Julia Margaret Cameron

Answer choices

1. A

   Supported12% picked this

   A less realistic medium can be more conducive to suspension of disbelief than a

   This is very mildly worded "X can be Y". We talked about realism and suspension of disbelief in the 2nd paragraph: when we look at a narrative painting (less realistic) we can suspend our disbelief; when we look at a narrative photograph (more realistic) we cannot. This shows that a less realistic medium like painting can result in more suspension of disbelief than a more realistic medium like photography.

   12%
2. B

   Supported5% picked this

   Amateurishness is a positive quality in some works

   This is very mildly worded "some works of art". We talked about amateurism in the first sentence of the last paragraph What gives Cameron's pictures of actors their special quality .. as treasures of photography .. is their singular combination of amateurism and artistry. This shows that amateurishness can be a positive quality (it helps make Cameron's pictures treasures of photography).

   5%
3. C

   Supported7% picked this

   What might appear to be an incongruity in a narrative photograph can actually enhance

   This is very mildly worded "what might be X can be Y". There aren't any sentences that explicitly say "incongruity", but the whole point of the first paragraph is that there's this mismatch between Cameron's ambitions of reproducing these epic scenes of grandeur and gravitas, with the often comical final product, in which the people posing for Cameron's pics are visibly annoyed or blurred because they can't sit still. The end of the 1st paragraph says that if she had succeeded in what she was doing (if there weren't this comic incongruity) her work would be a mere curiosity. Because she failed and her photos have this comic mismatch between intent and execution, they are vital images (high in aesthetic value).

   7%
4. D

   Supported7% picked this

   We are sometimes aware of both the real and the imaginary persona of an actor

   This is very mildly worded, "sometimes": We talked imaginary and real personas at the end of the 2nd paragraph. We are always aware of the photograph's doubleness - of each figure's imaginary and real personas. Theater can transcend its doubleness, can make us believe (for at least some of the time) that we are seeing only Lear or Medea. This sentence implies that when theater is really good, you get so absorbed that you don't see the actor, you just see the character they're portraying. But by saying this immersive experience is fleeting (it can make us believe for some of the time that we're seeing only Lear), it implies that at other times you're not fully immersed and you're aware of both the character and the actor.

   7%
5. E

   Correct69% picked this

   A work of art succeeds only to the extent that it realizes

   Why this is right

   Not only is this by far the strongest (and thus sketchiest) answer choice because it's saying, "success of an artwork is measured only in terms of the artist's intentions", this is also contradicted by the first paragraph. The end of the first paragraph is saying that if Cameron had succeeded in her intentions, her photos would have been less vital, less successful. The accidental, non-intentional outcome is what makes Cameron's photos peculiar treasures of photography.

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

   69%