Logical Reasoning

PT104 · S1 · Q5 During the 1980’s Japanese collectors

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During the 1980’s Japanese collectors were very active in the market for European art, especially as purchasers of nineteenth-century Impressionist paintings.

Conclusion (this surely reflects = opinion)

Many Japanese collectors preferred certain aesthetic attributes of 19th century Impressionist paintings.

Evidence

During the 1980's Japanese collectors were very active in the market for European art, especially buying up 19th century Impressionist paintings.

Evaluate

Since the author is interpreting the meaning behind a group of people's behavior, we can use our Explain Curious Fact mindset.

Curious Fact ... Why were these Japanese collectors so interested in buying 19th century Impressionist paintings?

Author's Explanation ... They had a preference for certain aesthetic attributes found in those paintings.

We always analyze this framework by asking the same two questions: 1. Could there be some Alternate Explanation for the curious fact? 2. How plausible is the Author's Explanation?

Goal

We can strengthen by ruling out an alternate explanation for why Japanese collectors were so interested in buying 19th century Impressionist paintings (they weren't buying them just to turn around and re-sell them at a profit / they weren't buying them just to acquire famous art to enhance their status despite not really liking the paintings aesthetically).

Or we can strengthen by adding plausibility to the idea that these Japanese collectors really dug certain aesthetic properties of 19th century Impressionist paintings.

5.

Which one of the following, if true, most strongly supports the explanation above?

  1. Impressionist paintings first became popular

    No Impact

    This tells us nothing about these Japanese collectors, so it's very unlikely to have any impact. Finding out that Impressionist paintings first became popular in the early 1900's tells us nothing helpful when it comes to solving the causal mystery of why Japanese collectors in the 80's were so into buying them.

    2% picked this

  2. During the 1980s, the Japanese

    No Impact

    This tells us that the Japanese economy was doing much better during the 80s. That might mean that some people had more of a budget to acquire art. But we still have no idea whether these Japanese collectors were buying Impressionist paintings because they liked them aesthetically or for some other purpose.

    2% picked this

  3. Correct

    Several nineteenth-century Impressionist painters adopted

    Why this is right

    This adds plausibility to the Author's Explanation that the reason the Japanese collectors were buying up 19th century Impressionist paintings is that they liked certain aspects of the Impressionist aesthetic. This answer makes that claim more believable by filling in a little backstory -- some Impressionist painters used techniques and visual effects (i.e. certain aesthetic attributes) that are common to the Japanese aesthetic culture (it reminded these collectors of aesthetic attributes possessed by certain Japanese prints that are greatly admired in Japan).

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

    92% picked this

  4. During the 1960s and 1970s,

    Weakens, if anything

    This has unclear impact because it doesn't talk about the 1980s, but if we knew that this trend continued into the 1980s, then this would somewhat weaken. If we're told that the re-sale value for Impressionist paintings was super high, that suggests that Japanese collectors were acquiring these paintings more as financial investments than as aesthetic delights.

    3% picked this

  5. During the 1980s, collectors from

    No Impact

    The fact that Japanese collectors also bought other stuff (some of it by Japanese artists) does nothing when it comes to solving the causal mystery of whether Japanese collectors in the 80's were so into buying 19th century Impressionist paintings for aesthetic reasons or for other reasons.

    2% picked this

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