Reading Comprehension

PT111 · S2 · P2 · Q13 Romare Bearden

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The paintings of Romare Bearden (1911–1988) represent a double triumph.

Topic

Romare Bearden’s artistic achievements and his portrayal of African-American life

Framework

Highlight Noteworthy

Main Point

Bearden’s paintings are notable for both their innovative technical mastery and their rich, layered explorations of African-American experiences—he used a unique style and sensitivity to portray both hardship and celebration in new, powerful ways. (Most Valuable Sentence: This is best summarized in the first paragraph: )

P1: Dual Achievement of Bearden

Bearden is introduced as both a technical innovator in painting and an artist deeply invested in exploring and expressing the diversity of African-American experiences.

P2: Style and Technical Innovation

The passage explains how Bearden developed a distinctive style combining painting and collage, allowing him to transform everyday subjects into art. He believed artists should have a deep awareness of the possibilities and limits of their chosen form.

P3: Portraying Hardship in the Great Depression

Here we see how Bearden captured the struggles of African-Americans during the Great Depression—going beyond mere protest art by showing personal suffering and using abstract backgrounds and muted colors to represent psychological and social realities.

13.

According to the passage, human figures in Bearden's paintings do all of the following EXCEPT:

serve as particular examples of
Supported
In the middle of the 3rd, Bearden painted scenes of the hardships of the period ... he was able to move beyond the usual "protest painting" of the period to reveal instances of individual human suffering.
9% picked this
suggest circumstances outside the explicit
Supported
In the late-middle of the 3rd, His human figures, placed in abstract yet mysteriously familiar urban settings, managed to express the complex social reality lying beyond the borders of the canvas without compromising their integrity as elements in an artistic composition.
21% picked this
function as aspects of an
Supported
In the late-middle of the 3rd, His human figures, placed in abstract yet mysteriously familiar urban settings, managed to express the complex social reality lying beyond the borders of the canvas without compromising their integrity as elements in an artistic composition.
10% picked this
Correct
symbolize emotions or psychological stages
Why this is right
We were told that, Another important element of Bearden's compositions was his use of muted colors, such as dark blues and purples, to suggest moods of melancholy or despair. So we know that Bearden used muted colors to symbolize emotions or psychological states, but we never hear that he used human figures for that purpose.
Skill tested: Locate Detail · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
52% picked this
inhabit abstract but recognizable physical
Supported
In the late-middle of the 3rd, His human figures, placed in abstract yet mysteriously familiar urban settings, managed to express the complex social reality lying beyond the borders of the canvas without compromising their integrity as elements in an artistic composition.
9% picked this

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