The Modern Movement

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TopicsAuthor OpinionHumanities

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Passage

The proponents of the Modern Movement in architecture considered that, compared with the historical styles that it replaced, Modernist architecture more accurately reflected the functional spirit of twentieth-century technology and was better suited to the newest building methods. It is ironic, then, that the Movement fostered at odds with the way buildings were really built.

The tenacious adherence of Modernist architects and critics to this ideology was in part responsible for the Movement’s decline. Originating in the 1920s as a marginal, almost bohemian art movement, the Modern Movement was never very popular with the public, but this very lack of popular support produced in Modernist architects a drawn to only those features of their work that were “Modern”; other aspects were conveniently ignored.

The decline of the Modern Movement later in the twentieth century occurred partly as a result of Modernist architects’ ignorance of building methods, and partly because Modernist architects were reluctant to admit that their concerns were chiefly aesthetic. Moreover, the building industry was evolving in a direction Modernists had not anticipated: it could only be accomplished at considerable cost—hence the well-founded reputation of Modern architecture as prohibitively expensive.

As Postmodern architects recognized, the need to expose structural elements imposed unnecessary limitations on building design. The unwillingness of architects of the Modern Movement to abandon their ideals interest in the Modern Movement.

What this question is testing

Author Opinion

Your task

Pin down exactly what the question asks about the passage — a detail, the author's view, the structure, or the main point — before looking at the choices.

Common trap

Answers that restate a true detail from the passage but don't answer the specific question being asked.

Winning move

Anticipate the answer in your own words from the passage, then find the choice that matches that prediction.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question

24.

It can be inferred that the author of the passage believes which one of the following about Modern Movement architects’ ideal

Answer choices

Out of Scope4% picked this
The repudiation of the ideal by some of these architects undermined
Out of Scope: repudiation of the ideal Nothing at the end of the 3rd paragraph says that some Modern architects repudiated (i.e. rejected) the ideal. It just says that the ideal was an unrealistically expensive one to try to execute.
4%
Out of Scope2% picked this
The ideal was rarely achieved because of its lack of
Out of Scope: lack of popular appeal Nothing at the end of the 3rd paragraph says that people didn't like the look of exposed structural materials. It just says that the ideal was an unrealistically expensive one to try to execute.
2%
Out of Scope7% picked this
The ideal was unrealistic because most builders were unwilling to
Out of Scope: unwilling to attempt Too Strong: most Nothing at the end of the 3rd paragraph says that more than 50% of builders were unwilling to try having exposed structural materials such as steel and concrete. It just says that the ideal was an unrealistically expensive one to try to execute.
7%
Too Strong: originated1% picked this
The ideal originated in the work of Otto Wagner and Frank
Nothing at the end of the 3rd paragraph talks about Wagner or Wright. Those are just examples of architects who were famous and innovative (whom the Modern Movement tried to claim as their own). Since the passage suggests that Wagner and Wright weren't even truly part of the Modern Movement, we definitely have no grounds for claiming that they invented this ideal of exposed structural materials.
1%
Correct86% picked this
The ideal arose from aesthetic rather than
Why this is right
This causal claim was never stated, but we're being tested here on what's implied. Since the end of the 3rd paragraph is telling us that this ideal called for an unrealistically high level of craftsmanship and required such considerable cost that it would be prohibitively expensive, we can tell that this ideal was very, very impractical. Practical concerns are all about what's realistic, what's feasible, what makes sense given actual limitations and constraints. And since the author is telling us how crazy-town this ideal was to have exposed structural materials, we can tell it definitely wasn't motivated by practical concerns. We have to speculate that it otherwise arose from aesthetic concerns, but given that architects are artists and given that we're told in the first line of this 3rd paragraph that, "Modernist architects were reluctant to admit that their concerns were chiefly aesthetic", we have good grounds for finding this answer a reasonable inference.
Skill tested: Author Opinion · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
86%

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