PrepTest 107 - Section 2 - Passage 1 - Question 2

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For some years before the outbreak of World War I, a number of painters in different European countries developed works of art that some have described as prophetic: paintings that by challenging viewers' habitual ways of perceiving the world of the present are thus said to anticipate a future world that would be very different. ███

Other People's View · Belief that pre-WWI paintings were prophetic

"Prophetic" meaning that they asked viewers to change the way they view the world, like these paintings were prophesying the future world to come.

Fact: New Style · These painters displayed various styles but all broke with tradition of representational art

This is a common theme in "art" passages in RC. Usually, we only talk about art or artists that invented something new.

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Other People's View · These painters anticipated social and political changes

Their break with tradition was so fundamental that some critics credited these artists with having anticipated political and social disruptions of WWI. Huh?

Other People's View · Their prophetic power is what's most interesting about them

Really? Not the new artistic techniques?

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Concession · Artists are free to speculate about the future, like anyone else

I get the feeling that the author's setting up here to disagree with the critics.

Author's Critique · The painting's aesthetic innovations are what is most important

The author disagrees with the critics. This makes sense. It's just a weird argument that these renowned painters are remembered for... not their art but rather their social / political prophesies.

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Example · Picasso; Braque; cubism

Picasso and Braque told everyone that that they were trying to innovate modes of representation; that they were not concerned with reforming society.

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Author’s Critique · Not all changes in art were followed by dramatic world events

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Example · Delacroix

Delacroix made stylistic changes in response to (not in anticipation of) social changes.

Passage Style

Critique or debate

The art critic mentioned in ███ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ███████████

Question Type

Implied

Other’s perspective

Glance back at the sentence and read it again if you have to. That’s our evidence for what the art critic would agree with — the prophetic power of these artworks (concerning politics and social trends) is their chief interest and value.

The supposed innovations ██ ████████ ███████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ████ █████ ██ █████████ ███████████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███ ███████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ███ ██████████

Not supported. The critic doesn’t suggest that the pre-WWI artists used styles that had already been discovered before.

The work of ████████ ███████ ██████████ ███ ████████ █████████ █████████ █████ ███████ █████ ███████ ████████ ███ ███████████ ██████████ ██ ████████████████ ███ ████ ███████ ██████

Anti-supported. The critic acknowledges that the artists broke with traditions or representational art.

The importance of ███ ████ ██ ████████ ███████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███ ████ ███ █████████████ █████ ██ ███ █████

Anti-supported. The critic disagrees — she finds these artists important more because of there alleged power to anticipate political and social trends.

The prophecies embodied ██ ███ ████ ██ ████████ ███████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ████ ██████ ███████████ █████ ██ ████████ ████ ███ ████████ █████████ ██████████

This is the closest to capturing the idea that these artists were important because of their ability to predict political and social trends. (By the way, “shrewd” means “having or showing sharp powers of judgment.”)

79%

The artistic styles ███████ ████ █████ ██ ████████ ███████ ██████████ ███ █████████ █████ █████████████ ███████████ ████ ██ ██████ ████████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████████████ ███ █ ████

Too strong. The critic doesn’t think that these styles were of “little significance to the history of post WWI art.” She does think that these artists are more important because of their powers of prediction, but she can still believe they had a meaningful impact on art.

PrepTest 107 - Section 2 - Passage 1 - Question 2

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