#13 - Art historian: More than any other genre of

[Krwill]

For this question I chose B as the correct answer because the stimulus stated that the artist has more control over the. art in still life painting through by choosing, being able to modify and arrange objects. There I thought answer B was supported by the stimulus. I am trying to figure out why it is incorrect. Is it because it is too strong in stating that "the only way" and is D correct because it is basically a paraphrase?

[Zach Marino]

For this question I chose B as the correct answer because the stimulus stated that the artist has more control over the. art in still life painting through by choosing, being able to modify and arrange objects. There I thought answer B was supported by the stimulus. I am trying to figure out why it is incorrect. Is it because it is too strong in stating that "the only way" and is D correct because it is basically a paraphrase?

Exactly! Nowhere does the stimulus say it's the only way for an artist to have control, thus the stimulus doesn't support this statement. Remember that we are working with a Most Strongly Supported question here, not a Main Point question. By essentially paraphrasing the stimulus, as you said, D is completely supported and thus correct.

Hope this helps!

[Krwill]

Yes, this was helpful. Thank you.

[KG!]

Quick question I was between A and D and definitely see why D is correct, but is A incorrect because of the term "lend themselves most naturally."

[KelseyWoods]

Hi KG!

Yes, answer choice (A) is incorrect because we can't say that landscape painting and portraiture are the artistic genres that lend themselves MOST naturally to the mere reflection of a preexisting external reality. From the last sentence, we know that the artist has more control over still-life painting than over other genres, for example landscape painting or portrait. But there's nothing to support that these specific genres are the ones that lend themselves the most naturally to reflection external reality.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey

[queenbee]

Hi
So (A) is wrong because of the use of "most"? I originally selected (D) but then changed it last minute because the language in the first and last sentence seemed to be a direct copy.
Thank you!

[Luke Haqq]

Hi queenbee!

Yes, the "most" in its context within answer choice (A) makes it incorrect. That answer choice states, "Landscape painting and portraiture are the artistic genres that lend themselves most naturally to the mere reflection of a preexisting external reality."

In the stimulus, landscape painting and portraiture only appear in the final sentence: "Thus, the artist has considerably more control over the composition and subject of a still-life painting than over those of a landscape painting or portrait, for example. "

This is a must be true question, and we're not given much information about landscape painting and portraiture. We know a bit specifically in terms of their comparative relation to still-life painting: (1) a painter has more control in certain respects in still-life paintings, less control in landscape painting and portraiture, (2) landscape painting and portraiture are more a reflection of "preexisting external reality" in comparison with still-life painting. Beyond this, though, we don't know that landscape painting and portraiture are "the artistic genres that lend themselves most naturally to the mere reflection of a preexisting external reality." It's possible that there are other genres that lend themselves even more naturally to this than landscape painting and portraiture, but the stimulus doesn't say one way or another. Since we don't know this based on the stimulus, it can be eliminated as an answer choice on a must be true question.

[Blondeucus]

Given this is a must be true question where is the information that there's not some unknown style of representational painting where the artist can always choose to modify and arrange the objects to be painted? There's no mention that still life is the only representational form that can always do this so I'm not quite sure how D must be true.

[Luke Haqq]

Hi Blondeucus!

We can glean that (D) must be true from the first two sentences of this stimulus. The first states, "More than any other genre of representational painting, still-life painting lends itself naturally to art whose goal is the artist's self-expression, rather than merely the reflection of a preexisting external reality."

The italicized language is why we know that there is not some other style of representational painting in which the artist can "always" modify, arrange, and choose the objects to be painted. This ability to choose, arrange, and modify is a feature of still-life painting--we're told that in the second sentence: "This is because in still-life painting, the artist invariably chooses, modifies, and arranges the objects to be painted."

Still life painting invariably/always involves such choosing, arranging, and modifying, and it does so "more than any other genre of representational painting." So there cannot be another type of representational painting that also always involves choosing, modifying, and arranging the objects to be painted.