#12 - Parallel

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=13780)

The correct answer choice is (D)

To answer this Parallel question correctly, we need to attain a more abstract understanding of the ways in which contemporary photographers use old processes. Using the Test of Abstraction from Parallel Reasoning questions, we can formulate a suitable prephrase: The correct answer choice must describe a contemporary use of an obsolete technique, the product of which contains certain highly desirable imperfections.

Answer choice (A): The medicinal use of traditional herbal remedies bears some resemblance to the revival of obsolete photographic techniques, but the remedies are not sought out because of their imperfections. Rather, the researcher is interested in their potential for curing various skin conditions. This answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (B): Unlike an architect investigating classical buildings to get inspiration for a modern project, the photographers described in the passage are not necessarily inspired by the use of old techniques. Furthermore, the photographs are deliberately left imperfect in order to foster the illusion of antiquity; there is no evidence of similar imperfections in the design of the high-rise office buildings (or so we hope). This answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (C): The engineer’s preference for an earlier, highly efficient design bears no resemblance to the use of less efficient photographic techniques. This answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. Just as the artistic photographs are made using obsolete techniques, so are the fabrics woven on old-fashioned looms. In either case, the final product contains desirable imperfections, making this answer choice a perfect match.

Answer choice (E): Hopefully you were able to eliminate this answer choice relatively quickly, because computer graphics modeling is not an obsolete technique.

[SGD2021]

Hello, the question mentions the "use of old photographic techniques for artistic purposes by late-twentieth-century artists" but the passage never mentioned the late twentieth century, so how were we to know that the "late twentieth century" in the question refers to the new artists the author is talking about? Since this was from the June 2013 exam, I thought the new artists would be from the 21st century.

[Beth Hayden]

Hi SGD,

You're right that the timeline is vague, and some of the new artists might be from the 21st century. But that's fine because the analysis also applies to artists in the late twentieth century.

The author says that the "old" techniques are from the 19th century (line 22), and that only one of them (tintype) even lasted into the twentieth century (line 32-33). For an artist to consider those old techniques, they would have to be making the art after that, and we know that this approach is still being taken today (line 33). From that we can infer that at least some of these artists (and probably the majority of them) were active in the late twentieth-century.

Hope that helps!
Beth