Reading Comprehension

PT103 · S4 · P2 · Q11 James Porter

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James Porter (1905–1970) was the first scholar to identify the African influence on visual art in the Americas, and much of what is known about the cultural legacy that African-American artists inherited from their African forebears has come to us by way of his work.

Topic

James Porter’s pioneering scholarship on the African influence in African-American visual art

Framework

Highlight Noteworthy

Main Point

James Porter was the first major scholar to document and analyze the African roots of African-American art, making fundamental contributions that integrated African-American visual arts into the broader context of American art history. ()

P1: Porter's Foundational Research and Discoveries

Porter broke new ground by connecting West African artistic traditions to African-American crafts from the 18th and 19th centuries, recognizing distinct influences in ordinary, everyday items. He went further to map out the cultural legacy inherited by future generations of African-American artists.

P2: Porter's Impactful Publications and Approach

He set the record straight on artists like Duncanson and Johnston, proving their African heritage, and published an influential history that for the first time truly explored the influence of African art, unlike earlier works by Locke. Porter’s personal art reflected his deep awareness of these African ties.

P3: Porter's Ongoing Scholarship and Legacy

Porter continued to refine his work, correcting earlier errors and making discoveries about notable African-American artists. Even after his death, his unfinished research and notes continue to offer valuable insights for scholars today, especially regarding the broader impact of African art on Western art overall.

11.

Which one of the following hypothetical observations is most closely analogous to the discoveries Porter made about African-American crafts of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries?

  1. Contemporary Haitian social customs have

    Bad Match: unique

    This answer is saying that X's were influenced by Y's and Z's, but in blending Y and Z, they have come up with something different and unique. In the passage, we just had X's influenced by Y's, and X and Y shared characteristics. X wasn't unique and different.

    4% picked this

  2. Popular music in the United

    Bad Match: mutual influence Topic-Trap

    As soon as we see this answer deals with African traditions, we should probably be deeply suspicious. Most Analogy and Parallel questions have a trap answer that tries to bait us with a similar topic. In the passage, Porter discovered that this art being made in America really traced back to West Africa. In this answer, the music is sometimes influenced by Africa, and it often influences Africa. In the passage we never heard that the American art passed some influence back to Africa.

    4% picked this

  3. Correct

    Many novels written in Canada

    Why this is right

    Porter found that the art being made by Americans with an African lineage bore a lot of resemblance to traditional art from West Africa. In this answer, art being made by Canadians with a Chinese background bears a lot of resemblance to traditional art from China.

    Skill tested: Analogy · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    82% picked this

  4. Extensive Indian immigration to England

    Bad Match: only one style

    In the passage, the style of African American art has a lot of resemblance to a traditional style of African art. In this answer, there isn't a new type of art with a lot of resemblance to a traditional style of art. Instead, it's just a traditional art showing up in a new place. This would be like if Porter had discovered a lot of stores selling West African crafts in America, or if we heard that African-American art was not basically just as popular as other American art. For this answer to match better, we would want to hear that Indians living in England had created a style of food that has similarities to a traditional Indian style of food.

    3% picked this

  5. Some Mexican muralists of the

    Bad Match: imitated natives

    In this answer, Mexicans react against an outside influence (Spain) by consciously imitating native people of Mexico. In the passage, African-American people aren't reacting against any outside influence (as far as we've been told). And they don't consciously imitate natives of the country they're in. It seemed more like they unconsciously imitate influences from a country of more distant lineage.

    8% picked this

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