argument. The assumption we want closes that opening.
Working the answers
- A
This points toward the exception rather than ruling it out. The passage describes abstract paintings as nonrepresentational. Saying Blue Irises is nonrepresentational would not give the critic the needed reason to treat it as a painting that must exhibit the light-and-shadow contrast. Its title doesn't settle the matter either; a title can suggest a subject without establishing how the painting depicts it.
- B
Lacking a sharp contrast doesn't necessarily mean lacking every shadow. The painting could show shadows that differ only slightly from the surrounding light. More importantly, even a complete absence of shadows would leave our objection open: perhaps this is an abstract painting allowed into the movement without them.
- CCorrect
This rules out the exception. The only paintings in the movement allowed to lack the stated characteristics are abstract paintings. If Blue Irises is not abstract, its missing contrast gives the critic a basis for excluding it.
Try taking C away. If the painting is abstract, the critic can't reject it merely for lacking something abstract members of the movement need not have. We wouldn't thereby prove that Blue Irises belongs to the movement. We would show that this argument's reason for excluding it fails.
- D
We don't need a rule about the brushwork in every nonrepresentational painting ever produced in the city. Blue Irises already has bold brushwork. The problem is whether its lack of light-and-shadow contrast is disqualifying, and D doesn't settle whether the abstract-painting exception applies.
- E
A painting outside this movement could also display a sharp contrast of light and shadow. The critic doesn't need to deny that. Describing a feature of paintings in this movement doesn't reserve that feature exclusively for them. E also fails to address the exception that matters for Blue Irises.
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